Act now - imminent parliamentary debate on squatting

According to Empty Homes, this country has an abundance of empty properties, most of them privately owned, like these trophy homes. In Redbridge this amounts to 2.18% of residences. And of the publicly owned properties, according to SQUASH (Squatters' Action for Secure Homes),

“In 2010, there were still 79,739 empty properties belonging to local authorities (39 per cent), housing associations (54 per cent) and other public bodies (7 per cent). The value of the local authorities’ portion of empty properties comes to around £7 billion in 2011, with London making up £3 billion. This is a waste of public assets.”

We know from Shelter that the homelessness statistics in June 2011 - a staggering 44,160 households - were up 10% on last year, and that every two minutes somebody faces the prospect of losing their home. Crisis tells us that the average life-expectancy of a rough sleeper is a mere 42 years and that 39% of homeless people squat or have squatted, and that hidden homelessness is likely to be a huge iceberg of which we only see the tip.

It seems a very odd tack, then, in these straitened times for a government to have it in for squatters. And through the back door - despite a consultation and report which raised many problems with criminalisation, Kenneth Clarke has proposed an amendment (Clause 26) to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill which would create a new blanket criminal offence of squatting in a residential building.

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There will be a key debate this afternoon and a possible vote tomorrow Tuesday 1st November so if you want to contact your MP you will need to act now to ask them to vote against Clause 26 or at least in favour of an amendment which introduces exemptions. SQUASH have produced an MP's briefing and an example letter.

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A couple more things.

Are home owners or rightful occupiers already protected by law? Yes - page 8 of the above report acknowledges that occupants are protected by law and the Met affirms this on page 10, where it expresses reservations about blanket criminalisation. 158 legal practitioners and scholars wrote an open letter confirming that home owners are indeed protected by existing law, and it was misleading of Housing Minister Grant Schapps to say that "the police don't act because the law does not support the police acting" . The problem is not existing law, but police misunderstanding existing law, or lack of enthusiasm for enacting existing law.

And a final word on freeloaders. Yes, some squatters are freeloaders, including the spoilt brat trustafarians famous to Daily Mail readers, who have plenty of choices in life but only want to stick it to the man and in doing so tarnish the reputations of all squatters. But far from all squatters are like that. Many are in genuine need and would be relieved not to have to squat. And anyway, there's something wrong with piling so much opprobrium on society's most visible freeloaders while ignoring the more sophisticated ones. After all, isn't it widely agreed that this financial crisis was triggered by people whose job it was to gamble with other people's money without incurring any risk themselves? They may have nice clothes and mortgages, and we may feel hesitant about pulling the rug from under them because we don't understand what they do. They may excite less of the kind of "public concern" the government is wringing its hands about when it comes to squatting - but that kind of freeloadery does a lot more damage to you and me than any squatter could do. So when this government comes for squatters while giving other freeloaders a more or less free rein, you know it's not putting people first.

Previously: this B21 post outlining the Conservative-led coalition government's plans to criminalise squatting.

Planning an apple tree guild

Planting an apple tree according to permaculture principles (notes by an inexperienced gardener).
~
We're fortunate to have a garden, and having just removed a thirsty and vigorous eucalyptus we've been looking for a fruit tree to plant in that spot. In the end we were persuaded by an argument for the utility of an apple tree. After tasting Pitmaston Pineapple - a dessert and cider variety - in the community orchard in Palmer's Green, we bought a standard tree from Bernwode Fruit trees along with a second, called Hoary Morning, in the same pollination group but on a smaller root stock we could espalier along a fence. Together they will pollinate each other and the mix of fruit will improve the flavour of the cider we hope to be making before too long. They arrived and we're about to plant them.

Permaculture practitioners think of plants as best grown in mutually beneficial groups known as 'guilds'. They don't follow the practice of established growers like the lovely Carol Klein, whose Grow Your Own Fruit book (recently borrowed from Fullwell Cross Library) has several pictures of fruit trees with bare earth at their bases and a chemical solution for most health problems. Permaculture growers reason that plants will try to colonise a bare patch at any opportunity, so they may as well be beneficial ones which keep the others at bay and help to protect against health problems without the need for constant work, insecticide or weedkiller. The idea, as Tom Hemenway writes in Gaia's Garden: a Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture, is that "this biological support replaces human intervention, shifting the garden's burden onto the broad back of nature".

Sounds great. So, for an apple tree what are those helpful plants and where should they be planted?

First of all (Wikipedia is my source) there are seven permaculture layers to consider. Running vertically from the top down:

1. The canopy - the treetops.
2. The understory or low tree layer - anything under about 4.5 metres. Our apple trees will be in this zone but in our neighbourhood they'll be some of the highest plants around so nothing will be competing with them for light.
3. Shrubs - our rasberries, broad beans, and blackcurrants are in this layer. Being larger, the vicinity of the apple tree will only sustain a few of these. Broad beans are a good bet since their roots fix nitrogen from the air and get it into the soil where the tree and other plants can use it.
4. Herbacious layer - lettuces, dill, thyme, cabbage, rhubarb and so on. Anything that flowers with the apple blossom will attract insects which will help to pollinate the tree (without which, no apples).
5. Rhizosphere - root crops like carrots and potatoes grow here, so need to be kept far from the shallow roots of an apple tree. (I assume.)
6. Soil surface - home of our strawberries, sedum and clover. Clover is another nitrogen-fixing plant.
7. Vertical layer - our hops, cucumbers, sweetpeas and vines grow here. Sweetpeas fix nitrogen in their roots, which can be left in the ground after they have died back - but they climb and have thick foliage, so only suitable for larger trees.
8. Some people include the underground network of some fungi as an eighth layer. In our garden the edible fungi include puffballs, though somehow we never catch them before they are football-sized.

That's the vertical plane - there's also a horizontal plane. An apple tree's root spread is one-and-a-half times the diameter of its canopy and its principle feeding roots lie close to the surface, which tends to be where most of the soil's nutrients are.

Gaia's Garden recommends planting a number of concentric rings of different companion plants whose purpose will be to attract beneficial insects (pollinators and predators), nitrogenate and enrich the soil, break up the soil - which in this part of inner Essex is heavy clay - allowing water to reach the tree roots, act as a shade to prevent water evaporation, help against blights and parasites, and keep the grass and weeds from advancing - and all without root competition with the tree for nutrients.

These rings (roughly from inside to outside) should comprise something like the following.

1. At the base of the tree, a thick ring daffodils and other spring-flowering bulbs. Daffodils are poisonous to several animals known for chewing tree bark (they're also toxic to humans so you have to be very careful not to confuse them with anything edible ). All of these bulbs are shallow-rooted so they compete with and block grass roots. But the spring-flowering bulbs are dormant in summer so don't compete for water and nutrients with the tree. Along with these plant chive, garlic and leek (members of the allium family) in this band, to repel fruit tree borers and many other garden pests.
2. Outside the bulbs plant a broken circle of comfrey. As well as shading the roots of the tree and preventing water evaporation, comfrey fixes nitrogen from the air and therefore makes an excellent liquid fertiliser concentrate if cut and submerged in a bin of water for 6 weeks or so (stinky - keep up-wind of it). It has deeper roots which help to break up heavy soil and which don't compete with the tree's shallower roots, and purple blooms which attract bees (bees can see purple flowers better than other colours). As well as comfrey, the patch will sustain 3 or so globe artichokes and 3 or so broad bean plants, whose roots also help to condition the soil. As a general rule, the larger he plant, the fewer you grow.
3. Around each of the plants in 2, grow dill, fennel, coriander and other insect-attracting plants. You can eat some of these and they are also striking to look at. Grow nasturtiums too. They are good against aphid and have pest-repellent properties which aren't very well understood, but they have been tested more than other pest-repellent plants and are known to work well in most guilds. As well as being pretty nasturtiums are very tasty in salads - the flowers have a peppery hit followed by a little bit of sweet nectar at the heart of the bloom. Also plant chicory and yarrow.
4. Throw down clover seeds in the gaps. Clover is a legume which fixes nitrogen and attract bees. Provide habitats for insects and small vertabrates, such as rotten wood and small piles of large stones or small rocks.
5. At the drip line (based on an estimation about the mature tree's outermost leaves) plant another thick band of alliums and daffodils. Again, these act as a barrier.

I can't say I don't have questions at this stage - for example, how much of this advice is compatible with London/Essex, or even England? How big do these companion plants grow - that needs planning. How far apart should the various plants be? Presumably they all need to be able to seed themselves, so do you have to make sure you don't buy sterile varieties? If pungent herbs repel pests, how come they don't also repel beneficial insects? Which herbaceous plants flower at the right time to help with pollinating the apple? How many of the companion plants do you have to resow each year? How exactly do you take root stock from comfrey?

But I'll just busk it - and if something goes a bit awry, no harm done. Maybe Barkingside21 readers already know a fair bit about this kind of thing - any suggestions appreciated.

In the wake of the Lansley decision

It’s Not A Green Light, It’s A Red One

A brief summary of the situation in the post Lansley decision on our local NHS from Save KGH campaign Headquarters.

Health authorities have been quick to seize on the news that Andrew Lansley has accepted the Independent Reconfiguration Panel’s recommendation to adopt Health for North East London’s plan for our local hospital trust to reduce health services at King George Hospital and increase services at Queen’s Hospital Romford ........ but it’s not going to happen yet.

The CQC has demanded that before any changes can be made, a lot of work needs to be done to overcome severe failings in the current health service provision. So serious are these concerns to patient safety that the CQC has imposed emergency measures to move planned caesarean sections from Queens to the Homerton in Hackney, Queens has been restricted to 20 births a day and Kings to 7 and women from Essex will have to re-book with Essex hospitals.

When announcing his decision, Andrew Lansley said: “Patient safety and quality of care must be our top priority. I support the CQC’s findings and the decisions taken by the local NHS to support safe care at the Trust. When we can be sure that these decisions have resulted in sustainable improvements in the quality of services for local people, the next set of decisions ... will be implemented.”

Before the Health4NEL’s plan can be implemented, the CQC has told the Trust to develop an action plan to address the 73 recommendations which it has said are needed to ensure a real and sustainable improvement in patient safety and experience. They will then monitor how the plan is applied and progress made before any of Health4NEL’s plan can be activated.

The main problems which will need to be overcome first are:

• Maternity is considered the worst concern – poor service culture, staff shortages especially midwives and paediatricians, lack of learning from maternal deaths and incidents, abusive behaviour by some staff to patients and colleagues, lack of leadership by senior management.
• A+E unsafe working practices, delays and bottlenecks, struggling to cope with the volume of patients, especially during winter, lack of staff – in July 2011 there was a 31% vacancy of A+E consultants.
• Radiology insufficient radiography cover, low standard of work, inappropriate patient facilities due to lack of beds.
• Delays in day surgery and radiology treatment affecting the impact of treatment and care.
• Staff shortages less than 50% of staff at Queens are permanent, high levels of staff turnover, sickness, recruitment difficulties, high levels of vacancies – in June 2011 there was a 18% vacancy of nurses.

Other problems include poor response to complaints, lack of governance, lack of senior management expertise, lack of education and training, unprofessional behaviour of some staff.

It is unlikely that these problems will be solved quickly. Cynthia Bowyer the Chief Executive of the CQC said: “We have been forcing the Trust to address issues on a short term basis but we have real concerns about safety in the mid to longer term.”

The biggest obstacle to the implementation of the changes is capacity. Health4NEL’s plan is based upon reducing the number of patients at Kings and increasing them at Queens. However, it is clear that Queens is not coping with its current level of patients, so that the CQC supports a recommendation to permanently cap the number of maternal patients admitted to Queens.

This is why the CQC intervened with its emergency measures to reduce the number of maternity patients at Queens now. Maternity capacity levels are now becoming a problem at Whipps Cross and Newham hospitals, which will need to have additional facilities provided to cope with any increase in maternity patients. Queens capacity problems are also evident in A+E, radiology and day surgery.

To compound the problem, the Trust’s workforce strategy for 2010-2015 states: “To achieve the cost reduction plan the Trust anticipates that the headcount will need to reduce by circa 850 FTE (including temporary staff).” The CQC has found an increase in patient throughput. As this staffing reduction is part of Health4NEL’s case for supporting its plan, it shows a fatal flaw in this strategy.

The one good thing that has come out of all this is that there is formal recognition of concerns which have been dismissed or ignored in the past.

However, the bad thing that has come about is the adverse publicity about Kings and particulary Queens, which will make future recruitment even more difficult.

Once the Trust has been able to demonstrate to the CQC that it has solved its problems on a sustainable basis, the Health4NEL plan can go ahead.......... but are these problems solvable given the rise in population, lack of finance, staffing difficulties? If they are solvable, how long will it take?

Helen Zammett

Cigarettes, Whisky and Wild Women

We are a pretty diverse bunch here in the People’s Front of Barkingside. We have Liberals, Democrats, Socialists, Conservatives and Greens as well as feminists and the odd grumpy UKIP type, and we all get along fine for the most part. Sure, every now and again someone will have a wobbly and troll off into the wilderness to create their own group like the Barkingside People’s Front or the Popular Front of Barkingside, who now sits on his own in the Delicious Café in the High Street.

But we do disagree quite often, sometimes heatedly, in the Fairlop Oak after several pints of real ale, none more so than yesterday after our coffee morning. An interesting subject that I might write up shortly. But what does not happen after these intakes of copious alcoholic beverages is any anti-social behaviour, violence or promiscuity. There is no head butting, spitting or groping the bar staff. And there’s not going to be any of that in this little disgareement with the Leader of the Green Party, Caroline Lucas MP.

She wants to tackle the UK’s alcohol problem by introducing Pricing measures which prevent “irresposible” retailers from offering heavily discounted drink which would also alleviate the pressure on the licensed trade and help to protect local pubs from closure.

Oh yeah! The one thing that has affected local pubs in recent years is banning smoking. As one wag put it “the trouble with banning smoking in pubs is that now when you walk in you can smell the toilets”. But jokes aside we now have lots of pubs with heated outdoor areas which is not exactly helping to combat Climate Change innit? Beware those with good intentions and the law of unintended consequences spring to mind.

But back to Caroline Lucas. The Green Party make great play that their policies are evidence based. So let’s look at the evidence for Caroline has clearly missed it.

There is enormous cross-cultural variation in the way people behave when they drink alcohol. There are some societies (such as the UK, the US, Australia and parts of Scandinavia) that anthropologists call "ambivalent" drinking-cultures, where drinking is associated with disinhibition, aggression, promiscuity, violence and anti-social behaviour.
There are other societies (such as Latin and Mediterranean cultures in particular, but in fact the vast majority of cultures), where drinking is not associated with these undesirable behaviours - cultures where alcohol is just a morally neutral, normal, integral part of ordinary, everyday life - about on a par with, say, coffee or tea. These are known as "integrated" drinking cultures.
This variation cannot be attributed to different levels of consumption - most integrated drinking cultures have significantly higher per-capita alcohol consumption than the ambivalent drinking cultures.
Instead the variation is clearly related to different cultural beliefs about alcohol, different expectations about the effects of alcohol, and different social rules about drunken comportment.
This basic fact has been proved time and again, not just in qualitative cross-cultural research, but also in carefully controlled scientific experiments - double-blind, placebos and all. To put it very simply, the experiments show that when people think they are drinking alcohol, they behave according to their cultural beliefs about the behavioural effects of alcohol.

It’s not the alcohol, it’s the culture. So, we have yet another politician from yet another party who’s emotional judgement leads her to a conclusion that addresses the symptom and not the problem. No wonder we are in such a bleeding mess.

But that’s not all. Caroline does not really have any excuse. Take a look at the Green Party policy on Drugs. It’s actually quite sensible in a curious sort of way.

Prohibition neither prevents nor controls drug use.
The artificially high price of addictive drugs directly causes further criminal activity.

So, she wants to raise the price of alcohol? When a high price of an addictive drug directly causes criminal activity? Has the artificially high price of cigarettes stopped people smoking? No! A pack of 20 is now about the same price as a daily Zone 1-4 off-peak travel card! And she’s quite happy for us to smoke weed so long as we grow it ourselves and sit outside in those heated and uninsulated areas.

Mind you, our hippocampus and prefrontal cortexes may get a bit confused and we might not be able to distinguish between the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties which is what that heated debate was all about, at least I think it was but I may be confused.

Here's Anne Milton and Dianne Abbott wading in. - BBC News

And here's the cup that cheers. The Independent

Don’t get old, sick or pregnant in Redbridge

The Secretary of State for Health, Andrew Lansley, has today given his support for the Health for north east London proposals to go ahead. This follows advice from the Independent Reconfiguration Panel (IRP) which conducted an extensive review to consider whether the proposals were in the best interests for the local [sic!] community.

The IRP agreed that our proposals will enable the provision of safe, sustainable and accessible [sic!] services and offer real benefits in terms of clinical and service quality. The report is available online at http://www.irpanel.org.uk/. The Secretary of State supports the panel’s advice in full. Whilst considering the concerns raised by some stakeholders, [that's our 3 MPs, All our councillors plus a mega petition: Ed] the Secretary of State recognised the need for large scale change to secure a sustainable local [sic!] healthcare system, and noted the IRP’s view that there was genuine and extensive effort made to engage and consult [but not listen] appropriately.

This means we can now move forward with our plans to bring about significant improvements to local [sic!] health services. Concentrating services on fewer sites [somewhere else] will ensure that hospitals can increase senior consultant presence on wards, meaning faster, better decisions – and improved patient outcomes [provided you can get there on the bus].

We also today received the [damning] report of the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) investigation into the quality of care provided at Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust. The CQC’s report set out a range of quality and safety priorities which the trust must urgently address, with the support of local commissioners and partners.

Improvements in the management, culture and working practices at the trust were identified, but the CQC said more needs to be done, particularly in relation to maternity services. As you know, NHS ONEL and the trust, working with other hospitals across north east London, have already implemented a new maternity plan that is keeping the numbers of women delivering at the hospital within safe limits on very busy days. [So where does the overflow go?] We need to do more, however, to increase the capacity of maternity services and choice for pregnant women locally. [In my experience pregnant women do not get a choice as to when baby is ready to exit]

Addressing those urgent safety and quality issues identified by the CQC is the immediate priority, but once this has happened, we can then move forward with implementing the service changes proposed in Health for north east London.

The Secretary of State has made it clear that implementation of the Health for north east London proposals should proceed immediately after improvements across both Queen’s and King George hospitals have been demonstrated.

GP commissioners and other clinicians are leading the implementation of the changes. Their priority will be to ensure that any changes are made safely and effectively. We will be working with GP leaders and local trusts to progress the IRP’s recommendations fully and develop an action plan to address these. We will continue to involve patient representatives and LINks, along with staff and other stakeholders.

You can read more about the Health for north east London plans at http://www.healthfornel.nhs.uk/. If you have any queries please contact the NHS outer north east London communications team.

Heather Mullin

Chief executive
NHS outer north east London

Redbridge’s A&E and labour unit axed - Ilford Recorder

Penny for the Guy

Please do not emulate £200,000 per week football players by letting off fireworks from INSIDE your house. It will catch fire and you probably don’t have the sort of petty cash they do to rebuild when the Insurance doesn’t pay out.

Far better to attend an organised display. There will be plenty. Including the local Wanstead Rugby Club, which is not in Wanstead but Roding Lane North and one which is in Wanstead on Wanstead Flats both on Saturday 5th November. There is also one on the Friday 4th November at the Barkingside Recreation Ground organised by Barnardo’s including a children’s display before the main adult event, though it is not clear where they draw the line between child and adult (see below). The one on Wanstead flats will be choreographed to an inter-galactic soundtrack of space themed music including the themes from ET and Star Wars. Poo! Now if it was Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds ….

Here’s some advice from the local Police Neighbourhood Watch Team:

It is illegal for persons under the age of 18 to buy or use fireworks in a public area. If you suspect shops are selling to children under this age then please report to Police. Please take every precaution to ensure safety not only to yourselves but to others around you.

It is an offence to:

• possess adult fireworks (all fireworks except party poppers and sparklers) in a public place by anyone under the age of 18
• possess category 4 fireworks (professional display fireworks) by anyone other than a fireworks professional
• it is illegal to supply adult fireworks to those under 18
• Curfew on the use of adult fireworks between 11pm to 7am

Except;

• Bonfire night 12midnight to 7am
• New Years Eve 1am to 7am
• Chinese New Year 1am to 7am
• Diwali night 1am to 7am

Fireworks can be used between 7am and 11pm but you could also commit offences if you were to use them in such a manner as to cause a nuisance.

It is an offence to throw or set off fireworks in any highway, street, thoroughfare or public space.

Hopefully we will have a peaceful and safe time over the next couple of weeks. More information can be found on either the Met Police website or the Redbridge i website.
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Comment:
So, a 16 year old can legally endulge in buggery, get married, have babies married or not, get a council flat, get a job [sic!], pay tax, join the armed forces; but they can’t vote, buy or use fireworks, buy tobacco or alcohol or drive a car. Strange old world innit?

Walking for Peace

The Worshipful The Mayor and Mayoress of Redbridge and Walkers
at Ilford Federation Synagogue at the beginning of the walk

Last Sunday 23rd October over 100 hundred walkers joined the Interfaith Walk of Peace and Hope through Ilford Town Centre organised by Redbridge Faith Forum as part of One World Week celebrations.

Redbridge Mayor Cllr Cummins and the Mayoress joined the walkers starting at the Ilford Federation Synagogue and finishing at the Guru Nanak Satsang Sabha Gurdwara in Ilford High Road. On the way there were visits to the Buddhist Vihara, Ilford Hospital Chapel of St Mary & St Thomas, the VHP Hindu temple and the Ilford Islamic Mosque. At each place of worship there was a brief talk about the history and special features of the building as well as some words about the faith itself and the underpinning commitment to peace.

Many said they visited places they had not before and may not have known existed. A stop was made at the Town Hall where members of the Baha’i faith spoke of their beliefs and how and where they worship together without discrete buildings in the borough. Reverend Francis Ackroyd also spoke about how the walk gave people of all faiths and none the opportunity to join together and show their commitment to creating a world of peace and hope, where respect, understanding and co-operation are stepping stones to creating a better society for everyone.

Some of the comments written by those taking part indicate how successful the walk was:

‘I am so happy to have taken part in this peaceful walk. The atmosphere was one of peace and acceptance towards other people of different faiths’

‘It was a brilliant walk – 7 different places of worship in an afternoon and all giving the same message of peace in different way – and bringing together men, women and children from all faiths.’

‘Thank you; this was a fantastic family event which gave a real insight into other religions in Redbridge.’

‘Very interesting and informative. We felt very welcome at all places of faith. I would recommend this walk to anyone interested in learning about faith or just interested in their local community.’

‘Very interesting, enjoyable, and loved learning about the different faiths in Redbridge and how they express their views of peace.’

‘As usual faiths are strengthened and all of us are helped to understand what a difference loving and respecting each other can make in our town.’

‘Great to be able to enter other faiths places of worship.’

‘Fantastic event it was great to see all faith communities working and walking together for peace and hope.’

‘What a wonderful way to break down the barriers!!’

On the way refreshments were provided by different faith communities ~ and how they were enjoyed!

‘The food was also very enjoyable and the children very happy to participate.’’ The food was good.’

This was a genuine demonstration of togetherness in a practical way; hopefully it will be repeated next year.

The Worshipful The Mayor and Mayoress of Redbridge, RFF MC, Staff,
Vol at Guru Nanak Satsang Sabha Karamsar at the end of the walk

Not Invented Here

Earlier this month our one and only Conservative Councillor who blogs and tweets – A Redbridge Blue, otherwise known as Paul Canal – posted a piece on his blog about next year’s council budget and beyond.

This year the challenge is less severe than the “emergency” budget of 2011-12, though the medium term framework is more challenging. Locally we made some difficult, tough and unpopular decisions last year. We also incorporated into our budget plans every Labour idea. (There weren’t any)
[snip]
Let me know where you think we should spend more, and where we should spend less. I will listen very carefully to those who offer ideas with a negative or zero net cost, and submit the most innovative ideas.

Read it all here.

There have been a couple of news items recently that have caught my eye and I have tweeted, and they also reminded me of a previous post on this blog. The idea of merging London Borough councils to produce ecomonies of scale is not new and was put forward [again] by Ken Livingstone back in 2003 when he was still the London Mayor. Mr Pickles did not like that idea when he was in opposition, but when 3 London Conservative councils decided to merge all their services last year he said they were “leading the way”. That was a year ago yesterday and our Council leader and Deputy had already been over there to see what they could learn, but we haven’t heard anything since.

The thing is that cuts usually hit the important low paid jobs like Nature conservation and rarely have an impact on higher paid jobs. Having said that there has been a reduction in the Redbridge management team, by one if I recall correctly. So, to those two news items.

Islington Borough Council [my home town] have committed to introduce a 10:1 rule where the highest paid officer can only be paid a multiple of 10 times the lowest paid worker who will receive at least the London Living wage of £8.30 per hour. The Chief Executive has already taken a £50,000 pay cut.

On the following day two London councils, Hammersmith & Fulham and Kensington & Chelsea announced they will be sharing a Chief Executive saving an estimated £200,000 per year. They are also in the process of losing another 500 jobs.

There is nothing new in all this. We, Redbridge, are already part of the East London Waste Authority teaming up with Havering, Barking & Dagenham and Newham. We also share our London Assembly Member with Havering.

So, why not share our management teams? Some of the Authorities outside London are massive in terms of budget and population compared to a London Borough.

And why stop there? Why not share our Councillors too. The government are busily preparing to reduce the number of MPs so why not London Councillors. 63 between two adjacent boroughs seems more than enough in these austere times. We are all in this together … aren’t we?

But not everybody is convinced. Last year Patrick Butler predicted mega councils are doomed to failure and in March this year Mike McNabb labelled them undemocratic. So how are they doing? Anyone know or is the lack of fanfare a sign that things are not going quite according to plan?

Discuss

The EU Referendum Debate

We are not a Star on
somebody else's flag

As you may know Parliament is to debate whether or not to let us have a Referendum on membership of the European Union on Monday (24th October 2011). The signs are that the motion will be defeated and even if it isn’t the government are not going to let us have one anyway. Just like they didn't last time. Nanny knows best! So just be good children and eat your vegetables otherwise there will be no pudding and an early night. No sneeking off to the pub or for a crafty cigarette in the shed for you and definitely no gaming on the Wii or internet poker.

Governments just don’t trust the people who elect them, but they are quite happy to give away powers to what is effectively an unelected and unaccountable quango made up of ... their mates. And even when they do have a referendum, like on changing the voting system, they deliberately ask the wrong question to get the answer they want.

The bridesmaids are no better. “The Lib Dem leader was in favour of an in/out referendum before he was against one”, says George Eaton. And what a wonder webcache is. Here we see the Lib Dem call to action before they were Tories.

Here’s Mike Gapes MP [Ilford South] on why he is against a referendum.

Here’s Her Majesties Opposition on on why she is for a referendum.

Her amendment adds a d) option to:

"The House calls upon the Government to introduce a Bill in the next session of Parliament to provide for the holding of a national referendum on whether the United Kingdom
(a) should remain a member of the European Union on the current terms;
(b) leave the European Union; or
(c) re-negotiate the terms of its membership in order to create a new relationship based on trade and co-operation."

(d) seek to build support for radical reform of the EU, increasing its transparency and accountability, refocusing its objectives on co-operation and environmental sustainability rather than competition and free trade, and enabling member states to exercise greater control over their own economies.

Or, if it’s broke, don’t bin it – Fix it!

And while we are on the subject let’s have a look closer to home. There is a precedent for the EU. It’s called the UK. The composite of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. We have a Union Flag also known as the Union Jack and dating back to 1800. But there is a feeling that the Scots want out, but then we also have the West Lothian question where the English want out.

People who live in Glass Houses …

Discuss.

On-Line Security News

From Trend Security Newsletter. Directed at US readers I know but also applies here.

Halloween Scams
Could Give You a Scare

Seems like scammers and hackers celebrate every holiday, no matter how big or small - and Halloween is no different. In recent years, we've seen emails promoting Halloween sales, e-cards, house decorations, and "sexy Halloween costumes." The one thing they have in common: they're all spam that could put your security at risk.

Cybercriminals are particularly fond of Halloween scams because they know people are looking for last minute ideas for the special night. And if their spam's subject line attracts your attention, they'll hope you click on the spam, give them access to your computer and your personal information.

Some scam emails are essentially phishing attempts that try to entice victims into surrendering personal information through (for example) a phony signup form. Others include attachments that end up downloading spyware or viruses onto the victim's computer. Here are some tips for protecting yourself from Halloween tricks: Read more

Beware of Natural Disaster Scams

From Hurricane Irene to Texas wildfires, many parts of the country have seen their share of natural disasters in recent days. Unfortunately, disasters don't just present an opportunity for people to help others in need-they can also offer an opportunity for scammers to take advantage of the well-intentioned. Read more

What You Need to Know About Child Identity Theft

Identity theft occurs when someone uses your name, social security number, or credit card number to commit fraud or other crimes. The Federal Trade Commission estimates that as many as 9 million Americans have their identities stolen each year-and up to 500,000 of those cases targeted children. Read more

Neighbourhood Link

Redbridge Borough Police is the latest Metropolitan Police borough to launch an innovative community messaging service to provide the public with news and information from their local police.

Called Neighbourhood Link, it is a free service that enables local residents, businesses and those who work in the borough to regularly receive information from the police.

Those signing up to Neighbourhood Link will receive emails and text messages about crime and safety in the areas they sign up to.

Through Neighbourhood Link, Safer Neighbourhoods Teams will keep recipients updated with local police activity, crime prevention advice and what they are doing to address community concerns and make Redbridge borough one of the safest boroughs in London.

Redbridge Borough Commander, Sue Williams said:

“I’m delighted to launch Neighbourhood Link in Redbridge Borough”

“Feedback from other boroughs using Neighbourhood Link has been extremely positive and I would encourage anyone living, working or visiting Redbridge Borough to sign up to Neighbourhood Link and receive information about local police activity and what we are doing to address community concerns."

Neighbourhood Link will also be used by other Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) units to keep recipients informed in the event of a major incident impacting on London.

In order to receive messages, individuals will need to register their details. Registering is free of charge and will enable the police to send messages relevant to the areas where they live and work.

To register please visit http://www.neighbourhoodlink.met.police.uk/.

Aldborough Lines Up

contains bits of Newbury Park and Barkingside

The line up for the Aldborough ward by election has now been officially announced on the council website. Of course the political gossips all knew this by Friday evening and it was published by the Wanstead and Woodford Guardian on Sunday, so why the council had to wait for the deadline is unclear.

The line up, as it will appear on the blotting paper, is:

Clive Durdle, The Green Party
Christopher Greaves, Liberal Democrats
Melvyn Marks, The Conservative Party
Debbie Thiara, The Labour Party
Daniel Warville, British National Party
Paul Wiffen, UK Independence Party

None of the candidates live in Aldborough Ward but that is not unusual. However, two of the candidates will be familiar to Aldborough voters. Debbie Thiara and Christopher Greaves were both unsuccessful candidates there in May 2010. Melvyn Marks stood in Roding ward in 2010, while Daniel Warville featured in Bridge ward and Paul Wiffen in Chadwell - all three in their home patch ward although Melvyn now lives in Fullwell ward. Clive Durdle stood in his home ward of Valentines in 2006 but did not feature in 2010, but he knows the territory well as he was a Census collector there earlier this year.

So what do we know about them? Some more than others.

We have a press release for Debbie Thiara where we learn she has lived in Redbridge all her life, except it wasn’t “Redbridge” when she was born. She worked in the public sector for 30 years ending as a senior policy advisor and is now a volunteer for Drugsline and Books on Wheels. She has also been a school governor.

We also have a press release for Clive Durdle who doesn’t quite match Debbie’s residential longevity. He is best known for his former role as Director of the Redbridge Disability Association and is currently chair of the Redbridge Sustainability Panel. His work with Somali and Bengali refugees will send shudders down the spine of another candidate, Paul Wiffen.

We don’t know much about him, except for this little outburst, which is enough.

Melvyn Marks is another long standing Redbridge resident (is that a qualification?) and has played in and managed local amateur football teams in Redbridge.

Daniel Warville and Christopher Greaves are blank pages.

If any party hack or agent has further details to impart do let us know.

INSERT (18:32): No sooner the word and we have a press release for Christopher Greaves. He is a Woodford based accountant, a former Conservative and was also born and has always lived in the borough. But they don't distinguish between the old Wanstead & Woodford borough and Redbridge?

The big surprise, though, is who is missing.

The former Aldborough councillor and Redbridge Mayor, Loraine Sladden, was expected to stand and try to regain the seat she lost in May 2010 for the Conservatives. She was a fierce campaigner on things like keeping the Nature Conservation Team, the suggestion to maintain the present gravel works as a wetlands site for rare birds, not to mention her sterling efforts on the health front and King George Hospital. So, her stated reasons for not standing sound somewhat bizarre.

Meanwhile, things are hotting up on the Recorder letters page.

Boris Abridged by Roger

Aha! The infamous low bridge in Forest Road was discussed at the London Mayor’s Question Time session at City Hall last Wednesday. Anyone would think there is an election due …. Just like in September 2007 – the last time this subject was aired at MQT by our Assembly Member … Coincidence? Or clockwork?

Here’s our Assembly Member, Roger Evans from his blog:

The first of these was the long running saga of the Central Line bridge over Forest Road next to Fairlop Station. This bridge has a sorry history of being struck by over height vehicles. The lorries come out of the Hainault trading estate or the nearby gravel pits and are directed towards the bridge by their satnav systems. Because the drivers are foreign they cannot read the various warning signs. Satnavs are available for over height vehicles but unfortunately the hauliers penny pinch and use systems for ordinary cars.

Raising the bridge would involve raising the embankment and the station, so is prohibitively expensive. Lowering the road - a solution used elsewhere - is impossible because of cables and pipes running beneath the surface. Concrete beams are in place to protect the bridge in case of a strike but this does nothing to safeguard vehicles and pedestrians on the road, and local residents fear there will be a fatality if the accidents continue.

I suggested restricting the road width - as TfL have done for Network Rail's weak bridge in Romford - thus prohibiting large vehicles completely. Boris promised to consider this option and I am sure Redbridge Council will want to help.

Well, Roger, I suggested a width restriction some years ago but there was an argument against it. I think it had something to do with Forest Road being a strategic emergency route for Fire Engines, which are quite wide. Mind you, doesn't Mr Coleman have a problem with Fire Engines at the mo?

Should Know Better

Back in January 2009 I posted "Don't Let Go" on mass Balloon releases. Those released balloons don’t stay up there, they float away and eventually fall to ground, river, sea or ocean, sometimes in bits after bursting and therein lies the problem. To be blunt, Balloons Kill Wildlife. They think its food and swallow it. It then blocks their digestive tract and they die of starvation.

So I was not pleased to learn that there is to be a mass balloon release this coming Saturday, 15th October 2011, at Sainsburys in Newbury Park. It is a charity event in aid of Wellgate Community Farm which is just outside Redbridge in that bit of Barking & Dagenham that separates us from Havering. A very worthy cause as you can see from their website – but they really ought to know better. The animals on the farm, which will be at the event at Sainsburys on Saturday, are not wild but they could still be affected. I rang them to ask. The balloons are bio-degradeable was the reply. But that’s not the point. They don’t bio-degrade in an animal or bird's gullet, and it takes at least a couple of years in my compost heap, such to the point that “bio-degradeable wrappings” no longer go in there.

I’ll forgive Wellgate Community Farm, for now, but I’m not at all happy with Sainsburys. In fact I think I will ask Redbridge Council to prosecute them for littering as test case. The balloons themselves may not be defined as "litter" but what about the string attached to it?

Balloons and the Law

It is illegal to litter under the Environmental Protection Act (EPA) 1990, with fines of up to £2,500 for each offence. Under this act it is an offence to drop “or otherwise deposit” litter in a public place and therefore releasing balloons should be viewed as an offence under this Act. However, released balloons are not currently defined as litter. In recognition of the threat posed to wildlife by balloons, mass balloon releases have been banned by several UK local authorities including South Hams District Council, Oxfordshire County Council and Shetland Islands Council.

Half Term Air

London's smog-o-meter

You may be wondering why I haven’t mentioned ‘Make a difference Week’. That’s because we are fast approaching the real ‘Make a Difference week’ otherwise known as Half Term when there will be respite on our roads in the absence of the ‘Mum Parent Run’ (I am being ‘got at’ by the feminist lobby) and the particulate meter at Fullwell Cross Roundabout has a few days off. Currently Bad Air Days in London (Yes I know some of you have Essex postcodes but for these purposes we are in London) is 46 (see graphic) and the legal limit is….. 35. So, with the prospect of some good air for a change you might like to take advantage of these refreshing events accompanied by the children or grandchildren.

Half Term Events

Monday 24 October
Fungi Walk
Discover the world of fungi and mushrooms at Claybury Park
10:30am – 12:30pm
Claybury Park
BOOKING ESSENTIAL. Limited spaces
£1 per person

Tuesday 25 October
Meet the Animals
Come and meet some exotic animals, including stick insects, tiger salamanders and a crested gecko! Suitable for 6–12 years only.
11am-11:45am & 1pm-1:45pm
Valentine’s Manison
BOOKING ESSENTIAL. Limited spaces.
£3 per child.

Wednesday 26 October
Roding Valley Park Walk
Come and walk about three miles along the River Roding wildlife corridor and end at the James Leal Centre IG8 7JQ. Suitable for 8+ years.
11 am to 12.30 pm
Meet at Buckhurst Hill Tube Station, Victoria Road, Buckhurst Hill, Essex IG9 5ES

Thursday 27 October
Meet the Animals
Come and meet some exotic animals, including stick insects, tiger salamanders and a crested gecko! Suitable for 6–12 years only.
11am-11:45am & 1pm-1:45pm
James Leal Centre, Ray Park
BOOKING ESSENTIAL. Limited spaces.
£3 per child.

Contact: Julia Coulson
Nature Conservation Ranger
Vision Redbridge Culture and Leisure
Tel: 020 8559 2316 Mob: 07949 053 688

Hippo (Waste) Bags

As you all know we don’t do advertising here, but we do like to promote interesting developments and innovations with an environmental or sustainable twist. This is one such.

These Hippobags are an alternative to Skips. You buy them in a DIY shop like Wickes, fill 'em up and then phone to have it taken away. Obviously the bag is much lighter than a huge skip and can be stored compactly until it is required. It is directed at both domestic and trade use and the bags come in various sizes, but with a weight limit, so obviously not good for clay and rubble I would think. The company is based on the south coast at Portsmouth but has a Nationwide coverage.

Their blurb says:

At Hippowaste we provide bespoke and reliable waste solutions that help you to reduce costs, save time, and meet your responsibilities. Hippowaste is committed to creating and developing ways for its customers to dispose of their waste or unwanted materials in an ethical, efficient and cost-effective manner.

What’s more we will recycle over 80% of the rubbish we collect.

They’re hitting all the right notes there, but of course I don’t actually know and I haven’t got a major project at the moment to try them out and compare costs. But you might. Testimonials welcome.

Heat Pumps It Up

You’ve all got at least one of these. A Fridge or a Freezer. But did you know that the technology can be used to harness free renewable energy for heating your home, office or factory? Redbridge Lakes has one for Ground Source Heating, as well as Solar Panels on the roof.

Heat pumps capture free energy from the environment, from the air, ground or water, and harness it to provide low-cost, low-carbon heating for homes, commercial premises and industry. Heat pumps are many times more efficient than conventional gas or electric appliances, dramatically cutting running costs and safeguarding the environment.

After the successful launch of the National Heat Pump Awards earlier this year it is now set to become an established annual event to reward and celebrate the rapid progress being made in the adoption of heat pump technology, one of the most promising areas of renewable energy.

Among the first winners were a four-bedroom family home in Berkhamstead that harnesses free energy from the air, a modern farmhouse that taps heat from the ground, an estate of 180 council flats and bungalows that uses earth energy, and Castle Howard, location of the celebrated television series Brideshead Revisited, which captures energy from a lake.

Uniting these diverse projects is the use of the latest heat pump technology, which extracts low-grade energy from the environment and upgrades it for use in heating and cooling buildings.

Karen Trewick of Dimplex Renewables said: “Although only in its first year, we already view the National Heat Pump Awards as a key event in the UK renewables calendar. The range of projects being showcased highlights the vast potential for applications of heat pump technology. We firmly believe the awards will help develop the industry.”

Sounds like precisely the sort of thing proposed in the Green New Deal, except it is not "government lead". Mind you that could be a good thing given their track record ...

Meanwhile in Paris they are using exactly the same technology to extract and use heat from their sewers.

In other energy news:

Labour warns that that soaring gas and electricity prices are a 'national scandal' - warns big six energy companies their stranglehold will be broken.

Nearly half of Welsh councils have switched off street lights in residential areas to save money, BBC Wales has found.

British Gas has begun rolling out smart meters to its UK customers. The energy provider plans to install the devices in 10 million homes. But there is some doubt over how effective this will be in changing consumer behaviour.

And on the road drivers have cut their petrol consumption by more than 15% since the credit crunch and the recession, costing the Treasury nearly £1billion in the 6 months to June.

London 2012 - the most sustainable games ever?

Sustainability consultant (and, I should say, old friend of mine) Georgina Stevens has toured the new buildings of the 2012 London Olympic site and their surroundings. In this substantial review she gives background to the decision-making behind the developments, rating materials, biodiversity, longevity, power and cooling. Informative and well worth a read.

A taster,

“Much of the former open space was fragmented, of relatively poor quality, had poor access, or was not publicly accessible.” My source also backed this up saying it had “pockets of habitat of good value and lots of creatures but was not connected habitat which is where biodiversity value really develops.” But Annie Chipchase of the Hackney Marshes Users Group responded to this by saying: “It is far from the reality. There was a large amount of publicly accessible open space on what is now the Olympic site, much of which was not fragmented”. My guess is there is truth on both sides and as the stats show some sites have been lost, others have been gained, but crucially they are now better connected to each other."

Read it all.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - but how?

Blimey! No sooner have I posted that Cllr Paul Canal (A Redbridge Blue) is sounding, by the day, ever more like a "Green" when he comes up with this on his blog. Of course we've been banging on here about this for years so we're all up to speed and ready to impart our wisdom via feedback on his survey, aren't we ...

Over to Paul.

Over recent months I have been Chairing a group of councillors, officers and external experts (WRAP, ELWA, LWrb) to find out how we can reduce the amount of rubbish we generate, reuse more of it and increase the amount we recycle.

We face massive cost increases in future years that will need to be met by reduced spending elsewhere or increased revenue. The more we can do now, the less painful the decisions in the future. Perhaps more importantly, we can also reshape our waste management strategy in the longer term.

We will only make progress with this project if we do it with people, not too them. And we can only achieve that if we get the views of as many people as possible. LBR are therefore launching a survey and I am keen it gets to as wide an audience as possible. Please click on the link, pass it on to colleagues and friends and feel free to email me at paul.canal@redbridge.gov.uk with any observations, ideas or suggestions.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FXR23DW

The Workshy or the Taxshy

I don’t know if you’ve noticed but there is a bit of an economic crisis going on at the mo. There was a rogue trader on BBC telling us that “governments don’t run the world, Goldman Sachs do”, leading to an explosion in online I-told-you-sos from amateur experts who have been saying this sort of thing in pubs for years.

But to be honest I’m not sure if our politicians, or even the so-called experts, know WTF they are doing. Nobody it seems knows, or wants to know, how to manage an economy that is in decline. The only way they know is an economy that is growing, as measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP). But this in itself is not a measure of progress, simply because it includes all those financial transactions that should correctly be labelled Cost of Failure. You know the sort of thing – Huge government projects like the NHS super computer that don’t work.

So, I’ve been having a bit of a thought experiment – you can pull it to pieces in the comments.

There is this thing called The Spirit Level. The premise being that the more equal a nation’s wealth is distributed amongst its population the happier and more efficient and successful that society will be. This of course is music to the Socialists ears. It involves things like the Minimum Wage, the Maximum Wage and a Citizen’s Income.

On the other hand, the Neo-Conservative Free Marketeers call it the Politics of Envy and point to the “trickle down” effect. The trouble is, it does exactly what it says on the tin. It’s a trickle, it is not a waterfall, not even a dripping tap, it’s a bloody trickle.

Now I’m going to take a slight diversion. You’ve all played Monopoly. OK figure this:

All the players start out equal. They all get a Citizen’s Income (£200 for passing GO) and they all have an equal chance of landing on Mayfair, or the Death Star if you have the Star Wars version. The point is this. Once one player has all the money, the game is over. There is no more, and there can be no more, economic activity. The micro-economy of the game is dead. You have to start all over again.

So, what we’ve got now is that inequality has increased to such an extent that a very small number of people (the Bankers) have vast amounts of money while the rest of us (the vast majority) are being squeezed by downward pressure on incomes (wages, pensions, benefits) and upward pressure on prices mostly driven by increases in energy and fuel costs. Even those with a few bob in a savings account are being screwed with interest rates at 0%.

It is not the mega-rich, or even the moderately rich who are the engine room of an economy. It is the combined disposable income of ordinary people. If ordinary people don’t have the money to buy the entrepreneur’s product then she ain’t gonna make it as an entrepreneur. Period.

Now, this may be a bit of a shock to Mr Osborne, but there is only one way I know to get our economy moving and that is to tax the pants off the mega rich and put it in the pockets of ordinary people so they can spend it, and this is the crucial bit, generate the wealth to make the mega-rich even richer and pay off our national debt.

For the mega-rich, Tax used in this way is an INVESTMENT.

Discuss.

BTW Redbridge Blue is back blogging after a nearly 2 year absence and I’ve added him back into the blog list in the side bar. Always nice to have a range of views.

The Nature of Food - Harvest

Community Harvest Festival

Sunday 9th October 2011: 11:00am - 12:30pm

The allotments, Fullwell Avenue, Barkingside, Redbridge, Ilford

An outdoor Harvest Festival service by Holy Trinity Church, Barkingside, in the local allotments - Scouts and Cubs will be involved, the Pearly Queen is coming as is the deputy Mayor. Also the pupils from Glade School will be taking part in the service and will be singing several songs. It would be lovely if you could be there too.

And following on from that there is Abundance Day at the Forest Farm Peace Garden. Click!

And a week later on 16th October there is the Jewish Festival of Sukkot at the Sukkat Shalom Synagogue on Herman Hill. Click!

From the World Preservation Foundation:

Current data shows over 60% of the population is overweight or obese. Cardiovascular disease alone kills nearly 200,000 people in the UK every year and costs over £30 billion.
Three world leading physicians - Dr Caldwell Esselstyn, Dr. Neal Barnard and Dr Joel Fuhrman reveal that a switch to a plant based diet will dramatically reduce the incidence and the costs of the most menacing maladies currently threatening public health, such as obesity, cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

Apparently the numbers of obese now equal to numbers of malnourished worldwide.

The Children’s Food Campaign. Click!

Business Rates Retention

Nick Clegg: centralising business rates was 'a mistake' Photo: PA

Last week the Redbridge Overview Scrutiny Committee considered a report on the Coalition Government’s proposals for Business Rates Retention. The report is a classic fail on Plain English (“floor damping” for eg) but that’s another post. It’s part of the Localism Agenda and is very complicated ….so I asked one of the two councillors I know who are good with complicated stuff - the Deputy Leader ….

Here’s Cllr Ian Bond’s summary of the situation:

In brief the idea is the government's and partly undoes the change made when the poll tax was introduced under the Tories in the 1980s. The idea is that the benefit from business rates will sit with each local council, rather than being pooled and collected nationally as now, although the rate to be paid by businesses will still be set by the government centrally. Therefore in principle local authorities will have an incentive to maximise the take of business rates within their area, and hence to encourage more business activity locally, since we get to keep the extra money. However because some areas have more businesses than others, there will be a system of top-ups and clawbacks to even out the receipts, based on a starting position as at 2012/13.

In principle any devolution of funding from central to local government is a good - and rare - thing. However local councils have a number of concerns about the government's current proposals (which were published in a consultation draft by CLG). The government's proposals are more complex than was anticipated with a variety of adjustments and smoothing factors which, although intended to address potential anomalies with the formula, mean that it is proving quite difficult to assess their impact. Despite the smoothing there are concerns about the potential variability and unpredictability of the rate receipts, which clearly expose councils to additional risk, particularly if business activity declines. There are concerns about virtuous and vicious circles being created in successful and less successful areas for business, and particularly about the north-south economic divide.

There is a debate about the longer term relationship between the amounts received and assessed need (and particularly the changing needs of one area compared to another - for example in Redbridge's case the pressure we have due to rising school rolls), and how the formula should be periodically revised to take account of these. The government also proposes to "set aside" (or rake off) a proportion of future business rate growth for itself, which reduces the attractiveness of the proposal to councils considerably.

Finally, although the government is encouraging neighbouring councils to get together and "pool" receipts to reduce variability and risk, for a variety of reasons it looks less likely that such arrangements will be agreed than it did a few months ago. In London's case there is a strong argument for a London-wide pool, since the amount of business located in each borough varies considerably and, as in Redbridge, some Boroughs provide a lot of the workforce for London employers based elsewhere in the capital. Any pooling arrangement would spread risk and reduce the variability of the benefit each council receives. However due to the variety of interests across the 32 Boroughs and (presumably) the need for all of them to sign up to any London-wide arrangement before it can proceed, this is now looking challenging.

In summary therefore what would have been a good idea and a benefit to councils in "good times" is looking somewhat less attractive given the currently challenging economic environment

So, what we’ve got here, is another government initiative that has not been fully thought through, designed to address the previous initiative’s failings which were also not fully thought through, and which was designed to address the problems of the initiative previous to that and ….. you get the drift. As a result, council officers, and councillors, continue to chase their tails trying to sort out the mess instead of concentrating on day-to-day council business.

However, I was rather impressed with Cllr Paul Canal’s comments on what we should do. He is sounding, by the day, ever more like a “Green”. He is a keen cyclist and Chairman of the Cycling Liason Group and is now proposing the sort of actions we need to enhance the local economy and to combat resource depletion and Climate Change, not to mention the exhorbitant price (and soon to increase) of London’s public transport - unless you have a Freedom Pass.

I think we need to build more business parks, refurbish existing ones, create high tech wifi / wimax zones, advance Redbridge up the digital economy league table to encourage entrepreneurs, business relocation and new and growing businesses. Parts of the borough have high unemployment and we need some of the highly mobile highskill jobs here, along with relevant upskilling of those not in work.

This, I have to say, was one of the aims of Business Redbridge, part of the Strategic Partnership, several years ago when I attended the meetings as the Environment representative. The trouble is that the council doesn’t have any money for a replacement swimming pool let alone developing Business Seed Bed centres like they have in neigbouring boroughs, and neither does anybody else at the moment. What’s more there is nowhere left to put them as we have been scraping the bottom of the barrel for some time now just to meet our housing targets.

We will remain, I fear, a very dry Dormitory borough.

More Roadworks @ A12 Redbridge Roundabout - From 3rd October

Photo by Sunil_of_yoxley

Not as serious as the last lot. The resurfacing is restricted to between 21:30 and 06:00 hours. Still it is an Olympic route and we mustn’t give the VIPs a bumpy ride.

A12 Redbridge Roundabout and A12 Eastern Avenue Carriageway Renewal Scheme

Transport for London (TfL) is writing to make you aware of upcoming overnight works by Amey to replace the worn-out carriageway surface on the A12 Redbridge Roundabout and parts of the local A12 Eastern Avenue, either side of the Redbridge Roundabout.

The works will begin on Monday 3 October 2011 and will last approximately three weeks. In agreement with the London Borough of Redbridge, the working hours will be 21:30 to 06.00hrs, Monday to Sunday inclusive. There may be times when works have to take place outside of the above hours but these will be kept to within noise level guidelines.

These essential works will bring benefits to road users by renewing the existing road surface to eliminate cracks and pot holes. Upon completion, these works will also reduce the need for future large scale maintenance of this carriageway. We have arranged the work into a suitable amount of phases to reduce the amount of disruption caused and to maintain traffic flow and road capacity as much as possible at all times.

The works will require the closure of sections of the A12 Eastern Avenue, the A406 slip roads to and from the Redbridge Roundabout, and the side road Redbridge Lane East (between Roding Lane South and the Redbridge Roundabout), during some phases of the works. During the works, proposed diversion routes will be clearly signposted locally.

Access for Emergency Services to properties will be maintained. Bus routes using the A12 will be diverted, and advance notices will be displayed on these routes and at local bus stops. We anticipate moderate disruption to vehicular traffic and to mitigate this we will have a number of electronic Variable Messaging Signs (VMS) strategically placed across the network.

TfL is firmly committed to minimising disruption to traffic. We have worked closely with Amey and the London Borough of Redbridge in order to reduce the impact of these works on road users, local people and businesses as far as possible.

I apologise in advance for any inconvenience that these essential works may cause. Should you require further information or an update during the delivery of these works, please contact our Streets Customer Services department on 0845 305 1234 or via our website at www.tfl.gov.uk/contact.

Yours faithfully,

Chris Hall
Consultation and Engagement Manager