Homes in Havering Chairman resigns

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

Change to Council Representatives on Board of Homes in Havering

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

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

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

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

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

Mounted Police in Bedfords & Havering Country Parks

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

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

Havering Show

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

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

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

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

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

Well Done Bower Park School

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

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

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

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



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

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

Gallows Corner Update

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CCTV Car is just a Cash Cow

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Breakdown of income and ticket numbers:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Total Income a day £ 4,725

Total Income a Week £ 33,075

Total Income a month £ 143,718

Times 365 days a year £1,724,625

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

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

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

Homes in Havering Farce

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

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

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

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

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

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

Another New Road Surface for the Village

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Latest Summer Newsletter Delivered

The latest issue of the Collier Row & Mawneys Residents Association newsletter has recently been delivered to over 11,000 homes and shops across North Romford, which includes both havering park and Mawneys Wards.

You can read all about what we have been up to in the Community, updates on such issues as New CCTV cameras installed for Collier Row, Car Parking fees for Collier Row, latest news on the CCTV car, Hampden Lodge Planning Application, for 58 flats, new bus service for the Village, Gobions Avenue Post Office closure, dog mess farce ! and much more

If you have not received a copy, please drop us a line, either by phone, e-mail or pen and paper, contact details at top of the page.

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”

Bower Park School - Bower Factor

Cllr Mann was at Bower Park School yesterday, on the last day of term for its annual “Bower Factor” event, this year being the 4th annual show, based on the hugely popular X Factor format, children from years 7 to 10 compete in a show of dance, song, gymnastics and comedy to win the event. The event is judges in the same way as the T.V programme, with three teachers taking to the judge’s panel, with one playing the nice guy, one Mr Nasty and the last down the middle. It is broken down in to two age ranges, year 7 and 8 and year 9 and 10.

The show always brings out the best in the pupils and having watched some of the same pupils perform over the last 2 to 3 years, it is nice to see them improve in what they are doing. Over 100 children took part, watched by the rest of the year groups.

The event is always one of the big highlights of the year and makes for a great day, on the last day of term. I for one can not wait until next year when we hold the 5th annual show, lets hope it is bigger and better than ever before.

Residents Drop in Surgery

Our latest Residents drop in surgery is being held this Saturday, the 19th July 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 & Joe Webster and Havering Park member, Denis Stevens 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.

Friends of Havering Country park

Cllr Mann was in attendance at the latest “Friends of Havering County Park” meeting held last Thursday evening; over 20 residents came along to have their say about the latest goings on in the park and to hear from parks officers the latest updates on work being carried out by the Council.

There was some disappointment that capital works planned have been very slow in being started, such as the new fencing along St Johns Road and new bins for litter and dog waste still to be placed in the park.

Cllr Mann said “The friends group have done a fantastic amount of work over the last 12 months in highlighting the issues facing local people; however the Council need to do more to support them in their aims, taking over 12 months to allocate and spend money on the park is not good enough”

The next meeting is being held on Thursday the 7th August at the North Romford Community Centre in Clockhouse Lane, just turn up, the meeting starts at 7.30pm. For more information about the group, you can e-mail them on fohcpg@googlemail.com

Hampden Lodge Planning Application Withdrawn

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.

Havering Council have this week announced that Bellway Homes, have withdrawn their planning application to demolish the former Care Home, Hampden Lodge and to build 58 flats on the site. It is understood that the plans were to be refused by the Councils planning department.

Cllr Andrew Mann (Havering Park Res Assoc) said “The Collier Row & Mawneys Residents Association was very concerned about this application. Hundreds of residents contacted us by e-mail or letter to object to this scheme and over 1000 people signed petitions, largely with concerns about the size and bulk of the development, lack of parking and amenity space, along with the traffic implications in Clockhouse Lane”.

Over 100 people recently turned out for a demonstration against the plans on the site.

Residents Association Action Member, Denis Stevens said “This was 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, not least because the Council will only receive the money once contracts have been exchanged, on condition of receiving planning permission”.

Sadly, by withdrawing the scheme, the developer has the opportunity to make a fresh planning application, free of charge to Havering in the next few months for a slightly modified scheme, so the plans to build on this site have not gone away

The Residents Association would like to thank the hundreds of people who wrote and e-mailed objections and to more than 1,000 who signed petitions. We are also grateful to the one hundred plus people who turned out for a demonstration against the plans. The hard work put in by many residents has been a great help in highlighting the issues about this application.

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.

Bower Park School - Charity Walk

Cllr Mann was on hand at Bower Park School last week to start the Year 7 children off on a sponsored walk, from the School to Hainault Forest and back again. Over 150 children and staff took part in the day long event to raise money for local charities.

Each Form class chose which charity they wanted to donate to, with St Francis Hospice coming out on top for a lot of the children; hopefully hundreds of pounds will have been raised for lots of local charities and good causes.

Cllr Mann was unable to join the children for the day, but gave them all some words of encouragement and started them off on the 10 mile round trip. He said “Another great day for Bower Park, with the children walking in the searing sun to raise money for local charities and not one of them complaining, well not much anyway”.

Web Site Attacked

www.collier-row.co.uk

It seems the Web site hackers don’t just like the angry of Havering web site, last week this web site was attacked with a virus, it lost a total of three postings / stories recently put up.

However all credit to Norton and Blogspot.com who stopped it and has now flagged up the IP address, from where the possible attack was launched. New steps have been put in place and the site is working fine.

The lost posts are in a back-up and will be back up on the site shortly.Just like the http://www.angryofhavering.com/ web site, it will take an awful lot to knock me and the Residents Association down and keep us down

Perhaps people are getting even more worried about us than normal, or are we just being paranoid !!

Scouts Giant Sleepover World Record

Havering Park Councillor, Andy Mann was on hand recently to officiate for the Guinness World Record attempt for the biggest sleepover in the world. The event was organised by Save the Children and local Scout Group, 3rd Collier Row who meet in Carter Drive, Collier Row.

Thousands of Children from all around the world joined together on the same night to take part in the event, have some great fun and to raise money for charity. Approx 25 Cubs and Scouts took part in the event for the group.

As well as being the local ward Councillor to the Scout Group, Cllr Mann is also a Scout Leader himself in Romford, a role he has been doing for almost 20 years. He said “It is fantastic that 3rd Collier Row Scout Group has got involved with such a worthwhile and great event, not only have they raised money for much need camping equipment for the group and Save the Children, but had fun whilst doing it”

Guinness World Records have now confirmed that the total amount of young people to take part was 33,093, which breaks the record set by this event in 2006.

Cub Leader, Linda Day said “We had a great evening; all of the children enjoyed themselves and we raised lots of money. We are also always looking out for children to join, boys or girls from the age of 8 can join Cubs and from 10 they can join Scouts, if you would like more info, please call 01708 750667”

For more info in the World Record attempt, go to www.giantsleepover.com

New Shop opens in Collier Row

Collier Row Councillor, Andrew Mann (R.A Havering Park) officially opened Collier Row’s newest shop this week. “Cyclelife Collier Row” is a new shop, working in partnership with cycle manufacture, Rayleigh.

The shop has been the brainchild of Collier Row Resident, Cliff Boness, who has spent the last month re-fitting the former green-grocers shop into a state of the art cycle shop. Apart from selling bikes, the shop will also sell cycle accessories and will operate a workshop for repairs and servicing for local people.

Cllr Mann was on hand with shop owner, Cliff Boness to cut the ribbon as the shop officially opened for business and it only took 5 minutes for the first customers to walk through the door and start looking around.

Cllr Mann said “I think it is fantastic that a new shop is opening in Collier Row, sadly we still have a few empty properties and this new venture helps keep the Town Centre vibrant and alive and hopefully will help bring more shoppers to Collier Row”

BOWER PARK SCHOOL

STATEMENT OF FACT ON BOWER PARK SCHOOL

Last week, a leaflet distributed by the Conservative Party in Collier Row suggested that Bower Park School was to close and it urged you to sign a petition. However there is no truth in any of this, Bower Park school is not going to close.

Yes, Bower Park School was named last week on a list of 600 or so schools across the Country, the reason it was on the list is simple, it needs to achieve 30% of pupils gaining 5 A-C grades including English and Maths, currently we are a few points behind on this, everyone in the School and the Local Education Authority knows this.

Cllr Mann Said, As a Governor I feel very passionate about Bower Park, I have been here six years and since the arrival of Mary Morrison just under four years ago, the school has gone from strength to strength, to such a level that this year we now have a full intake of 180 pupils wishing to join us"

We have posted the letter from Mrs Mary Morrison, sent to all Governors, pupils, parents and feeder primary Schools, earlier this week. Below that is a copy of a letter sent by Cllr Mann to the Chief Executive of Havering Council and to those Conservative Members named on the leaflet objecting to the contents and informing them of the damage they have done to the school.

COPY OF LETTER FROM HEAD TEACHER

Dear Parent/Guardian

Re: Recent Conservative Leaflet concerning Bower Park School

As you will be aware last week the Government launched an education initiative to raise standards nationally. The benchmark stated that there is the expectation that all schools will achieve 30% 5A*-C including English and Maths.

Our predicted target grade for this year is 43% 5A*-C and 32% including English and Maths. This is in line with the sustainable improvement that we have achieved over the last 3 years. This means that as a school we will not be labelled or categorised as a school needing extra public funding.

As the Head teacher I feel very privileged to be working with such a dedicated body of staff and focused group of Year 11 students who are going beyond the call of duty (sometimes completing a 7 day week) working together to achieve students’ potential.

Unfortunately many of you will have received a Collier Row Political Party newsletter (Sunday 15th June 2008) urging you to sign a petition to keep our school open, there is no need to sign this petition. I am telling you as the Head teacher of Bower Park School that this storyline is factually untrue Bower Park does not need saving.

The Leader of the Council, Cllr Michael White and the Lead Member, Cllr Geoffrey Starns visited the school on Monday to assure me that we have the full support of the Council. Our Action Plan is robust and the Council is convinced we have an assured future.

The School has the full support of the Local Authority. We continue to be a moving, improving school and look forward to our examination results in August.

Yours faithfully

Mary Morrison

Mary Morrison
Head teacher

C.C.
Bower Park Staff
Bower Park Governors
Head teacher Clockhouse Primary School
Head teacher Pinewood Primary School
Head teacher Dame Tipping CE Primary School

COPY OF CLLR ANDREW MANN'S LETTER

To:
Cllr Michael White
Cllr Geoff Starns
Cllr Sandra Binion
Andrew Rosindell M.P.
Mr Billy Taylor

Dear All

Re: Recent Conservative Leaflet concerning Bower Park School

I have seen the newsletter that you have distributed over the weekend suggesting that Bower Park school is going to close and that you have launched a petition to save it, apparently you quote Gordon Brown as saying Bower Park is a “Failing School”, this is, as you all know, completely untrue and I would go as far as saying an out an out lie.

I phoned Cllr Starns at home last night and asked him to stop anymore leaflets being delivered to the Ward and informed him of the unhappiness of the Chairman of Governors, I am informed that you did indeed do this Geoff, however the damage was probably already done. I am also somewhat surprised that during this conversation Cllr Starns told me he had not seen the finished leaflet that was now being delivered across Collier Row, I am amazed at a statement such as this, who else had not seen it and who produces your leaflets ?

Geoff more than anyone as a Governor at the school and Cabinet Member for Children’s Services knows what is going on. Your newsletter suggests that an action plan is being launched by Cllr Starns and White to save the school, what action plan is this ?

Is it the one put in place by the school and the LEA that Geoff was given a copy of, on Tuesday night ? As it is certainly not being written by either of you two, or is there another action plan that nobody in the school knows about.?

You also suggest that all of you are working with the Head Teacher, staff, parents and Governors to ensure the school survives, if this was the case, why does non of the above know about it ?

I also feel that as both Cllr Starns and Binion are Governors of Marshalls Park, a more common sense approach may have been taken, Geoff as you know amongst some Governors, there is a little bit of unhappiness that you are the Chair of the neighbouring senior school, this will do nothing to help that situation.

You say the Government want to close Gobions Post Office, well this may be true, but when have they said they wish to close Bower Park School.

The only statement made, was from OFSTED last week, it was reported in the Evening Standard and the School and Council moved quick to make sure a positive story came out of it; both I and Mark Leech from Communications contacted the Time FM radio station to correct their story that suggested the school could close. The Recorder ran a very positive story on the school and all of its good work. The Yellow Advertiser is also coming in this week to meet pupils and staff to do the same.

The statement which OFSTED made, said that of the 800 or so schools on the list had three years to improve their exam results to above 30% for A-C grade including Maths and English, which with the dedicated help of staff working weekends and holiday with pupils, we will be well on track for this August, therefore we will be removed from the list and any possibility of closure. As it is, Bower Park is in the top quarter of Schools on the list anyway and it would be very unlikely they where even on the list this August, let alone in three years time.

I do not think I can find a single statement in your newsletter that is true, the whole thing is completely made up and extremely damaging to the school. I have already received phone calls and e-mails from parents and Governors demanding to know what is going on, your actions have diverted the teaching staff from doing the one thing that will improve the school and that is helping the year 11 pupils to pass their exams.

I will leave the school to make any formal complaint and raise any issues with you; I am writing to you as a Ward Councillor who also happens to be a Governor at Bower Park, not on the Schools behalf. At the very least you owe the school and the whole community a public apology and retraction to the words you have used.

To watch kids come into the school crying because they think their school is closing and to set staff panicking about the future in the middle of our exam session is just terrible, what you have done is utterly shameful and beyond contempt and I feel that you have brought your offices into disrepute by putting your name to the leaflet.

To that end, whilst the school is still to consider their own response, I will be forwarding this e-mail to the Chief Executive, Andrew Ireland and Christine Dooley to lodge a formal complaint and to ask the Monitoring Officer if she feels that you have breached the member’s code of conduct in any way.

Yours sincerely,

Andrew Mann

COUNCILLOR ANDREW MANN
Shadow Cabinet Member for StreetCare & the Environment
& Havering Park Residents Association Ward Councillor