London Borough of Waltham Forest Community Ward Forum Hale End & Highams Park Community Ward Forum Meeting Minutes
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London Borough of Waltham Forest Community Ward Forum Hale End & Highams Park Community Ward Forum Meeting Minutes Meeting date: Tuesday 5th December n2017 Meeting time: 7:00pm-9:00pm Location: Thorpe Hall Primary School – 123 Hale End Road, Walthamstow, E17 4DP Councillors in attendance: Cllr Sheree Rackham (chair) Cllr Tony Bell Apologies: Cllr Paul Brahman Clerk to the Meeting: Maddie Hall 18 resident attendees No Minutes 1. Welcome and Introductions Cllr Rackham welcomed everyone to the meeting. Apologies were given on behalf of Cllr. Paul Brahman. The minutes from the previous meeting were reviewed. 2. Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT) - A document was passed around for people to fill out if they have any issues in the local area. The police said that they would make any of these issues part of their patrols. - In 2017, there were 21 recorded burglaries. In 2017 there have been 50 recorded burglaries both commercial and residential. - In 2016 there were 6 drug related offences. In 2017 there have been 16. - In 2016 there were 72 motor vehicle crimes. In 2017 there have been 82. - The good news is the perpetrator of anti-social behaviour around Tesco’s recently has been arrested and we have had no reports of ASB since. - We have also been doing speed gun checks along Hale End Road. - We have noticed a trend of people coming in from the north of Chingford as a way of how criminals are coming into the borough. We are catching these people by monitoring the stolen vehicles that go through the camera at the bottom of Waltham Way onto the A406. - We have linked in with the traffic unit and 4 TPAC units are coming to the borough on Wednesday and Thursday. They came to us on the 15th November for 3 days, and we made 30 arrests in 3 days. This week we noticed a 50% drop in burglaries. We are hoping to do this once a month. - We have also conducted a warrant where two firearms were ceased and Class A drugs were found at the property. We have made two arrests for vehicle gang crimes and the perpetrators are currently in prison. The gang were operating in Selwyn Avenue, Cavendish Road, and Hale End. - There has been an instance where someone defrauded another person for £600 by using their contactless card. Take your cards back to the bank and get them to change it. - We have jailed a young drug dealer and there have been no reports since. - We have recently closed down two brothels in the ward; one in Winchester Road and one in Larkshall Road. - Someone has been arrested for possession of Cannabis and possession of a knife. Question You said about cannabis, so if someone is in possession of this, will they get arrested? Answer If you are under 18, you have to be arrested. If you are over 18, you firstly get a cannabis warning, then a £100 fine, then you will get arrested. Question There is a beggar in Higham’s Park, what is going to be done about her? She can be quite aggressive. Answer Mosaic housing is dealing with this at the moment. If she continues to beg she will lose her home. There is also a behaviour order in place by the housing association. Question The 4 or 5 garages at the end of Hale End Road look abandoned. The doors are always partly opened, who do they belong too? Answer We think this is the council, we will take your email and take some photos and find out. Question What is happening about the travellers behind the storage units in Higham’s Park? Answer They have been handed notice. The council are trying to get a high court order but we will go back to Cllr Loakes and ask him. - The police were thanked for their hard work. 3. Neighbourhoods Team - Emmanuel and Steven were welcomed. - We have been dealing with fly tipping, caravan issues and abandoned vehicles. We have managed to seize one with no tax, and we are now in the process of getting the caravan removed. - We have retrieved evidence in Brookfield Park in regards to the fly tipping and this is now an ongoing investigation. - The caravan that was seized was on cloned plates, and had no tax, MOT, or insurance. With nathans help, it is soon to be destroyed. Question How do I report people dumping things down Beach Hall Road? Answer You can talk to us here or you can report it on the council website. Question Who owns the fence behind the bus stand that I have previously spoken to you about? I have been trying to sort this since 2010. Answer Originally we thought this belonged to a totally different organisation. We have written to TfL but have had no response. We will chase this up with them. Question If I get a caravan can I live in it down my road? Answer There is a bit of a loophole in the law in regards to this. There has to be 6 or more vehicles for us to be able to remove it. With the untaxed vehicles, we cannot remove it unless the driver is there with it. If the driver is with the vehicle then we can remove it. Question Can you tell us more about using CCTV to prevent fly tipping? Answer We are in walks with Tesco about this. We have got some mobile units that we can use. If anyone knows of a hot spot, please let us know. This would help in Becontree Road at the moment. Question Is it any use reporting it to the police? Answer Of course, the more it gets reported the easier it would be to apply for a CCTV camera. Question What has happened with the ward walks? Answer Normally it is every 5 weeks. We do ward walks with the councillors and go round the area to see which spots we can work on. Comment The Waterworks roundabout is disgusting. There is always rubbish. Response One of our teams is dealing with this. It has been referred already. Question What validity does a trailer have if it isn’t attached to a vehicle? Answer If it doesn’t have a registration it isn’t a vehicle. Question Do you do ward walk as well as patrols? Answer As part of our normal day we do patrol. Question On the corner of Oak Hill the council have left loads of pipes and railings and left the pavement in a complete state. What is going to be done about this? Answer If this is the case I do apologise on behalf of our contractor. This will be looked into. Question We have had a problem with someone’s CCTV facing our garden. Is it illegal for them to do this? Answer They can encroach on your privacy. From when you place a camera facing a public highway you take control of being a public controller, which you would need a licence for. We will pay your neighbour another visit in regards to this. Question There is a court order on Higham’s Park park but you can’t read what it is about? Answer It is to keep travellers out, they are aware of this as they tried to take it off. 4. Parks Team - Julian Latham & Ben Frearson - The council has £500,000 to improve parks. This is £25k per ward. There is information on our website about our main ideas of what to do with our local parks (planting trees, bio diversity, improving landscapes and sport facilities etc.). - The parks development team will be maintaining this. - The consultation for this ends December 22nd. Question Can we put trees outside of the Royal Oak? Where has this money also sprung from? Answer We have a revenue budget every year. Since 2012 we have had a lot of capital investment. Question How much say do residents get? Who decides what we can have? Answer It is a combination of people. It is sent to our Highways Team. There has to be low maintenance costs. Question We are having issues in Vincent Park. There is a blind spot behind the swing where kids stand there and smoke. The park is never locked. Answer Emmanuel will look into this. Question The new river walk is lovely; can we have some benches down there? Answer There are residents either side, so we would need to talk to them first. Question The flower boxes down Winchester Road are being neglected, as well as the flower beds outside the block of flats. Answer We will have a look into this. Comment We just want to let everyone know that we have an informal group of residents who enjoy gardening. We find it hard to access names of people who might be able to help us. We also have the Highams Park Society. Question The consultation that you did on Highams Park; people pretty much got what they wanted. Have we got time to do the same kind of thing again? Answer If we have a group of residents who know what they would like, please let us know. This is all on the council’s website. Question There is a missing tree on Beacontree Avenue; can we have a few more trees? Answer Yes, we can look into this. 5. Funding Discussion We want to take this part of the discussion to see if anyone has any concerns in regards to the Regal? Question Why is it going to be so high? Answer We did ask the architects to come along, but they declined.