Waltham Forest Echo #13, April 2016
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Your independent community newspaper April 2016 WALTHAM No. 13, Free www.walthamforestecho.co.uk facebook.com/WalthamForestEcho T: @WFEcho FOREST ECHO E: [email protected] News Interview Feature History Column One of Waltham Forest's An ex-con talks about his Why a football fan ditched Unearthing the sad stories Debra Oakaby discovers most vibrant thoroughfares efforts to tackle gang crime Arsenal to support Wadham of expectant mothers who a community boxing club is being transformed in the borough Lodge instead couldn't afford maternity care with a difference P . 5 P . 7 P . 10 P . 12 P . 14 Huge backing for tenants facing eviction by Anastasia Aboim More than 3,000 sign petition supporting Butterfields residents girl on the other side has been here amount of money it gives away 16 years, all of them have had evic- from around £200,000 a year to It’s these people’s tion notices,” Jane told the Echo. nearly £1.5million a year.” “lives they are mucking “I think it is unacceptable. We Glasspool is facing possible in- have been writing to the manag- vestigation by the Charity Com- about with ing agent and to Glasspool but mission over the way it sold ” nobody seems to tell us what’s homes in Butterfields, and over Ltd said: “We were advised most really going on.” whether it obtained full market of the tenants were working pro- Butterfields is a 1930s housing value for them. fessionals occupying the apart- estate made up of 63 two-storey Karen McCaffrey is a Butter- ments under Assured Shorthold houses, all of which were sold to fields resident currently protect- Tenancies (ASTs). newly-formed company Butter- ed by her tenancy agreement, “We would of course welcome fields E17 Ltd. In the petition on but is supporting the campaign buy-to let investors or social land- campaigning website 38 Degrees, launched by her neighbours. “I lords that would renew the ASTs. Supporters of the Butterfields Won’t Budge campaign Credit Sarah Sachs-Eldridge the area is described as “a close- don’t want to see them go,” she “We have not taken this deci- knit community,” which, “is not told the Echo. “I’ve grown up here sion [to evict] lightly and will do esidents fighting against last November. only facing gentrification but the and was born in Walthamstow our best to limit any disruption eviction from their They formed the Butterfields traumatising prospect of home- and it’s these people’s lives they caused to tenants. Where tenants homes have won the Won’t Budge campaign group and lessness and misplacement – all are mucking about with.” require more time than that support of thousands their petition has so far gained in the name of profit”. Butterfields tenants have re- allowed legally we will do our Rof people from across the borough more than 3,000 signatures. Jane In a statement Glasspool, an ceived support from Walthamstow best to assist where practicable.” – and beyond. Browne, 60, is part of the commit- anti-poverty charity, said it was MP Stella Creasy and from tenants Sixteen households in Butter- tee behind the campaign. She says “very saddened” by the evic- at New Era Estate in Hackney To sign the Butterfields Won’t fields, Walthamstow, were ordered she has seen many of her neigh- tions, but stood by its decision to who recently led a successful cam- Budge petition: to leave by the end of March after bours unable to cope with the im- sell the homes. The trust added: paign to stop their homes being their homes were sold by Glass- minent threat of being evicted. “The sale of the properties has sold to an American asset man- Visit you.38degrees.org.uk/ pool Charity Trust, without “Our next door neighbours meant that in the last 15 years, the agement company. petitions/butterfields-won-t-budge- any warning, to a private company have lived here for ten years and a trust has been able to increase the In a statement, Butterfields E17 e17-campaign-to-stay Advertisement Waltham Forest charities under-funded by James Cracknell oluntary groups in Hackney, and that the volunteer- tants Rocket Science for £32,900, tive of local not-for-profit Signif- Waltham Forest re- ing rate, at 19 percent, was lower also highlighted a lack of funding icant Seams, told the Echo: "I see ceive less funding than than London's 26 percent average. from Trust for London and Big improvements in understanding nearby boroughs. As reported by the Echo in Lottery Fund. It recommended the huge support work commu- V This was a key finding of the January, VCS funding plummeted establishing ‘neighbourhood nity groups provide, but while I Voluntary and Community Sector by a third in five years, and several enablers’; developing a 'special applaud how swiftly the council is (VCS) Review commissioned by charities closed or significantly purpose vehicle' to deliver ser- moving, I'm concerned at the lack Waltham Forest Council and pub- reduced services in a situation de- vices; and creating a grant system of infrastructure support amid See a selection lished after a six-month delay. scribed as a “crisis” by Voluntary to distribute funding effective- such dramatic change. of our properties The review found the borough Action Waltham Forest (VAWF). ly. The council itself aims to rely “Extra pressures could lead has fewer charities for its size, The council has been criti- on VCS groups more in future as to further organisations failing inside! p. 8–9 with 2.7 per 1,000 people com- cised for cutting grants but the it makes spending cuts of £45m. or catastrophic incidents for vul- and 15–16 pared to 4.3 in Haringey and 7.6 in VCS Review, conducted by consul- Catherine West, chief execu- nerable people.” 2 No. 13 APRIL 2016 WALTHAM FOREST ECHO No. 13 APRIL 2016 WALTHAM FOREST ECHO 3 News One of Waltham Forest's most vibrant COMMENT thoroughfares is being transformed P . 5 Goodbye Marlowe Road by Melanie Briggs The struggle to save my home from the wrecking ball FELLOWSHIP IS LIFE redevelopment of social housing. one the council could never keep; APRIL 2016 – No. 13 We don’t live in a council house there will be even fewer council The Waltham Forest Echo is an – we bought ours on the open homes on the new estate. independent community newspaper market. We own it, we’ve paid for The homes of several elderly for everyone living and working in the it, and yet we must move volun- neighbours have been boarded borough. We publish monthly and distribute 20,000 free copies of each tarily or be thrown out. It’s clear up now as social housing tenants issue to libraries, cafes, pubs, and other some of the social housing on are cleared off the estate. Trees are places around Waltham Forest. Marlowe Road has been unac- being felled, including two beauti- Publisher ceptably run down and neglect- ful London planes in the recently David Floyd ed. Rather than refurbish, the refurbished Marlowe Road play- decision was taken to demolish. ground. My six-year-old daugh- Editor The borders of the scheme were ter adores that playground. I can James Cracknell drawn wide – you can’t entice make moving house sound like Project and Research Manager property developers with a few an adventure, but I can’t explain Amy Croome council flats. The rest of us are why this superb space will be de- Marlowe Road collateral damage. molished, with a temporary play- Art Direction We were told 80 percent of ground promised on the site of a Jonathan Duncan n November Waltham For- storeys of the existing North- residents wanted this. But re- derelict pub instead. Business Manager est Council refused plan- wood Tower. sponses to the survey were gath- My family will go soon. After Dexter Coles ning permission to build a Of course Walthamstow needs ered only from residents in 18 months of fighting, we’ve modest, single-storey exten- extra homes, and in particular, af- social housing; demolition was finally been offered a reasonable Contributors Ision on a small, cramped terraced fordable homes. Local MP Stella presented as a fait accompli, not price for our house. It shouldn’t Anastasia Aboim house in Chingford. The exten- Creasy recently wrote scathingly one of a number of options. have been that hard. If someone Melanie Briggs Russell Hargrave sion was refused on the basis that of the “damp, overcrowding and The questions posed were cosy knocked on your door and offered Amina Ahmed it would “have a serious detri- decay” in Marlowe Road. I felt I ones about how the respondent you £100,000 less than the market Daniel Masoliver mental impact” on natural light had to take her to task on the sug- would like their new kitchen, value of your property, a prop- Gen Ford for neighbours. gestion current homes are unfit for whether they wanted a garden erty you weren’t even looking to Katie Robinson Jill Truman This is only noteworthy when human habitation. You see, I live or extra bedrooms. There were sell, you’d slam the door in their Jeanne Holland you consider that on the next in one of those homes. no boxes for alternatives such face. If that offer comes with the Daniel Shannon-Hughes working day, the council ap- It’s a three-bedroom house as refurbishment and no indi- threat of compulsory purchase, Debra Oakaby proved planning permission to with a garden, garage, and gen- cation the demolition of ‘your it’s terrifying.