Chapel End councillors respond to concerns over Town hall development

(L-R) John Macklin, Bob Belam and Bob Carey recieve the Liberal Democrat Council Group of the Year certificate earlier this year.The Liberal Democrat Chapel End council team have published an open letter to residents in response to concern at proposals for development of the green spacee area behind the Town Hall.

In the letter, local councillors Bob Belam, Bob Carey and John Macklin express their concern at any development of the Chestnut Fields site, before setting out their firm opposition to any development of the allotment sites.

Noting their meetings with residents and local groups, the letter highlights concerns about the increased traffic development would bring to the area before suggesting that much better resident consultation and information is needed from the responsible portfolio holder.

The full text of the letter follows:

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As the Liberal Democrat councillors for Chapel End, we want to respond to those residents who have expressed their concern regarding proposed development plans for the area behind the Town Hall in our ward. There has been a lot of activity recently regarding proposals for large-scale redevelopment of the area, with the inclusion of housing and a new school being mooted.  The site is also earmarked for a ‘Healthy Living Hub’ – a very worthy proposal, no doubt, but one so vague in its title that it is always likely to arouse huge concern.

We want residents to know that we share their enormous concern regarding any loss of green space in our local area.  We have already made sure senior Council officers are aware of our feelings on this and have also met with allotment holders, both to try to keep them informed and to assure them that we are completely opposed to any development of the allotment site.

We also believe that current transport infrastructure, including the Billet roundabout, would be unable to cope with the obvious increase in traffic that such proposed development would bring to the area. This issue needs much greater consideration.

What fuels our concern is the lack of clarity in these wide-ranging plans.  Part of the Lib Dems opposition to the most recent Arcade site plans is rooted in the fact that the report seems to be approving development in our ward by stealth, with a particularly big impact on the future of the Pool and Track.

Chapel End residents quite rightly want much clearer information on any redevelopment plans in order to ensure that these important decisions are not simply made behind closed doors as part of a larger development plan for Walthamstow.

Cllr Bob Belam, Cllr Bob Carey and Cllr John Macklin
Liberal Democrat councillors for Chapel End ward

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Olympic Chiefs Quizzed Over Games’ Legacy for Waltham Forest Youngsters

Cllr Laura Sheppard (Cann Hall) with Olympian Jonathan Edwards

A local Liberal Democrat Councillor has used the party’s annual conference in Bournemouth to tackle Olympic chiefs over plans to use the 2012 Games’ to engage with young people in the Borough.

Cann Hall ward councillor Laura Sheppard attended the event alongside other local councillors and party activists from across Waltham Forest who had travelled to the South Coast to hear Nick Clegg’s first conference speech as Liberal Democrat leader.

During a packed question and answer session hosted by Olympian Jonathan Edwards, Cllr Sheppard asked for assurances that, with the 2012 Games now just four years away, opportunities for Waltham Forest youngsters to get involved were being provided.

Members of the panel of leading representatives from the London Games, including Chief Executive of the London 2012 Organising Committee Paul Deighton and Chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority John Armitt, highlighted the work that was being done within schools to raise awareness of the Games.  However they acknowledged Cllr Sheppard’s concerns regarding their ability to engage with local youngsters who had become harder to reach.

Cllr Sheppard said that the London Games represented a “once in a lifetime opportunity to better the lives of young people in our Borough”.

She added:

“I was pleased that the panel acknowledged the difficulty in reaching some of our younger people and the need to come up with innovative and imaginative ideas to ensure they are engaged. 

“Some excellent work has been done to raise awareness of the Games but it is those young people who are outside the traditional means of communication who would be able to gain the most from the benefits the Games will bring to the area.”

Earlier this year local Liberal Democrats unveiled proposals for a Waltham Forest Sports Academy, a plan which would see existing venues able to join together to create a federation of independent, borough-based ‘Centres of Excellence’. 

Local Lib Dems believe such a project could see each facility providing affordable specialist training in individual sporting activities whilst also allowing users to study for qualifications such as coaching badges.

Cllr Sheppard said:

“One of the main issues raised by Lib Dem councillors during the debate was the need to ensure that young people benefited directly from a sporting legacy that would help to foster a culture of sporting participation both before and after the Games.

“The creative use of our sporting facilities would help bring residents from all backgrounds together whilst creating opportunities for young people to learn new skills and qualifications as they enjoy their leisure time.”

Waltham Forest Lib Dems Speak on Future of ‘The Stow’

Waltham Forest Lib Dems are

Cllr John Macklin
Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, Waltham Forest Council

Like the many residents who have written to us expressing their views on the closure, my Liberal Democrat colleagues and I are enormously disappointed at the recent turn of events regarding the future of Walthamstow Greyhound Stadium.

The huge show of support from residents and punters alike demonstrates the obvious affection that local people have for the Stadium. A quick straw poll in a recent meeting suggests that you would struggle to find a local Liberal Democrat councillor who has not at one point enjoyed a visit to ‘The Stow’!

Farid Ahmed and myself recently met a team from Save Our Stow at the Town Hall to hear about their plans to keep the Stadium in business as a greyhound racing venue.

We are, of course, fully in support of their efforts to keep the Stadium as both a greyhound racing track and a sport and leisure venue. As we told the team from Save Our Stow, we believe that the stadium is an iconic London venue and, perhaps more importantly, an enormously valuable part of Waltham Forest’s evening economy.

The success of our leisure venues is an integral part of building a sustainable community in Waltham Forest and ensuring that we are attractive to both our residents and visitors. There is no long-term sustainability in forcing residents out of the borough to spend their leisure time.

I am more than happy to work with Save Our Stow as I believe that ambitious and enterprising local residents and groups deserve to have their ideas listened to and fully considered.

Farid Ahmed
Liberal Democrat Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Walthamstow

What impressed me about the Save Our Stow proposals was the obvious research that had been undertaken into the viability of the business. A lot of work has gone into securing the means of funding to reopen the track and attracting additional investment to upgrade the facilities and establish Walthamstow as hub for the sport.

I discussed with Save Our Stow my disappointment that a new business model could not, apparently, be made to work by the previous owners in the way it has done at successful greyhound racing venues both in the UK and overseas, where the tracks still enjoy healthy support as family venues with a greater focus on hospitality and catering for parties and group events. It was very encouraging to hear their proposals to modernise and widen the appeal of the Stadium, adapting the facility into a modern leisure facility.

What Walthamstow absolutely cannot afford to have is yet another ‘land bank’ awaiting regeneration.

I am particularly interested in such a user group led bid for the track, as I have long believed that local leisure facilities are very often better run by those who use them and who have a locally based commitment to their ongoing success

Lib Dems Back Football Fans Plans for Safe Standing

Lib Dems:
Local Liberal Democrats have used the party’s Autumn conference in Bournemouth to support proposals to change the regulations that currently prevent football stadiums from providing ‘safe-standing’ areas for supporters.

The Lib Dem proposals recognise and seek to remedy safety problems that exist in all seater stadiums where, despite regulations, large numbers of fans regularly stand in areas designed for sitting only.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat councillor for Leyton ward, Bob Sullivan said:

“Whilst the reintroduction of standing areas is obviously a delicate issue, the difficulty in enforcing existing regulations and the obvious desire of a huge number of supporters to stand at matches suggests that it is sensible to look at ways of allowing them to do so in safety.

“Football has taken enormous steps in recent years to improve stadium designs. These proposals would in no way seek to undermine any of that progress and would only allow future ground developments that meet the most stringent safety requirements.

“But if some fans want to stand and many clubs want to let them, then we should at least explore safe ways of achieving it.”

The Football Supporters Federation has praised the move, whilst local football supporters in Waltham Forest have added their voices to the Lib Dems calls for the current regulations concerning standing at football matches to be reconsidered.

Mike Randall, the Leyton Orient Fan’s Trust (LOFT) committee member for stadium issues, added.

“As an organisation LOFT have always been in favour of safe standing.  We have raised the issue with the club management at every opportunity, so far with little success.  However we have not entirely given up hope, as there is still one stand to be developed at Brisbane road.

“Safe standing works at football matches in Germany and in our Rugby League grounds. What is the difference?  In some parts of the country a football fan on a Saturday is often a Rugby League fan on a Sunday.

“There is nothing wrong with terraces, it is the control of them that seems to be the main problem for the authorities.”

Lib Dems Want Action to Protect Playing Fields

Cllr Macklin: labour has to stop selling off our playing fieldsLocal Liberal Democrats have reacted angrily to the news that Labour is failing to live up to its promise to protect playing fields.

Figures uncovered by the Lib Dems show that playing fields deemed vital to local sport are being lost at a rate of one a week.

The government have been forced to reveal statistics, in response to a request by the Liberal Democrats, which show that on average 843 planning applications affecting playing fields are accepted each year.  Of those applications approved, Sport England believe that an average of 57 a year constitute a ‘threat’ to sporting provision for surrounding communities.

Liberal Democrat councillor for Chapel End, John Macklin, has led local calls for the better protection of grassroots sporting facilities within Waltham Forest, a problem highlighted by the cutting of lottery grants to sporting organisations ahead of the 2012 Olympic Games in East London.

Lib Dems on Waltham Forest Council recently unveiled proposals for the formation of a ‘Sports Academy’, comprising existing venues within the borough, which would offer specialist coaching and training in relevant skills such as physiotherapy.

Cllr Macklin said:

“It’s an absolute travesty that the nation’s playing fields legacy is being sold off under our noses.

“The mass selling off of playing fields both in our area and across the UK was supposed to be a nothing but a bad memory of the Conservative government of the 1980’s.  Instead, we have Labour MP’s admitting that they have failed to tackle the problem, as they promised to do in 1997.”

Cllr Macklin also noted that the figures released by the government did not include smaller playing fields.

“Labour announced as far back as 2002 that they were reducing the size threshold for statutory consultation on playing fields.  This has proved to be yet another broken promise.

“A real legacy of the Olympic Games in 2012 would be for our budding sportsmen and women in Waltham Forest to still have the green spaces available to be able to practice and participate in sports with their friends.

“Labour now has to stop selling off our playing fields and end the empty rhetoric and broken promises regarding its commitment to sporting activity.”

Local Lib Dems Plan Waltham Forest Sports Academy

Cllr Macklin: Sport is crucial to community cohesion Liberal Democrats in Waltham Forest are calling on the council to examine proposals for the establishment of a ‘Sports Federation’ within Waltham Forest.

The proposal would see existing venues able to join together to create a federation of independent, borough-based ‘Centres of Excellence’.  Local Lib Dems believe such a project could see each facility providing affordable specialist training in individual sporting activities whilst also allowing users to study for qualifications such as coaching badges.

It is also envisaged that the venues could be expanded in order to provide training in vocational skills such as physiotherapy and nutritional management.

Liberal Democrat Councillor John Macklin claimed that the establishment of a Waltham Forest ‘Academy of Sporting Excellence’ would provide a more effective use of existing facilities and would lay the ground for new sporting venues to be brought to the borough.

Cllr Macklin said:

“Sport is crucial in enhancing and encouraging community cohesion, and one thing that many Waltham Forest residents have in common is a love of sporting activity.  We should be harnessing this shared passion as a way of bringing residents from all backgrounds together whilst creating opportunities for young people to learn new skills and qualifications as they enjoy their leisure time.

“Using facilities to develop untapped potential and allow young people to complete coaching badges or take courses in related skills will enable them to use their talents and their enthusiasm for sport in a constructive way.

“Local young people could then use these qualifications to have a hands on involvement in training and coaching at the London 2012 Olympics and beyond, ensuring a real, homegrown sporting legacy in Waltham Forest”.