Say No to Dartford Crossing sell - Off

SIGN THE PETITION TO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT

Gordon Brown has recently announced a car boot sale of British owned assets, to ballance the books after bringing the Country to its knees.

The proposed sell-off of the Dartford Crossing will mean that the toll will not only remain but is likely to increase significantly as private operators seek to maximise profits.

The Crossing should not be sold off and, furthermore, the toll should be scrapped at the earliest possible opportunity in order to prevent the unacceptable levels of delay, pollution and cost to business.

SIGN THE PETITION TO THE PRIME MINISTER TO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT

http://www.gopetition.com/online/31379.html

Gallows Corner flyover now open

Gallows Corner Flyover has been re-opened, ahead of schedule, and to a big sigh of relief for motorists using the A12/A127.


Following a period of routine repair works in April 2008, the flyover was further closed to traffic on 28 th May for major works to repair the parapets and support structures.


The Gallows Corner two-lane flyover was erected as a temporary structure in 1970, for an intended 12 to 15 year period. Since then, the flyover has been maintained by a succession of owners since its construction comprising Havering Borough Council, the Department for Transport, the Highways Agency and, since 2000, Transport for London (TfL).

Gallows Corner flyover now open

Gallows Corner Flyover has been re-opened, ahead of schedule, and to a big sigh of relief for motorists using the A12/A127.

Following a period of routine repair works in April 2008, the flyover was further closed to traffic on 28 th May for major works to repair the parapets and support structures.

The Gallows Corner two-lane flyover was erected as a temporary structure in 1970, for an intended 12 to 15 year period. Since then, the flyover has been maintained by a succession of owners since its construction comprising Havering Borough Council, the Department for Transport, the Highways Agency and, since 2000, Transport for London (TfL).

M25 Road Widening to start

Work starts on Monday 20th July to widen the M25 between junctions 27 and 30.

The first phase of work will be from junction 27 (M11) to junction 28 (A12). Later works will affect junction 29 (A127) and junction 30 (A13), the works are being carried out by the Highways Agency and will take over 12 months to complete.

A contraflow with three narrow lanes in each direction and temporary 50mph average speed enforcement will be in place to keep everyone safe. Overnight, when traffic flow is reduced, there will be lane and/or slip road closures as necessary.

Some advance works have already been carried out including:

surveys and site clearance
construction of motorway crossovers
construction of our compound and emergency access routes
fencing and relocation of newts and reptiles

The Highways Agency Community Relations Team will be available throughout the construction process to answer any queries you may have about the project. They can be contacted at: communityrelations27-30.m25@sbbjv.co.uk

For further information please call the Highways Agency Information Line, 08457 50 40 30 or email: m25widening@highways.gsi.gov.uk

Gallows Corner flyover CLOSED

Gallows Corner flyover will be closed from tomorrow morning, for 3 months to enable repair works to be carried out. Additional works were found to be needed after the existing safety barriers were not up to the job. The work that was necessary to manufacture the support structures off-site has now been completed.

However, it will take at least three months, working 7 days a week, to install the new parapets. During the period of works the flyover will be fully closed with traffic diverted around Gallows Corner Roundabout.

There will be partial lane closures on the roundabout and its approach during off-peak periods and there will be inevitable delays to motorists.

It will also affect certain bus routes, including, the 174, 496 and 498.

Galllows Corner Flyover to close for three months !!

TfL have announced that the Gallows Corner Flyover will shut for three months from 28th May for repair works to be carried out.

Additional works to repair the parapets was identified in April last year and the necessary off-site construction of the support structures is now complete. However, it will take at least three months, working 7 days a week, to install the new parapets.

During the period of works the flyover will be fully closed with traffic diverted around Gallows Corner Roundabout. There will be partial lane closures on the roundabout and its approach during off-peak periods and there will be inevitable delays to motorists. It will also affect certain bus routes, including, the 174, 496 and 498.

The Gallows Corner two-lane flyover was erected as a temporary structure in the Sixties, for an intended 12 to 15 year period. Since then, the flyover has been maintained by a succession of organisations since its construction, comprising of Havering Borough Council, the Department for Transport, the Highways Agency and, since 2000, Transport for London (TfL).

Cllr Mann, who met TfL representatives at the flyover last year to discuss the issue said “The delays over this repair work have been a nightmare for local residents and commuters to and from London, most of this delay was unnecessary if a proper inspection had taken place prior to the works being started last year”, lets hope that once this work is completed, the flyover will operate for many years without any trouble”.

Untaxed cars - CRUSHED

Havering Council has now crushed 100 vehicles since it hired a new contractor to get tough on people who don't tax their cars. Over 240 untaxed cars have been towed away since the new contractor started in September last year and now the 100th vehicle has met its fate, recently being crushed.

Havering Council appointed a new contractor which uses automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) equipment to identify untaxed vehicles within seconds. Abandoned vehicles can also be identified and removed before they become vandalised.

Two ANPR-equipped vehicles are patrolling the borough scanning streets and car parks. Once a vehicle is identified, the contractor will seek the authority of the DVLA to lift the vehicle onto a recovery truck and take it to a pound. The new contractor is now removing on average 40 vehicles a month.

To reclaim their vehicles, owners will have to pay a minimum of £100 plus a surety of £160 or show a valid tax disc. If the owner fails to claim their car after 14 days, the DVLA can give approval for it to be crushed.

Cllr Andy Mann, the former Cabinet Member for StreetCare (pictured above) who first introduced car crushing in Havering, some four years ago said “lots of residents get annoyed when they see cars without a tax disc, and now drivers will need to act more responsibly are they will loose their car. Untaxed cars often have no insurance or an M.O.T and have been used for criminal activity”

The owner can verify a removed vehicle's location by contacting http://www.trace.com/ or phone 020 7747 4747. The contact telephone number for the pound is 01702 469 449.

The charges for recovering an untaxed vehicle are:

Within 24 hours of removal - £100, plus a surety of £160 or a valid tax disc
After 24 hours of removal - £200, plus a surety of £160 or a valid tax disc
Storage is charged at £21 per day from the third day after removal

Gallows Corner Update

Havering Park Ward Councillor, Andrew Mann has recently been briefed by Andrew Miles (pictured above on the left with Cllr Mann) from Transport for London, about the on-going situation with the Gallows Corner Fly-Over, below is copy of the briefing note.

Contractors for Transport for London have now carried out the necessary investigation and feasibility design work for the permanent repair of the safety parapets that their inspections had shown had become heavily corroded.

As the flyover is a ‘temporary’ structure, its design is not compatible with modern standard parapet design solutions. A customised design will therefore be necessary, which will be manufactured off-site to achieve the necessary quality control and to minimise installation difficulties.

TfL have completed initial designs and testing of materials and their contractors are currently carrying out the detailed design specifications, which are scheduled to be complete by the end of this month. After this time TfL will be in a much better position to confirm the start date for their manufacture, the date they will be installed and the impacts the installations could have on traffic.

From the end of February TfL also expect to have a programme for the refurbishment of the flyover completed, so that they can estimate more precisely an end-date for the works.
Installation of the parapets will require TfL to find the balance in terms of not unduly inconveniencing residents and road users with excessive disruption, whilst completing the repairs as quickly as possible so that the flyover can be reopened.

In this context, they intend to carry out the repair works outside of the busy peak periods and at weekends, with night-time working where this will not contravene environmental health constraints or safety considerations.

We remain on track to complete the works by summer 2009.

Dartford - Thurrock Crossing

Changes at the Dartford – Thurrock Crossing

The charging regime at the Dartford - Thurrock Crossing will change with effect from 10.00pm on Saturday 15th November 2008. The main changes are as follows:

No charges at night during the hours of 10.00pm to 6.00a

Charges for those customers outside those times paying cash will increase (e.g. from £1 to £1.50 for cars, from £1.80 to £2 for 2 axle goods vehicles, and from £2.90 to £3.70 for Multi-axle goods vehicles)

Discounts for those paying by the electronic pre-payment DART -Tag system will also increase (e.g. cars will pay the current £1 charge only).

There will no longer be any charge for trailers.

A Local Resident scheme will be introduced applicable only to those living within the Dartford and Thurrock Council areas.

A pre-registration scheme will be available for vehicles that are exempt from paying the charge.

Further information is available from Le Crossing Company Limited's Customer Centre on 01322 280200 or via the website http://www.dart-tag.co.uk/.

KERB STONES

Loose kerb stones are creating a nuisance if not a danger in Rodney Way and the surrounding streets. When these were laid, the shallow kerbs were set on the concrete road base. Over time weathering, vibration, tree roots and pavement parking have taken their toll. The stones have come loose and are finishing up in the road creating a hazard particularly to cyclists.

Mawneys Team Member, Joe Webster (pictured above) has alerted StreetCare to the problem several weeks ago but as yet nothing has been done. Apart from urgent repairs to what is a dangerous situation, the Council should be looking to next years StreetCare budget for some planned maintenance in Mawneys Ward. There was nothing in this year's.

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”.

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”

Gallows Corner Nighmare Continues

Residents Association Councillor, Andrew Mann (Havering Park) has learnt of plans by Transport for London to open the flyover this week, but only one way ! And it may take over a year to re-open fully, if ever.

The planned re-opening 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 has now been 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 can not be completed with a two way traffic flow and from next Monday (28th July), the flyover will 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.

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”.

However, Cllr Mann is now worried about the future of the flyover he said “We all know that this flyover was moved form another location and installed over 35 years ago as a temporary structure, for years it has been allowed to sit and rot with no major maintenance work on it, TfL have failed to look after it properly until it is to late”.

He went on, it has been suggested to me by a reliable source that the flyover works set to take 12 months might be delayed even longer, as when they start on the new barriers, it may well unearth even more rust and damage that will make it unsafe for ever and nothing but scrap metal, to that end I will be writing to Mayor of London Boris Johnson and TfL Head, Peter Hendy, asking them both to set out precise plans for the re-opening of the flyover in both directions as a matter of urgency”

New 375 Bus starts service in Havering Village

Cllr Andrew Mann has been campaigning for a better bus service in the village, since he was first elected in 2002. Something the previous Mayor of London and Transport for London has constantly refused to consider. However, TfL and the Mayor have now been forced into dealing with this situation as hundreds of people would have been literally cut off from the outside world after Arriva Buses recently scrapped the 500 service. Cllr Mann wrote to both TFL and the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, objecting and to ask that the very serious issue of no bus service to and fro the village be looked at as a matter of some urgency.

TfL recently announced a new service that was introduced this week, on Monday 7th July to replace the old 500 bus. The service will operate from Monday to Saturday (no Sunday service) from 07.00 to 19.00 on a 90 min frequency from Romford Station to Passingford Bridge, where the bus will turn and then run back to Romford.

Cllr Andy Mann was on hand this week, as the new service picked up its first passengers at the Village Green in Havering-Atte-Bower, where he had the opportunity to talk to residents about the new service.

Havering Park Councillor, Andrew Mann said “I am glad that the Mayor and TfL have listened to the residents of the village about this very serious issue, hundreds of residents would have been cut of from basic daily chores such as shopping, work and medical appointments, whilst the service is only every 90 minutes, it is far better than the other option of nothing, I am pleased that the Residents Association on behalf of the residents in the Village has played a part in bringing this new service into our area”

Denis Stevens from the Residents Association said “We know this new service is not 100% perfect as it is only 90 minutes, has no Sunday service and will not go out into Essex; all of these issues were raised by residents to us. However, Tfl have assured Cllr Mann, that once the service is up and running, they will be open to consider changes and improvements if we can increase passenger numbers, so all is not lost on these issues”

This will be good news for the thousands of visitors each year to both the St. Francis Hospice Centre and the Essex Wildlife Trust visitors centre in Bedford’s Park, they would have found the traveling almost impossible if they do not happen to drive a car.

Dartford River Crossing

Despite calls to scrap the Dartford Crossing Toll and allow vehicles to move freely across the river, the Government now propose to increase the standard charge from £1.00 to £1.50 later this year.

The charge was introduced in 1963 and was designed to pay for the construction costs of the tunnels and latterly the bridge. These costs were finally paid off in 2002 and the legal authority to charge a toll expired in April 2003. However, the Government decided to continue the toll under the guise of a congestion charge, thereby retaining a net annual revenue of some £50m.

Now R.A Councillor, Clarence Barrett has created a petition to the Prime Minister which calls for the toll to be scrapped, as soon as is practicable, on the following grounds:

a) The congestion, which can stretch for many miles on either side of the crossing, is largely due to the effect of the tollbooths themselves.

b) The exhaust fumes generated by thousands of cars waiting in line causes unnecessary environmental damage.

c) The delays add unnecessary expense to business and transport costs.

If you are interested in this perhaps you could support/pass on, etc or sign the petition.

The petition can be signed by visiting

http://www.haveringra.org.uk/ or

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/dartxx

Angry of Havering Webs Site Launched

Following the Residents Associations high profile campaign to highlight the wrongs of the Conservative Councils CCTV Smart Car, local residents and business people have got together and launched a web site to help increase the profile of this issue.

The site www.angryofhavering.com has only been up for less than two weeks and it has already had a massive 2000 plus hits, which we have to say is very impressive, that is even more hits than our own site.

Cllr Mann has been helping residents and shop keepers in the Collier Row area for over six months on this issue, he has been inundated with people contacting him about the car and how the tickets have been issued.

All of this has been reported to Council officers and printed in the local press, however what do our Conservative Councillors do ?

Nothing, they tried to kick a review of the car into the long grass last week, after Cllr Mann moved a motion at a Environment Scrutiny meeting in the Town Hall.

There are some interesting views and pictures on the web site, take a look at www.angryofhavering.com the picture in the "Highway Robbery" section is interesting !

CCTV Car Review

Following a question from Cllr Mann to the Chairman of the Environment Overview & Scrutiny Committee at the last Council meeting, the chair has agreed to consider a review into the use of the car.

The issue was raised following hundreds of complaints to Residents Association Councillors about how the car was issuing tickets, from people being pictured with one foot hanging out of the door, to disabled drivers being wrongly issued tickets.

Recently the Council supplied information to Cllr Mann outlining the top ten locations for tickets across the Borough, with over 9% of the total tickets being issued in Atlanta Boulevard alone. See story below.

The Environment Overview & Scrutiny meeting is being held at Havering Town Hall on Thursday 6th March at 7.30pm, although this is a public meeting that anyone can attend, it is up to the Chairman if you can speak. So its over to Cllr Binion on that one !!

Maintenance work at Gallows Corner

Transport for London has informed Havering Council that it will be carrying out major maintenance works and carriageway resurfacing on the A127 Gallows Corner flyover next month.

The works are planned to start on 15 February 2008 and allowing for seasonal weather, will last for for five weeks. In the interest of safety to all road users, the flyover structure will be closed throughout this period.

It is proposed that the works are carried out under full closure traffic management, meaning the roundabout and slip roads will have lane closures at certain times during off peak hours.

For more information on the works please contact Transport for London on 0845 305 1234 or visit www.tfl.gov.uk.

Crime Figures down in Havering

Figures released by the Metropolitan Police indicate a significant decrease in the number of offences committed in Havering for the year ending November 2007.

The total number offences for the 12 month period to November 2007 amounted to 17,640 compared with 21,137 for the same period in 2006, equating to a 20 per cent decrease in recorded offences.

Among the most significant reductions were:

131% drop in gun enabled crime (from 67 to 29)
41% drop in motor vehicle crime (from 4,095 to 2,905)
15% drop in all violence against the person (from 3,903 to 3,397)
15% drop in all burglaries (from 2,569 to 2,235)
10% drop in domestic crime (from 1,174 to 1,066)

Key activities over recent months include a specific operation targeting burglaries, which led to an increase in the number of people arrested and intelligence gathered. In addition, a week long campaign targeting road safety was launched which led to 158 fixed penalty notices being issued for offences ranging from no seat belt to jumping a red light.

To view the complete set of figures please click on the following link.

http://www.met.police.uk/crimefigures/datatable.php?borough=kd&period=yer

Picture: Havering park Ward SNT Sgt Andy Barnes and Cllr Andy Mann out on patrol earlier in the year.

Essential A12 Eastern Avenue resurfacing works

Transport for London (TfL), which is responsible for the A12 carriageway, has informed Havering Council that it will be carrying out essential resurfacing works between Rise Park Boulevard and Masefield Crescent.

Improvements will take place from 15 November with work anticipated to be complete on 17 December (weather permitting). The majority of the works will be undertaken during the daytime and will result in single lane closures.

Resurfacing is programmed for five to six nights in mid December and will be undertaken during the night time. These works follow on from the recent essential drainage and carriageway works on Eastern Avenue (Eastbound) in September.

TfL has informed the Council that it hopes to keep the disruption to a minimum. TfL did apologise for any inconvenience to drivers and those on the diversionary route, who are likely to experience additional traffic.