Future of Walthamstow Greyhound Track

The Racing Post report on the Lib Dems meeting with SOSThe Waltham Forest Guardian is this week reporting the latest developments in the efforts of the Save Our Stow (SOS) campaign group to keep a greyhound racing and leisure facility on the site of ‘The Stow’.

The Waltham Forest Liberal Democrats met with SOS to hear their plans and offer any support to their campaign.

Local Lib Dem leader Cllr John Macklin said:

“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.

“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.”

To read the Group statement on the campaign to save the track, which was published in the Racing Post (‘Local Councillors in Support of SOS Bid’, 26/9/2008), follow the link to ‘The Stow’ in the left hand panel of the screen.

Cllr O’Rourke Highlights High St ‘Booze Ban’

Cllr O'Rourke backs the ban in this week's Yellow AdvertiserCllr James O’Rourke of High St ward appears in this week’s media to highlight the local Alchohol Restriction Zone (ARZ), which has been implemented in the ward to try and tackle anti-social behaviour.

The ARZ has been set up after complaints from residents about drink-related crime and behaviour in the High St area.  Police will now be able to order drinkers to throw away their cans, fine them £50, or in the most serious cases use powers of arrest.

Cllr James O’Rourke told this week’s Yellow Advertiser:

“The zone will help us reclaim Walthamstow Town Centre”

“Children and families will be more inclined to use local facilities, such as the town centre park and open space and it will undoubtedly improve the image of one of the gateways to Waltham Forest”.

“We must, though, monitor the situation to and ensure that the problem is not just dispersed to a nearby area”.

Lib Dems Not Going ‘To Let’ Signs Clutter Streets…

Bob Belam (left) and the Chapel End teamThe Council’s reinforcement team have recently been out in the borough identifying estate agents whose boards were not compliant to regulations.

Now enforcement officers from both planning and street services have seized a number of estate agent’s board in a joint project to clampdown on clutter in Walthamstow. Estate agents are required by law to remove most boards within 14 days of a property being sold or let (if completion has taken place). 12 boards which broke the rules were removed in Chingford Road and Brettenham Road after the deadline for taking them down had expired.

The companies in question have also been issued a £100 fixed penalty notice for each offending board.  Should the companies elect to go to court the maximum penalty on conviction rises to £1,000.

Cllr Bob Belam said that Walthamstow residents had complained that their streets were being swamped by out of date signs.

He added:

“If estate agents don’t take their responsibilities seriously and remove their boards promptly, we will make sure the enforcement team do.”

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

Cllr James O'Rourke (right) with Farid Ahmed (centre) and fellow councillor Johar Khan (left)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.”

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.

Waltham Forest worst hit in London as housing crash begins to bite

The Walthamstow Lib Dem TeamLiberal Democrats in Waltham Forest have reacted with concern to new figures which reveal that Waltham Forest has suffered the biggest “negative change” in property prices of any London borough.

And Lib Dem Council Group Leader John Macklin is asking for reassurances that the collapse in property values will not further delay long-awaited redevelopment schemes across the borough.

The news comes after Lib Dem councillors warned earlier this year that Walthamstow homeowners faced an “above average” risk of suffering from negative equity.

The new figures, published in HotProperty magazine, show that Waltham Forest has suffered heavily from the collapse in property prices in comparison with other London boroughs.  The latest Land Registry figures show that the average property price in the borough is down 9.4% in the last year, with a huge 5% fall being suffered in the last quarter.  The rapid collapse means many local homeowners are now at risk from negative equity.

Local Lib Dems sounded a warning over the heightened risk of negative equity for local property owners back in March after figures released by credit rating agency Experian predicted that Walthamstow residents could be amongst the worst sufferers of the economic downturn, with those who had bought property within the last 12 months expected to be the worst hit.

At the time, local Liberal Democrat leader and Walthamstow councillor John Macklin urged government intervention to prevent mass repossessions, which, he said, would only worsen the housing crash.

Now this week he has expressed his concern about the effect that the crash in property prices will have on building projects within the borough.

Cllr Macklin said:

“The collapse in property prices is bound to have an effect on regeneration projects in the borough, and I will be looking for clarification from the relevant portfolio holders regarding the timetables for work on these projects.

“As I have said before, a series of unused ‘land banks’ across the borough awaiting regeneration is just not acceptable”.

Fellow Walthamstow councillor and deputy Lib Dem leader Cllr Johar Khan has spoken out about the situation in Waltham Forest, noting that the collapse in house prices would “cause misery for those who could end up owing more on their mortgages than their property will be worth.”

Cllr Khan continued:

“Waltham Forest looks like it will be hit particularly hard by this recession and the collapse in house prices.  Sadly, the anguish this will cause local homeowners has been all too easy to predict.

“The government has allowed house prices and irresponsible mortgage lending to rocket alomost unchecked, and this competely irresponsbile approach is now resulting in dire consequences for residents. 

Labour MP Gerrard accused of hypocrisy over Post Offices

Local Lib Dems campaign against the Labour government's Post Office closure programmeLabour MP for Walthamstow, Neil Gerrard, has been accused of hypocrisy after he signed a Parliamentary motion supporting Post Offices only to then vote against it in the House of Commons.

Post Offices face a bleak future if the Government gives another company the contract to pay out pensions and benefits instead of the Post Office. They currently deliver this through the Post Office Card Account (POCA), which is used by around 4 million elderly and benefit claimants.

It is believed that up to 6,000 Post Offices could close if the POCA is taken away from them. Ministers are expected to announce their decision on POCA shortly.

The Parliamentary motion expresses worries about the damaging results on Post Offices if they lose more business. Ministers and government agencies are currently putting huge pressure on people to get pensions and benefits paid directly into bank accounts instead of through the Post Office.

The motion called on government departments and agencies to use Post Offices to make services available through Post Offices to help both the Post Office network and the people who rely on it. MPs could sign the motion over the summer and autumn. Liberal Democrat MPs then brought it to the House of Commons to debate it on Monday 10th November.

Local Liberal Democrat leader Cllr John Macklin has now accused Neil Gerrard of displaying “an almost unbelievable level of hypocrisy”.

Cllr Macklin said:

“Residents of Walthamstow will have every right to feel let down by Neil Gerrard’s flip-flopping on the future of our local Post Offices.

“This is just another example of local Labour members saying one thing about Post Offices and then voting the exact opposite way.  Their behaviour on this issue over a long period of time has been nothing short of insulting to residents.

“Neil Gerrard has chosen to vote to throw out a motion expressing concerns about the future of our local Post Offices and replace it with praise for what this Government has done to our Post Office network.”

Waltham Forest has been hit hard by local Post Office closures, and local Labour councillors faced criticism over their apparent opposition to the closure programme after it emerged that they rejected a Full Council motion from December 2003 that called for the Post Office Network Reinvention programme to be halted.  The motion, moved by the Liberal Democrats, also expressed concern at the effect of the closures on the elderly and vulnerable.

Liberal Democrats have called for the Post Office to be allowed to continue to pay out pensions and benefits. They have also called for £2 billion of investment in branches, paid for by selling part of the Government’s shareholding in Royal Mail.

They also want more Government departments to use Post Offices to provide services, to free branches from restrictions on doing business with other parcel delivery companies and to broaden the range of commercial services available across the counter.

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