Local Lib Dems Act to Stop Illegal Developments

In the past three or four months the Cann Hall Ward has seen a dramatic increase in the number of former family homes being extended or converted into multiple flats.

Many residents have complained to the Cann Hall FOCUS Team about properties suddenly having sometimes quite extensive works done, without any prior notice from the Planning Dept. to let local residents know what was going to happen.

In many cases the Council does not know because the owners have not sought planning permission to either extend or convert. In addition, small plots of land are being used to build new properties.

Lib Dem Cllr Keith Rayner and the Focus Team are clear this has to stop.

The Council has now designated Cann Hall Ward as an area where this kind of practice has to be controlled, and family housing maintained. Residents’ backing for this move is shown by the amount of emails and letters in support.

Cllr Rayner said: “Please contact the Focus Team if you see a property being converted or extended in your area and we will let you know if it has planning permission and is a legal development”

New Fire Station Plans Unveiled

A new Fire Station is being proposed for Leytonstone.

Cann Hall councillors Liz Phillips and Keith Rayner found out about the plans recently when they visited an open evening at the Fire Station in High Road Leytonstone. The London Fire Brigade were starting their consultation and discussion process with local people and interested groups, along with local ward councillors Liz and Keith.

The basic proposals are for a whole new fire station, including a third attendance pump, better public facilities, and accommodation for personnel working out of the fire station. It would also enable improved response to providing community advice on fire safety and many other areas of helpful information, without expanding its patrol area.

Leyton and Wanstead Liberal Democrats says:

“This is great news for both Cann Hall Ward and the Leytonstone area. As the plans progress, we will keep you informed of developments. You can also contact Richard Mills, Station Manager, on (020) 8555 1200 for more information.”

New CPZ proposed and consultation on traffic schemes

A new CPZ has been proposed in the borought – and local Liberal Democrats want you to hear your views.

The proposals include the junction of Leytonstone High Road, Cann Hall Road and Crownfield Road, which could effect some roads in Cann Hall. In the current proposal are Eve, Steele and Belton Roads on the north side of Cann Hall Road, whilst on the south side Argyle, Borthwick, Blenheim Roads could be included up to the Borough boundary at Janson Road.

There is also consultation on traffic schemes taking place. The consultation area stretches from Millais Road to the borough boundary with Newham, and across to High Road Leytonstone.

Leyton and Wanstead Liberal democrats say:

“What do you think? Many residents in these roads have complained for years about not being able to park in their own roads, due to overflow of traffic and parking from the High Road and the Thatched House area.”

“Whatever your views please let us and the council know. Your voice and views are very important.”

Borough Must Protect Rights of Leaseholders – Cllr Patrick Smith

Higham Hill councillor Patrick Smith has defended the rights of leaseholders in a letter to this week’s Waltham Forest Guardian:

“The legal rights and entitlements of leaseholders must be at the heart of all project works on their homes which are carried out on behalf of the Council.

Leaseholders should also be free to state when and how the project is done.

We must avoid residents being billed high amounts in one go and introduce an upper monthly limit charging structure. This policy would respect individuals and the more vulnerable leaseholders, whom do not deserve the shock of a sudden debt in this current financial crisis.

In Higham Hill our leaseholders have told us in Carlton Road and Garnett Road that they would like their views to be fully understood in the public consultation process and to remain fully informed and updated throughout.

I advocate an explanatory booklet be issued to each leaseholder setting out their rights and entitlements and the duty of social landlords.

The borough must aim for best practice to create a close watch on leaseholder rights in future, especially where our elderly and vulnerable families in Higham Hill are concerned”.

Public Want Positive Action on Crime – Cllr O’Rourke

Lib Dem High St councillor James O’Rourke has moved to reassure residents that local Lib Dem members are leading the fight against local crime.

In a letter to the Waltham Forest Guardian, Cllr O’Rourke reacted to claims that politicians who has attended local resident-led crime meetings were“as powerless as the non-elected”.

Cllr O’Rourke noted that the Lib Dem High St team have acted positively in setting up a task group to deal with the issues of antisocial behaviour in the area.

He continued:

“High St ward has the highest crime and antisocial behaviour figures in Waltham Forest, yet has the same number of Safer Neighbourhood Police Offices as the other 19 wards.

“It is a unique and significant area to manage and represent.

“The public want to see positive action from their elected representatives. Only Liberal Democrat councillors can offer such leadership.”

Local Lib Dems Sound Warning Over Personal Debt

The Waltham Forest Guardian is reporting that people living in ‘E’ postcodes such as Walthamstow, Leyton and Leytonstone are ranked by the survey as having the worst debt status in the country.

Callcredit, a credit reference agency, assessed the debt status of 124 UK regions, ranking E1 as the worst, followed by Uxbridge, South East London and Liverpool.

The news follows warnings from Waltham Forest Liberal Democrats that house prices have fallen more sharply in Waltham Forest than anywhere else in London and reports that London will suffer a higher net percentage of job losses in the recession than the rest of England.

Earlier this year Liberal Democrats Treasury spokesman Vince Cable warned about the problems of excessive personal borrowing.

He said:

“There is a real complacency about the extent to which millions of people are getting out of their depth with mortgages and unsecured borrowing.”

Residents with concerns about their levels of debt can contact their local Liberal Democrat team for guidance about who can help.

Local Lib Dems Solve the Case of the Disappearing Bus Stop!

Liberal Democrat activists in Waltham Forest have been busy – solving the case of the phantom bus stop!

Investigative work by on behalf of bemused local residents has revealed that a bus stop which disappeared in Cathall Road had never been put there by Transport for London – but by an enterprising public transport user!

Caroline Pidgeon, the Liberal Democrat transport spokeswoman at the London Assembly, said: “I was contacted by Paul Olford, a long-term Lib Dem activist in Leytonstone, about a bus stop which had mysteriously disappeared from Cathall Road.

“I contacted TfL and after some investigating, they discovered the bus stop was never meant to be there in the first place.

“The sign had just been stuck on a lamppost and bus drivers were mistaking it for the real thing.”

And bus passengers will be disappointed to learn that there are no plans to replace the phantom with a real stop, as it’s located on the brow of a bridge and would be too dangerous.

TfL confirmed: “Someone had stuck the round London Buses sign on a lamp column so that it resembled a bus stop.

“We do not know who did this but it was not with the permission of London Buses.”

Illegal Fly-Tipping in High Street Ward

Fly tipping residents and traders who treat High Street ward like a dustbin have been warned they face huge fines and up to five years in prison when they are caught.

Efforts to clean up the Borough are being undermined by people dumping rubbish on our streets, and Cllrs James O’Rourke and Johar Khan has called for High Street residents’ help.

Cllrs James O’Rourke and Johar Khan said:

“If you have any information about fly-tippers please let us know. Our local area is being plagued by illegal fly tipping”.

Residents can help dispose of their rubbish responsibly

* Every household can have three bulky waste collections every year. Just contact the Council to have your rubbish collected from your doorstep.

* Take your larger waste to a household recycling centre near you

* The Council can provide more black recycling boxes — go online to order them!

* Fly tipping is a crime — Report it!

You can contact the Council to report fly tipping or to find out how to dispose of your waste responsibly on 020 8496 3000.

Local Lib Dems Celebrate Government U-Turn Over Post Office Card Accounts

Local Liberal Democrat post office campaigners are celebrating after a Labour u-turn on the future of the Post Office Card Account (POCA).

The Government announced on Thursday that it is now cancelling its procurement process and awarding the contract for the Post Office Card Account (POCA) to the Post Office for a further five years.

The Lib Dems had led attempts to block the removal of the contract from the Post Office, claiming that it amounted to a deliberate attempt to encourage people to switch payment to direct debit and remove the role of the Post Office.

It is estimated that around a third of the income of many post offices comes from the POCA and Post Offices benefit additionally from the ‘footfall’ of shoppers.

Lib Dem Higham Hill councillor Patrick Smith, who recently attended the National Post Office Conference, claimed that the u-turn would come as a relief to post office employees and customers, calling the decision to put the contract out to tender the latest example of the Labour Government “attempting by stealth to wind up traditional Post Office business in order to then make the economic case for more closures.”

Cllr Smith continued:

“This Government has been running down our post offices, removing the services that local communities rely on.

“This welcome climb down over the future of Post Office Card Accounts perhaps suggests that Labour are finally beginning to realise that they cannot any longer simply ride roughshod over the wishes of the communities served by these crucial facilities.”

Liberal Democrat Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, Jenny Willott said:

“This announcement comes as a huge relief to the millions of Post Office Card Account holders, thousands of Sub Post Masters and the countless communities that may have lost their post office if the decision had been different.”

“The Government has wasted time and money and caused immeasurable heartache by dragging this process out for so long.

“This could all have been avoided if, as the Liberal Democrats have long argued, the Post Office Card Account had never been put out to tender in the first place.

“However, cancelling the procurement exercise is a peculiar means of arriving at this decision and Ministers have some explaining to do.”

Lib Dems Want More Resident Power

Cllr James O'Rourke launches the Waltham Forest resident consultation at parliament with Don Foster MP

Local Liberal Democrats are celebrating after opposition councillors gave their support to a Lib Dem proposal that could see aspects of the management of arts, sports and cultural venues in Waltham Forest handed over to user-led groups.

In a motion that went before Full Council, the Lib Dems asked officers to produce a report outlining the viability of, and the procedures needed to establish, a series of ‘Local Management Boards’, groups of service users who would be given areas of responsibility for “implementing ambitious and innovative ideas in our local libraries, sports facilities, museums and galleries to ensure that they fully reflect users’ needs.”

The plans first appeared as a policy commitment to residents made in Waltham Forest Lib Dems 2006 local election manifesto.

Lib Dem Leader Cllr John Macklin said that he believed local authorities “have a responsibility to let their residents take part in the process of shaping local services.”

Cllr Macklin continued:

“The proposals we are asking officers to look at would mean real involvement and responsibility for residents, not membership of a toothless body unable to provide real management and implement inventive ideas.

“The future of our local cultural services, such as museums and libraries, is obviously one of great concern to many residents. There is a diverse range of valuable expertise going untapped amongst those who use, lobby and campaign for these services”.

Cllr Macklin added that “although councillors and residents may not always agree, I have made it a priority to meet with and listen to as many resident and user groups as possible.

“Local management boards could provide a platform in order to give those in our Borough with progressive and ambitious ideas a way in which to turn these into practical solutions.

The motion is the culmination of a local Lib Dem campaign backed by parliamentary Culture, Media and Sports spokesman Don Foster MP, pictured above with High St councillor James O’Rourke.

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