Planning News – Glyn Hopkin site in Ruckholt Road

Good news – The Planning Committee rejected the plan to re-develop the Glyn Hopkin Nissan showrooms on the corner of Ruckholt Road and Oliver Road was refused by the committee.

Residents in the area will be delighted that the plans to build up to six stories of flats with little parking was thrown out.  This is the second time the plans have not been accepted. 

Ward Councillor Bob Sullivan said: “I hope that the developers will go back to the drawing board and come back with plans for family houses with parking spaces and not loads of one and two bed flats.”

Labour’s Attack on Sports!

Despite all their proud boasts that Waltham Forest is an Olympic Borough, and with hire charges overall increasing by 3 to 5%, hire of sports facilities is set to soar:

  • School hire of football and cricket pitches – up 12%
  • Saturday pitch hire – up 23%
  • Leyton cricket ground – up 25%
  • Running a school sports day – up 25%

This is on top of selling off Drapers Field to the Olympic Authority for nearly two years. This is a direct attack by Labour councillors on sport in direct contrast to their claim of ‘more investment’ in sports.

Leytonstone High Road to get a ‘facelift’

As you may have heard, after having been left out of the first round of pre-Olympic ‘sprucing up’ funding, High Road Leytonstone has now been allocated £2 million.  

The plans, extending from the Green Man through to the Thatched House, can be viewed on the Council’s website at: www.walthamforest.gov.uk/traffic-schemes  

Local campaigner John Howard was pleased to see, at last, there is a proposal to demolish the disused public toilets in Kirkdale Road  

CHURCH LANE – he queried the removal of the turning circle and the apparent disappearance of the public car park, while a proposal still remains for a ‘play area’.  

The Council has advised that this plan is to be redrawn to show continued access to the car park.  

The Plaza showing the distance between the sculpture and the flowerbed   

THE PLAZA – John questioned the suggestion to reroute the road to run between the sculpture and the flowerbed. Regular users of this area will know that there are aften more than one bus at each bus stop, and the W16 drivers have a break before returning to Chingford. Additionally, the vehicle access routes to the car park and the LT building were not shown. 

He has now been advised that London Buses supported concerns about the reduced road layout on The Plaza, and a site meeting was being convened to resolve the problem.  

The FOCUS Team is watching developments.

Primary School place shortage

As the Liberal Democrats warned in March Waltham Forest faces an explosion in demand for primary school places and a shortfall in school places.Across London more than 5,000 primary school pupils could be in temporary classrooms in the 2010/11 school year, according to London Councils. The BBC yesterday reported about a pupil from Walthamstow who had been rejected by the seven schools closest to her home.This will continue to be an important issue for our area.

Labour very slow in appointing to City Airport watchdog

Local Liberal Democrats have discovered that Waltham Forest went unrepresented at an important committee discussing flights from London City Airport because it took over six months to appoint the council’s representative.

This is despite local residents’ concern about the noise and disturbance caused by flights from London City Airport, which have increased since changes to the flight paths used by aircraft . Residents have expressed serious concerns recently following  a near miss at the end of July  between a Boeing 777 flying into Heathrow and a Business jet leaving London City.

Waltham Forest, Redbridge and Havering Council’s were invited to appoint a councillor to sit on the London City Airport Consultative Committee in a letter sent by the committee’s secretary on 21st January 2010.The invitation was issued after Liberal Democrat councillor Farooq Qureshi put forward a motion to Waltham Forest Council about the expansion of London City Airport in October 2009. As a result of the motion the council wrote to the consultative committee requesting representation on behalf of local residents affected by flights from the airport.However the name of the council’s representative, Cllr Clyde Loakes, only emerged last month (August). The council has missed two meetings since the invitation was issued on Tuesday 13th April and on Tuesday 21st July.Even if the appointment had to be delayed until the results of May’s council elections were known this does not explain why no appointment was made in time for July’s meeting.

Drapers Field – UPDATE Labour council plan ‘secret’ meeting

Drapers Field – MEETING MONDAY SEPTEMBER 13th 6pm till 8pm

The Olympic Authority and the Council are going to hold a drop in meeting at Drapers Field on Monday 13th September 6.00pm to 8.00pm.  It will be held in the Sport England pavilion next to the astro turf pitch. 

Apparently the Olympic Authority/Council will explain what they intend to do with Drapers Field when they close it down from September 2011 to December 2012.

Secret meeting–  This initial meeting has only been notified to the residents around Drapers Field.  They obviously believe that only local residents are concerned about the loss of the only sports and leisure facility in the area.  We have only found out by local residents telephoning us.

MAKE YOUR VIEWS KNOWN – If you are concerned about what is being planned for Drapers Field then please go to the meeting and make your views known.

 Other Draper’s field news : – Bob Sullivan and John Howard had a useful meeting with two representatives from Sport England on Friday morning.

Sport England has poured hundreds of thousands of pounds into local sport facilities, including Drapers Field and Score. Sport England is concerned to make sure its investment is protected and that the conditions attached to its grants are not broken. It also has a statutory duty to protect playing fields. The representatives told us that their starting position is to oppose any loss of playing fields unless the facilities are re-provided.Both Sport England and the FA believe there is a demand for playing pitches in the area.The local Liberal Democrats will continue to campaign to protect local sports facilities, not just at Drapers Field but also when the future of other sites such as the Pool and Track in Walthamstow is considered. We already know that the Pool and Track appears on Labour’s ‘hit list’ of possible property disposals.

Draper’s Field – Update

Drapers Field

As you may have read the Labour Cabinet has agreed in principle to close Drapers Field for 16 months from September 2011. The Guardian archives show that over £1.5 million was spent installing the all-weather pitch (the only one in the borough), and upgrading the other sports facilities.
The Council Leader is reported to have said: “We would be able, through the compensation package, to completely refurbish Draper’s Field … we could turn it into a very special park.”
Leyton and Wanstead Liberal Democrats  believes that we should not be closing a valued sports facility, which is used by 100,000 people a year, including Norlington School, which uses it 4 days a week.
If you believe that, as an Olympic borough, we should be cherishing our sporting facilities. Please sign our on-line petition at:
http://ourcampaign.org.uk/DrapersField

Lib Dems Push the Government to build new schools in Waltham Forest

Leytonstone School

Liberal Democrat councillors are pressing the Government to provide the money for new school buildings for our local children.

 “Anyone who has visited schools such as Leytonstone, Norlington, Connaught and George Mitchell knows how much new buildings are needed. We owe it to the children of our borough to do all we can to provide them with the high quality education they deserve. This includes making sure that they can learn in decent surroundings,” said Liberal Democrat and  Forest Ward Councillor Farooq Qureshi.

The Liberal Democrat group is hugely disappointed that the cancellation of the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme has hit local schools so badly. It is an enormous shame, but if Labour had made faster progress with the BSF schemes since 2003 we would not now be in the situation where more Waltham Forest schools have been stopped compared with other boroughs.  However Lib Dem councillors believe the most important thing is what happens next. 

Local campaigner Samina Safdar says: “BSF was a cumbersome, bureaucratic and expensive way of funding school buildings which funnelled money into the pockets of consultants and private contractors. The government has pledged to continue to invest in school buildings and the Liberal Democrats will be at the forefront of the campaign to make sure that Waltham Forest schools get their fair share of this spending.”

Olympic facelift for High Road

Leyton Councillors meet to see proposals

You may have read the news a few months ago, that Leyton High Road and the Ruckholt Road area are due to be given a facelift thanks to the Olympics.

Cllrs Sullivan, Smith and Qureshi from Leyton ward were invited to a meeting recently; to take a look at the changes that are being proposed to parts of Leyton High Rd over the coming years as we build up to the Olympics.

Almost £5 million is set to be spent in the area. Changes that are being proposed include new seating areas, shop frontages and lighting along the High Rd, in particular.

Although they are in their initial stages and subject to a consultation (which I am told is going to take place very soon) , some of the planned changes will, transform the area and give it a much needed facelift. Leyton and Wanstead Liberal Democrats have reservations, about a few proposed changes around the Leyton station area. The problems around Drapers Field and redevelopment are seperate from these proposals.

The officers concerned, visited the Leyton & Whipps Cross Community Council which took place last month and outlined initial plans to the members of the public who were in attendance.

Error in poll, Liberal democrats challenging the result

Leyton and Wanstead Liberal Democrats are challenging the result of the local election in High Street Ward. The council has admitted that it may have made an error when the votes were counted, because the number of votes recorded in the result was bigger than the number of votes actually cast.

Liberal Democrat Group Leader Councillor Bob Sullivan said:

”If a mistake at the count led to the wrong councillor being elected it is a very alarming error. The Liberal Democrats have consulted solicitors with experience in this area with a view to challenging the result. It is vital that residents can have confidence in the integrity of the local democratic process.”