A constituency-wide General Election special edition of the FOCUS newsletter has just gone to press, and will be delivered by our team of volunteers.
Please contact Carl Quilliam, our Parliamentary candidate, if you would like to help his campaign.
His email address is: leytonandwansteadcarl@gmail.com.
You can also contact him via his agent, Clyde Kitson, on (010) 8534 2947 or Bob Sullivan on (020) 8556 8335.
You can access an advance copy here: General Election Special
Waltham Forest E-Guardian 8:01am Friday 27th March 2015
Ticket offices at Tube stations across Waltham Forest will begin to close in the coming weeks.
The office at Leyton Station, scheduled to close in April, will be the first to go, followed by Blackhorse Road, Leytonstone and Walthamstow Central.
Closure works take around a month, except Walthamstow Central which could take up to three.
Labour London Assembly Member Jennette Arnold has condemned the move, claiming the move will leave passengers with less staff support.
Mayor of London Boris Johnson’s plan to close all the capital’s tube ticket offices will cost taxpayers almost £134million, Ms Arnold said.
She described the cost as “staggering”.
The £134million will fund additional ticket machines in 27 London stations, four new customer receptions and the conversion of 181 ticket offices for other uses.
Jennette Arnold said:
This argument isn’t about whether staff are based in ticket offices or not.
It is about whether there are enough staff in stations to provide the good service people in Waltham Forest have come to expect, particularly the elderly and disabled who often rely more on station staff for assistance.
The closures in Waltham Forest are expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Waltham Forest E-Guardian 8:01am Friday 27th March 2015
Ticket offices at Tube stations across Waltham Forest will begin to close in the coming weeks.
The office at Leyton Station, scheduled to close in April, will be the first to go, followed by Blackhorse Road, Leytonstone and Walthamstow Central.
Closure works take around a month, except Walthamstow Central which could take up to three.
Labour London Assembly Member Jennette Arnold has condemned the move, claiming the move will leave passengers with less staff support.
Mayor of London Boris Johnson’s plan to close all the capital’s tube ticket offices will cost taxpayers almost £134million, Ms Arnold said.
She described the cost as “staggering”.
The £134million will fund additional ticket machines in 27 London stations, four new customer receptions and the conversion of 181 ticket offices for other uses.
Jennette Arnold said:
This argument isn’t about whether staff are based in ticket offices or not.
It is about whether there are enough staff in stations to provide the good service people in Waltham Forest have come to expect, particularly the elderly and disabled who often rely more on station staff for assistance.
The closures in Waltham Forest are expected to be completed by the end of the year.
An application has been lodged at the Town Hall to use the small kiosk, inside the station concourse as a minicab office.
Local traders in Church Lane are already concerned about the number of Gold Line cars waiting for passengers, and feel strongly that there is no justication in increasing the problem by granting permission for a second mini cab operator.
If you wish to express your view you may write to:
Building Control
Environment & Regeneration
Waltham Forest Council
Sycamore House
Forest Road
Walthamstow, London, E17 4SU
Telephone: 020 8496 3000
Email: building.control@walthamforest.gov
Liberal Democrats are taking the fight to the Tories and Labour across Waltham Forest. The Liberal Democrat candidates in the General Election are below. If you would like to help the Lib Dems in the General Election then please contact any of the candidates.
mobile: 079847 771 487 – email: amc59@gmail.com
email: leytonandwansteadcarl@gmail.com
mobile: 07872 427 778 – email: steven@stevencheung.co.uk
web: www.stevencheung.co.uk – twitter: twitter@stevencheung
Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg has announced a £150m investment to transform the treatment of children and young people with eating disorders.
Nick has secured the fund in this year’s Autumn Statement and forms part of the Liberal Democrats ongoing campaign to bring mental health services on a par with physical health care.
PLEASE CLICK TO SIGN OUR PETITION:
The fund will be rolled-out over the next five years and paves the way for the introduction of new waiting standards.
Research shows an increasing number of young people, some as young as five are being admitted to hospital for treatment of eating disorders at a cost to the NHS of around £200m a year.
The new funding will focus on channelling money from expensive institutional care to local provision through:
– pilot schemes to get young people with eating disorders early access to services in their communities, with properly trained teams, making hospital admission a last resort.
– extending access to talking therapies so that children and young people have choice of evidence based therapies.
Nick said:
“Too often children with mental health problems are being completely let down by the current system, with many suffering from eating disorders going unreported and untreated.
“We know that if an eating disorder goes untreated for more than 3 to 5 years the chances of recovery are greatly reduced, while incidents of self harm increase.
“That’s why we need to act now to transform the current system, intervening earlier with dedicated and targeted community-based services to ensure that we don’t fail this generation or the ones that follow.”
Transport for London (TfL) has announced that work will include a new enclosureand new lighting to improve visibility and reduce anti-social behaviour. This will incvlude some work to strenthen the footbridge.
Work will begin on Monday 16 March and will last approximately 16 weeks, or until the works are completed with the agreement of the local Council. The working hours will be from 21.30 to 05.00 at night and 08.00 to 16.00 Monday to Friday.
The strengthening works, taking place under the footbridge, are due to be carried out at night from 16 March until 3 April.
The surface renewal, enclosure and lighting replacement are to to be carried out during the day from 30 March until 26 June.
TfL says that every effort will be made to ensure that noisy operations are completed berfore midnight, but explain that vehicle reversing beepers are essential safety devices.
During bridge closures pedestrian and cyclist diversions will be clearly signposted.
For further information or an update while work is underway, contact the Customer Services Department on 0845 305 1234, or via the web at www.tfl.gov.uk/contact or via vemail at customerservices@tfl.gov.uk
The latest edition of the Grove Green FOCUS Newsletter has just gone to press.
It will be delivered to every household across the ward by our team of volunteers.
Please contact Bob Sullivan on 8556 8335 if you would like to help deliver the FOCUS near your home. It is usually published about every six weeks and a round should take about 45 minutes. Thank you.
You can access a copy of the FOCUS here: Grove Green 271
The Heathcote Arms public house
A report on the Waltham Forest Guardian’s website says that a local businessman has secured a three year lease to turn the Heathcote Arms into an independent public house.
Businessman Jason Verdi said,
I saw the lease was available and as a local man I saw the opportunity as it is such an important aspect of the community. I want to turn it into a family pub, with home-cooked food and free from the issues it used to have.
I am planning on getting it open as soon as possible, hopefully within two weeks.
We will see what we can do with it for a few years. I will certainly give it a go, but I could not leave it unused.
Carl Qulliam pictured outside Leyton Youth Centre (former County Cicket Ground) with former Lib Dem Council Group Leader Bob Sullivan
Carl Quilliam, the former Head of Office for the Lib Dems on Waltham Forest council, has this week been selected to stand in the Leyton and Wanstead constituency by the local Lib Dem party.
Carl is a former civil servant who worked in regeneration under the last Labour government. He supported the Liberal Democrat council group as their Head of Office from October 2011 until October 2013 and now works for a large London-based housing association.
On being selected Carl said:
It’s exciting to be selected to stand here in Leyton and Wanstead. The Lib Dems have been the main opposition to Ed Miliband’s Labour here for over 20 years. And locally we’ve been at the forefront of campaigns on housing, children’s services, school places and protecting our environment.
It’s great to finally see local schools expanding thanks to coalition funding and without another of Labour’s expensive PFI deals but we still need more places to meet the growing demand.
And we all know that we desperately need more affordable homes for local people, as well as more jobs and apprenticeships our young people.That’s why I will use this campaign to stand up for more local school places, more and better housing and tackling youth unemployment in the area.
Local Lib Dem activist Bob Sullivan said:
It is great to have Carl as our candidate, as the leader of the Lib Dem Group on the Council I spent two years working closely with him. He knows the people, knows the problems and knows the area. There is no doubt he will be the best person to represent our residents as an MP.