London Borough of Waltham Forest Community Ward Forum Forest Community Ward Meeting Meeting Minutes
Meeting date: Wednesday 13th September 2017: 7:00pm – 9:00pm Location: Leyton Sixth Form College, Essex Road, Leyton, E10 6EQ
Councillors in attendance: Cllr Kastriot Berberi Cllr Shabana Dhedhi (Chair) Cllr Gerry Lyons
Clerk to the Meeting: Maddie Hall
20 resident attendees
No Minutes 1. Welcome and Introductions The chair welcomed everyone. Apologies were given due to refreshments not being already organised. Directions to the toilet were given and instructions on what to do if there is a fire alarm. Minutes were discussed, there were a few matters arising; The last question on Page 2; people want a fuller answer, it doesn’t really cover the question; has anything been done? Answer at the top of page 3 – go back to licensing team and ask if they can give a better answer to that question; had 7 months to sort this, when will it happen? Details to be provided Last question on page 3 in regards to Visitors Permit Question- has there been any clarification on this? There is no proper answer to this question. Could someone email Cllr Clyde Loakes or someone from Highways? (Dr Khan asked this question) Page 4 – the last item. There were suggested items for this meeting. Is there an update on the street lighting? Why do we have some on all day and some evenings nothing on at all? Could we get a written response that could be circulated around? There was a suggestion that there was a problem with the contractor but this never comes out as an official statement. We want to know how this is going to be resolved.
2. London & Quadrant Sue Gatrell, Assistant Director from London & Quadrant
London Quadrant is a very large housing association which covers seven regions. Sue’s are Tower Hamlets, Barking & Dagenham, Walthamstow, Southend, Havering and Redbridge. Sue has a team of property managers, team leaders, and lettings team and community development. These are all people who can provide services for our residents. We are currently going through a merger with East Thames. East Thames is a fairly medium sized association based in Newham. This was all agreed some time ago, and we are currently going through structures. HR has been organised, next it will be finance, then development department to central services, then policies and procedures, then the help desk. Now we have come to neighbourhoods, we are now looking at the possibility of 4 new regions. The structure will be different to what we have now, but there will still be dedicated officers working with you. We are trying to get used to different ways of working and are trying to amalgamate IT. The whole point is to ensure that the systems are bought together and run smoothly so that you get the best possible services. We want to work closely with residents to ensure that this happens. We work very closely with Senior Management Team and police and we hope that we can work with everyone to improve resident’s lives in the areas that we work. We are passionate about making a change. We wouldn’t be where we are without the residents, and we would not be having dialogue. The point is that our organisation is very much about the learning. Every complaint is like ‘gold dust’; we look, and review issues and look at how and what we deliver which enables us to make the change. Questions Are your housing group going to put up cladding in properties? Answer Some of the new builds, one of which is at Walthamstow Stadium, were inspected when the Grenfell Tower incident occurred. Landlords had to go and inspect whether any of their buildings had cladding. Waltham Forest monitors this very carefully. Sue has to report back on a regular basis if cladding is found and report what the actions are. Two of the tower blocks in Walthamstow are being checked for precautionary measures. They are going to residents and checking if there are any issues, checking whether the fire alarms work, and are keeping residents updated. Residents have reported back that they feel everything is in hand. London & Quadrant do everything they can to make sure everyone is happy. Resident’s safety is the upmost priority. Any cladding that they came across has been sent to scientists to make sure that it isn’t dangerous.
Question How often do you check the safety and security of buildings? Answer Under Health and Safety we have to do inspections and make sure that everything is secure. We have to make sure there is no fly tipping and hoarding in buildings, and that all the lighting etc. is checked. Property managers do these inspections on a regular basis. They conduct daily checks around the building.
Question A lot of concentration has been on fully clad tower blocks. Are you going to be testing on other uses of cladding? There is a new block behind Tesco’s at Bakers Arms that have accent panels on the landings, which are to do with cladding. There is an L&Q property on Oliver Close which is only 3 storeys but is covered in cladding. Answer The priority when the Grenfell Tower fire happened was towers 18 metres and above, however these smaller blocks were checked. There is more work to be done but we have gone out and checked anything believed to be ACN cladding and they have sent off what needs to be done.
Question There is a lot of fly tipping at the back of Market Parade, are there any plans to tackle this? Answer Sinder is working very hard with the local authority to come up with a strategy regarding local shops. We have identified particular shops where they are storing things that they shouldn’t be. This is where local authority has the power to address this. There is a strategy that has been put together to manage rubbish. Sinder did a lot of research when looking through the best practice when people put their rubbish together and there has been a lot of work to develop this strategy for example changing bin frequency. This has seen an initial reduction but it is hard to tell unless it is over a 6 month period. From what she has seen, there is a different from 2 months ago. Daks Neighbourhood officer and Sinder are working together to see what they can do. Sue has said it was a pleasure to come alone, and will do future presentations if anyone wishes.
Sue’s contact details are: Sue Gatrell Assistant Director North East Neighbourhood 10 Grove Crescent Road, Stratford, London, E15 1BJ Tel: 0844 406 9000 Fax: 0800 619 0213 Mobile: 07824 431 465 Email: [email protected]
3. Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT) Sergeant Emma Leader
Emma and her colleague Jim will talk about problems in the neighbourhood. Jim most recently came over from the first response team. Another PC, Frankie, will be at the next meeting. A report was put together with information on what the team have been doing. Most burglaries that have taken place in the past eight weeks have taken place through rear patio doors. This has happened down Maple Road, Nottingham Road, Canterbury Road and Chesterfield Road. There have been three burglaries in the past week and police have tried to see if there was any evidence. There was a lot of shed and garage burglaries in the first three quarters of the year. Police manages to get evidence against the person who was committing this crime, and they have received nine months in prison. Since he has been in prison, there have been no shed or garage burglaries, and he will be watched closely when he comes out of prison. There have been vehicle crimes around Whipps Cross roundabout and near the colleges. This is always a peak area. There are no specific roads, just scatters of incidents everywhere. Police have looked at other wards in comparison to ours and they are similar to us. CCTV and repeat offenders are being watched carefully. Polices advice is to not leave anything valuable in cars and park in well-lit areas.
Question We have been burgled, and have the perp on CCTV. We do not know how to get the image off of the camera onto a form the courts ask for. Has the team that help with this been dispended? Answer When we get calls about burglaries, we try to dispatch a car asap. The call may go unanswered for a long period of time if they get a call Monday about something that happened on the weekend. There are so many different CCTV systems out at the moment which makes the Video Intelligence unit very busy. They can still come out and have a look at your CCTV but this may take a little while due to them being so busy. Jim can come down and have a look at the CCTV if he needs too. When looking into Chesterfield today, the common theme seems to be access through back doors. We will need to find out how they are getting into back gardens.
Question Is it true if you put spikes on a fence you need to warn people? Answer No this is not true, contactors who put the spikes up would need to put signs up, but no one is penalised for not displaying a sign.
Question Do you work in the areas where cars are broken into? Answer We can work in various shifts so that we can target these people committing these crimes. If there is a problem happening at a specific time then police can change their shifts.
Question In the areas surrounding the college, there are problems that happen between 12-3am at night. When this happens late at night, there are no police around to see this. People have been taking about the people that have been breaking into cars. It has been reported many times but there has been no activity from the police. A car got broken into and a satnav got stolen and the police didn’t come until 2 days later. Answer The problem with that is ward police normally work up until midnight. After this police go to calls that are emergencies. Police can have a look at this and see if they can change patrols. Police did a decoy before where they waiting for someone to break into a van and after 20 minutes, three people were arrested for breaking in. If police see valuables in cars, they are going to the registered person of the vehicle and tell them crime prevention methods.
Question: Our local councillors had a meeting recently and it was brought up that there is new technology at Laurel House that can zoom into bins to show what people are throwing in there- is this correct? Answer CCTV provided by the local council is good but only in certain areas. When they have gone over to new camera systems they have gone down. We can get temporary cameras but there are petitions about what these instances are. There are other cameras that run through the borough and can be linked to Laurel House to get better pictures and look to see who is fly-tipping. Councillors will ask the SNT team to look across the borough at CCTV and ask if there could be a roaming camera put up. If a lot of crimes are noticed in a certain area with the roaming camera, a permanent camera could be put up.
Question Please clarify what a private individual is entitled to in regards to CCTV. We were told you cannot have the camera facing onto a public highway- is this true? Answer We do not have the exact answer right now but Jim is going to go back and check what we can do. People have cameras that cover their driveway, and because of the way their cameras are facing, some people have caught crimes that happen on the street. This footage has been used in court and nothing has been said. It is a bit of a grey area and only causes issues if neighbours complain.
Question: I think we are going to have a longer discussion on this in Abbotts Park, but some of the problems around here are relating to street drinkers. I know the team from Leyton are talking to licencing officers about going to licensed premises and questioning them about selling it to people they know are going to heavily drink. Is it possible for you to talk to them and use public space protection orders? Answer Donna and Matt have checked shop licensing hours and since then it has got quitter. We are working individually with them and support workers to try and prevent street drinkers. The public space protection order is a tool that we can use to stop ASB. Enforcement for this has been south of the A406 and there is now conditions for no begging, no drinking alcohol on the streets, no urinating and no littering etc. This came into force on the 4th September 2017. Signs will be put up in the area. If police catch someone and they refuse to stop what they’re doing, they can be summoned to court. They have seen the council out and about starting to enforce PSPO (public space protection orders) It is better evidence for us if signs are put up.
Question There are currently a lot of concerns in regards to acid attacks. How do you and the local authority ensure there is licensing which stops this from happening? Also what is happening to stop moped attacks? Answer At the minute, the last the police have heard is that they are trying to talk to the government about legislations about the control of substances act. This is being discussed with the highest level of the MET at the moment. When someone is stopped and searched, if they are found with any corrosive substances, this is treated as an offensive weapon. In regards to mopeds, last week we recovered a stolen moped from the Bushwood area, as a resident called it in. We found the motorbike and it was recovered to its owner in Camden. It was sent to forensics and DNA was found on the moped. MET are looking into new ways to pursue these vehicles to ensure that it doesn’t endanger other road users.
Question: Are you aware that a number of people have been riding Santander bikes around this area? Answer: Yes we are aware of this and have seen this, although it is more prominent in other boroughs rather than Waltham Forest. We will check to see if these are stoles in we find any. This is a low level crime but needs to be discouraged.
Question Is there any literature for the general public to help in acid attacks? Answer The MET have designed something that has been made available for officers, as a lot of officers have recently had acid thrown at them. This information can be found on the internet. We would suggest dousing someone with lots of water until the emergency services arrive. Jim Is going to see if he can get leaflets.
4. Neighbourhoods Team (SNT) Pachaiappillai Dakshinamoorthy (Neighbourhoods officer)
Apologies were given for Daks not turning up. Cllr’s tried to contact him but there was no answer.
5. Making Places
Making places is a cultural art grant from the council. There was a consultation after summer and the questions were asked through social media and the council. This was meant to happen before the election, but this had to be stopped and continued after July. The consultation asked residents to make proposals on what they want to see within their area. We have £20,000 to spend this year and £20,000 to spend in the next financial year. Cllr Shabana Dhedhi was asked to shortlist the products. We are working with an organisation called Create which delivers events for councils and artwork. There were suggestions to decorate Midland Road arches- but these are TFL land. There was also a suggestion for a LIDO but this costs more than £20,000. One thing that was decided was Abbotts Park- and there was a proposal to improve children’s seating; this was the most feasible and affordable. We are still waiting for artists to tell us how this will look and send proposals through. We will be able to say more about this at the next meeting. Hopefully before next April the artist and Cllr Shabana Dhedhi will be able to tell you about and show you the artwork.
Question Is this an annual thing or a one off? Answer We have 2 pots of £20,000. Next year there will be another consultation so residents can make another proposal. We will have a final meeting around this time so we will give a reminder out about this. All these details are on the council website. There will be additional money to the ward pot money. If you know a community garden etc. that can be improved please let us know. There has to be sustainability afterwards.
Question Within the bio diversity fund, has anything happened with the beautification of the area? There were ideas about planting things behind the bus garage? Answer There was an event recently where there was bug hunting, bird box making and face painting etc. The plants in the bus garage haven’t happened as of yet as this strip of fence is TFL land. We are currently waiting for a meeting with someone from Highways. If the land doesn’t belong to the council then there will always be legal issues. Steve Williams will need to get approval for this and wants to chase this up. Around the back of the bus station there is a plot of land near to Leyton Green Road. Steve did speak to London and Quadrant about whether they would contribute money to decorate this, and they said they are having a conference about community engagement. It will not be such a big chunk of money if it comes from London and Quadrant. There was plant boxes put in Higham Hill which is not being looked after, so whatever we decide to do, it needs to be sustained by local residents.
Question In Feerenbury Manor, there are seats for children made out of wrought iron cats. I will check the names of this and email to Cllr Shabana Dhedhi Answer This is definitely something that we will consider. Send over and we can have a look at this.
6) Community Discussion/Any other business
Question A lot of people are aware that the park keeper is being removed from Abbotts Park. Residents are going to create and sign a petition to reinstate him. ASB has become an issue since park keeper was removed; however he was put back in the park recently. What is going to be done about this? Answer Cllr Shabana Dhedhi has written to the portfolio holder and has made a recommendation to the cabinet. This was approved. Residents are doing a petition. We know there are ASB issues because there are lots of emails about case work. Cllr Shabana Dhedhi has been replying to people on Facebook- there was one incident where a lady wrote to her saying that she took her child to the park and her child went behind the bush, and came back out in child faeces, This needs to be dealt with.
Steve: The council have decided to remove the park keeper from Abbotts Park which was noticed earlier this year. They have installed there cameras which still aren’t working. They are installing help points which will go through to a control room instead of a park keeper. Keepers were working from 8:30 in the morning; their shifts were then reduced in August. There was no one there in the morning and was opened by a mobile crew, toilets were locks up and were only unlocked when the park keeper arrived. There is an understanding that the park keeper will be there until the end of September. Once the cameras are all working, it will go back to their being no park keepers. We are going to start a petition- there is also one online but this may be harder for people to find. These will be taken to schools for parents to sign. Steve has got a team of people going to the park Friday to ensure the bushes are made higher so people can’t go behind them. There are a few long running problems in Abbotts such as the equipment is in a bad state, Steve Is going to make a list and send it to the council. Toilets are currently locked, one is leaking and the other toilet backs up when it is flushed. GLA have got money for projects, and a project is going to be done around trees which include specimen trees and hedgerows. There will be a bigger pot of money available to make places more environmentally friendly. The minimum will be £20,000. There is going to be planting around Abbotts Park as Thames Water removed all the planting from Fletcher Lane. Council have got a bulb planting scheme this Autumn and have asked for daffodil bulbs.
Question I take a jogging session every Wednesday in Abbots Park. Some of the ladies that come are over 50 years old, and a lot of the ladies aren’t drinking water as they aren’t able to use the toilets. We have had ladies wet themselves in our session- what is going to be done about this? Answer Please send Cllr Shabana Dhedhi an email and she will try and get this resolved for her. One regular park user who lives near the top of Abbotts walked through the park to use the toilet on her way home and the toilets were locked. There are toilets in the nearby petrol station that can be used by the public temporarily. When the council was challenged people were told they can use the community toilet scheme. Cllr Shabana Dhedhi will write to Paul again to chase this up.
This matter has been resolved as the group now has a key to access the toilets
Question There are yellow lines in Chesterfield Road, Colchester Road, and Canterbury road. The yellow lines are not serving the purpose and people are still parking on them. Even the people who are giving out the tickets are parking on the yellow lines. Answer Cllr Shabana Dhedhi will look into this.
Question What is the result of Coleworth Road CPZ? Answer Letters should already have gone out in regards to this. Councillors have received letters to that usually means that residents should get a letter very soon. Cllr Shabana Dhedhi is going to get back to Sandra in regards to this. There was a consultation on the CPZ in Coleworth road and we intend to go ahead with this and operate Monday-Friday 10AM-4PM. We are going to ask nearby roads if they wish to join the scheme.
Question There are lots of cars parking on Hainault Road since the last consultation and part of Hainault Road is already in CPZ. I do not think this is fair as I did not want this. Answer Colworth Road voted for this but it all depends on the result in regards to Hainault Road. Cllr Gerry Lyons will need to send out an email in regards to this.
Question Where can we find these details Answer You should have already had letters if you live in this road. We have just had information, so wait a week and this should come through to you. Question There was going to be a scheme at Whipp’s Cross roundabout to improve that area. It seems to have stopped- what is going on with this? Answer It is going to be made into two junctions and will no longer be a roundabout but this is still working progress. Residents have agreed that they do not want a mini Holland and councillors have said that they have made improvements. We are changing the roundabout and getting a cycle lane down Leabridge road. Mini Holland was a 30 million pound scheme and people are complaining about road closures. This is only one aspect and not even a third of the money. Our ward has spent one million to improve roads. The trees that were around this area were moved to the war memorial to avoid It being knocked down. The buses are going to be in the middle of the road so that the traffic can just flow through. There will be 50 new trees on the land between the roundabout and hollow ponds. There will be an extension of the forest and foliage to mask the buses.
Could we please have time lines for when this is going to happen? Sandra McPhee would like to know a deadline.
Question Is any of the 10 million pounds being used to resurface the road on Forest Road? Answer Mini Holland money is to use for Mini Holland and not for road resurfacing. We had to bid for mini Holland and were one of the 3 wards that won the bid.
Question With the new cycle lane coming in down Leabridge Road, how is this going to benefit? Buses now take up the main part of the road. I don’t want to take the bus if this happens as it will take way too long. I am willing to take public transport but since mini Holland I don’t want to due to all of the traffic. Answer The cycle lane will be separate from the traffic. There was a meeting last year where we had people come down and they have a website where you can make comments about Mini Holland. If you are having any bad experiences you can let them know. Lea Bridge road library may have some booklets. We could also invite the speaker to the next meeting.
Question Is anything going to be done about the pot holes that appear every winter? Answer There has been a lot of case work done on this and Peterborough Road has been resurfaced and a lot of pavements in the ward need to be resurfaced but this have to be included in the yearly budget. Chesterfield Rd requires resurfacing has been bought up before and the resident we will bring this up again.
Question Recently we have been hearing about back the bid cultural bid. If it is successful, what will it bring to the borough? Answer It will bring funding and money from GLA. There is a lot of social media campaigning going on at the moment as well as lots of badges. We have a good chance of getting the grant. Residents can put into this, and can make suggestions. Government have said that they can provide 80% of money if we provide 20%. But this is going to change so that we have to pay 80% and the government have to pay 20%. You will hear about back the bid on the local council website and will have letters through your door.
Question Is the borough putting a bid for doctors to come from abroad to here- CCG? Answer Our CCG are but they are independent from our borough. We are trying to get doctors from abroad. More and more doctors are retiring early because they do not want to do it anymore.
Question What is going to happen with the yellow grit salt bins? Last year’s supply of salt has gone hard. How do we get the council to replace this? Answer We will email them, but we think the council go back and refresh them anyway. We will get the council to do this.
Question Could you give us an update from the results of our last funding session? Answer Sandringham Road has had their party. There may not be the international film festival as other wards didn’t spend money on this. Tennis and football also went well and pictures were sent out from this. Children enjoy this and it would be good if we could do more, but leaving it down to 2 churches is hard. St Andrews churches are going to hold an event at the end of October. Leytonstone festival happened, and the raised flower bed is being chased up. The outside yard of St Andrews church has been developed which separates front path outside. The idea of this is so that children wouldn’t be able to get out. A soft floor has been made and books have been bought.
Question What is happening with the film festival? Answer We didn’t get the money from other wards that we spoke about so this won’t be going ahead.
If there is anything specific that you would like to talk about at the next meeting then fill in the form. If you have any recommended projects or organisations please fill this out on the form.
Question We are planning a cultural event for July next year, which is for both children and adults. It starts at 3 and finishes at 11. We haven’t got a venue around here for it yet. Can we get a venue in the ward? It needs to be accessible for some of the older residents. Answer Normally there is St Andrews church that can be used or Leytonstone high school. If you have it outside the ward you need to have evidence that people from this ward are attending. Just fill out a form and let us know.
Next Meeting: Wednesday 13th December 2017