Hampden Lodge Flats Demonstration

We had a fantastic turnout at Hampden Lodge this morning for a demonstration against the proposed planning application for 58 flats on the site; over 130 local residents joined the whole Collier Row & Mawneys Residents Association team in showing their objection to the proposals.

The closing date has now passed to formally object to the scheme, however, we are still collecting letters and e-mails of residents keen to join the campaign to stop this plan. Over 900 people signed a petition and hundreds of other residents sent e-mails and letters.

We now have to wait for the plans to come before a planning committee, in either late June or early July, just as soon as we know the date of the meeting, we will let you all know, so as many people as possible can turn out and show how strongly they feel.

For more details on the application, click here to see the previous story.

Latest Travellers Situation in Bedfords park

Further to this mornings post, I have since spoken with both Council officers and the Havering Park Police team about the situation. I have included below a copy of an e-mail from Havering Council Parks Manager, updating me on the current situation.

The Police and Council Officers have now informed me that an evection notice will be served today under Section 77 of the Criminal justice public order act, which gives the travellers 48 hours to leave the site.

Copy of e-mail:

Dear Cllr Mann

thank you for your email and your justifiable concerns on this matter. Officers from the Parks and Open Spaces Section, the Mobile Patrol and a large number of police attended the site yesterday afternoon within minutes of the travellers pulling into the park.

The police examined the padlock to the barrier on the field the travellers entered and confirmed it had be broken to allow entry. I asked the mobile patrol to place another padlock on the gate. As there were no witnesses to the gate being broken the police said that they could not take any action. The police have logged all of the vehicle number plates and taken addresses from the travellers.They gave addresses in Surrey.

The objective no is to ensure that we get them out of the park as quickly as possible and then to clean up any mess they leave behind them to return the park to normal as quickly as possible.
I will leaise with officers in other areas of the council to ensure this happens as quickly as possible.

Looking at the layout of Bedfords Park I cannot see any precautions that we could take to prevent this happening again. We need to allow the pubic into the park, we also need to provide access to the large machinery that is stored the depot at the site, so placing width restrictions or height restrictions at the entrance point would not be a workable answer. Given that entry was forced to the barrier on the field I believe the same thing would happen with most other methods we could use.

I will be visiting the site later this morning with Planning Enforcement to commence the process of removing the travellers from the site. I have been told the quickest that we could get them off the site would probably be Monday. This assumes that they do not respond to the initial notice that we will be looking to serve on them either today or tomorrow.

I will ensure that you are kept informed of progress on this matter.

Best wishes
Martin Stanton

Bedford's Park invaded by Travelers Again

Residents Association Councillor for Havering Park Ward, Andrew Mann has hit out at Travelers who have invaded Bedford’s Park in Broxhill Road, Havering-atte-Bower turning it into no go zone area for locals and left it looking like a scrap yard and they have only been there less than 24 hours.

Cllr Mann said “I was contacted late last night (Wed 28th May) by residents complaining about the situation in the Park, I have this morning been up to the park to see the current situation for myself and have already contacted Council Officers, including Havering Councils Chief Executive and the Police Borough Commander, Chief Supt. Steve Wisbey and asked that they deal with this terrible situation”.

There are currently approx six vans and trucks in the park, with two families, now Cllr Mann wants Council officers to take urgent action today, to stop any more travelers from joining them by securing the park. It is believed they got in, by going through an unlocked gate in the park.

This in now the second time in 12 months that Travelers have invaded the Park; previously they almost destroyed Havering Country Park back in the late 90’s, they were there for ever and a day and the local Councillors took weeks to resolve the situation. It’s the destruction that they leave behind which is normally worse than them actually being there.

The last time they invaded Bedford’s park, was August 2007, on that occasion, it took the Council over two weeks to issue an enforcement notice to quit the park.

Cllr Mann said “In a week when we should be pushing to re-gain our converted green flag award for Bedford’s Park for being an example of one of the best parks in the Country, we wake up to this nightmare on our doorstep again”.

Follow this link to the previous story from August 2007, when the travellers last invaded ther park. Click here for the story....

Gobions Post Master, Sunny Jasraj honoured

The Residents Association on Havering Council nominated Mr Sunny Jasraj from Gobions Post Office to become a Freeman of the Borough, in recognition of his service to the community, Cllr Mann who actually nominated him, said "Sunny has done a fantastic job in our community and rightly deserves to be recognised for that, in particular as the Government has now announced the closure of his Post Office". The full text of Cllr Mann's nomination is below.

Freeman of the Borough, Mr Sunny Jasraj

Mr Mayor, firstly may I congratulate you on your appointment tonight as Mayor, I very much look forward to supporting your charity during the year, may I also pass on my thanks to Cllr Galpin, on her sterling work that she has done within the community in the last 12 months.

Turning to the business in hand, I feel very privileged to be nominating Mr Sunny Jasraj as a freeman of the London Borough of Havering on behalf of the Residents Association.

Sunny, as he is know to everyone, has been the post master of the Gobions Avenue Post Office for almost 25 years, he has served the community in that time, not just as the man at the post office, but as a friend, employee, local campaigner and opinion former and a pillar of the community to residents young and old, from around Collier Row, Chase Cross and Havering-Atte-Bower.

I recall before I was elected in 2002, highlighting the dreadful state of the former Council garage site behind the post office with Sunny, being pictured together amongst the derelict site and burnt out cars, much was his determination to help clean up the area, the old site is now gone and 8 affordable house have been built in its place.

The sad part of tonight’s event, is Sunny will not be able to make his 25 year anniversary, due to the terrible decision of this Government and Post Office Ltd in deciding to close his branch, along with four others in our Borough.

Something, I know every member in this chamber feels strongly about, as you all know like me, how these closure plans for Havering will affect our most elderly and disabled within our community.

Sunny has brought consistency and loyalty to both his shop and the community, in over 50 years, Sunny is only the third post master of Gobions Avenue, first coming to Collier Row in August 1984, when I was just 13 years old !!

Mr Mayor, as a Councillor for Collier Row, it is a great privilege to nominate Mr Sunny Jasraj to this chamber as a Freeman of this Borough.

Cllr Andrew Mann

May Fayre on Village Green

The Havering Park team were out in force yesterday at the May Fayre held on the Havering-Atte-Bower green, the event was organised by the 3rd Havering Scout Group, who are based in Chase Cross Road.

Residents Association team member Denis Stevens was running a stall throughout the afternoon, selling his vegetable plants, such as tomatoes and runner beans, helping to raise funds for the group to buy a much needed mini-bus for the children.

Both Andy and Kevin, went along to support the event, both being Scout Leaders themselves, they can understand fully the need to fund raise and how difficult it is sometimes. The day was very lucky with the weather and went down very well, with all who attended.

We very much look forward to next years event, which we hope they will be again organising.

Another Car Park U Turn by Council

Following the decision by the Leader of the Council this week, to change some of the car park charges around the borough, the Residents Association has suggested it is no more than smoke and mirrors and proved that they were wrong all along.

The Administration have kept the 20p charge, for 2 hours, but lowered the charge for 3 hours to 50p, however they have kept all of the higher charges and will not consider scrapping them altogether. They will also stop charging for Sundays in Romford.

Residents Association Spokesman for Parking, Cllr Andrew Mann said “We have been telling the Administration for almost a year that their car parking strategy was wrong, this is now the second time that we have forced them to make changes to it, first we won the battle for Sunday charges in outlying car parks, and now we have forced them to change the charges for Romford on a Sunday”.

He went on “The fact that not one of the private car parks were charging for Sundays, has had any bearing on this, and you only paid in a Havering controlled car park, the Administration have yet again got it wrong”. The Leader of the Council has suggested that he has listened to people, however why did he not listen to all those 20,000 plus people who objected before he brought the charges in to the Borough”

When the Council announced its new Parking Strategy for the Borough last year, the Residents Association launched a Borough Wide campaign against it; over 20,000 residents signed the petitions that were presented to the Mayor last year.

Leader of the Residents Group on Havering Council, Cllr Clarence Barrett said “I am pleased that once again the Administration have been forced into an embarrassing climb down on one of their policies, I have said time and time again, that they should be consulting more with other Councillors in the Town Hall and more importantly, listening to their residents concerns, over 20,000 people, said they did not want charges, however they ploughed ahead anyway and are now being forced to make changes as they go along”

Cllr Mann said “It is a sorry state of affairs, this whole parking strategy of the Administration has been a farce from day one, with the CCTV car issuing over 24,000 tickets a year, instead of the projected 2,200, is it any wonder that the Council can reduce the fee to 50p having made something like an estimate £1.7 million out of the car alone in almost 12 months”

Dog Mess Farce

Following Havering Council recently passing a report at Cabinet to consult on issuing fixed penalty notices for dog fouling, Havering Park Councillor, Andrew Mann has hit out at Havering Council over its double standards in relation to the issue of dog mess across the Borough.

The Council is currently carrying out a consultation of the possibility of issuing fixed penalty notices to the owners of dogs that fail the footpaths and parks and open spaces in the Councils control. However, the Residents Association spokesman for the Environment, Cllr Mann feels the Council is not doing enough to support residents when bins go un-emptied for weeks and are held together with bits of string !

He said “Havering Council want dog users to use the bins provided in the parks to dispose of the dogs mess, however the bins are constantly full with bags of mess all over the floor and one bin even held together with a bit of string”.

Cllr Mann also hit out at the StreetCare Cabinet member Cllr Barry Tebbutt, for refusing to consider the possibility of installing dog bins on the streets around park entrances to help combat the dog mess problem. Cllr Mann said “A small amount of bins could be placed around the park entrances to help promote residents keeping our environment cleaner; it is only a very small minority of residents that allow their dogs to foul the pavements, and the provision of more bins and ones not held together by string would be a good start”

500 Bus through Havering Village to be Scrapped

500 Bus to be Scrapped
The Collier Row & Mawneys Residents Association is very concerned about the situation in Havering-Atte-Bower following the decision by Arriva Buses to scrap the 500 bus from next month.

This will now leave the whole village, from the Borough Boundary with Stapleford Abbotts right down to the bottom of Orange Tree Hill without a bus service, effectively cutting the village of from the rest of Romford. We are also concerned that this decision came with no forward warning to both local residents or Councillors and has left little time for anyone to come up with alternative plans.

Since before he was first elected in 2002, Cllr Mann has been campaigning for the 499 bus to be re-routed up to the village, this is something that the previous Mayor of London and Transport for London has constantly refused to consider. However the time has now finally come for TfL and the Mayor to deal with this situation.

To that end, Cllr Andrew Mann has written to the new Mayor of London Boris Johnson and asked him to come to Havering-Atte-Bower to meet with residents and Councillors and our Member of Parliament to see for him-self the current situation.

The Mayors transport strategy for London says, that no resident should be more than 400 metres from a bus service, this was something that was bad enough with just an hourly service and nothing on a Sunday, now the furthest residents will live over 1.5 miles from a bus service.

Apart from local residents who will be cut off, there are thousands of visitors each year to both the St Francis Hospice centre and the Essex Wildlife Trust visitors centre in Bedfords Park, who will now find travelling almost impossible if you do not happen to drive a car.

We are now calling on new Mayor of London Boris Johnson, to support the residents of the village in getting TfL to re-route the 499 bus into the village. Please could we ask you to join our petition by e-mailing, Cllr Andrew Mann your objections to andrew.mann@havering.gov.uk

Residents Drop in Surgery

Our latest Residents drop in surgery is being held this Saturday, the 17th May at our usual location of the Forest Row Centre in Lodge Lane, Collier Row, between 10.00 and 11.00, all you have to do is drop in, no need for an appointment.

Our Residents Association Councillor for Havering Park, Andrew Mann will be on hand along with Mawneys team members Graham & Karen Price and Joe Webster to help with any issues you may have about havering Council, such as Housing, StreetCare, Council Tax, Education or any other matter that you may need help with.

If you can not make the surgery, you can always phone us for an appointment at a different time or drop us an e-mail or letter, contact details on the right hand column.

58 Flats applied for on Hampden Lodge site

P0713.08 – Demolition of existing care home and construction of three residential buildings extending to three to four stories in height, to provide 58 residential units (6x studio, 17x 1 bed, 32 x 2 bed and 3 x 3 bed flats), with 58 car parking spaces.

The Collier Row & Mawneys Residents Association is very concerned about a planning application that has been submitted on the old Hampden Lodge care home site. The application to build 58 flats on the one acre site, up to four stories high is a big development in a very small area.

Cllr Mann said " Along with myself, Kevin Tonks, Denis Stevens and local residents, we have delivered hundreds of letters to residents across Collier Row about the application and have already had dozens of replies back to us. This application is far to big for this site, with little respect for traffic and over development and we will fight this all the way"

Many of you have already contacted us to pass on your objections to the scheme. We have been inundated by phone calls, letters and e-mails in the last few days, from residents concerned about the size and bulk of the development, lack of parking and amenity space, along with the traffic implications in Clockhouse Lane.

The site has been empty for over two years, since being closed as a care home. The Council put the site up for sale last year and now a deal has been struck with Bellway Homes to build flats on the site. However, the sale is dependent on getting planning permission, which concerns us greatly.

This is a big housing development for Collier Row and we feel disappointed that neither the Council nor the developers had the decency to speak with the local residents or local Councillors before making the application; it has caused a lot of upset in the community.

We are also very concerned that the Council will only receive the money once contracts have been exchanged, on condition of receiving planning permission. This means if the Planning Committee does not pass the application, Havering Council does not get paid. This in our view leaves the whole planning process with a very dark grey area over it, if Councillors do not approve the application.

You have until 20th May to submit objections to the application; you can e-mail planning@havering.gov.uk or write to Planning Control, Mercury House, Mercury Gardens, Romford, Essex, RM1 3SL. Could we also ask you to copy Cllr Andrew Mann into any objections via the Town Hall or e-mail, andrew.mann@havering.gov.uk

New Leader for Havering Residents Group

At last nights Annual General Meeting of the Residents’ Association group, Cllr Clarence Barrett was elected as the new leader, after Cllr Barbara Matthews stood down from the post after 9 years.

Cllr Gillian Ford remains as Deputy Leader whilst Cllr Linda Van Hende steps in as group meeting Chairman and Cllr Linda Hawthorn as secretary. Cllr Andy Mann continues in his role as the Residents Group Press and Communications Officer.

Cllr Barrett said: “It is an honour and privilege to take on the role of Leader of the Residents’ Association and Leader of the Opposition. I hope to carry on the excellent work of Cllr Barbara Matthews who has done a fantastic job as leader over the last 10 years.

“Any democracy is only as strong as its opposition and I aim to give the people of Havering an opposition which will continue to scrutinise and hold to account the performance of the current Administration.

“We have one of the largest Residents’ Associations in the country and it is with optimism, confidence and belief that we will continue to grow and represent the views, hopes and aspirations of the people of Havering”.

Residents Association Cllr Len Long dies

It is with great sadness that Cllr Len Long passed away yesterday.

Cllr Long represented the Residents' Association for the South Hornchurch ward and had just celebrated his 30th anniversary in public service having being first elected on 4th May 1978.

Cllr Long, of Castle Avenue, Rainham, represented Havering on many organisations such as the Havering Band and Majorettes Association, Lucas Children's Play Charity, the Metropolitan Police Authority's South Hornchurch Community Police Consultative Group and the Mardyke Youth & Community Centre.

He also served on the Housing Overview and Scrutiny Committee and South Hornchurch and Rainham Area Committee as well as holding school governorships at Whybridge Infant School and Whybridge Junior School.

Len was also involved with many other organisations such as; the Romford & Hornchurch Royal Navy Association, Vice Chairman of Romford British Legion and Bands Association (boys section), President of Bretton Seafarers Association, Royal Navy Corvette Association, Canadian RNA, London Mayors Association and South Hornchurch & Havering Residents' Association.

He caused a storm last year, when the Council refused him permission to photo copy letters advertising the Remembrance Day Parade in Rainham, the full story can be found at the Daily Mail by clicking her.

The funeral will be held on Friday 16th May (10am) at Corbets Tey Crematorium.

A date for the by-election will be announced next week.

Gobions Avenue Post Office to Close

"It is a sad day for Collier Row" words of postmaster, Mr Sunny Patel


Following yesterdays announcement by Post Office Ltd, to close Gobions Avenue Post Office in Collier Row, Havering Park, Ward Councillor, Andrew Mann has hit out at the decision.

He said “Despite massive objections from local residents the Government and Post Office Ltd have totally ignored local feeling and residents objections have been ignored, this post office serves hundreds of local residents from across Chase Cross, Havering-Atte-Bower and Collier Row, its closure will now have an adverse affect on those that use its services, in particular the elderly and those less able to get around”

He went on “We have done a lot of work recently to improve the Gobions Avenue area, with pavement and lighting upgrades, without our post office bringing in residents, it will put the whole shopping parade in jeopardy of becoming like a ghost town”,

He went on “I feel terribly sorry for Sunny Patel, who has run this post office for 20 years, he does not deserve this and has been an asset to the community in all that time”The Residents Association collected hundreds of signatures on a petition, which along with Romford M.P. Andrew Rosindell, were delivered to the Prime Minister at Number 10 Downing Street, hoping that by working together, it would add greater weight to the objections.

The Residents Association would like to thank everyone that wrote in or objected in anyway, although on this occasion it has not helped, the show of public support towards Sunny Patel and the local feeling has been huge.

Cllr Mann also singled out the Prime Minister for attack, he said “Gordon Brown delayed announcing this from last week so that it did not affect local people voting in the London Elections, he could not have had a worse time as it was, yet he hid behind the consultation so as not to give him any more bad news”.

St Francis Hospice

The Collier Row & Mawneys team were out in force on Friday, at the opening of the “Pepperell Education Centre” at St Francis Hospice in Havering-Atte-Bower. Both Joe Webster and Denis Stevens joined Havering Park Councillor, Andrew Mann at the event. (Picture: L to R, Denis Stevens, Gloria Honniford & Cllr Mann)

The education centre, newly built within the grounds of the hospice was officially opened by T.V personality and former news reporter, Gloria Hunniford, who has a close affection to the Hospice after losing her daughter, former Blue Peter presenter, Caron Keating at the age of 41 to breast cancer.

Gloria, spoke passionately about the affects of caner on her family and how she had to come to terms with Caron’s death, Cllr Mann said “It was very nice to meet Gloria and hearing about her own personal circumstances after losing her daughter so young, she made the opening of the Centre a very special day for everyone at the Hospice”.

For more information about St Francis Hospice, you can visit their web site at www.stfrancishospice.co.uk or contact them by phone on 01708 75 33 19.

New Mayor of London

London has a new Mayor, after 8 years of Ken Livingstone, Conservative Boris Johnson was declared the winner after a six week campaign with 1,168, 738 votes, a majority of almost 140,000.

Boris has often been described as a floppy haired buffoon, even by his admirers, his bumbling, self-deprecating personality has long made him one of the best known politicians of his time, often by his many TV appearances, now he is running one of the biggest Cities in the World with, a £11 Billion budget.

His full name is Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson and was born in New York to English parents in 1964 and was, until recently, an American citizen. He has the typical upper class English background of Eton public school, Oxford University and a father who is a Conservative politician. But he is no stereotypical aristocrat.

Nothing about the 43-year-old now given huge powers over one of the world's great cities is as straightforward as it appears. Yet he has also has the ability to sabotage his own career with his sense of fun - and apparent refusal to take things too seriously - proving his undoing on more than one occasion.

Lets hope with Ken gone, Boris can start to make a difference to the people of Haveirng, the Mayor has a lot to do in helping Havering residents gain better services and more money distributed more evenly across London.

GLA Member for Havering and Redbridge, Roger Evans was also re-elected for another 8 year term, beating his second placed rival from the Labour party by a comfortable margin.

London Elections

Today is polling day in London and it is your chance to have a say on how London is run, the polls open at 07.00 and close at 22.00 tonight. The votes will then be counted tomorrow at a East London location, the results should be none late afternoon.

The Residents Association are not contesting the London Elections, you have three votes today, the first is for the Mayor, are you fed up with Ken Livingstone ? the second vote is for your GLA member, currently Conservative Roger Evans and the third vote is for the party vote, which votes for the GLA members that do not represent a constituency.

Don't forget, by voting you are having your say, if you stay at home and do not vote, you can not influence any change, elections are won or lost on a single vote sometimes, so every vote does count.