London Borough of Waltham Forest Community Ward Forum

London Borough of Waltham Forest Community Ward Forum Cann Hall Ward Meeting Minutes

Meeting date: Tuesday 19th January 2016 Meeting time: 7:30pm – 9:30pm Location: Cann Hall Methodist Church, Cann Hall Road, Leytonstone E11 3NL

Councillors in attendance: Patrick Edwards (Chair) Sally Littlejohn Keith Rayner

Clerk to the Meeting: Ella Coulson

31 attendees

No Minutes 1. Welcome and Introductions

1. Cllr Sally Littlejohn welcomed everyone to the meeting. The councillors introduced themselves. 2. Minutes of the previous meeting were agreed as an accurate account of the meeting. 2. Cann Hall SNT Report

 The Safer Neighbourhood Team was unable to make the meeting, however they did supply a report to the councillors and copies were made for those who attended.  Cllr Littlejohn pointed out the SNT surgeries. Police are at the Project Shop on Thursday 11th of February from 10-11. They also have a ward panel meeting which is open to the public. 3. Crossrail at Forest Gate – Johnathon Baggs, Community Relations Manager

 Crossrail is coming to Forest Gate; Johnathon attended the meeting to speak to the resident about the works at Maryland and Forest gate stations.  Crossrail will be in place by 2019, it will be a purple line on the underground map. The aim is to connect the great eastern line with services on the west side coming out of Paddington, with new tunnels in the central of London and will include 10 new stations.  Cross rail trains will be 205 metre long trains and they will be stopping at two stations at a time in Central London.  This project will relieve overcrowding on the other parts of the underground, will take pressure off Liverpool street station and will ease the burden on the stations and the lines and the people using it.  They are currently 70% of the way through the programme; they are on time and on budget.  They aim to deliver the tunnels in late 2018, and will add on the extra bits in the route in 2019, they will be running half way through 2019.  There have been over 500 apprentices working on crossrail.  They have given 1000’s jobs to previously unemployed people and have trained 12000 people at the tunnelling underground company.  They finished the tunnelling in May 2015.  Canary wharf station is largely complete. The canary wharf group have already put in a garden and shopping surrounding the station.  Railways systems are being carried out by network rail and they are about halfway through the surface works.  2017 there will be a phased introduction of services. They take delivery of the new trains in early 2017 which will be brought into use first on the north east line (Liverpool Street to Shenfield).  There will be a total of 65 trains which will be similar to other parts of the London over ground. They will have air conditioning, Wi-Fi and 4g. They are energy efficient so they are able to store some of the energy they create by braking and use it back in the system. They are lightweight so they make less ground vibration. The trains will be delivered to the Ilford depot which is being refurbished. New trains will have dedicated wheelchair spots.  |This means there will be direct access from forest gate/Maryland to central London rather than swapping at Stratford.  The benefits to existing tube lines is that because the crossrail will be parallel to the central line it will take some of those passengers to crossrail.  There is direct airport access; you will be able to get a direct link from Forest Gate to Heathrow. You can also change at Farringdon and get access to Luton and Gatwick.  There will be accessibility built into the stations; the new stations will have level boarding from train to the platform.  Railway upgrades that crossrail is building will improve the reliability to services.  Forest gate station is undergoing a refurbishment of the ticket hall, new lifts and staircases, platform extension, CCTV, help points and new signage.  Newham council have funding from TFL to improvement the local area, they are leading on this project with guidance from TFL.  The temporary staircase at forest gate station will be coming into effect in the next few weeks.  TFL is funding the lifts to go into Maryland station.  TFL rail is an early phase of the crossrail project, TFL rail will exist for the few years up until crossrail gets started, they will then be branded as crossrail.  There are more British transport police who are looking for secure station accreditation across their networks.  The rolling stock had the door mechanisms upgraded as the main hold ups would be doors breaking; therefore replacing mechanisms has made them more reliable.  There may still be times where they need to run fast between stops, but they shouldn’t be skipping stations.  A lot of investment is going into Maryland station through the lift scheme and improvements to reliability will mean it’s a far more attractive stop to go to.

Question: This looks like it has huge potential, especially to get to the airports. What are the plans for parking? Answer: We don’t have specific plans for parking at the stations beyond the parking that’s already there. There’s no abundance of land that is available for stations. I don’t have an answer in terms of creating new parking spaces; this will have to be looked at by the council. Crossrail is mainly funded by TFL; it’s a case of identifying transport to the station instead of car parking first and foremost.

Question: Will the ticket prices be in line with the current prices? Answer: Yes they would be the same. Crossrail will be operated by TFL. TFL and their train operating company and will collect fares as it does already. Model is similar to the over ground.

Question: The London Borough of Newham is handling associated works; can you tell us anything about their plans? Answer: They are leading on that project so they handle the consultation with that. I know Newham handled a consultation back in October; they are collating responses at the moment to take to their cabinet. Outline is in the public domain. You can go onto the Newham website to find out.

Question: I am concerned between the links in terms of buses; will there be more buses as opposed to what they do now? Answer: London buses needs to take into account change in demographic. Crossrail doesn’t come on stream until 2019, so there is still time. London buses need to do their planning which will take into account crossrail.

Question: This will provide people a better reason to move to East London, but can you just explain the relationship between the track, TFL and crossrail. Answer: The track is maintained by network rail which means if they need to do work to the tracks or the wires then network rail will carry it out. Crossrail is essentially a project, therefore while we are carrying out our works we are responsible for the tunnel, restructuring, remodelling of stations and the tracks on the line. In terms of engineering some will be network rail or some will be for crossrail. TFL will be the operator of the line. Crossrail will live on in terms of the operator which is run by TFL. In the moment under the brand of TFL and in the future under the brand of crossrail.

Question: Has there been any study about the economic benefits in this particular area? Answer: There are a range of transport benefits. It benefits companies to have a wider pool of talent to choose from, it will help investments in places like Ilford. It will be seen as an attractive place for businesses. If they improve access to jobs, then people bring money home to spend on their local area which will result in wider economic benefits.

Question: Will the journey from Forest Gate to Heathrow be 40 minutes? Answer: Yes that is correct.

Cllr Patrick Edwards stated that Johnathon is here because people have heard about the bus disruptions we thought it was important for crossrail to come along, to establish a relationship with Johnathon and crossrail and we will make sure we keep in touch. 4. Ward Funding Decision

 Friends of Langthorn Park: Consists of volunteers who help the community to use Langthorn Park. They apply for money to mainly help put on the roller-skating weekend on the first weekend of august. It enables everyone to go free to a roller disco which a lot of people don’t get to experience. The event keeps children entertained. This year they want to try and get the disabled down there to enable them to enjoy the fun as well on the 1st Saturday in August so they can go round with the music. They mainly get 1200-1300 people that turn up every year.  Shaping tomorrow’s women: This group train young women in schools in self- confidence, social skills, to get around the world without feeling intimidated, scared or worried about the kind of things that can happen in the world. They aim to strengthen young women’s resilience in challenges of looks, peer groups etc.  SLADA: This is an over 50’s project. They have steadily grown over the last 5/6 years and they mainly organise group outings within the M25. These outings could be visits to botanic gardens for example. The group has built up to about 30, its thriving to help those who are isolated or don’t have much of a social life. 50% donations of the costs are to be covered by the people who go on the outings. They have been fortunate to have fine weather and accident free events so far. They go from outside the leisure centre. They can be found online and there are flyers on the notice boards in and around the wards. They have never had less than 22 people and it is frequently up to 30 people per each event. They run 4/5 throughout the year.  Wellspring: They run out of the jubilee centre. They meet every week on a Tuesday. They supply lunch and do exercises in the morning, learn to use tablets and smart phones for example. They promote and advertise the SLADA trips. Their user groups are older and a lot frailer.  Leytonstone Festival: Brian Maddock is a trustee of the festival. The aims of the festival are to provide a high quality performing arts festival. The vast majority of the event is free. There are historical walks around the area, salsa bands and a lot more and it ends on the last Sunday with a huge event with lots of stalls and free entertainment. They had about 9500 that attended last year and it is free for all residents to use. The ambition is to get more private sector funding. One of the things they want to do is to get sponsorship from local businesses. Those who do sponsor the festival receive special packages for the festival; gold, silver and bronze and they will get advertised on the leaflet.  Parkside Productions – They are a local arts organisation that was formed and works primarily in partnership with Leytonstone children’s centre cluster. They had some money from the ward funding last year and ran an arts club for families. It was a lovely event with activities that engaged all parents and children.  News from Nowhere: They run public meetings with lectures and well researched lectures; they are seeking £800 for paying for their lecture programme. It is a south Leytonstone group. Anyone can go and listen to lectures and it’s free.  Box for life: Is a boxing programme in Cann Hall and Cathall Ward.  Vitalite: This group has been going since 2007, since they received the funding their numbers have gone up. The schools have sent out newsletters so there are now more kids that they support. They provide tuition in English, maths and science. They are all CBS checked. It is an excellent environment for children.  Cann Hall Education Trust: They are a mosque. Apart from daily congregations, they hold activities for the youth for the ages of 7 to 16 year olds. They have indoor games such as table tennis. They hire draper’s field which is £63 a week. Everyone is welcome to go along; they are based at 145 Cann hall road. They have 25 children who attend at the moment which is the right number for them now as they need more adults to supervise the kids if more wish to attend. They meet every Sunday.

Cllr Patrick Edwards stated that they will go away, work away the funding and will communicate by the end of next week to those who have made applications. 5. Councillor Updates

 Cllr Keith Rayner gave an update on Woodhouse tavern. They are operating a residential set of properties in the first floor of the Woodhouse Tavern. There is some suspicion around the property at the rear which has also appeared. It has become known as the pop up hotel. The pub site applied back in November for an extended licence to 2AM; however a number of one off private affairs had occurred by then where they carried on till about 4AM, therefore there was considerable amount of objections regarding that application. Especially as there is a nursery, sheltered housing, and a number of other vulnerable spots around the site. They still haven’t done anything to the pub area apart from knock the walls down. Enforcement, planning and development control are in contact with the developers on an ongoing basis.  Cllr Patrick Edward gave an update on the Lord Rookwood. Lord Rookwood has now been bought by Antic who is a well-known and respectable pub company who own The Bell on Forest Road E17 and The Red Lion on Leytonstone High Road. They will be exchanging with the owners in April and will be sticking in a planning application to get the pub online very soon. First of many amenities that will breathe life into this part of town. 6. Community discussion and AOB

 Cllr Patrick Edwards informed the residents that the council have for some time instigated a voluntary scheme called ‘Snow Angels’ which makes sure that our elderly citizens can go about and not be affected by the snow. We don’t have enough snow angels in this ward. If you wish to sign up then please email Cllr Patrick Edwards and he can direct you with how to do so.  Cllr Sally Littlejohn informed the residents that they will be hearing about the outline plans soon from Cllr Coghill in terms of what she came to the Ward Forum about a few months ago and the Cllrs’ will come to you and ask your opinions at the next ward forum it comes to.  A development allows extensions to be carried out without necessarily applying to the council or informing their neighbours which is illegal. The only way we find out is if the council get informed so be aware and let the council know.

Question: Emmanuel from Montague road: What is the position with Fred Wigg and John Welsh towers? Answer: Cllr Patrick Edwards: The two tower blocks have been the site of a very serious fire. They have been recipients of HRA funding. The estate has a chronic overcrowding problem but a large number of people on the estate wish to live somewhere else. The London Borough of Waltham Forest has committed to redevelop the estate. There will be an additional block that will be made for shared ownership and ‘To Buy’. We need to make sure we are fitting into the affordable section as well.

Question: Housing officers hinted recently that there may be a development near Sansom road, there have been lots of rumours and we can’t find out where it will be, one suggestion is on the land where the fire was on Lansdowne? Answer: Cllr Keith Rayner stated there are 3 parts to that land. One part is still in the hands of the insurers, second part is owned by a local resident in Acacia Road who has tried to apply for a planning application. This is a suggestion but nothing is solid.

 Cllr Patrick Edwards stated that they are going to see if they can get some deep cleans around the borough. They are looking at reintroducing advertising of the free collections. They are more than keen to use this CWF to retch up the quality of our public environment to make sure our streets are clean. They are making the case to neighbourhoods to get the message across. Next meeting is Saturday19th March 2016: 1.00-3.00pm. The idea to hold the next one on a Saturday is to organise a dedicated youth forum. Councillors want to experiment a little bit and see if they can increase the numbers and interest at the Community Ward Forums.