The Council has announced that normal collection services will operate until Christmas Eve
Christmas Day and Boxing Day – no collections
After Boxing Day – collections will be two days later than normal
New Year’s Day – no collections
From Monday 7 January – normal service resumes
Christmas Tree Recycling
Real Christmas Trees should be left out for collection on your normal brown bin day
Waltham Forest Lib Dem Leader Councillor Bob Sullivan has been appointed to a new panel set up to examine the questions surrounding the council’s £9 million Worknet programme.
Councillor Sullivan requested the enquiry in September and the panel has now been established by the council’s Overview and Scrutiny management committee. The panel will investigate claims that millions of pounds went unspent or were put away in the council’s balances.
Also on the panel will be Conservative Cllr John Moss and Labour Cllr Saima Mahmood.
Councillor Sullivan said:
“I’m pleased to have the opportunity to raise the difficult questions needed about the council’s Worknet programme.
“All of this £9 million should have been used to put our residents back to work but so far we don’t know how much of this money actually made it into these back to work schemes or if any of them were successful.
“The council, the contractors and cabinet members all have tough questions to answer. We need to know if these contracts were successfully delivered, if they weren’t delivered then what went wrong, and why residents didn’t know about it sooner?”
LIB DEMS CALL FOR COUNCIL RETHINK OVER PARKING IN THE BOROUGH
With problems over the CPZ consultation and plans by Waltham Forest Council to sell off the Stanley Road Car Park in Bakers Arms shopping area, parking is fast becoming a big issue in the Borough.
Lib Dems are opposing plans by the council to sell off the car park at Bakers Arms. And have gone further by asking the council to extend free parking times over the Christmas period to help local businesses.
Cllr Mahmood Hussain, Lib Dem Environment spokesperson said:
“With Christmas coming up, now would be the perfect time to help local businesses by extending the 15 minutes free parking time up to 30 minutes for the remaining few weeks. This would help our local shops compete with supermarkets and the big shopping centres nearby.
“And selling off the Bakers’ Arms car park is clearly the wrong decision. The car park is badly signposted at the moment but if we could bring it back into proper use it could be a great asset for local businesses.
“Cabinet members need to rethink parking in the Borough and focus on how it can help local businesses.”
Chair of the Bakers’ Arms Business Forum, Suleman Ahmed said:
“We should be taking advantage of the resource that we have in this car park at Bakers’ Arms. If the car park was better managed and better signposted by the council then it would not need to be sold off.
“Extending free parking would also be a great boost to local businesses in the run up to the Christmas period.”
The Police have announced that Leyton Police Station in Francis Road will be shut down from next Monday 10th December.
The front counter services are being transferred to the Custody Centre, in Boreham Close, off Hainault Road.
The front counter will be manned from 7am until 3am daily. The same hours as currently offered at Francis Road.
Boreham Close is a cul-de-sac situated opposite Norlington Road.
Impression of the new Leytonstone Fire Station
The Planning Committee has approved London Fire Brigade’s application to demolish and rebuild the old fire station in Leytonstone High Road.
The new building will provide room for modern fire fighting appliances and training facilities, plus a visiting space for the public.
The fire engines will be temporarily transferred to other stations, and the Brigade says that there would be no reduction in cover as a result.
The Woodhouse Tavern
The CBHA Housing Association’s plan to demolish the Woodhouse Tavern to erect a four storey bock of flats was rejected.
It was said that the plan would result in the loss of ‘social infrastructure’ in Cann Hall.
Also it was noted that there was insufficient off-street parking provision, and the building was too bulky and would over-dominate the surrounding area.
This latest issue of the Cann Hall FOCUS Newsletter is being distributed.
Click here for an advance copy: Cann Hall 254
Results of the council’s consultation in Cann Hall: Cann Hall Olympic CPZ Consultation
At the recent full council meeting, councillors voted in favour of a Liberal Democrat motion to introduce Selective Licensing in the Borough.
Selective licensing has recently been introduced across the whole of the neighbouring borough of Newham. Once in place the law requires that all landlords in the area are licensed and that license can then be revoked if certain conditions aren’t met.
Lib Dems want to use it to tackle rogue landlords and in particular the growth of anti-social behaviour in private rented properties, which now make up 32% of the Borough’s housing stock.
The motion called for a full consultation on proposals to introduce selective licensing in the Borough to tackle rogue landlords, although this was diluted by a Labour amendment, which instead simply referred to ‘an evaluation’.
Lib Dem Housing spokesperson Councillor Winnie Smith, who moved the motion said:
“We’re pleased that the council are now seriously looking into selective licensing. And we hope that the Labour group will now stick to the spirit of the motion and push forward with selective licensing.
“There is a clear need to tackle the growing problem of rogue landlords in the Borough. As we heard from Leyton resident Sharon Crossland in the council meeting, there are landlords in our borough that just aren’t playing by the rules and there is only so much that can be done at the moment without this new licensing power.”
“Many residents are suffering in properties that just aren’t up to standard and paying too much for poor housing that’s blighted by anti-social behaviour.”
Church Lane Car Park
The current FOCUS Parking Survey is getting a massive response across the south of Waltham Forest which faced draconian parking restrictions during the Olympic Games.
If you haven’t already received a copy you can download it here: Cann Hall 253
Completed copies of the survey should be returned to:
The FOCUS Team, 61 Matcham Road, E11 3LA
It is also vital that every household completes, and returns, the Council’s consultation document, so that they receive a comprehensive view from of all residents. A recent article in the Waltham Forest Guardian suggests the Council would be happy with a 15-20% response rate.
Lets make sure they hear from everybody!
If you have not received a copy of the consultation, please ring the Town Hall on 8496 3000 today.