PRESS RELEASE: TACKLING ROGUE LANDLORDS

At the recent full council meeting, councillors voted in favour of a Liberal Democrat motion to introduce Selective Licensing in the Borough.

Selective licensing has recently been introduced across the whole of the neighbouring borough of Newham. Once in place the law requires that all landlords in the area are licensed and that license can then be revoked if certain conditions aren’t met.

Lib Dems want to use it to tackle rogue landlords and in particular the growth of anti-social behaviour in private rented properties, which now make up 32% of the Borough’s housing stock.

The motion called for a full consultation on proposals to introduce selective licensing in the Borough to tackle rogue landlords, although this was diluted by a Labour amendment, which instead simply referred to ‘an evaluation’.

Lib Dem Housing spokesperson Councillor Winnie Smith, who moved the motion said:

“We’re pleased that the council are now seriously looking into selective licensing. And we hope that the Labour group will now stick to the spirit of the motion and push forward with selective licensing.

“There is a clear need to tackle the growing problem of rogue landlords in the Borough. As we heard from Leyton resident Sharon Crossland in the council meeting, there are landlords in our borough that just aren’t playing by the rules and there is only so much that can be done at the moment without this new licensing power.”

“Many residents are suffering in properties that just aren’t up to standard and paying too much for poor housing that’s blighted by anti-social behaviour.”

Church Lane Car Park – under threat

Church Lane Car Park

 

Application Number: 2012/1423/LA

The Council has lodged the above planning application to further reduce the size of the Church Lane Shopping Centre Car Park, by installing a multi-use games area including new fences, gates and bollards; and reconfiguration of the car park.
 
The FOCUS Team believes that the prime function of a shopping centre car park is to attract ‘out of area’ shoppers to the range of independent retailers who do not have their own customer parking facilities. In Leytonstone even Argos must rely on public parking.
 
A report of the borough’s car parks, presented to the Cabinet, alleged that Church Lane Car Park is underused. The photograph above was taken on a normal weekday and only shows a disabled bay vacant. So much for ‘underused’.
  
LATE INFORMATION: the installation of the multi-use games area will involve the loss of 18/19 car parking spaces – this will inevitably mean less, or no, spaces left for shopper parking.
 
Full details of the plan should be on the Council’s website – look in the Planning Explorer, quoting the application number.
 
Comments on this proposal should be sent to:
Development Management, London Borough of Waltham Forest,
Sycamore House, Town Hall Complex,
Forest Road, E17 4JP
 
Closing date for comments: 4th November

Latest Controlled Parking Survey

The current FOCUS Parking Survey is getting a massive response across the south of Waltham Forest which faced draconian parking restrictions during the Olympic Games.

If you haven’t already received a copy you can download it here: Grove Green 255

Completed copies of the survey should be sent to:

The FOCUS Team, 24 Thornhill Road, E10 5LL

It is also vital that every household completes, and returns, the Council’s consultation document, so that  they receive a comprehensive view from of all residents. A recent article in the Waltham Forest Guardian suggests the Council would be happy with a 15-20% response rate.

Lets make sure they hear from everybody!

If you have not received a copy of the consultation, please ring the Town Hall on 8496 3000 today.

All replies must be sent to the Council by 22 October.

NEAL CHUBB

Neal Chubb

 

Jenny Sullivan, Abbas Yousuf and the Liberal Democrats are mourning the sudden death of Neal Chubb. 

Known by very many people in Waltham Forest for his friendliness and good humour. Neal was a stalwart of the Grove Green Focus Team. He worked tirelessly in the ward for over 10 years despite not winning a seat on the Council. 

He was often seen with his Focus Team colleagues delive3ring Focus, chatting to people in the streets and collecting grumbles. 

His passion for education led him to be3come a Governor at Dawlish School, Chair of Governors at Jenny Hammond School and Chair of the Council’s School Appeals committee. He was also a gifted artist. 

Jenny Sullivan says: There was no one quite like Neal and we are all the poorer without him. His energy and his ability to ask the difficult questions will be greatly missed by all who knew and worked with him.

CONSULTATION – proposed Controlled Parking Zone

The Council has decided to issue a Consultation Document asking residents in the temporary Olympic Parking Zone (G01-G10) for their views on the proposal to introduce an indefinite Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) in their roads.

The consultation document is due to be issued on 24 September and has to be returned by 19 October.

PLEASE NOTE: The Closing date is now 22 October.

The Council’s policy on the introduction of a CPZ is based on the views of the majority of residents, who return the questionnaire.

Whatever your views the Lib Dems stress that it is vital that the Council receives a response from every household regarding this important consultation.

When you receive the consultation document, please complete and return it without delay.

Open Day at Leyton Bus Garage

Leyton Bus Garage, at Leyton Green, is celebrating its centenary this year.

It will be open to the public from 10.30 am until 4.30 pm on Saturday 22nd September as part of the national Open House event.

There will be a display of vintage buses as well as displays of the history of bus travel.

In addition there will be vintage bus tours to Stagecoach London’s newest bus station in West Ham, which will depart every 15 minutes.

The Olympic Legacy

As the Paralympics has drawn to a close, local people will be thinking about what is going to happen to the venues and the Olympic Park as a whole. The following update has been received from Caroline Pidgeon, Liberal Democrat Leader on the London Assembly:

Earlier this year the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) was established to deliver the physical, social, economic and environmental regeneration in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and surrounding area after the 2012 Games. This new mayoral body takes over from a number of organisations and will have planning powers from October 2012.

Much work has been carried out to ensure that there is a permanent future for each permanent venue in the park.

The Stadium has received four bids: from West Ham United, Intelligent Transport Services in association with Formula One, UCFB College of Football Business and Leyton Orient. They are now being evaluated ahead of negotiations. These bids would add to the legacy uses already secured for the Stadium such as host to the IAAF 2017 World Athletics Championships.

The Aquatics Centre will be operated by Greenwich Leisure Limited and will cater for all levels of swimming ability and aquatic disciplines for the community and training athletes. Similarly the Handball Arena LINK will be transformed into a multi-use arena used for a wide range of indoor sports training and competitions as well as cultural and business events.

The Velodrome will be owned and managed by Lee Valley Regional Park Authority and will be known as the Lee Valley VeloPark. The velodrome will need very little transformation and will become the hub of the VeloPark. The BMX track will remain, but be reconfigured, and a road cycle circuit and mountain bike courses will be added.

The Press and Broadcast Centre now has a preferred bidder iCITY to become the long term tenant. iCITY aims to create a leading centre for technology, design and research with the potential to generate more than 4,000 jobs. The digital hub would harness innovation and creativity in east London. The iCity vision also has a community focus including a conference centre and a pedestrian square for broadcasting major sporting events, along with cafes, restaurants and bars.

After the 2012 Games, the park will be closed and works will start to take down temporary venues and to adapt some of the existing venues for future use, as well as building more housing. The park will be re-opening in phases starting in 2013.

VIEW TUBE AND ACCESS ALONG THE GREENWAY – this facility is due to reopen towards the end of the year.

October 2012 – Summer 2013

During this period the following temporary buildings are scheduled to be removed:

  • Basketball Arena

  • Temporary bridges

  • Riverbank Hockey Arena

  • Water Polo Arena

  • The temporary seating wings at the Aquatics Centre

The new Waterden Road will be connected to give access to Park facilities and the neighbouring boroughs

Similarly a series of new bridges will also link the Park with the communities

Completion of building work on the following projects is scheduled:

  • North Park Hub is to be a community centre dedicated to nature, in the green landscape of the North Park

  • South Park Hub and Plaza will be the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park’s main destination for events, culture and entertainment

  • Lee Valley Velopark will be adapted for public use, with alterations to the cycle circuits as well as surrounding amenities

  • Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centres will be adapted for public use

  • Chobham Manor housing development

February 2013

  • Canal Park scheduled for completion

July 2013

  • Multi-Use Arena and North Park are scheduled to open

August 2013

  • London Cycling Festival, a 100 mile route followed by up to 30,000 participants is the first major event schedulede to take place in the Park

Summer 2013

  • East Village – the first housing development scheduled to open. This is the area that was the Athletes’ Village.

End 2013 – Start 2014

  • Lee Valley Velopark due to open in December 2013

  • Lee Valley Tennis and Hockey Centres due to open

  • White Post Lane and Carpenters Lock will provide key access routes

  • Waterways – cleaned and refurbished before the Games – will open

Spring 2014

  • South Park and Hub due to reopen

PRESS RELEASE: The failure of WORKNET

QUESTIONS STILL REMAIN OVER THE FAILURE OF WORKNET – COUNCILLOR BOB SULLIVAN

The recent failures of Worknet highlighted by Nick Tiratsoo still leave questions to be answered.

We know that £2 million was allocated for the contractor Widows and Orphans but we still don’t know what the targets and outputs were in each case or how much money the council actually paid the contractor in total.

Councillor Sullivan has now asked the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny committee for a review into the failure of the programme and will be pressing the council for further answers over the coming weeks.

Leader of the Waltham Forest Lib Dems, Councillor Bob Sullivan said:

“In normal times this failure would be damning for Labour councillors but in these difficult economic times it is unforgivable.”

“It is unforgivable that they have let down our Borough’s unemployed, it is unforgivable that they have allowed this failure to go on unreported for nearly three years and it is unforgivable that most of this money will now not be spent on employment programmes for our Borough at all.

“The failure of this contract could even have implications across the council. We know we’ve had problems with our schools contractor and our waste contractor and taken together it starts to paint a worrying picture for council contracts as a whole.

“We clearly need a full enquiry to get to the bottom of how this happened before the council goes down this road yet again.”