Barkingside 21

Big Bulb Giveaway

2019-09-18T13:45:00.000+01:00

Part of Redbridge Council's Our Streets programme is to work with local residents to improve local neighbourhoods and as part of this they are giving away spring flowering bulbs to the community this October, and encouraging everyone to plant them as part of the Big Bulb Planting Weekend between 18-20 October. This is part of a boroughwide movement to bring everybody together to beautify our streets and bring a smile to people’s faces.
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Proposed New Community Orchard & Wildlife Gardening Centre Project

2019-08-09T18:40:00.000+01:00

Our friends in Aldborough Hatch have been working with The Orchard Project to manage the remnant of the veteran orchard at the Dick Turpin Public House for some time now, and are now looking to re-create a new much larger orchard presence on the plain, the Fairlop Plain SINC (Site of Importance for Nature Conservation).
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London City Airport's expansion plans - Noise over Redbridge

2019-07-19T20:53:00.000+01:00

From John Stewart, Chair HACAN East

The campaign against London City's expansion plans outlined in its draft Master Plan, currently out for consultation, is gathering pace. We are getting 10,000 postcards printed which we will be looking to distribute widely. We are also printing posters and are planning some public meetings.

Redevelopment of the Goodmayes Tesco site

2019-07-12T15:04:00.000+01:00

From David Stephens, Chairman, Seven Kings and Newbury Park Residents Association

I recently had a meeting with representatives of Tesco, Weston Homes and Newington to discuss the latest version of the development proposals.
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Defending our Green Belt

2019-05-17T17:41:00.000+01:00

By Wes Streeting MP Ilford North

Over the past four years I’ve been active in defending our Green Belt and making the positive case for it: from opposing building on Oakfield to representing the Mayor of London at Green Belt debates.
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Save Manford Way Park

2019-04-29T12:58:00.000+01:00

Having removed one of the two proposed local green spaces allocated for "temporary" (50 years) modular Housing in Hainault, Redbridge Council carried on and, last Thursday, approved plans for modular housing on the much loved Manford Park open space. The removal of the other site came after a fierce campaign by local residents, culminating in a visit to 10 Downing Street and the decision being announced by the London Mayor.
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Protect Fairlop Plain

2019-04-29T11:47:00.002+01:00

RE: Billingsgate, Smithfield's and New Spitalfields markets will not come to Redbridge

We welcome the decision and good sense shown by the Corporation of London not to shortlist Fairlop Plain as a site for the London Markets. We are sure that this result was influenced by the lobbying by us and other residents.
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“Just Ploughed Fields” – More on the Fairlop Market Proposals

2019-03-11T16:37:00.000+00:00

Last Friday, 8th March, our friends and neighbours in Aldborough Hatch met with the Director of Planning and Regeneration, Matthew Essex, to discuss the Corporation of London Markets proposal for Fairlop Plain. (see earlier post here) Below we reproduce notes of the Questions and Answers kindly sent by the AHDA, but before that we have some maps, and we know how much Aldborough Councillor John Howard loves maps.
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You can’t Buck the Market – Will New Spitalfields, Billingsgate and Smithfield be relocated to Fairlop Plain?

2019-03-02T21:36:00.000+00:00

Yesterday, Friday 1 March, the Ilford Recorder ran a splash on the possibility that three of London’s iconic markets could relocate to a 162-acre (¼ of a square mile or ¼ the size of the City of London) green belt site in Redbridge, specifically Fairlop Plain. This was followed up by a “long read” article. It has been published as a Redbridge Press Release and is on the Redbridge Labour website as well as the Ilford North MP, Wes Streeting, waxing lyrical about it on his Facebook Page.
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Thought for Food

2019-02-28T17:01:00.000+00:00

Never mind the “project fear” predictions of food shortages and riots after Brexit. There is a much more serious problem that our parliamentarians have been ignoring for many years and I’m not referring to Climate Change or wild fires all over the UK in February, although that is having an effect. What’s more it is gathering pace and like most natural phenomena will probably hit a critical mass tipping point and then collapse rapidly.
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Redbridge Council Renege on Haul Road Decision – Nature Reserve will be Trashed UPDATED

2019-01-28T16:46:00.000+00:00

UPDATE 13 Feb 2019: There has now been an agreement to move the haul road to a less intrusive site. See here.

At last November’s Council Meeting, Redbridge Council Leader Councillor Jas Athwal agreed unequivocally to the request of the combined deputation from the Aldborough Hatch Defence Association (AHDA), London Wildlife Trust (LWT) and Fairlop Birders that the route for the gravel haul road from Aldborough Hatch Farm would not go through wildlife diverse mature vegetation on Fairlop Waters Country Park boundary, but on open land nearby. This was supported unanimously by all councillors and reported fully in the local media.

Two months later developers Brett Tarmac Ltd invited the AHDA and LWT to view the proposed route of the haul road on Monday 28th January. In spite of the clear decision by Redbridge Council that the haul road would definitely be moved, it has now been made clear by Brett Tarmac that this will not happen.
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"It's not an A&E as we know it, Jim" – King George Hospital Update

2019-01-25T21:40:00.000+00:00

Trying to make some sense on the future of our local Health services, and in particular King George Hospital A&E, has been somewhat problematic for many years. Whether it is the imprecise nature of our language or our elected politicians, and to some extent the BHRUT Management, being deliberately obscure is a moot point.

We had the then Secretary of State for Health telling us during the 2017 general election campaign that KGH A&E “would remain open for the foreseeable future” when we all know that “a week in politics is a long time”.
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Seven

2019-01-04T20:09:00.000+00:00

Here’s a little story I found quite revealing as related by one of our local members. We are constantly told to dispose of our waste responsibly and that we can take our waste, including DIY waste (but see later), to our local tip (otherwise known as the Reuse and Recycling Centre). We have a choice being part of the East London Waste Authority, there’s one in Newham for those in the south of the borough, one in Havering plus one in Barking & Dagenham for those in the East and one up here in the north in Chigwell Road. Now, some authorities elsewhere in the UK have started to charge residents to dispose of DIY waste, but not here, it’s still free for residents (not Trade) but, and there’s always a but, there are restrictions and limitations.
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December ID Parade – Wall of Shame

2019-01-03T16:42:00.000+00:00

Recycling Christmas

2018-12-19T19:13:00.000+00:00

The committee of Barkingside 21 wish all our readers a safe and enjoyable Christmas followed by a Happy New Year. May 2019 bring you inner peace and oneness with nature when we all go “Tom & Barbara” self-sufficiency after March 29th.

This year our theme is recycling, and we want you to do less of it. Yes, you read that correct. Less Recycling is good. The trouble with recycling is contamination. It only needs one person to put the wrong thing in the box and the whole batch gets rejected and off to landfill it goes. And even if it’s not contaminated it only gets recycled if there is someone to buy it and the market is now flooded.
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Saving our Libraries – Community Hubs

2018-11-16T21:19:00.000+00:00

Elsewhere in the UK libraries are closing at an alarming rate as austerity and budget cuts bite ever deeper into the ability of local authorities to provide even their statutory services. The latest, and close to home, is just across the border in Chigwell, Essex, because it is “underused”, but look closer and there’s more. But some authorities have found a way not only to future-proof their libraries but make them even better, and very successfully – by combining them with other services as a Community Hub.
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The Psychology of Open Plan Office Recycling

2018-11-14T18:09:00.000+00:00

Open plan and agile workplaces plus hot-desking have been around for at least 25 years now but it seems the design of these spaces have not really accommodated recycling facilities too well. Enter two of our antipodean cousins in New Zealand who are challenging office behaviour with their award-winning recycling bins and advice about where to put them. They’ve been in business for a couple of years down under and are now entering the UK market.
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King George Hospital – The Plan Unfolds

2018-10-28T19:59:00.000+00:00

Following on from our earlier post where we concluded that King George Hospital may be set to close, we now have sight of the East London Health and Care Partnership’s Strategic Estates Plan dated October 2018. It’s here, PDF 12.6MB. It’s quite a lengthy document and covers the whole of East London (plus Harlow in Essex, more on that later) so we have picked out the relevant parts, but the whole document is there for you to read if you wish. It seems that a Health Service presence will be maintained on the King George site, but (there’s always a “but”) it is planned to be very different to what it is now.
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Love a Duck

2018-10-22T18:18:00.000+01:00

It’s half term and time for children to spend a bit of time with their grandparents. Trouble is we grandparents were brought up in an age when we got taken to the park and fed the ducks bread. Apparently, this is a really bad thing to do, but not everyone agrees.
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Let’s Talk Rubbish

2018-10-19T22:32:00.001+01:00

The Redbridge Cabinet member for Rubbish is keen to have your views. He’s putting together a new Waste and Recycling Strategy which will probably be published as a glossy magazine and up the borough’s recycling rate. The sort of things he wants answers on are: “Are you interested in food waste collections? Maybe want a bigger recycling bin? Tell us and we can shape our borough”.
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Opportunity Knocks

2018-10-19T21:17:00.000+01:00

It seems that Redbridge council are having difficulty in recruiting non-statutory, voluntary co-opted members for two of their Scrutiny committees, Health and External, each with two vacancies. So, the recruitment process, which was run over the summer, has been extended and efforts are being made to invite further applications and ensure that all the vacancies can be filled. The closing date for applications has been extended to Friday 2 November 2018. Interested ….?
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Candid Camera

2018-10-17T19:46:00.000+01:00

Redbridge Council are auditioning for members of the public to take part in their brand new “15 minutes of fame” on-line game show entitled “Wall of Shame”. All you have to do is dump something, preferably a mattress, while being filmed and smile into the camera nicely. Then the Quiz part starts, and the millions of viewers (because you want to be famous, don’t you?) have to identify you. Viewers need to tune in here to take part in the identity sweepstake. Do bookmark the link and check back regularly.

Tales of the Unexpected – A Fly-Tip

2018-10-17T19:36:00.001+01:00

Last Friday I received a telephone call from one of our members. He lives in a block of flats with associated garages and someone had dumped a large heavy metal box (he said it would take 2-3 people to lift it) in front of an elderly woman’s garage. The box contained various items including a brand-new pair of boots, a camera and most significantly a lanyard with a name pointing to a company based in Romford.
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Redbridge Today – Click and Collect

2018-10-10T21:21:00.000+01:00

It’s that time of year when our council are putting together the next municipal year’s budget and as usual in recent years there are plenty of “savings”, or to put it another way cuts to services and new, more efficient, ways of working. That’s more efficient for them, not us. Hidden in the detail, and brought into the light by Cllr Duffell, is the proposal to stop delivering new or replacement recycling boxes and green garden waste bags.
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Redbridge Eye - Ring of Steel

2018-10-09T21:43:00.002+01:00

Back in February there was a meeting on a Sunday afternoon at The Glade school at which so many local residents turned up that the meeting had to be held in the cold and windy playground as there were too many people to fit into the hall. The subject of the meeting was the alarming burglary rate that had hit the north of the borough over the preceding Christmas period.
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