Blog Update

Its been a few weeks since i have posted any new stories, lts of reasons for this, which i shall list in no particular order,

I.T issues with my p.c not allowing cookies, which blogger needs to work.

Have been busy in the Town Hall, in particular with the Car Park campaign

Have been putting together our next news letter which will be out shortly, with an increased size of 16 pages of local news.

Anyhow, come back over the weekend as i attempt to upload a few of the things that have been going on over the last few weeks. Today is also our monthly residents drop in surgery, so will be meeting people later to discuss issues and concerns.

Andy

Latest on the Parking Report

This Wednesday, the Tory Cabinet agreed the Parking Strategy Report, despite a lengthy debate and opposition from many Councillors.

Much was said by the Tory Cabinet members why this was the best thing since sliced bread, they just can not see what damage they will be doing to our small town centres.

However all is not lost, as the opposition spokesman on Environmental matters i will be "calling in" the report, which means that the Cabinet can not act on the proposals until a meeting of the Environment Overview & Scrutiny meeting has been held.

This will then give Residents Association and other opposition Councillors the chance to question the Cabinet on why they are bringing forward the plan and all of its 28 recommendations. Once the meeting date has been agreed, i will post more info.

In the mean time, the on line petition is increasing in size every day, if you would like to sign it, follow the link below.

http://www.gopetition.com/online/12181.html

Residents Drop in Surgery

We had another successful Residents Drop in surgery this Saturday at the Forest Lodge Activity Centre, in Lodge Lane, Collier Row. A number of residents came along to discuss issues that are concerning them and to meet the team.

Our next surgeries are held the second Saturday of the month, from 10.30 to 12.00 at the Forest Row centre in Lodge Lane, the next surgery is being held on Saturday

If you need any help or advice, just drop in and speak with us, or if your situation is more urgent, you can e-mail, andrew.mann@havering.gov.uk or phone on 01708 768 008.

The site currently has building work going on, however the centre it is fully open and operational, so don't be put of by appearances. Click here, for a link to see a map of the location of the centre.

Say no to Car Park Charges in Collier Row

The Conservative Administration ruling Havering Council this week launched a “Parking Management Strategy” report, with a 28 point action plan to agree the future management of the Councils Parking Services and associated operations. The report and press release sent out this week would have you think its all good stuff, but read deeper into the 40 page report and the real truth comes out.

The main changes in the report include:

The introduction of pay and display machines in all of the Boroughs Car Parks and new parking charges, this includes Rex Close, behind Tesco in Collier Row.

Restrictions changed so you can not park on single yellow lines on a Sunday.

Parking Permits to be linked to Vehicle Emissions, so families with people carriers and large family cars will be hit hardest.

For those that live in a controlled Parking Zone, a huge increase in charges, with the 3rd car costing £100 (there are non in Collier Row at present)

A special pass for Council workers to park illegally in residents and visitors bays and some single yellow lines, free of charge, whilst residents and visitors have to park up and walk to there destination.

Parking Charges for Blue Badge holders in all Car Parks (except level 1 disabilities) therefore affecting many elderly and disabled residents.

Disk Parking bays to be scrapped if Pay & Display machine recover there money within 2 years. (currently quite a few in Collier Row)

Changes to allow just a select few to agree to installing double yellow lines, therefore removing local Councillors and residents views.

Consent for CCTV cars to enforce no right turns, yellow box junctions, no U turns, One way streets and other moving traffic offences, which could be a huge income generator for Havering.

Charges for Blue Badge Applications, affecting the elderly and disabled again.

Charges for traffic orders dealing with Carnivals, marches and parades, risking these free events to residents by huge charges.


If you wish to oppose this new parking regime, drop me a line via the Town Hall, or sign the residents Associations on line petition at the following web site. http://www.gopetition.com/online/12181.html

Friends of King Georges Quiz Night

I have been a little behind with my posts over the last 2 weeks, so most apologise for the delay in reporting on what i have been up to. Two weeks ago, i joined Karen & Graham Price (From our Mawneys team) and Cllr Ray Morgon and our family and friends to attend a Quiz Night in aid of the Friends of King Georges Playing Fields.

It was a great night, with over 50 local people present to raise funds for this wonderful organisation that has put the improvement of the park t the top of the local agenda. Well, we did not come last, that's all i can say, there was some debate on when we should play our joker, if we had played it on "Sport" we would have come forth, however due to our choices on the night, we came fifth and no, before you all wonder, there was more than five teams, i think there was ten.

Well done to Linda Trew and her team for putting it all together. Graham Price presented Linda with a framed photo highlighting some of the work that has been achieved.

Friends of Havering Park Meeting

As mentioned in the previous post, the meeting for the Friends of Havering County Park was last Thursday evening. I attended along with 20 - 25 local residents who had been informed of the meeting. However, there was some concern that not many people knew about the meeting.

Havering Council had kindly placed an advert in the April issue of Living mag, however most of them had not been delivered by the 26th April, the night of the meeting, this is not acceptable, as many residents missed out, and i have taken the issue up with the Assistant Chief Executive of Havering to ask for an explanation.

Apart from only a few people present, the meeting went very well, it was chaired by Sgt Andy Barnes of Havering Park Safer Neighbourhoods Police Team, Sgt Barnes was supported on the night by the rest of his team.

The basic idea of how a friends group works was explained to all present, lots of questions were asked and a lot of concerns where expressed about the park, in particular the amount of motor bikes that illegally use the park. Sgt Barnes outlined some of the operations and work that has already gone on, such as the operation that i attended some two months ago.

Another meeting is going to be held around mid June time t try and set the group up, if you would like to attend keep watching the blog site for an update when we know the date. Or, if you would like to get involved, drop me a line know and i can send you some details in the post.

Friends of Havering Country Park

This Wednesday, the 25th April, a meeting is being held at the North Romford Community Centre, in Clockhouse Lane, Collier Row to bring together local residents who live in Collier Row and Havering-Atte-Bower to talk about issues affecting Havering Country Park and to see about setting up a friend’s of the Park group.

The meeting has been put together by the Havering Park Safer Neighbourhood Team, under Sgt Andy Barnes and his tem of Officers. The aim of a friends group is to bring together like mined residents to support the work in the park and to raise money from external sources, something the Council can not do, unless it is supported by local residents.

It is not run by or organised by Councillors, Friends Groups can only attract outside money if is run by local residents, however any residents that joins the group will have the full support of the Collier Row & Mawneys Residents Association and our Ward Co-ordinators in making it a success.

The meeting starts at 7.30pm, I hope to see you there.

Happy St Georges Day

Well today is St Georges Day, the 23rd April. Despite many residents and Politicians calling for a Bank Holiday for today, we still don’t have one. I do think that many residents would support the idea of introducing a National Day. As usual nothing is being organised by Havering Council, despite all the big words.

Apart from both the Mayor and Deputy Mayor attending the Scouts, St Georges Parades in Romford, Hornchurch and Squirrels Heath Scout Districts, nothing much happened, apart from the market traders displaying their flags in the market place, which of course they have done so for years.

As a Scout Leader of 15 years now, I was pleased to attend the St Georges Parade in Romford yesterday, Cllr Georgina Galpin, the Deputy Mayor was in attendance and looked great in all her splendour, she spent a lot of time talking with all of the young Beavers, Cubs & Scouts, which was nice to see.

As there is no bank holiday, I suppose I better get of to work, let’s see what happens next year.

SNT Police Ward Panel Meeting

I attended a panel meeting of the Havering Park Safer Neighbourhood Team this week; the meeting was held at Clockhouse School and involved a number of key people from within the ward.

The idea of the Ward Panel is simple. Local residents meet and discuss issues around Policing in the ward; they then set the local team their priorities. They are based on what residents feel are the highest priorities within the ward.

I was pleased to be invited to this weeks meeting by Sgt Andy Barnes, he has only been with the Havering Park team for a few months, he has a great team of officers that are always willing to listen and help. I hope to be at the next ward meeting, so if you have any ideas about what our team should be looking at more closely, drop me a line and I will pass on any comments.

The idea of Safer Neighbourhood Policing is basically going back to the old days when we had beat bobbies patrolling collier Row, each officer has his or her own patch, allowing residents to get to know the officers.

SNT are not emergency response teams though, they work different shift patterns each day of the week, including weekends. If you have an emergency you should always phone 999. I have included the contact details of the team below.

The number for the team is 0208 721 2510 or mobile 07876 392 006, or you can e-mail them on the following address, Haveringpark.snt@met.police.uk

Blog Site to be researched

I am pleased to inform all of my avid readers of this website that it has recently been recognised as part of a major piece of research being carried out by the De Montfort University in Leicester.

Cllr Mann’s blog has been selected from a range of political blog sites, from Members of Parliament and Councillors across the Country, the results of the in-depth analysis will be presented to the Political Studies Association Annual Conference later this year and published in a special issue of “Information Polity” that is being written by Dr Scott Wright and Prof Stephen Coleman of De Montfort University.

Cllr Mann said, “I am pleased that my web site has been recognised in this way, I look forward to seeing the results of the analysis later this year when published, I have tried to make the stories on the site, both interesting and informative to residents of North Romford”.

The addition of a new web counter to the site has shown that the website is now receiving over 100 hits a week, with this figure slowly increasing week on week.

Recent postings to the site include, Crackdown on illegal motorbikes, Collier Row & Mawneys Residents Association Drop in Surgery details, Collier Row Regeneration Project, on line version of our recent News Letter and some personal views of Cllr Mann on the goings on in the Town Hall generally.

Area Committee

This Thursday will see the last Area Committee of this municipal year, being held at the usual location of the Immanuel School, Havering Road North, the formal meeting starts at 7.30pm, with StreetCare staff on hand from 7pm.

Do you have any issues with the local Council that you would like to discuss, there is one report on the agenda dealing with an upgrading of bus stops in Havering Road and Pettits Lane North.

A repoert requested by myself concerning the River Rom has failed to appear on the agenda, as i write this post i am still waiting to hear why this is the case.

Residents Drop in Surgery

The Collier Row & Mawneys Residents Association is holding its first residents drop in surgery this Saturday, the 14th April. They are being held at the old Forest Lodge School Site, (F.L.A.C) in Lodge Lane, Collier Row, from 10.30 to 12.00. Click here for location details.

Cllr Andrew Mann will be on hand with both “Mawneys” and “Havering Park” Ward Organisers to listen to local residents and any concerns they may have with Havering Council, such as Housing, StreetCare or Parks issues. There is no need to make an appointment, just drop in during the morning; we will even make you a cup of tea.

If you need to make a private appointment with Cllr Mann to discuss an issue, you can still do so by phoning 01708 768 008.

Safer Neighbourhood Team Police Meeting

I had one of my regular briefings with the Havering Park, Safer Neighbourhood Team last week. Sgt Andy Barnes the team leader for our ward outlined some of his current issues, concerns and operations. We spoke about anti social behaviour in Collier Row, motor bikes in the Country Park and other Police issues affecting the Ward.

The day we meet, happened to coincide with the third anniversary of SNT's in London, although Havering Park was one of the last wards in London to get a full team, they have now been in existence across the Capital as a whole for three years. They are probably the only expansion in the Mayor of London’s budget that I could agree with.

We also discussed the newly created Ward Panel, this is a team of residents who live in the ward, they help scope and focus the team on priorities that residents want. The SNT are not lead by the Borough, but by what needs the ward have, which helps them to become truly local.

Sgt Barnes is a big believer in partnership working, he has made a huge impact in the 4 months or so that he has been on the team, working hard with all of his team together, to tackle local community issues, identified by local people.

Sgt Barnes said, “This is a really exciting time for the Havering Park Ward. We now have a really fantastic opportunity to move forward and resolve issues that locals want resolving. Rolling out the Safer Neighbourhoods model of community policing and working closely with our partners including Councillors is what it is all about. Importantly - our `community' is one of those partners”.

Illegal bikes need Cracking down on Harder

This week, I have called for more to be done in stopping illegal motorbikes in Havering Country Park and Bedfords Park, both in “Havering Park” ward in North Romford

As the opposition spokesman for the Environment at Havering Council, I have called for more help from the Council and the Borough Police Commander in supporting the Safer Neighbourhood Team working in “Havering Park” ward in cracking down on illegal motorbikes.

I recently spent the day with the “Havering Park” ward SNT on an operation in Havering Country Park, seeing how they work and surporting their operation.

The SNT in “Havering Park” ward have been doing a good job to date, with operations at weekends in the parks, however they only have a limited number of officers and resources. Don’t forget that for every operation in the park with the team, days are lost on the beat during the week”

Despite Havering Council recently allocating £10k for a new steel fence for part of the park, it is only 150m long. “It is madness to pay all that money for such a short piece of fencing, in my view, it is a knee jerk reaction to a far bigger problem, the bikers will just go to another part of the park that does not have steel fencing. At that rate it would take over £1/2 million pounds to fence the whole park, however, as both parks have legal bridal paths, any gates would have to allow a horse, but not a motorbike, something so far the Council has not been able to resolve.

As someone that was brought up just a few hundred yards from the Country Park, I am concerned that someone will be seriously injured by a biker. We have lots of families with children, old people and horse riders using the park, if we do not stop this anti social behaviour soon and come down hard on any offenders, I am worried that they will not just be seriously injured, but we could see someone being killed.

No more chips for Collier Row

Following a campaign by the Collier Row & Mawneys Residents Association, Havering Council has refused a planning application for a KFC takeaway in Collier Row. Officers commented that the proposal “would result in a row of three non retail uses in the core retail area of Collier Row”

Which in English means, there is already plenty of takeaway outlets in Collier Row and adding another one will not benefit the Town Centre in one way?

When the application was made some 6 weeks ago, m self and Graham Price spent some time in Collier Row talking to residents and shopkeepers about the application. Graham Price said, “We already have chips shops, Indians, Chinese, Wimpy, kebabs, pizza, chicken and cafes, I think Collier Row is at saturation point in relation to more takeaway outlets.

We are worried that this application is one too many for our Town Centre”.The Council have spent a lot of time and money on regenerating the Town, to enhance the area and to improve the shopping environment, for Collier Row to gain yet another take away outlet is a step in the wrong direction”

Spring Newsletter now being delivered

The latest edition of the Collier Row & Mawneys Residents Association newsletter is now being delivered across Havering Park & Mawneys Wards. 11,000 copies will be delivered by the end of the month to every house, flat, shop and business in North Romford.

The new style, 12 page booklet should be easier to read and is now in a handy size that allows you to keep it by the phone to refer to the contact numbers inside.

We also have a selection of advertisers, many of them local to Collier Row, if you use any of the traders, dont forget to mention that you got the number from the newsletter.

Please feel free to drop me a line with any comments you may have about the newsletter.

Residents Association 2012 Olympics Petition

Residents Association Councillor, Clarence Barrett recently presented the 3,519 strong Havering Residents Association petition, which protests about the funding arrangements for the 2012 Olympic Games, it was presented to the Mayor of London via the GLA Assembly. Havering and Redbridge GLA Member, Cllr Roger Evans

Cllr Clarence Barrett said: “Whilst welcoming the Games to London in 2012, the issue of funding the Olympics and who will meet the overspend has a particular significance to the residents of Greater London. I am very pleased that the thousands of people who have signed our petition will now have their views expressed to the Mayor. Indeed, I shall be making sure the Culture Secretary, Tessa Jowell, also receives a copy.

“I am very grateful to the support given to this petition by the residents of Havering and beyond and firmly believe that the existence of this protest has and will make a difference to the outcome of this issue”.

The wording of the petition is as follows:

To: Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London

Under a pre-arranged deal with the government, council taxpayers across London are compelled to pay an additional £20 per year (based on an average Band D property) for up to eleven years to raise £625 million towards the total cost of the 2012 Olympic Games.
The average council tax across London has increased by 35 per cent over the last five years and has become a significant financial burden for many thousands of residents.

a) There has been no direct consultation with Londoners regarding the setting of an Olympic levy and we do not consider it fair to impose the charge on London residents alone. The 2012 Games is set to benefit the country as a whole and we submit that the costs, including the £625 million, should be shared across the country as a whole.

b) Should the staging the London 2012 Olympic Games result in an overspend against budget, we seek absolute assurance that Londoners will not have this deficit added to council tax bills beyond the pre-arranged period.

Is it chips for Collier Row ?

The CRM Residents Association has concerns at yet another planning application for a take away outlet in Collier Row, which we understand has been made on behalf of KFC.

My self and Graham Price recently spent some time in Collier Row talking to residents and shopkeepers about the application. Graham Price said, “We already have chips shops, Indians, Chinese, Wimpy, kebabs, pizza, chicken and cafes, I think Collier Row is at saturation point in relation to more takeaway outlets. I am worried that this application is one too many for our Town Centre”.

The Council have spent a lot of time and money on regenerating the Town, to enhance the area and to improve the shopping environment, for Collier Row to gain yet another take away outlet is a step in the wrong direction”

The CRM Residents Association accepts that shops close and have to change; however filling Collier Row with takeaways is not the answer. There is support available from the Council to help small businesses and we wish to encourage new retail outlets, not just chip shops.

However, I am pleased to welcome a new business to Collier Row, a new estate agents is set to open in Collier Row. “Steps” will be taking over an old shop that has been empty for over 12 months, based in Dagenham; they plan to open in April, we wish them luck.

Chief Executive of Havering Retires

Stephen Evans, Havering’s Chief Executive, retires from his post this week and I was pleased to be able to attend a fair well drink at the Town Hall last night. We heard the usual stuff when someone retires, funny stories; he’s a good bloke really, we will miss him, everyone loves the boss, etc,etc.

To be honest, I have always got on with Stephen, during my time as a Cabinet member we disagreed on a few things and did not see eye to eye on everything, but as a whole, we sorted any issues out that we had and got the job done.

Stephen Evans has been at Havering Council for eight years and Chief Executive for the last four and a half years, during that time he has overseen the delivery of a programme of stabilisation and improvement at the Council. A lot has happened over the last four years or so that he was in charge and has been resonsible for a culture change in the Town Hall.

Stephen Evans recently said: "I have thoroughly enjoyed my time as Chief Executive. Havering is a great borough and has a Council committed to improvement and regeneration. Havering has improved much over the last three years and I feel that the task I was set has been completed. The Council is ready for a succession-planning exercise that will allow an orderly transfer to a new Chief Executive. I would like to thank staff, councillors, local organisations and residents for making my time here so pleasant. I will look forward to working with them all until March next year."

I would like to wish Stephen all the best for his retirement, now he is not politically restricted in his post, he may wish to come and help deliver some of our news letters up in North Romford, we are always looking for helpers !

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Best wishes Stephen and thanks.

Andy

Chelmsford Avenue Play Site

Your Residents Association team is pleased that the gates have finally re-opened at Chelmsford Avenue Park, off Gobions Avenue. The park was closed last June, by the Council and the local Police after the equipment and ground had become so dangerous it was felt it would be un-safe. The work to reopen the park, should have taken just a few weeks, but in the end it took almost 9 months.

Cllr Mann said “Chelmsford Avenue Park was allocated £65 thousand pounds over two years ago and it is a disgrace that the money has still not been spent, I would like to know why are Havering Council dragging its feet on this issues”

“There is no reason why this park has been left to rot, the Council closed the gates months ago, it has left local kids with no park to play in and there is no excuse for this delay. I am also concerned about the recent comments from the Leader of the Council, Michael White, on his public announcement that some play sites may have to be sold, part of Havering’s heritage is its green and open spaces”. You can count on the Residents Association in fighting any plans for selling of parks.

It seems like forever, when i was first pictured at the park in front of the closed gates, i only hope now that it does not take Havering Council another 9 months to sort out the new play equipment and works rquired in the park.