Sunday Parking charges U-Turn by Council

Havering Council have announced a spectacular U-Turn, concerning the proposed parking charges for Collier Row, however the measures do not go far enough concerning the recently agreed Parking Policy. The Tory controlled Council have this week announced that they will not charge for Sunday parking in our town Centre, however, you will still have to pay Monday to Saturday.

Before the summer, Residents Association Councillors from across the Borough launched petitions in the outlying town Centres and collected almost 20,000 objectors to the proposals to start charging in areas such as Collier Row, Hornchurch, Elm park, Rainham, Cranham & Upminster.

Cllr Andrew Mann said “Whilst we welcome the decision, not to charge parkers on a Sunday, the Council have still ignored some 20,000 people by continuing with their proposals to charge six days a week, this is just another tax on shopping and will be detrimental to our town centres”.

Signatures were collected from around the Borough and include:

Collier Row 2236
Upminster 4715
Cranham 2803
Hornchurch 2997
Elm Park 2629
Cherry tree 344
On line Poll 551

The petitions were handed into the Mayor at a recent Council meeting.

Mawneys coordinator, Graham Price said “ Although the Administration has been forced into a U-Turn on this issue, it only deals with Sunday parking, but the charges will still apply in Romford Town centre, our smaller shopping centres will suffer with week day charges”

Cllr Mann concluded “They have still not looked at the parking charges for weekday parking in our small town centres and our argument is still the same, more needs to be done to support out of town shopping, our local communities will suffer if these charges are introduced”.

Dont lose your Vote !!

Reminders will be issued from this weekend to those residents who have not yet returned their Register of Electors form that was sent out to all 97,000 households at the end of August.

Every year an up to date list of names and addresses of those people living in Havering who are eligible to vote must be produced. This list forms the register of electors which is published every year on 1 December.

To vote in an election, eligible electors must be on the electoral roll. A GLA election is planned for 1 May 2008 and a snap General Election could be called at any time.

Registering to vote is straight forward. The reminder form is not pre-printed with names. Electors are asked to simply complete with the details of anyone who should be registered, sign and return to the Election Services office as soon as possible. Postage is pre-paid.

Residents with any enquiries should contact the Election Services Office, 01708 432444/5 or email Elections@havering.gov.uk.

Romford Recorder Letters Page

A copy of a letter published in this weeks Romford Recorder, concerning the on-going issues with Havering Councils CCTV smart car.

To the Editor

Thank you for highlighting the issue with Havering Councils CCTV camera car, I have been inundated with letters, phone calls and e-mail concerning the manner in which the car seems to operate and issue around individual cases.

These have come not just from businesses all over the Borough, but from residents who live anywhere from a main road to small little closes and they all paint a horror story about the way the car seems to operate.

Nobody is suggesting that we should not issue tickets, its all excepted I’m sure that you can not park on double yellow lines, zig zags outside schools, disabled badge offences or just mount the pavement and park were you like.

The information that I am collecting on behalf of the Residents Association group on Havering Council will help me and my colleagues, to call for a review, on how the car is deployed across the Borough.

If you would like to write to me, please do so via the Town Hall or e-mail me at andrew.mann@havering.gov.uk. Last week my address was printed incorrect, so if you think you have not had a reply from me, please send your e-mail again in case it did not come through.

Regards

Cllr Andrew Mann
Residents Association
Town Hall

Havering Cabinet Meeting

It was the monthly Cabinet meeting at Havering Council last night and I spoke on two reports as the opposition spokesman for the Environment for the Residents Association group.

The first report was a serious of recommendations from the Environment Overview & Scrutiny meeting; this group, which I was part of, met approx 5 times from October 2006 through to May 2007. The idea was to review what went on in Havering Trade Waste & Enforcement Department and in the process look at initiatives to reduce fly tipping.

However, Tory Chairman Cllr Binion was not interested in finding best practice or learning from other Councils across London, as she consistently refused my requests to make any such visits, thus failing the topic group from the beginning, as you can not challenge our own officers on what they are saying.

I feel justified in these comments when you look at the recommendations of the group, the only new initiative was to introduce a 360 litre wheelie bin to business users across the borough, that should help clean up the streets then !! All the other recommendations were to support the officers in initiatives that they are already doing, which we would do as a matter of course anyway.

I spent a lot of my own time working on ideas for improvements and e-mailed suggestions to Cllr Binion, who was the Chairman, but alas, all of my recommendations were knocked back, which is a shame I feel. As my day job involves me working for another London Borough in the trade waste area, my own experiences could have been invaluable in producing a report we could all have been proud off.

I have to say though, that my old adversary, Cllr Barry Tebbutt has said he is willing to sit down and listen to my views on how to improve the services that we deliver for the Borough, which I am pleased about, as it is a cut above the petty party politics in the Environment Scrutiny Committee.

The second report was an update on Havering’s Enforcement Policy, which I introduced in April 2006 whilst I was the Cabinet member for StreetCare. This report updated some of the polices and fixed penalty notice, issues that the Council has power to issue.

Web Site hits Increasing each Week

In the week we made 3000 hits in 6 months on the web site, we also had our highest count in a single week, with 151 hits last week. The busiest day was last Thursday, the 13th September which achieved a total of 45 in one day.

I'm not sure what was so special about last Thursday, but the hits are increasing each week now, it has been suggested to me that the site is only looked at by Councillors from opposing parties wanting to know what, A, I am up to and B, what is going on in Collier Row !

I'm sure neither could be true, but it seems that now a host of Council officers at Havering are also reading the blog site, not sure for what reason, although i know some have passed comment with favourable words. I have however, also received a letter from one Senior officer who did not like the views expressed by myself, but as they say, that's politics. I don't always like the spin in "Living" magazine, but you don't hear me asking them to change that.

Our new web address is making a huge difference, www.collier-row.co.uk has gone down very well and it suggests more of a local feel and not some corporate type global web site with just a dot com domain on the end !!

Havering Road House Fire

Saturday morning saw a huge house fire at the bottom of Havering Road, Collier Row, from a quick look, it would seem the house has massive structural damage, let alone water and smoke damage from putting it out.

I have been informed by the Chief fire officer at the scene that everybody got out, however the owner of the house was taken to hospital. Sadly, i have now been informed that the owner of the house has died from injuries sustained in the fire.

The youngest son of the family used to be one of my scouts and although house fires send a shiver down my spine, its even worse when you know the people concerned.

I took the time yesterday to read up a bit about smoke alarms and its surprising how many homes do not have one fitted. It is reported that almost 80% of homes have smoke alarms, however in 2002 Firefighters across England & Wales attended 5000 accidental house fires where alarms were fitted but failed to work.

The London Fire Brigade offer free home fire safety tests, you can find out more information by visiting the LFB web site here.

Note: I am not suggesting this house was not fitted with a fire alarm, i just thought i would find out a bit more information on the subject.

CCTV Parking Car Review

Cllr Mann will be calling for a review at Havering Council into the use of its CCTV car and to examine how and when tickets are issued.

Cllr Mann said "Since the story broke in the local press this week, I have been inundated by phone calls and e-mails from residents telling me of their horror stories concerning the car"

One of the biggest complaints from residents seems to be around the lack of proper white lines in the pavement parking bays, across the Borough, cars that have parked in the same spot for 20 years are now receiving tickets.

The next biggest issue concerns small residential streets, in particular Cul de sacs and dead end roads. It would seem again, that cars that have parked for years on part of the pavement are now being penalised.

In one particular close in Collier Row, the dustcart is unable to get down the road unless cars on at least one side park on the pavement. However last week at the same time the dustcart was in the road, with cars moving onto the pavement to allow it access, the CCTV car followed the dustcart down the road.

Cllr Mann said "At the moment we have no way of knowing if any tickets were issued, but if they were, it would seem like another example of Haverings new parking policy not working, i will wait and see if anyone contacts me"

Cllr Mann went on "There is nothing wrong with proper parking enforcement around schools, crossings, double yellow junctions and abuse of disabled parking spaces, after all that is what the Conservative Cabinet member (Cllr Tebbutt jnr) said at the time of its launch, it would seem only three months later that is not the case".

Havering Social Services in Mass Overspend of £5 Million (approx).

Havering Residents Association Councillors have slammed the Tory Administrations announcement of a £5 million pound investment in Social Services as a sham.

Cllr Mann, the press officer for the R.A Group said “It is nothing more than smoke and mirrors, as the money has not fallen out of the sky, it has been taken from all areas across the Council, including £850k from Public Realm, which runs front line services such as Parks and StreetCare”.

The budget announcement follows the discovery of a £3million black hole in Social Services budgets, however no mention of the overspend has been mentioned in the report that goes to Cabinet next Wednesday (19th Sept).

The Residents Association Finance Spokesman Cllr Clarence Barrett said “The Audit Commission say we are a 3 star council, yet how has this department been allowed to run up a huge overspend without anyone knowing or taken action sooner”.

“This is an exercise in 'expediency' and not dealing with the long term problem in a sustainable manner. The £5m has not appeared by magic, it has all come from somewhere. What is not being done in Public Realm for £849,000?”

He went on “This also comes, despite the fact that there has been a huge ration to services and increase in charges to the elderly, such as meals on wheels”

Cllr Mann went on to say “Overspending in Adult Social Services is not new, what we need is a solution that is workable and sustainable. We also need to demonstrate to central government that the funding formula leaves us short changed in Havering and it is an issue that needs addressing rather than expecting us to rob Peter to pay Paul.”

Key Questions the Residents Group will be putting to the Administration

If it has been a huge budget pressure, why was it not dealt with and addressed by the highly paid cabinet during the budget setting process less than 6 months ago.

There has been a Conservative Council for 5 years, yet they have still not got to grips with Adult social services, how many more years before they do, they should hang their heads in shame.

What departments of Social Services actually overspent their budget, the report says nothing about which areas in the budget

This is not a £5m injection; it is a cash grab from across the Council, including worryingly £850k from Public Realm, which manages StreetCare and Parks

Why are these huge sums lying around when we have the 4th highest Council Tax in London?

No exact details have been given about were the money is coming from, the details in the report or very vague, such as the £800k Special Budget Reserve and the LPSA Grant and the New Road And Street Works Act monies, are one off and are therefore not sustainable in the long term.

Parking CCTV car causing Chaos

Cllr Andrew Mann, the Residents Associations spokesman for the Environment has hit out this week over the tactics being used by Havering Council in deploying its two CCTV parking enforcement cars.

Cllr Mann has met with Dave Fuller, the owner of B & D Tyres in Collier Row after the company which has been based in Collier Row for over 35 years feels it is being targeted by the Council along with other shops and businesses in the small parade in Collier Row Road.

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.

The issue has now intensified following the decision by Romford car parts firm “Motex” refusing to delivery to garages across the borough unless they can guarantee off street parking following their vehicles receiving a huge amount of parking tickets.

Dave Fuller of B & D tyres said “This is just daylight robbery, we get this CCTV car here at least 2 or 3 times a day hitting on customers and delivery vehicles and its just not on”.

Cllr Mann said, “Whilst at the garage this week, I witnessed one of the delivery vehicles drop off some parts, it pulled up and was no longer than 3 minutes, I do not consider that to be an unreasonable amount of time to allow deliveries to be made, to issue tickets in this way does indeed to be picking on the little people”

He continues, “Whilst I chaired the Collier Row Regeneration Committee, we spent a lot of time and money in trying to improve the shopping experience in our Town Centre, the provision of parking restrictions is always going to be difficult, but it appears that this particular parade of shops is being picked on”, he went on "Along with car park charges in our town centres, this is yet more proof this Administration has no sympathy for small businesses”. "While they are wasting time targeting this parade, other parts of the Borough - particularly outside schools - are being neglected"

Cllr Mann has also announced that the Residents Association will be asking questions and conducting there own review within the Town Hall on this issue and would like anyone who owns a shop or business that feels that they are being targeted to contact him at the Town Hall. The same applies to residents that may have been hit with a penalty, if it has been issued unduly, the Residents Association want to know about it.

Major Roadworks on the A12

From 10th September, major roadworks will be undertaken on the eastbound (towards Southend) stretch of the A12 between Whalebone Lane and Mawney Road and is likely to last for 9 weeks.

There will be daily lane closures from around 9.30am to 4pm for much of this period, but it will also be necessary to carry out up to five consecutive night time full closures by late October.

The full closures will occur between 9.30pm and 5am the next morning and will involve signed diversions via Whalebone Lane (south of A12), London Road, the Romford Ring Road and North Street where the diverted traffic will return to the A12.

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

Green Flag raised over Bedfords Park

Today saw the green flag being raised at Bedfords Park after becoming one of two parks in Havering to be awarded the special award. I was joined at the event by a handful of Councillors and Parks officers and staff.

Pictured above with myself (on the left) is Geoff Pepper (centre) the Parks Development Officer

and Lois Amos (right) who is the Vice Chairman of the "Friends of Bedfords Park" group.

More to follow later

Bus Stop Improvements

I had a meeting tonight with the Chairman of the North Romford Area Committee and Havering Councils Technical Services Manager concerning improvements to bus stops in Havering Road.

The improvements are funded by Transport for London and basically do just that, they improve access to the disabled and elderly and for parents with prams, they also improve the paving and crossing points to make them safer.

The plans have already been agreed in principal and all residents that were affected have been notified, the meeting was to iron out any final issues and to make sure that the Council took on board all of the points that have been raised by residents.

Bower Park Exam Results Success

As a school Governor at Bower Park for over 5 years now, i am truly pleased that the pupils have managed to help the school increase its exam pass rate for the third year running, the same amount of time that Head Teacher Mary Morrison has been at the school.

I was in school as pupils came in to get their results and it was a very emotional time, for both teacher, pupils and me i have to say, watching a 16 year old open the envelope and get the results they were hoping for was just pure magic.

Our top pupil was Tom Clark, who gained four A* grade GCSE's, which I and every member of staff at the school were overjoyed with, it is as credit to Tom and all of the other pupils that gained such good marks.

Bower Park had some amazing results, which i will headline below.

Details will follow later

£2.5million Council Tax Uncollected

Figures compiled by the GMB, a public services union, reveal that £147 million of council tax went uncollected in councils across London in 2006/07.

In respect of Havering council, the amount uncollected in 2006/07 amounted to £2,569,000, a £624,000 reduction against the figure outstanding for 2005/06.

However, the overall accumulated council tax debt for Havering at the end of 2006/07 amounts to £11,526,000, an increase of £321,000 on the 2005/06 figure.

The Council tax collection rate for Havering in 2006/07 was 97.6 per cent (97.5 per cent in 2005/06), this compares with table toppers Richmond Upon Thames at 98.5 per cent and bottom of the table Hackney with 90.5 per cent.

The calculation of the Council tax allows for a 1.5 per cent non-collection rate.

Despite this amount of money outstanding, it has not stopped the Tory Controlled Council spending over £400k on a new car park for the Town Hall, increase in Cabinet Members allowances, Mayors Allowance (suggested in the local press for an increase to their clothing allowance). All of this and almost £11 million outstanding in debt owed to the Council.

The Travellers have moved off Bedfords Park

It would seem that the Summer holidays are over for the Travellers that invaded Bedfords Park in the heart of "Havering Park Ward" just over 10 days ago, they ignored the Section 77 notice served on them to leave by 12 noon last Wednesday, unfortunately, they ignored this and Havering Council were preparing to go back to Court to get a summons to remove them legally.

Cllr Mann was in the park this afternoon as they started to leave and was able to see some of the damage and rubbish that was left behind. It is to early to see exactly how much damage has been done, however, it does not seem as bad as it could be, but then I did not go round the whole park to see what had been thrown in all of the bushes in the surrounding area.

Now that they have gone, we can start to ask some questions on how they got in, were the gates locked in the park and was enough done to remove the Travellers as soon as possible. The issue of park gates not being locked is something the Residents Association has raised in the past and we will continue to push for our parks to be kept locked and secure at night.

Squirels Heath By-Election

Following the death of Conservative Councillor, Eddy Cahill, a by-election will be held this Thursday (the 24th) in Squirrels Heath Ward in Romford.


The Residents Association candidate is Denis Stevens, a long standing R.A campaigner, who stood in Pettits ward in 2006 and polled 1379, the fifth highest vote in that ward. Denis also helped out in Collier Row with our No Car Park charges campaign.



To read the election address of Denis and the Residents Association here.

Discount on Home Insulation

Residents in Havering can get a £100 Council Tax rebate by insulating their home. Havering Council has launched an initiative offering Havering householders the opportunity of a £100 rebate on their council tax if they install energy efficiency measures.

Thanks to a partnership with British Gas, householders that install cavity wall or loft insulation can claim the £100 rebate and reduce their annual energy bills by up to £220 a year, which is equivalent to a 40% saving on the average annual gas bill.

Furthermore the Council has negotiated substantial subsidies with British Gas for the cost of the loft or cavity wall insulation. For example the average cost of cavity wall insulation for a three bedroom semi-detached house would be £430 but if it is installed by British Gas through this subsidised scheme it would cost £250 plus your council tax will be credited with £100.

You don't have to be a British Gas customer to benefit from this scheme which runs until 31st December 2007. The full £100 rebate is open to the first 500 installations.

To arrange for a free no obligation survey residents should ring British Gas on 0845 971 7731 and quote HAVE.

Update on the Travellers

I was interviewed by Havering's Time F.M radio yesterday about the latest situation in the park concerning the Travellers who have invaded Bedfords.

I have also this week, spoken with the Executive Director for Public Realm concerning the situation and received an update from her on what her staff have been doing to resolve the situation. The Travellers have been given notice to leave by today (Wednesday), however if they do not leave, the Council will need to go to Court to get a warrant for their removal.

The trouble with Travellers is they are often protected by law, not helped by this Governments Human Rights Act im afraid, as the Council have to do all the running for them to be removed. It seems wrong that the Council as land owners do not have the power to say "Excuse me Travellers, off you go, get off our land and dont come back"

Its to Early to say how they got in and were able to set up camp so easily, both myself and the whole Residents Association Group in the Town Hall have highlighted the lack of park gates not being locked and we will be looking closely again at this park to see what happened.

I will wait with baited breath to see that the Gypsies (or Travellers) are moved on today and will update the site with any new developments.

Travellers Invade Bedfords Park

Residents Association Councillor for Havering Park Ward, Andrew Mann has hit out at Travellers who have invaded Bedfords Park in Broxhill Road, Havering-atte-Bower turning it into no go zone area for locals and left it looking like a scrap yard.

Cllr Mann said “I have been inundated by residents complaining about the situation in the Park, I came home from a week’s family holiday on Friday and moved straight away to get Council Officers to deal with this terrible situation”

It’s the first time in many years that Travellers have invaded the Park; previously they almost destroyed Havering Country Park back in the late 90’s, they were there for week 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.

Cllr Mann said “In a week when we should be celebrating Bedfords Park being awarded a “Green Flag” (see story below) by the Government for being an example of one of the best parks in the Country, we wake up to this nightmare on our doorstep”

“I am also disappointed that my Tory colleagues, rather than addressing the issues to hand, use it to produce a leaflet blaming the whole situation on everyone apart from themselves, but it is the Tories who in fact actually run the Council, or had they forgotten that, it is after all a Conservative controlled Council”

It is suggested in their leaflet that I failed to act when asked by residents, but that is a lie, as I have said, I arrived home from holiday on Friday and moved straight away to deal with the situation, I have written to the Executive Director of Public Realm at Havering Council (the person responsible in the Town Hall) to use all of the resources that her department has to deal with this problem and to call on the assistance of the Police and legal department to do so.

Bedfords Park has been neglected by the two local Conservative Councillors since the local elections in 2006. The park has only moved forward with the hard work of the “Friends Group” and the Parks department and Essex Wildlife Trust.

To back up this claim, I would ask you to write to Cllr Binion and ask her how many times she has attended a meeting of the “Essex Wildlife Trust – Bedfords Park Management Committee”, which is the committee that I sat on for almost four years, but the Tories voted me off using the majority in the Town Hall. In the first 12 months, she failed to attend one single meeting !

1000 Scouts descend on Bedfords Park

Havering Park Ward Councillor, Andrew Mann (Residents Association) was on hand at Bedfords Park last week as almost 1000 scouts from around the world visited as part of the World Jamboree being held at Hylands Park, Chelmsford to carry out environmental community work.

Cllr Mann, who is also a Scout Leader with over 15 years service said "It was fantastic as a local Councillor and a Scout Leader to be invited up to Bedford Park to see the work being carried out by hundreds of young people from around the world"

"As someone that was lucky enough to take part in a World Jamboree myself (in Sydney, Australia, 20 years ago this Christmas) I can understand the energy and commitment these young people have for cleaning up the old walled garden in Bedfords Park, they have done a fantastic job and deserve all the credit, along with Lois Amos and the Friends of the park group and Essex Wildlife Centre for all their work"

Worked carried out by the young people included clearing old scrub and overgrown bushes and trees, clearing the tons of rubbish that had been dumped over the years and recovering any useful bits of old green house and equipment that could be used in the park again.

Approx 150 Scouts from all round the world (the day I was in the park, they were from USA, Italy, Croatia, Brazil, France, Scotland, and many more I did not get to talk to) have been visiting each day and have been working in clearing the old walled garden in the park, doing environmental clean up work and nature walks with Essex Wildlife.