Harrow Green Library closure planned

The Cann Hall Focus Team was shocked to see that a report on the Library Service, due to be presented to the Cabinet on 14 June, includes the proposal to close both Harrow Green and South Chingford Libraries.

The report recommends that Leytonstone, Leyton, Walthamstow and North Chingford be designated Library Plus branches – open 7 days a week and offering some additional services that were previously available in the Waltham Forest Direct shops.

While Hale End, Higham Hill, Wood Street and Lea Bridge will become Library Local branches, open for 30 hours a week.

Providing that this report is agreed by the Cabinet there is expected to be a 12-week consultation period between June and September.

Whatever your views the Focus Team urges you to respond to the consultation to make sure that the Council has the fullest possible picture of the feelings of local residents.

It is understood that a further report, taking into account the consultation, will be submitted to the Cabinet in October.

Make your voice heard!

Abbotts Park – Consultation

The Council has commissioned Kinnear Landscape Architects to develop improvements for Abbotts Park.

There is to be a public consultation in the park on Saturday 25th June between 2 and 5pm.

Council officers and the design team will be there to hear your views on the proposals, which as usual are subject to planning consent and funding.

If you cannot make this meeting, the plans will also be on display in Leyton Library, Leyton High Road, corner of Ruckholt Road on Monday 27th June. A representative from the designers will be present between 4 and 6pm.

This is your opportunity to express your views on this scheme.

Drapers Field – planning application received!

Drapers Field - leased to the ODA for 16 Months

A planning application has finally been lodged with the Council for the temporary use of Drapers Field as a service centre/store for the Olympic Village.

The application number is: 2011/0623, and comments can be made online at the Waltham Forest website, or by post to the Planning Officers at the Town Hall.

Local residents have been very concerned about what the Labour Council has in mind for the reinstatement of this historic playing field when it is returned in 2013.

Kinnear Landscape Architects were commissioned to develop improvements, and their plans will be subject to a public consultation event to be held at Drapers Field on Tuesday 14 June, between 3 and 7 pm. Council officers and the design team will be present.

Don’t miss this opportunity of seeing what the Council has in mind, and making your views known.

If you cannot attend this event you can see the proposals at Leyton Library from Friday 17 June until Monday 27 June. 

Proposals for Marsh Lane will also be on display.

A representative of Kinnear Landscape Architects will be present at the following times:

Drapers Field – 4-6pm on Thursday 23 June

Marsh Lane – 4-6pm on Wednesday 22 June

Central Line footbridges

The Liberal Democrats have been campaigning for years about the state of the polycarbonate covers on these three footbridges.

Following the latest request for timescale for the remedial works to be completed we have just learnt that Transport for London (TfL) are now intending to include these structures in their preliminary works programme to commence in 2013.

As usual they include the note that this programme is subject to change and to funding being confirmed.

So much for the Council’s trumpeting that Waltham Forest is an Olympic Host Borough – the deplorable state of these bridges is in no way a welcoming advert for our area.

The Liberal Democrat FOCUS Team has contacted Liberal Democrat London Assembly member Caroline Pidgeon, Chair of the Transport Committee, asking her to intercede with TfL and impress on them that this work needs to be completed before the 2012 Olympic Games to avoid presenting a very poor impression of our borough.

The FOCUS Team will keep you informed about any developments.

THE LORD CLYDE PUB – PLANNING APPLICATION

Liberal Democrat Councillor Bob Sullivan reports:

It looks like another pub will be closed down in our area. A planning application has been received by the Council to turn The Lord Clyde Pub in Capworth Street into flats. There will be a ground and first floor extension and construction of second floor with mansard roof.

The plans are to convert the Public House into 9 self-contained flats (4×1 bed, 5×2 bed) a bin and cycle store will be at the rear. No parking provision – I notice!!                                                      

The plight of our Public Houses is dire. Many have closed and many are looking to develop into accommodation. We have lost many local pubs. The list is long – The Hollybush, Wakefield Arms, The Four Finches, Oliver Twist, Lion and Keys, The Three Blackbirds, Beaumont Arms and the Bakers Arms. These are all in a stones throw of each other. Have I missed some off?

I noticed that the Coach and Horse in Leyton High Road is asking for community involvement to manage the pub. I am not sure what that means but will try and find out.

LABOUR COUNCIL’S DECEPTION!

The local Guardian newspaper has highlighted the amount of taxpayers’ money that the Labour Council is spending on campaign propaganda. Is this a smoke screen to hide their cuts to services?

In a poll by one national newspaper Waltham Forest was judged the highest spender on propaganda in the country.

The budget Councillor Bob Sullivan put forward on behalf of the Liberal Democrat Group in opposition to the Labour budget showed many areas of savings including the saving of £250,000 by getting rid of the political campaigning and putting that money into respite care for children and families.

The reduction in respite care will cause much anxiety to the families who desperatly need respite care for them and their children.

The LIberal Democrats were the only party to oppose the Labour budget – the Conservatives did not put forward any alternative budget, but spent time praising the Labour leader of the Council! So much for Tory opposition.

EMD Planning Application Refused

Liberal Democrat councillor Mahmood Hussain on Wednnesday 18 May told Waltham Forest’s Planning Committee that the council should refuse the planning application submitted by UKCG to turn the EMD Cinema into a religious assembly hall.

Councillor Hussain, who represents High Street ward which includes the EMD Cinema site, said:

“The key questions can be summarised very simply. Does the proposed development respect the building’s heritage and listed building status? Is the impact on the area and particularly on nearby residents acceptable? Does the proposed development contribute satisfactorily to the regeneration of Walthamstow Town Centre? On all three counts I believe the answer is no.

“This view is shared by an enormous number of local residents. Our borough has hundreds of places of worship of all types and sizes. But it does not have a single cinema. We have clear evidence that the building is potentially viable as a cinema, arts and entertainment venue.

“This would bring new life to the area and stimulate the local economy – unlike the proposal before you. The proposed changes to the building would destroy much of what is special about this unique building, which is one of the oldest, largest and best preserved cinema buildings in the country.

“Residents would suffer from the absence of a proper noise management scheme and from parking problems generated by cars descending on the area from miles away.

“For the sake of Walthamstow please listen to local people, weigh up the planning merits of the case and refuse the application.”

Speaking after the decision to refuse the planning application Councillor Hussain said he was delighted that the Planning Committee had listened to the arguments put forward by objectors.

“This is good and important news for Walthamstow Town Centre but it is only one step forward. Following two planning refusals and endless discussion I hope UKCG will now abandon their plan. We must allow those who are able to bring the cinema back into use the chance to realise the cinema’s true potential.”

Parking nightmare for Waltham Forest residents

Liberal Democrat Leyton Ward Councillor Bob Sullivan reports that parking in Leyton has reached a point where residents’ are continually unable to park in their road or in some cases near their road.

Meanwhile the Labour Council continues to agree plans for multi flats that have little or no parking facilities and seem reluctant to consult with residents about a residents’ parking scheme.

Supposedly the Council has a policy of encouraging family housing, but the Council seems obsessed in agreeing to developers building more and more flats – what hypocrisy!

Residents of Leyton and Waltham Forest do not want more flats – they need family housing with adequate parking included in developments.

It is about time the Council listened to them!

Leyton Mills Safer Business Panel meeting

Recently the Leyton Ward Liberal Democrat councillors, Naheed Qureshi, Winnie Smith and Bob Sullivan attended the Leyton Mills Safer Business Panel. It was held at ASDA in Leyton Mills, and was chaired by Police Sergeant Sarah Brewer of the Safer Neighbourhood Team, along with representatives of the shops and businesses in Leyton Mills.

It was noted that the problems with the DVD sellers and the gambling had virtually disappeared now that the Police are there every day. There were presentations about preventing crime in the area and discussion about the effects that the Olympic Park would make on the shopping area. It was agreed that it was important that all the shops and police shared information.

Bob Sullivanasked about why the boarded up shops that were next to ASDA and opposite TKMaxx had not been let or opened up. Apparently when they were built there was no space planned for air conditioning in the units and a total lack of a delivery area for the shops. Unless someone can come up with an innovative plan, then they will remain boarded up. What a waste!

Anyone who currently visits Leyton Mills shopping area now will notice that they will not be harassed by illegal DVD sellers. Although they occasionally are seen popping back to check if the police are still there. The Eastern European card trick people have also gone away. Hopefully never to return.

There is another meeting scheduled for the autumn. If there are any issues that you would like to bring to our attention about the Leyton Mills shopping area – don’t wait for the autumn, please get in touch with Councillor Bob Sullivan or Councillor Naheed Qureshi or Councillor Winnie Smith.

The Plaza/Church Lane – revised plans

The above link shows the revised proposals

Following concerns raised by Leytonstone FOCUS Team member John Howard and London Buses the Council has revised their proposals.

THE PLAZA – The road layout has reverted the existing design. It was agreed that the proposals did not allow sufficient space, and access to the public car park and the LT vehicle entrance has been reinstated.

CHURCH LANE – Church Lane now divides into two spurs. One terminates at the emergency barrier while the other leads directly into the car park.