Homes in Havering Chairman resigns

Following a Collier Row & Mawneys Residents Association campaign for Homes in Havering Chairman, Cllr Andrew Curtin to resign over the handling of the Chief Executives depature, we are please to post the following news release form havering Council.

Change to Council Representatives on Board of Homes in Havering

Havering Council has announced a change to its nominated representatives on the board of Homes in Havering. Councillor Andrew Curtin is standing down as one of the Council’s four representatives and will no longer serve as Chair of the board. Councillor Steven Kelly has been nominated to the board to fill the vacancy.

The Council does not appoint the Chair of the board - the election of a new Chair will be a matter for the board of Homes in Havering.

Councillor Andrew Curtin said: “I am standing down from the board of Homes in Havering with immediate effect. Homes in Havering will shortly be recruiting a new chief executive and this appointment will open up a new future for the organisation. Standing down as Chair will allow my successor to be involved in the recruitment process from the very start".

“I have thoroughly enjoyed my time as Chair and I believe the organisation has made great strides forward. I am very confident that Homes in Havering will achieve the two star rating needed to unlock over £100 million of Government funding in 2009 and I will support the organisation, alongside my Cabinet colleagues, as it continues to improve services to Council tenants and leaseholders.”

Councillor Steven Kelly added: “I’m very positive about the future for Homes in Havering and its tenants. I’m looking forward to working with colleagues to improve the quality of life on all of our estates.”

Mounted Police in Bedfords & Havering Country Parks

Over the summer months the Metropolitan Police Mounted branch have been working in both Havering Country Park and Bedford’s Park, on the crackdown of anti-social behaviour, including the illegal use of motor bikes.

Cllr Mann recently spent some time in the park with the Police and saw first hand the work that the mounted branch has been doing over the summer. He said “I am very pleased that the Havering Park, Safer Neighbourhood Team have been able to work with the mounted branch and to get the team in the parks over the last two months, their efforts have paid off greatly with a reduction in motor-cycles and other anti social behaviour that does not belong in our parks”.

Havering Show

The Havering Show returns to Harrow Lodge Park, Hornchurch this weekend, Sunday 24 and Monday 25 August. This year it it is linking up with the Planet Havering Environmental Village.

The two day extravaganza will be packed with fun activities for all the family including medieval re-enactments, animal displays, live music, flower and crafts marquees, trade stalls and all the excitement of a traditional funfair. Tying in with the Planet Havering environment theme, Dr Bike's cycle surgery will be on hand to give your bike a free tune-up and to hand out useful cycling tips.

The Show will be opened in the main arena by the Territorial Army who will be followed by a veterans' parade including the Bevin Boys and local cadets. Other arena events include the Spectacular Knights of the Crusade, Stallions of Substance, Impact Falconry, Mad About Muts Dog Agility and a spectacular Olympic Flag ceremony.

On the music stage, compered by Link FM, there really is something for all musical tastes, with acts including Sour Orange, Saiichi Sugiyama Band, Bex Marshall, Kris Dollimore, PJ Wright, East of Ealing, Stomping Dave Allen, Ron Trueman Border, Forty Thieves Orkestar and Paprika Balkanicus on the bill. Completing the musical lineup will be two special headlining guest acts - 1981 Eurovision Song Contest winnersBuck's Fizz and Seventies chart toppers Mungo Jerry.

The Havering Show will take place at Harrow Lodge Park, Hornchurch. Admission is £4 for adults, £2 for juniors and concessions with free admission for veterans. Car parking is £2. Show times are 11am to 6pm on both days.

Well Done Bower Park School

Bower Park School are celebrating after their 2008 GCSE Exam result jumped a massive 11% on the previous years. The amount of pupils receiving five A* to C grade GCSE’s including English and Maths increased from 24% to 35%. Without English and Maths, the Five A* to C grades increased from 38% to 44%.

The results at Bower Park have increased year on year since Head Teacher Mary Morrison joined the school in September 2004, with this year being one of the biggest increases to date. Staff were in school downloading the result information for the children to collect at 10.00 on Thursday 21st August.

Head Teacher, Mary Morrison said, “I am extremely proud of the achievement of our pupils over the last 12 months in gaining such a good set of results, all of the pupils have been a credit to the school, I must also say a big thank you to all of the school staff who have contributed towards this excellent progress”.

Mrs Morrison went on “After the last few months we have had at Bower Park with people doubting our achievements, this result is clear for all to see, I never doubted the students ability and the commitment of the staff to enable us to achieve
Well over 30%”.



As the result is above the 29% level set by Government, the school will no longer be listed on the National School Challenge list of 638 schools named earlier this year. At the time of the list being made public, one local political party decided to print a leaflet that advocated they would “Save the school from closure”, at the time the Head Teacher had to detract for teaching duties to issue a statement of fact countering the leaflet.

Local Councillor and School Governor, Andrew Mann said “This is another brilliant result for Bower Park students and staff, all of which deserve praise for what they have achieved over the last 12 months. Bower Park is a fantastic school within our community and these latest results are proof that it is moving and a changing school”.

Gallows Corner Update

Residents Association Councillor, Andrew Mann (Havering Park) has this week meet with officers from transport for London to talk about the issues with the long running delays and repair work with the Gallows Corner Fly-Over

The site meeting took place on Wednesday the 13th August, and Cllr Mann was joined by Andy Best (Pictured on left), North London Area Manager and Trevor Williams, Asset Manager for the whole London Network.

Cllr Mann said “I am grateful for TfL for taking the time to brief me on the situation, thousands of motorists and residents have to put up with this part closure for the next 12 months and it was a useful meeting in that I can at least understand what is going on and help convey that message to everyone else”

Cllr Mann also criticised Havering Council for its lack information to local residents, he said “They (the Council) have spent so much time denying they were responsible for any of the previous work and the Cabinet Member for Transport (Mike Armstrong) has been running around with his head in the sand that once again, local residents have to suffer by lack of information”

Cllr Mann was briefed on the recent issues involving the safety barriers that were found to be un-safe during the recent works. Workman uncovered far more rust and corrosion than was expected and it was felt by engineers it would not leave the barriers safe enough in case of an accident on the fly-over.

Cllr Mann was one of the first to hear of the plans by Transport for London to open the fly-over one way. The planned reopening of the flyover was originally set for 2nd June; this was delayed until 28th July because an inspection had identified the need for further works. However, it was then discovered by engineers that even more work is required, involving the steel-railed safety barriers on the flyover, as they are unsafe and will require new barriers to be installed.

However, this work could not be completed with a two way traffic flow and therefore, the flyover has started to operate in only the London Bound (Westward) direction for the foreseeable future. It can not be confirmed at the moment how long this situation will prevail, it has been suggested it could be well over 12 months, but maybe even longer.

At the time, Cllr Mann said “This situation is going from bad to worse, the flyover has already been closed for months causing misery to local residents and commuters, I find it unbelievable in this day and age, that engineers could not have surveyed the structure in more detail before they started the works”.

CCTV Car is just a Cash Cow

Residents Association spokesman for StreetCare and Parking, Cllr Andrew Mann has hit out over the amount of income the Councils new CCTV Smart Cars are making from issuing parking tickets by stealth across the Borough.

This Follows Havering’s Cabinet member for Parking (Cllr Barry Tebbutt) having to supply Cllr Mann with the breakdown of the amount of tickets issued since the car was introduced at a recent Full Council Meeting.

Mobile CCTV Parking Enforcement commenced on Tuesday 8th June 2007.

At the close of business on the 7th June 2008 (exactly 12 months since the cars started to operate) 26,837 CCTV Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) have been issued.

The total amount of tickets to be issued across the Borough since the cars started operating is 28,011

Cllr Mann said “The truth is finally out, the figures say it all, in the original report concerning the car, it was assumed they would only issue 2200 tickets a year, at an income of £80k. However, this is not the case, as they have been issuing that amount each month, with a much larger payment rate due to the photo evidence and have actually issued that amount in a month and issued over 26,000 tickets”

The worse place to be caught, is in Victoria Road, Romford, with over 8% of all tickets, with almost 1000 issued in this one street alone, second place in the top ten is Atlanta Blvd, Romford with 6% of all issued.

If the same payment rates were kept up throughout the year, then income could be well in excess of £1.7 million in a full year. The original report also suggested that the car would only be used around protecting school children at schools and on yellow zig zags and crossings.

Over 12 months ago, Cllr Mann warned about the possible future use of the covert cars and felt at the time they were introduced, caution should be taken and also warned that they should not be used as an income generator for the Council.

In a Town Hall press release dated 20/03/07, Conservative Cabinet Member Cllr Barry Tebbutt said “I have no problem with this car being used to target indiscriminate parking around schools and pedestrian crossings which poses a real danger to our children”. However, it would seem that this is not the case as there is no school or crossing near to these shops.

Cllr Mann said “It has now become quite clear that this car was only introduced to make money, it is just a cash cow, sucking the life out of our Town Centres, coupled with the new charges being introduced for smaller shopping centres such as Collier Row, Hornchurch, Upminster, Cranham, Elm Park and Rainham this Conservative Administration are going to kill of the smaller towns in Havering in favour of Romford Town Centre”

Breakdown of income and ticket numbers:

According to the answer at the last Full Council meeting (on 23rd July 2008), the total amount of tickets issued since 7th June 2007 and up to and including the 8th June 2008 comes to 26,837. That makes an average of just over 70 tickets a day, on 7 day week (which they work) and on 365 days a year that makes 25,513 tickets in a year.

So if we say that the average over the six months was 70 a day, I come up with the following income workings.

70 tickets issued, of that 90% are paid, 10% are lost due to bad DVLA data and non traceable.

90% of the daily average of 70 is 63 tickets issued that are paid.

Half are paid at discount 31.5 at £50 £ 1,575

Half are paid in full 31.5 at £100 £ 3,150

Total Income a day £ 4,725

Total Income a Week £ 33,075

Total Income a month £ 143,718

Times 365 days a year £1,724,625

That makes a grand total of £4,725 a day or £143,718 a month; these figures are worked out on only the first seven months issued. However, it does not take into consideration that each ticket issued was at the lower amount.

For example, I have worked each ticket out at the lower band of £100; however any ticket issued within the Romford Ring Road is £120 and £60 at discount. The sums could in fact be quite a bit higher, as I know for example; Atlanta Boulevard is the highest ticketed location in the Borough, which is inside the Ring Road.

With the above sum of £143,718 a month, this makes a grand total of £1,724,625 a year, or in simple terms £1.7m a year of parking tax being taken form Havering residents.

Homes in Havering Farce

Following the pay of of Homes in Havering Chief Executive last week, Havering Park Councillor, Andrew Mann has hit out at the Board Chairman and Cabinet Member for Housing, Conservative Councillors Curtin and Armstrong.

Councillor Mann has condemned the latest situation at homes in Havering to be an absolute farce, he has hit out at the pay off of the Chief Executive of Homes in Havering as outrageous and a crass waste of public money, that we the taxpayer will all have to pick up.
Cllr Mann said “How the Chairman of the board at HiH could even think about paying of someone who wanted to leave the organisation a whole year’s salary is beyond contempt, he should hang his head in shame and resign from the board immediately, he is playing foot loose with public money, whilst Council tenants strive to pay increased rent and charges, he is dishing out £87,000 like confetti”

He also criticised the involvement of Housing Cabinet Member, Cllr Michael Armstrong, Cllr Mann said, “He (Cllr Armstrong) should hang his head in shame along side his colleague Cllr Curtin, he has implemented charges to Council tenants and lease holders that are wholly unjustified and unnecessary, such as CCTV, cleaning and fly tip removal to name but a few”.

After reading HiH documents that Cllr Mann has obtained, he said “There is clear evidence to suggest what we have known all along, that these charges were actually a ruse to bring in extra cash for HiH and not about improving service delivery at all”.

Cllr Mann has also raised issues around the relationship of a Cabinet member being on the Board of HiH, let along the Chairman. He said “How can Cllr Curtin and Armstrong work independently of each other when they are both in the Cabinet together, it is clear that both of these Councillors are joined at the hip and decisions are being agreed between them and not in the interest of the residents of this Borough, this needs to be looked at by the Leader of the Council”.

Cllr Mann went on “Perhaps as we look for a new Chief Executive of HiH, it may be a good idea for the Board to look for a new Chairman”.

Another New Road Surface for the Village

The long running saga of the road condition in Wellingtonia and Elmer Avenue’s in Havering Village looks set to be resolved again, later this month, with the laying of tarmac over the work that was carried out last year at a cost of approx £30,000.

The new work is being carried out, due to a huge dust problem that was created by the type of surface dressing used. Every time, the sun came out the surface dried off and a fine dust was thrown up into the air, causing a huge health issue and covering the resident’s cars and homes in a fine powder. No cost has been placed on the new work yet.

Cllr Mann set up a meeting with residents some 6 months ago to discuss the problems of the badly neglected roads, work was then carried out by StreetCare to replace the old road surface, which over the years had become badly neglected and was in need of major works to level the road and to remove all of the holes.

The problem with the road has been the reluctance of Havering Council to acknowledge that it has to deal with the road, although it is a private road and not an adopted highway (like almost all of the roads in the Borough) the owners of the said private road, or actually Havering Council.

As land owners, the Council owns many roads in the Borough and in particular all of the approach roads to Havering Country Park, including Wellingtonia Avenue, Elmer Avenue, Pinewood Road, Kilnwood Lane and Clockhouse Lane (by the Pinewoods Pub).

They where all compulsory purchased by the former Greater London Council in 1982 when the Country Park was formed; the idea was to protect the park from the ingress of new buildings and as the Park is land-locked, would safe guard any unauthorised development on and around its entrance.

Cllr Mann said, "I have been involved with the residents in trying to get the Council to take its responsibilities seriously and to resurface the roads around the Country park for almost 4 years, after hitting my head on a brick wall for a lot of that time, I finally enlisted the help of the former Chief Executive of Havering (Stephen Evans, now retired) to push this along, to his credit he did start getting officers to deal with this situation before he retired.

However, it took the threat of Court Action under the Highways Act 1980 to get it going, I am just glad at long last the residents have got some justice for their campaign, all that leaves now is for the Council to start working out how it will deal with the other roads in Havering Park Ward that are privately owned by the Council and need repairing".

The New work is set to start in the next two weeks and involves the existing surface in Elmer Avenue being converted to tarmac, leaving a narrow drainage strip of 0.85m either side of the tarmac. In Wellingtonia Avenue, the area from Bower Farm Road to the park gates will be converted to tarmac leaving natural drainage where the grass strip runs along the frontage of the properties and to the side of the community hall which was previously untouched..

Cllr Mann said “Let us hope that this time the work actually improves the roads in the village, this has gone on long enough and our residents deserve better then this, they have suffered for many years”