John Howard

Talks are to take place between London Underground and the Unions to avert the threatened strikes following the announcement of the reduced hours for ticket offices, see TfL website: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/projectsandschemes/16277.aspx

London TravelWatch are asking passengers to let them know how the plans will affect them. They can be contacted on:

www.londontravelwatch.org.uk

or by email to:

info@londontravelwatch.org.uk

The Liberal Democrats are running a cross-London petition, which can be accessed at:

www.our.campaign.org.uk/save ourticketoffices

When notified that the Council is negotiating to lease Drapers Field to the Olympic Authority for a year and a half, Sport England, the body concerned with encouraging sporting activities across England, were concerned that Leyton would lose its valuable sports area before and during the Olympics.

Only ten years ago the National Lottery Sports Fund awarded nearly a million pounds to build the all weather sports pitch and changing rooms.  This along with another £500,000 from the Council made Drapers Field a valuable sports and leisure facility for local people. Another £132,000 was spent on the Drama and Music Centre.

To tarmac or concrete over this for use by the Olympic Authority for an Olympic Village holding area for provisions, or a rumoured car park, will be a disaster for local people, schools and sports clubs. Over 9,000 people use Drapers Field every month, making it one of the best used sports facilities in the borough. 

Councillor Bob Sullivan is due to meet representatives of Sport England to discuss the loss of Drapers Field and who may be able to stop the Labour councillors hare-brained scheme.

An update from the meeting will follow soon.

If you would like to help in our campaign to keep Drapers Field, then please sign our on-line petition at: http://ourcampaign.org.uk/DrapersField

17 million people already affected… 

Floodwaters are still rising in Pakistan; the area covered to date is larger than the UK. These are the worst floods in many decades, they began a month ago with the rain hammering the country’s northwest region, over 1,600 people have died and the floods are affecting over 17 million people with 1.2 million houses being destroyed, leaving an estimated 8 million people homeless. The waters are now spreading through the rice-growing belt in Sindh province, 4.25 million acres of land and crops have been destroyed or extensively damaged. The scale of the disaster is overtaking the relief efforts and more aid is needed urgently to help the millions of people affected.Please donate to the Disasters Emergency Committee’s Pakistan Floods Appeal by clicking here or by phone on 0370 60 60 900.

The new trains are starting to gradually enter service on the Barking - Gospel Oak service.

The User Group is continuing to urge that the trains should be upgraded to three carriages to ease the overcrowding on the line.

The council is currently delivering voter registration forms to all households across the borough. Please make sure you fill yours in!

In case of any queries or missing forms the contact details for Electoral Services are:

Electoral Services, Waltham Forest Council, Town Hall, Forest Road, E17 4JF

tel: (020) 8496 4562

Email:

electoralservices@walthamforest.gov.uk

You can also download registration forms from the council’s website:

www.walthamforest.gov.uk

Land at rear of 99 Bulwer Road

The application for the erection of a two bedroom house was refused

56 Michael Road

The application for the retention of the first floor rear extension was refused as its siting and excessive depth exerts an unreasonable impact on the adjoining properties.

26 Mornington Road

The erection of a part ground floor, part first floor rear extension was approved.

15 Bushwood

The application for Change of Use of part of the dwelling house from (use class C3) to day nursery (use class C2) has been refused.

34 Harold Road

The erection of a two storey side extension was refused.

This anti social behaviour continues despite the Council increasing the bulky collection service.

John Howard has reported a dumped mattress by the turning circle at the end of Connaught Road.

He has also drawn attention to wooden pallets dumped behind the locked gates at the foot of the steps to the Church Lane footbridge.

Clearing fly tipped rubbish costs a lot of money, which could be spent on other services. 

Please remember if you see dumping taking place, you can report it to Waltham Forest Direct on 8496 3000.

John Howard has alerted the Council to the overgrown trees in Connaught Road, many of which are blocking the footpath.

FOCUS will report developments.

John Howard contacted the Council following reports that the gate to the playground at the rear of the Church Lane car park had disappeared.

The Council confirms that it has been stolen, and a replacement has been ordered.

The Police Safer Neighbourhood Team has circulated the following information:

Register to create a FREE private and secure portfolio of all your personal property. If it is then lost or stolen, use Immobilise to tell Police, your insurer and the second-hand trade to assist in recovering your property and catch the thief.

Benefits of registration:

• Immobilise helps UK Police forces to identify the owner of lost and stolen goods thousands of times every day
• Loss and theft updates you make are immediately available to the Police nation-wide
• Combat the sale of stolen property, alert the second-hand trade and the publicly check-able stolen goods database, CheckMEND, if an item goes missing.
• Simplify insurance claims and Police reports with certificates of ownership
• All these features are unique to Immobilise and provided FREE

To REGISTER: http://www.immobilise.com

The Safer Neighbourhood Team hopes you find this information useful.