The alleyway between Forest Road and The Drive was previously badly overgrown and in a very poor state. It was particularly difficult for disabled people to navigate. We have had the path replaced and the whole alleyway cleared up. See the ‘before’ and ‘after’ photos – looks good!

We have a small amount of money to fund projects this year, but the deadline is on 11 May. You can download the criteria and forms. Do get in touch if you would like more information – we are waiting to hear from people!

If you love London but wish you could walk and cycle around more safely and easily, then sign London Cycling Campaign (LCC)’s petition and help London to Go Dutch!    

In Holland 25% of journeys are made by bike and they have the safest roads in Europe for cyclists.  Traffic congestion and air pollution are lower and there are health benefits from improved fitness levels and better air quality.    

This is LCC’s biggest, most wide reaching campaign ever.  We believe in a city where everyone can cycle and walk safely wherever they want – a London that’s a more pleasant place to live and work.  That’s why we want the mayoral candidates to pledge to make London more liveable for everyone by making our streets as safe and inviting for cycling as they are in Holland.   

London’s Mayor can have a huge impact on transport.  LCC want to be able to demonstrate to the new Mayor that there is a powerful mandate for a more liveable London.   Please sign up today and join local cyclists for The Big Ride  in central London on Saturday 28th April.  There will be be a guided feeder ride departing Walthamstow Central Library at 9.00am.

Today, Hoe Street led the way in the annual Waltham Forest Spring Clean. We joined over 50 residents for the Walthamstow Village Residents Association clean up around the Village. We then joined around 20 residents in cleaning up Wingfield Park and planting the large planters which we funded through our Community Ward Forum (see the beautiful photos on our website!). Finally, we joined the Friends of The Drive and Attlee Terrace in picking up litter on The Drive.

The ward now looks spotless. Thanks to everyone who helped – it really shows what a warm, helpful and friendly community we live in. It makes you proud to be Walthamstow!

Yesterday, the three of us attended the opening of the new housing co-operative at 8, The Drive. We’re delighted that the co-op has got off the ground – not an easy thing to do. We were joined by Ed Mayo, the Secretary General of Co-operatives UK, in planting a new apple tree for the start of the co-op.

2012 is the International Year of Co-operatives, and this form of housing offers a real and genuine alternative to the problems experienced by many in the current housing market, especially in London. We have already helped members of the co-op with various issues, and will be working with them in the future to identify new sites.

Best of luck for the future – and thank you for inviting us yesterday!

Yesterday Ahsan and Mark visited shops on Orford Road with Fairtrade Waltham Forest. Waltham Forest is a Fairtrade borough. We were encouraging the shops to stock Fairtrade products – tea and coffee for the cafes, chocolate for the newsagents. Many shops already do stock Fairtrade products, and we would like more to do so.

We’ll be working with Fairtrade Waltham Forest in the future. We’re very supportive of their aims, and want to show residents and businesses that Fairtrade products aren’t more expensive than non-Fairtrade – they’re just better!

The local Safer Neighbourhoods Team have been undertaking increased patrols recently to detect and deter burglars. This has had an excellent effect. In December 2011, there were 25 burglaries reported. Last month, this had reduced to 7.

The new security doors installed at Attlee Terrace have also reduced the problems that residents experienced with youths causing anti-social behaviour in the estate.

If you would like to speak to the Safer Neighbourhoods Team, call 020 8721 2642.

Recently, we have held surgeries in Grove, Pendlestone, Granville, Clarendon, Copeland, Fraser, College and Merton Roads. Over the next year, we will be visiting every street in the ward, picking up casework, and then writing to residents to let them know what we have done on their behalf.

Here is the letter that we will be delivering to residents in the above streets:

Dear resident

We are your local councillors for Hoe Street ward – we hope you are well. Recently, we held a street surgery in your road to find out if there are any issues or problems that we can help with. We wanted to update you with what we have been doing on your behalf.

Many people said that the streets are cleaner than they used to be, but that they need to be swept more often. We have arranged for that to happen. Some sections of the footpath in your streets are quite damaged, particularly around tree roots. We have asked council officers to repair these sections.

We have also been in touch with the shops in the part of Hoe Street nearest to your homes, to make sure that the shopkeepers do not contravene planning regulations when they advertise on the footpath.

Many residents mentioned their concern at cars speeding through your streets. We have asked council officers to survey the area and to recommend ways in which we can stop this problem. We have also asked the local police to mount cameras and patrols in the area, to catch persistent offenders.

Finally, we have been in touch with the owners of the Grove Tavern to encourage them to speed up the works on the building. After we arranged for the building to be boarded up, we do not want it to fall into a worse state of disrepair.

If you would like to discuss any of these issues, do get in touch by email or letter. Alternatively, we are holding our next Community Ward Forum on Monday 19 March, from 7pm until 8.30pm, at St Stephen’s Church on Copeland Road. We hope to see you there!

Here is the text of the letter we sent to the Planning Inspectorate:

We would like to object to the above appeals regarding the former Granada (EMD) Cinema and the Victoria Public House at 186 Hoe Street, Walthamstow, E17 4QH. We are the three councillors for the Hoe Street Ward in the London Borough of Waltham Forest – the ward directly opposite the EMD Cinema building. We objected to the UCKG’s application at the Waltham Forest Planning Committee on 18 May 2011 and we object to these appeals.

At the meeting in May 2011, at which councillors unanimously rejected the plans, we noted that, in a ward of over 10,000 voters, not one resident or business had contacted us to support the UCKG’s application. As of the date of this letter, that remains the case. Local residents are overwhelmingly opposed to the UCKG’s plans for this much-loved building.

The UCKG’s plans have been rejected twice by Waltham Forest Council, and once by the Planning Inspector and the Secretary of State. Although the UCKG has made small, cosmetic changes to their plans since their first application, these changes are not material. The applications to which these appeals relate remain substantially the same as the applications which were previously rejected on appeal. Therefore, we believe that the Planning Inspector should reject these appeals in the same way.

Walthamstow is an incredibly diverse place, and we are proud of that diversity. Any plans for the EMD Cinema building must include the whole community, and not exclude most. At the Planning Committee meeting in May 2011, Pastor Paul Hill, property manager for the UCKG, shouted at the Committee: “the cinema is ours!”. This does not give us confidence that the building would be open for all the community to use. This makes us believe that, as with UCKG buildings elsewhere in London, a once much-used community asset would be permanently lost should the UCKG be granted planning permission to change the EMD Cinema building’s use.

We do not believe that the UCKG’s plans would add to the entertainment offer and economy of Walthamstow. We do not believe that they would contribute to the regeneration of Walthamstow Town Centre. We believe that the plans would create enormous traffic problems for an already-crowded part of London. The problems of parking are already acute for our residents – the UCKG has not shown how it would stop their plans from contributing to that congestion.
The EMD Cinema building has been a focal point for the community since 1887. The UCKG’s plans would remove the building from the public, allowing only a small number of people to access its charms. Other plans put forward for the building by the Waltham Forest Cinema Trust would open the building to the whole community – not just in Waltham Forest, but throughout London and South East England.

Planning guidelines recommend that a listed building’s original use should be the first option for its continuing use, wherever possible. It is possible for the EMD Cinema building to remain in its original use, as a public building for entertainment, not as a private building for worship. We urge the Planning Inspectorate to affirm the decision of Waltham Forest’s elected representatives, to uphold their own guidelines, and to reject these appeals.