620 High Road Leytonstone – site of proposed betting office
The application for yet another Paddy Power betting shop in the Leytonstone Shopping Centre is due to be discussed by the Council’s Licensing Committee on 6th October.
Residents were amazed that the betting shop in Church Lane, which was refused by the Council was approved on appeal by the Secretary of State.
It is hoped that recent changes in legislation will enable more notice to be taken of local objections.
620 High Road Leytonstone – site of proposed Paddy Power Bookmakers
After the successful protests against the betting shop in Church Lane, the Liberal Democrats are concerned that yet another planning application has been lodged for a branch of Paddy Power in High Road Leytonstone. The Shopping Centre is already inundated with betting shops – surely there is no demand for another.
Paddy Power Bookmakers have lodged an application to open a branch at 620 High Road Leytonstone.
Residents can find details of the application from the Council website by quoting planning application 2014/0996, which covers change of use from category A1 (retail) to A2 (betting office). in the Planning Explorer.
Other application cover:
Comments on this application should be sent to:
Former Lion and Key public house
The Council’s planning officer has approved the change of use of Lion and Key House, in Leyton High Road, from a care home into a hotel.
Further details should be available on the Council’s website by quoting application number 2014/0380 in the Planning Explorer.
The number of people in the country is expected to soar from 53 million to more than 57 million between 2012 and 2022, according to the Office for National Statistics. This amounts to an extra 384,410 people a year – or a city the size of Nottingham.
But the population boom is expected to add to the growing housing crisis – as fresh figures emerged this morning showing a boom in renting and overcrowding.
England’s population is booming – with every region set to grow between 2012 and 2022
Almost one in five homes in England are now rented – a 50 per cent increase in just 10 years. The number of owner occupied homes meanwhile dropped from 69% to 64% over the same period.
Homes with six or more people also spiked – rising by a quarter in just 10 years, including one in 25 homes in London.
But at the same time 1.1 million homes lay empty in 2011 – a 21 per cent spike in a decade.
England’s population is expected to boom in the next decade – with London, the South East and parts of the East Midlands (coloured in dark purple) set to grow more quickly than elsewhere
Despite a booming population and growing demand for homes the number of people living in each household has plummeted over the last 100 years
The housing crisis is being made more acute by the growing number of homes being left empty. The Office for National Statistics revealed today that more than a million homes are now unoccupied
Dan Wilson Craw, of Generation Rent, said:
‘Today’s statistics confirm that our broken housing market is creating deep divisions in society – wealthy property owners can afford to leave houses to stand empty, while more people who can’t buy are forced to squeeze into overcrowded private renting.
‘The government has no hope of reversing this trend with a scheme like Help to Buy – the nation’s renters need better rights in the rental market if they want to live somewhere they can genuinely call home.’
While an increasing number of homes sit unoccupied, the pressure to get on the housing ladder is expected to soar as the population booms over the next eight years.
London, the South East and East Anglia are expected to take most of the new population.
The capital itself will be home to 9.4million by mid 2022 up from 8.3million in 2012 – an increase of 13 per cent.
South East England will grow by 7.8 per cent and the East of England by 8.6 per cent. The North East will experience the slowest population growth – adding just 2.9 per cent over 10 years.
Soaring house prices have pushed more and more people into rented accommodation, the Office for National Statistics has found. Almost one in five homes is now rented out
As more than a million homes lie empty, people are squeezing themselves into properties. The number of homes with six or more people in them has soared by 25 per cent in 10 years
Of the 13 per cent projected growth in London, almost 90 per cent is because of a boom in the number of babies being born. Just 10 per cent is due to immigration.
Although London is a destination for many people migrating to live and work, both from other regions and internationally, there are also large numbers of people who leave the capital.
One reason for the ‘natural’ population boom is because London has only a little over 11 per cent of its population aged 65 and over – compared with most other regions where 17 per cent of the population are pensioners.
The number of people aged 65 and over is projected to increase in all regions by an average of 22 per cent between mid-2012 and mid-2022. The fastest growth in those aged 65 and over is seen in the East Midlands where the number is projected to increase by 25 per cent from 8.1 million to 10.1 million over the 10 year period.
A recent damning report showed that Waltham Forest had five children, in the care of the Council, missing!
This shocking report showed the Council’s failure to keep some of the most vulnerable children safe while they are in the legal care of the borough. This is nothing short of a disgrace.
Liberal Democrat Group Leader Councillor Bob Sullivan was shocked with the news and immediately contacted the Director responsible for the Borough’s children to find out what was being done. He was not impressed by the response. He has asked that an urgent report go to the Council’s Children’s committee showing the steps taken to find these children and whether systems and checks are in place to prevent a recurrence.
Bob Sullivan says:
“I am disgusted that it takes a report to find out that we are failing our children. Like all councillors we have a duty to the children in the Council’s care – as we would if they were our own children.”
“What is the Council doing? If my child went missing I would be worried sick and doing my utmost to find her.”
“Labour’s record for looking after children in care is bordering on negligence.”
Lib Dem Focus member Jerome Harvey-Agyei, who works for Barnardo’s dealing with young people in care, says:
“It is important to find the missing teenage children as they can quickly become the prey of unscrupulous people”.
Today Nick Clegg has revealed Labour’s secret plans to scrap half a million apprentices because they think they are ‘deadweight’.
In the strongest signal yet that Labour can’t be trusted to build a stronger economy, the plans would make it harder for young people to find good, well-paid jobs, and would damage the skills base in the British economy.
In a little-publicised paper written by the party, they propose to scrap intermediate (level 2) apprenticeships, replacing them with a downgraded to “traineeship”.
Labour claim that Intermediate Apprenticeships have “devalued” the apprenticeship brand and are “of no value to either employers or learners” and that scrapping them “would minimise ‘deadweight’”.
The Liberal Democrats, the party most in favour of apprenticeships, have strongly condemned the plans.
While Liberal Democrat ministers such as Vince Cable have created record numbers of apprentices, seeing over 1.6 million apprentices start since 2010, Labour’s plans would pull the rug from under the feet of a generation of young people.
The Lib Dems have been chasing Transport for London (TfL) for an update on progress for the repair and reinstatement of the Countdown indicator on the shelter, in Lea Bridge Road, for buses going towards Whipps Cross.
TfL has advised that they currently have a problem with the power supply at this stop which they are seeking to resolve. At the moment they are not able to estimate the completion date.
They offer apologies for the delay and are seeking to restore this useful service as soon as possible.
The London Fire Brigade has advised that there are no plans to permanently close Leytonstone Fire Station.
It is one of nine fire stations to be rebuilt as part of a PFI project. The work of demolition and rebuild of the existing station will start in late 2014.
During the rebuild process the fire engines will be relocated to Woodford and Walthamstow fire stations.
Local residents will be informed before any works commence.
Following the debate on the coalition welfare reforms at last Thursday’s council meeting, it has emerged that 75% of council staff earn less than the £26,000 benefits cap.
The figures, which exclude those working for schools in the Borough, show that only 25% of council workers earn more than the £35,000 that someone would need to earn to take home £26,000.
At the meeting Labour claimed the cap was a ‘London living tax’ and was unfairly penalising London residents.
Lib Dem Deputy Group Leader Councillor Farooq Qureshi said:
“The welfare reforms are extremely difficult for some people in our Borough and as councillors we are on the front line of trying to help them.
“But Labour’s claim that this is a “London living tax” just aren’t credible when the majority of council workers take home less in their pay packets.”
“The Labour Party are quick to campaign against the welfare reforms but refuse to put forward any alternatives. Ed Miliband supports capping welfare spending, so where will Labour’s cuts come from?”
On Thursday the Liberal Democrat group voted against proposals that would mean more special responsibility allowances for councillors.
Lib Dems criticised the Labour group for using scrutiny politically to avoid any real scrutiny of council policies, whilst at the same time awarding themselves more money.
The Labour council are splitting the health and adults committee into two new committees that will focus separately on public health and adults services.
They are creating two additional paid positions for their members who will take the Chair and Vice Chair of the Committee, who will get an extra £8,000 and £4,000 respectively on top of the £10,000 a year they earn as councillors.
Lib Dem Group Leader Cllr Bob Sullivan said:
“Labour are just creating more paid positions to reward their members. The current proposal could mean £12,000 in extra costs to Waltham Forest council tax payers.”
“There are a lot of ways Labour could ensure this doesn’t cost more money: Either by cutting these allowances across the council or by sharing the existing allowances for the old committee across the two new ones.
“Labour councillors should stop trying to hide their failures by stuffing committees full of their own members.
“They should be taking responsibility over their failures over jobs in this Borough and cutting their ‘special responsibility allowances’ rather than giving themselves more allowances.”