Local Warming

I picked up that phrase from a Councillor friend of mine down in Lewisham. Their Sustainable Development Committee has recommended a Free Insulation Scheme for homes across that borough.

'Local Warming: Increasing Home Insulation in Lewisham: a scrutiny review' click.

Unfortunately this is not something we can expect in Redbridge any time soon, or even later. We are skint! And my local Cabinet member tells me that next year’s government grant will be drastically reduced whatever the result of the General Election. We are graded as an affluent outer London borough you know! But it’s a double whammy! At the same time that income is being reduced the call on the Council’s budget on its biggest budget line is rapidly increasing. We have a serious projected shortage of school places due to the baby boom that occurred before the economic bubble burst. PDF page 7. And that’s after the schools that have recently been built and are in progress. Just where these extra needed schools will be provided, now that the council have approved housing developments in every nook and cranny in the south of the borough, is anybody’s guess. But I will make a suggestion – SHIFT WORKING. Dear Gary, you could treble capacity in one swoop and disperse the Mum run too!

I digress, back to Insulation. Since there is no propsect of getting an insulation grant, unless you are over 70, it looks like its gonna have to be a DIY job. So, for those who are not too familiar with the various materials available, their U-values and the practicalities, or otherwise, of installing it here is a handy guide from another mate in Reading who runs the Green Construction UK blog.

Redbridge Green

Last Wednesday at the Redbridge Sustainability Forum we had a report from Tom Lawrence, the borough’s Recycling Officer, and what a lovely report it was too. You all know that the government is obsessed with targets and local authorities have loads of them. There is a huge list of which one is N192.

The target this year [2009-10] for Redbridge is to recycle 27½% of household waste and next year [2010-11] 30%. As of now [today] we are currently running at 34%. This is largely due to the wonderful new Green Waste collection service introduced last April. The 34% breaks down to approximately 20% dry recycling [paper, glass and plastic bottles and tin cans] and 15% wet recycling [compost]. However, summer is now over and wet recycling will be a lot less during the winter. There will be a blip at Christmas with composting Christmas tress and dry recycling usually increases over this period too. So we are looking at a year end out-turn of about 30%. Jolly well done to all you recyclers out there. And there is more good news. The Green Waste sacks given out earlier this year only totaled 30,000. But they have just received another batch of 25,000 and are expecting another batch shortly. Every household [with a garden] will have one of these by next April.

There is a note of caution: Invasive weed species like Japanese Knotweed. The operatives are very careful not to introduce contamination into the compost cycle but it would be much easier if people didn’t put this stuff in the bags in the first place. Oh, and just in case you are wondering it all gets shredded before it goes to compost.

Which leads me to N195. In this target we want the percentages to go down and not up. The target for Litter is 16% and in periods 1 and 2 this year actuals were 18% and 17%. For Detritus [that’s the grime that accumulates in the kerbside] the target is 23% with out-turns for periods 1 and 2 being 29% and 23%. For Graffiti it’s 8% target and actuals of 11% and 10%. And lastly Fly-Posting the target is 2% with actuals at 1% and 2%. So, not so rosy here but getting there.

Save King George Hospital

In the light of the suggested closure of key services (such as the Accident and Emergency department) at King George Hospital, Lee Scott MP is campaigning once again to save and improve the hospital.

Lee invites you to attend a community meeting to discuss the closure and our future action. The panel will include Redbridge Council Leader Councillor Keith Prince.

Venue: Holiday Inn, Eastern Avenue, Newbury Park
Date: Wednesday 18th November 2009
Time: 7pm – 8:30pm

Note 1: this meeting clashes with the Area Committee 3 meeting so B21 is looking for someone to feed back on any actions that need to be taken and a report for this blog.

Note 2: there is a protest being organised by Wilson Chowdhry on Saturday 21st November 2009 outside the hospital entrance in Barley Lane from 12noon to 2pm. Details.

November Begins

With rain. So what else have we to look forward to?

The Council’s website is “down” for maintenance and the new look forums due to be launched on Halloween are still strangely absent. I wonder if they’ve broken it? But there is a new blog/forum open to residents called Redbridge Eye. Use it or lose it.

The wonderful Green waste collection service has been put to bed for the winter and will reappear on April 1st. In the meantime [link assuming the website is up and they haven't changed the URL] you can still have your green waste collected by appointment. You might like to telephone rather than email.

It’s Guy Fawkes night on Thursday 5th and the Wanstead Rugby Club will, as usual, be having their firework display. 7 pm gates open for 7:30 display £3 per head. If you are having a bonfire in your garden please be careful with the hedgehogs.

It’s Remembrance Day on Wednesday 11th, and for the first time there will be a service at Fairlop Waters in memory of the 1,000 service men & women plus civilians who served at the airfields on Fairlop Plain in the two world wars. All are invited to this the first ever memorial ceremony where they served. Service at 11am, assemble by the Mural from 10:30. For further details contact Fairlop Heirtage Group or telephone 020 8550 5543.

On Saturday 14th there is the annual Bizarre Green Bazaar. It’s in the United Reform Church off Wanstead High Street from 10am-3pm. I can recommend Chris’ Jams and marmalade. I’m afraid though that the caterers are Vegan, but if you fancy something a bit different there is a Pie and Mash shop just along the road where you can get Jellied Eels. Yum!

Moving onwards we have the next installment of the entertainment spectacular of Area Committee 3 on Wednesday 18th where the opposition seem to have a dodgy keyboard.

The following morning, Thursday 19th at 10am until 12noon, we have our own coffee morning featuring the leader of the Council, Keith Prince. It is unlikely that the Barkingside Queen will be there, having had a strop at the last one, but Mr & Mrs King may turn up. Douglass will definitely be there with a couple of boxes of DIY tools to give away so if you’re short of a posidrive or two it could be worth a visit.

Later that evening there is the launch of the London Low Carbon Communities Network from 6-9pm at City Hall. It’s a new network that offers all organisations working in their own way to tackle climate change and to cut carbon emissions, an opportunity to cooperate, share experiences and build skills. B21 has been invited and we are authorised to pass the invitation on to other groups with whom we have contact. Email me for a copy of the reply form.

And to round off, as she usually does, we look forward to Area 4 Committee on Tuesday 24th, where we can expect Madam Chairman, along with the other two Witches of Aldborough, to stir a lively cauldron of debate and cast a spell over those assembled. Although the suggestion for a ducking stool at Fairlop Waters may not go down too well.

And then it’s Christmas. Am I allowed to say Christmas? WTH, I get cards from Muslims, Jews and Hindus. It's Christmas FCS! Let's call it what it is.

Visitors

Occasionally I will look through the site statistics to see what sort of google searches end up here. We get the usual search criteria of “Barkingside escort agencies” and the like, [that’s just ensured we will get some more], but the one that really caught my eye was from someone in Bronxville, New York in the United States of America - “how to avoid Agenda 21” . Well, that didn’t work did it. So, just for him/her I thought I’d post up this video.



We also learn that the top 10 Tory bloggers are Climate Change sceptics. But I doubt they visit here, although we do have “Judith”.

Do Tories Get It? Here’s what Greenpeace think.

Parks, Parking and Charges

Last Thursday evening the Cabinet Member for Leisure and the Head of the Parks Police turned up at the Leisure Scrutiny Committee to be interrogated.

Prior to that there was the Public Participation bit. The Chairman of B21 rose to his feet and proclaimed how disgusted he was at the plan to introduce parking charges in our Parks and Libraries. Locally this includes Barkingside Rec, Clayhall Park, Valentines Mansion and Valentines Park as well as Fairlop Waters. Claybury Park doesn’t have a car park, .....yet!

Shortly after, having not booked in to speak, the Secretary of B21 was allowed by the committee chairman to have his say. He commended the Council and the Cabinet Member for a brave and courageous decision and pointed out that he, and many others, had put precisely that proposal on the form when they completed the Big Conversation in order to balance the budget. There was though a proviso. That the new regime did not include clamping and that being the case that the regime at Hainault Forest is reviewed to bring it into line with rest of the borough. If you are parked somewhere where you should not be, that’s fine, you only have yourself to blame. But if you are parked in a place specifically for car parking and you are delayed, for any number of reasons, then clamping and/or towing is completely unreasonable and draconian.

In the ensuing debate we had an assurance from both the Cabinet Member and the Head of Parks Police that clamping is not an option and that the regime at Hainault Forest will be reviewed. We also learnt that this was not a Cabinet Decision but a unanimous Council decision when they passed the budget.

Now you can’t really complain when the council don’t listen if you also complain when they do listen!

Elsewhere in the meeting Cllr Mrs Ryan raised the problem of declining room lettings, and therefore revenue, due to the recent price increases. The law of diminishing returns. It was suggested that concessions be allowed for local non-profit groups. Hooray, someone is seeing sense. If you price them out of the market they’ll only turn up at an Area Committee meeting and ask for a grant!

Public Forums

At most official council meetings, and specifically Area Committee meetings, there is an agenda item – public forum. Anyone can put their name down to speak on any subject they choose and those present, officers and councillors, have no way to control what is said. They might try but it is only after the event that they will realise. They have no way to predict or control what anyone is going to say. Hence there is no censorship at council meetings.

Compare this with the public forum on the Redbridge-i website. You can’t have a look at it at the moment, so no link, because it is off line as of 6pm this evening while it is being upgraded for a re-launch on Saturday. Over the 2-3 years of its operation there has been considerable disquiet among some [most?] of the main users over:

• the time lag taken to publish posts
• that posts have to be moderated at all given that all users have to be registered, unlike a blog
• the inconsistent nature of moderation
• heavy handed censorship

This has culminated with a post submitted by “Weggis” replying to the Redimanagers post in notification of the proposed changes and which had the following paragraph removed before it was published.

Oh and what Redimanager’s post didn’t say:
All topics and threads will be set by the council and will be strictly managed within the following categories:
· Corporate consultation (including large planning applications where appropriate)
· Scrutiny Panel work programme topics (where wider public engagement is desired)
· Local News (provides a facility for users to comment on council news stories)
· Online services feedback channel (as exists currently for online services such as e-admissions)
· About Redbridgei – a channel for information about the site and user comments and suggestions as to how it could be further improved.
· Hot topics – high profile/ popular subjects for which there may be considerable demand locally.

Extract from leaked letter written by Roger Hampson, Chief Executive, LB Redbridge

The full letter is here.

The other heralded development – Neighbourhood Forums – is as “Weggis” points out in that part of his post that was published a return to the former make-up which didn’t work. But of course this is a government [taxpayer] funded initiative and we can’t argue with them can we?

Discuss

PolyClinics

click on Map to enlarge.

Redbridge is to have 5 Polycynics Polyclinics each serving a distinct area. The areas are not all the same size, either geographically or population and the “name” given to each area by the Primary Care Trust may not be recognised by you as where you live. So, click on the map above to see which one you are in, it’s over 1Mbits so be patient [sic!], [sick?]. One Polyclinic has already been provided in “Loxford” and it does seem to be welcome and has had some good reviews. On the other hand Cllr Mrs Sladden is not impressed as can be seen from her letter in the Ilford Recorder last week [page10]. Only one of the other 4 Polyclinics has a known location, that being the same site as King George Hospital.

The problem is that the Trust are to “encourage” General Practioners to move their practice to the new polyclinics. So, whilst some services may become more localised others will become less localised. This becomes a transport problem, especially for those with mobility difficulties, plus the location of a Polyclinic in some of the larger areas may not have adequate public transport for all potential patients to reach it, nor judging by other developments will there be much scope for parking provision. Not so in “Fairlop”. We have the ideal site in Oakfield playing fields once Frenford Sports club moves out.

So, the PCT “would like to establish community panels of local residents, to help ensure we include the views and listen to the concerns of the people most likely to use the services.” Interested? Here’s an expression of interest form. And here’s some notes from Bill to get you started.

The introduction of Polyclinics in Redbridge are causing concerns. We are not particularly against PCs, but I have asked Lee Scott/The Recorder to raise a non-political campaign so that residents throughout the Borough can be united against the following.

Any reductions in overall health facilities, and that this is not just another ploy to close King Georges A+E Department.

Any Polyclinic should be sited in a place where suitable bus services run too, for the sake of OAPs and people with dis-abilities.

Any Polyclinic should have suitable car parking facilities for the numbers of people who will be using the site, including staff.

Any Polyclinic should not effect our local Health Centre in Perrymans Farm road, including the doctors and staff we have in place today.

The PCT team should double check the numbers of people who will be using the centre, including those with no passports. Provision should be made so that people from outside areas do not flood the centre, as happened with the day centre which opened in Cranbrook Road before its closure.

Obviously there are many more questions that need answering, and many of us that fought against KG A+E closures are mis-trusting of the PCT team, and others in authority who consider cost saving to be their major priority.For all those people who agree with these thoughts you should write to your MP and Councillors, and get involved with any local campaigns.

The Griffin Wakes

Last week I did something unusual. I watched two Television programmes that were not football. On Tuesday I watched “The end of the Line” and on Thursday I watched BBCs Question Time. They are related. I will explain.

The End of the Line is about what industrial fishing methods have done to fish populations in our oceans. Traditional fishing fields like the North West Atlantic and the North Sea are getting desperately low on stock. So, the industrial nations are going elsewhere for the fish that end up on our dinner plates. The film crew went to a stretch of coast in East Africa where for generations the local population has relied on fishing for their livelihood. Not any more. The big European trawlers parked off the coast and clearly visible, given dispensation by the host government, are taking away the local people’s living. They are going to migrate, and where do they want to go? Yes, Europe. Said one local “They want our fish, but they don’t want us”.

Which brings me to BBCs QT and the appearance of the leader of the British National Party, Nick Griffin. Much has been written and debated about whether or not the BBC should have invited him onto the programme. And in the last few days still further debate about the programme itself. There are far too many links to supply here, but from my perspective it’s a score draw. On the one hand we have those who feel that the BNP should be excluded from the political arena [a form of fascism in its own right] and on the other we have those who wish put them in the spotlight and expose them for “what they are” whatever that may be.

One thing is clear to me, well, possibly two or three. It is no good sweeping these things under the carpet, we have to face up to the issues and deal with them. Immigration and population are problems that have to be dealt with. If too many people get into the lifeboat it sinks and everybody drowns. If too many people visit an unspoilt place of natural beauty it soon loses its charm. Such dilemmas are the spice of life and hard decisions are not exactly best left to politicians.

The thing is that immigration and population are not “race” issues. They are number issues. There are many people here in the UK, who some may regard as foreigners, who are also concerned about mass immigration.

It was to be expected that BBCs QT would turn into a farce. It was a first and we’ve now got it out of the way. Next time, and there will be a next time, the initial conflict will recede and the issues will be addressed, whether or not the mainstream parties want to or are comfortable with it.

The fact is that the root cause of modern day immigration is the actions of governments who support multi-national corporations who in turn exploit the populations of third world countries. And we, yes that’s you too, play our part when we buy things without checking where they came from, what the provenance is, who made it etc.

As ye sow, so shall ye reap. We are all guilty. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

Take me to the Leader

The leader of Redbridge Council, Cllr Keith Prince [pictured right, note the Gary Cooper pose] is going to be very busy over the next couple of months. I just hope that he finds time to do his Christmas shopping otherwise the earache he is going to get from what I am about to describe will pale [pail?] into insignificance.

He is about to embark on a meet the people tour, talking to residents all over the borough about what they see as priorities for improvement. Be it potholes or graffiti, anti-social behaviour, exorbitant council tax, lack of swimming facilities or libraries, I would expect everyone has got something to have a whinge about. A brave man. Good luck to him. A man’s gotta do……

He kicks off at the Ilford Mall on Monday 26th October at High Noon to 2pm. Watch his blog for further dates and venues.

Not only that, he is also hosting a meeting specifically on the Swimming pool situation at the Town Hall on Thursday 12th November again at High Noon. The Clayton gang Barkingside 21 and Johnny Ringo may well show up. If you wish to attend then please let his secretary know so she can book you in.

The following week on Thursday 19th November Cllr Prince comes to the OK Corral Barkingside High Street as guest speaker at the B21 coffee morning in the Hainault room Fullwell X library, 10am to High Noon. These coffee mornings are public meetings and open to anybody to attend and there is no charge.

If you’ve got something to say then seek him here or seek him there and say it.

Men in Need

Full story here.

Treat as a Caption Competition if you wish.

Revolting Neighbours

"A Liberal Democrat motion submitted to Waltham Forest Council demanding action over the lack of consultation on the expansion of London City Airport was last night [October 23rd] unanimously supported by ALL parties. This blow has been dealt to London City Airport and Newham Council after an avalanche of complaints was received by Waltham Forest councillors, many from residents who have been newly affected by London City Airport aircraft noise over their homes.

The motion (see beneath) requested a list of items to be addressed and actioned including an investigation into why Waltham Forest was not formally consulted over the expansion of flights at London City Airport by Newham Council. As Newham Council is the planning authority for the airport, it is Newham's responsibility to formally consult on any changes proposed by the airport. More…….. "

Is it too much to ask for similar action in Redbridge?

Death by the Wrong Cuts

We have a General Election due next year, back stop June 10th. The three main political parties are vying with each other over who can cut the budget by the most to deal with our nation’s unprecedented level of financial debt. But there is another debt that is not being addressed – it is our ecological debt. We are in deep do-dos in both.

Step forward Simon Hughes MP, Liberal Democrat, North Southwark and Bermondsey who proposed the following motion in Parliament on Wednesday 21st October.

That this House believes that it is vital that the UK demonstrates political leadership at all levels in response to the climate crisis, and that this is particularly important ahead of the United Nations Climate Change summit in Copenhagen if there is to be an international agreement which will avert the worst effects of catastrophic climate change; further believes that immediate practical responses to the crisis should include a massive expansion of renewable energy and energy efficiency and a commitment for all homes in Britain to be warm homes within 10 years; acknowledges that action taken now to tackle the climate crisis will cost less than action taken in the future; notes the declared support of Labour and Conservative frontbenchers to the objective of the 10:10 campaign which calls for 10 per cent. greenhouse gas emission reductions by the end of 2010; agrees that the House will sign up to the 10:10 campaign; calls on Her Majesty’s Government and all public sector bodies now to make it their policy to achieve a 10 per cent. reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by the end of 2010; and further calls on the Government to bring a delivery plan before this House by the end of 2009 on how these objectives will be achieved.

Now I have to admit to being a bit remiss by not mentioning the 10:10 campaign on this blog before now. But I know that most of the readers here are already doing their bit, even if not for the same reasons. I also ignored the repeated emails asking me to lobby my MP to vote for the above proposal. I know him well enough to know that he would vote for it, and he did. Of our local MPs:

Iain Duncan Smith, Conservative, Chingford and Woodford Green – did not vote
Lee Scott, Conservative, Ilford North, Voted FOR
Mike Gapes, Labour and Co-op, Ilford South, Voted AGAINST
Harry Cohen, Labour, Leyton and Wanstead, Voted AGAINST

The Motion was LOST, ie defeated by the GOVERNMENT.

In its place another motion was agreed thus:

That this House welcomes the 10:10 campaign as a motivator of public action to cut carbon dioxide emissions through individual and collective behaviour change; recognises the value of such campaigns to build public support for action by governments to agree an ambitious, effective and fair deal at Copenhagen; further recognises the significant effort made by individuals and organisations to cut their emissions through the 10:10 campaign; supports the Climate Change Act introduced by this Government, the first such legislation in the world, and the system of carbon budgets that enables Britain to set itself on a low carbon pathway; notes that carbon budgets ensure active policies by Whitehall departments and the public sector that deliver long-term sustained emissions reductions not just in 2010 but through to 2022 and beyond; further supports the efforts of local councils to move towards local carbon budgets by signing up to the 10:10 campaign; further welcomes the allocation of up to £20 million for central Government departments to enable them to reduce further and faster carbon dioxide emissions from their operations, estate and transport; and further welcomes the cross-cutting Public Value Programme review of the low carbon potential of he public sector, which will focus on how the sector can achieve transformational financial savings through value-for-money carbon reductions.

So, basically the GOVERNMENT have changed the motion to one that does not COMMIT them to actually DO anything. Do as we say, not as we do! Now, let’s think about this. Cutting carbon emissions SAVES money, it is the sensible thing to do, regardless of whether or not you believe that Climate Change is a real and present danger. And it’s not as though Government don’t have the opportunity to reduce their [our? we pay for it] energy bills.

The official Energy Certificate for Ofgem's Head Office in Millbank.
The Energy Certificate for the head office of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority - an agency of the Department for Energy and Climate Change - Courtesy Dizzy.

Look if you want to make financial cuts in the government budget this one is staring you in the goddam face. There are major savings to be made here, but they don’t see it that way. It’s not their money, so they don’t care.

And here is the Pièce de résistance:
Mike Gapes brags about how he supports 10:10 and how he voted for the second motion, failing to mention to his constituents that he voted AGAINST the motion that commits HIM to do something.

The loonies really are running the asylum.

Accidental Closure

An accident by its very nature is not predictable. Neither are Emergencies. That’s why we have got the Emergency Services. They are prioritised though. You ring up and report gunshots the Armed Response Unit will be there in a few minutes. A cut finger might not have the same effect on the Paramedics and ambulance crew. Likewise a cat up a tree for the Fire Service. But a broken leg, a heart attack, a road traffic accident or house fire are treated with urgency. They are professionals.

The problem is the politicians and the managers they appoint and control. They interfere, they think they know best. They think they can make things better. But do they? Pah!

The present government has poured money into the National Health Service like never before. But like always the money comes with conditions stipulated by them the politicians. Targets and measures, forms and bureaucracy. You don’t meet the targets change the way its measured so you do. Tick the box, screw the patient. Have we had a pro-rata improvement in services? No!

You may have seen last weeks Ilford Recorder reporting that the King George Accident and Emergency Facility is “doomed” and on page 3 that our local PCT the Barking, Havering & Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust is the worst performing in the entire country. Hardly surprising given the conditions imposed by Government on the Public, Private Finance Initiative.

But it gets worse. It now emerges that the closure of the A&E is OUR fault. They have set a minimum operating level to justify keeping an A&E open. It’s 500 major trauma patients [which includes heart attacks and strokes], but they don’t say over what period. They are saying that we as a community don’t have enough accidents and emergencies to warrant keeping the place open. We are just all too healthy and safety conscious to justify the expense. I can just hear some jumped up twerp of a Minister claiming the government's health initiatives on smoking, drinking and binging on fast food are paying off. But it ain’t like that, oh no. The FACT is that strokes and heart attacks now go to the specialist unit in Whitechapel and other patients are taken direct to Queens in Romford. They have taken away the cases that would otherwise have gone to King George because they want to close it and they have made up a statistic to justify their actions, period. Pretty soon Redbridge will have no hospital at all, King George will become one of the 5 planned Polyclinics.

This is no Accident, but it is an Emergency.

Suggest you all google “Private Medical Health Care”.

Hard To Avoid

As it is the 19th October, I thought I had better correct the previous information that today would see the start of a six month respite from traffic chaos around Gants Hill. They have changed their mind and found a way for Thames Water and TfL to work alongside each other, so the project will be finished much earlier than previously expected. That’s the plan anyway.

Speaking of TfL Boris apologises for putting the fares up driving more people away from using public transport. So that’s more room for all those with Freedom passes, who will probably end up being the only people who use it. If you’ve got one of these, there are new arrangements for its renewal early next year. I suppose some people might think about using a bicycle, but they might just get put off by all the cars parked in the cycle lanes. What is the point of spending loads of our dosh on marking out cycle lanes and then letting them be blocked by parked cars? I suppose at least one of the 163 TfL managers on six figure salaries will have an answer. That’s why they are paid six figure salaries isn’t it?

Late last Thursday evening I got the bus home, or rather I got on the bus but it didn’t go anywhere. A passenger had passed out and had a nasty lump on her forehead. The thing is that the knight in shining armour looked like this i.e. what most people would describe as a “yob”, a hoodie. Things ain’t always what they seem. She was safely packed away in an ambulance by the paramedics and we were ushered onto the next bus. So one bus out of service and probably some pretty annoyed customers at bus stops further along the route.

I had been to the Redbridge Safer Communities Award Ceremony at the Town Hall. Barkingside 21 had been nominated as well as our vice-Chairman in his personal capacity. Neither of us won anything but we did get a “Commendation” for being nominated and had our pictures taken with the Mayor. No pictures as yet but here is one of all the Mayors of London. Ours is in the bottom left corner.

So, being disappointed at not winning, it was with interest that I read Dorothea’s post on Sunday. It seems that Councils have a bigger problem than trying to engage with the “hard-to-reach demographic”. It’s trying to ignore the “hard to avoid group”. That’s us folks. B21 is a hard to avoid group and we aim to keep it that way.

UPDATE: Roger reports on Monday evening’s Redbridge Public Transport Liaison Group, covering the absence of any bus route along Forest Road, poor service to King George Hospital, early running of buses and Gants Hill. The proposed 306 bus route, promised in 2002, from Woodford Bridge to Ilford probably was not even on the agenda. We don’t know because the agenda has not been published on Red-i. This, and the absence of a bus route to Ilford that avoids Gants Hill [the 306] does seem to be having an impact on Public participation from the hard to avoid groups!