BUSES W11 and W15 – RETURN TO PALMERSTON ROAD

Transport for London (TfL) has announced that works on the railway bridge in Palmerston Road have now finished, and they expect that the Palmerstone Road will re-open on Monday 8 December.

As a result routes W11 and W15 will return to their original route via Palmerstone Road from the first bus on Saturday 14 December.

There were requests from residents and businesses to keep route W15 on its temporary diversion once Palmerston Road was re-opened. This was looked at in detail, but keeping W15 on the temporary diversion and returning W11 to the original routeing could lead to overcrowding on route W11. Furthermore, route W15 is currently experiencing reliability issues on the diversion. Therefore returning W15 to its oeiginal route is seen as the preferred option.

TfL say that they will continue to look at some of the opportunities that were created by the temporary routing of W15, and the Liberal Democrats will keep you in touch with any developments.

RUCKHOLT ROAD – goes Dutch!

Waltham Forest Council is one of the few Councils, successful in their bid to Transport for London for ‘Mini Holland’ funds to radically improve cycling in the borough. One of the areas for improvement is Ruckholt Road.

At a consultation meeting in Leyton Library, Lib Dem Focus Team member, Bob Sullivan had a chance to discuss the plans with officers and residents. Overall the scheme looks innovative and will assist safer cycling in the area. Bob outlined many small changes that would improve the scheme for cyclists and residents. The main one was allowing a left turn from Oliver Road into Ruckholt Road. Blocking the left turn would only encourage vehicle rat running.

He also said that the present bus stop in Ruckholt Road by the library should not be moved to Warren Road. The area in Warren Road is constantly used by motorists to park and shop locally in the High Road.

He also felt that the two current CPZs need to be combined and the times of operation extended.

Bob says: My full list of comments and suggestions has been sent to the Council. This website will keep you informed of developments.

INNFLATION BUSTING PAY RISE!!

Waltham Forest’s Labour run Council has voted to give the Chief Executive of the Council  a whopping inflation busting pay rise of £15,000 – an 8% increase. 

This makes his salary £195,000! Even the Prime Minister only gets £142,000.  Labour councillors said it was reward for overseeing council cuts.

Given that the cuts were a loss of 1,000 jobs plus salary cuts to the rest of the council staff should this have been rewarded?

On top of that, Labour councillors voted to give the redundant deputy chief executive a massive £140,000 pay off.

You can be assured that the staff who lost their jobs did not receive any golden pay offs.
Can you believe the way this Labour Council spends your money. Last year they increased the Deputy leader’s pay by 25%.

Your money down the drain

Focus will keep on reporting the arrogant and wasteful ways that this Council spends your money.

SHOCKING ATTITUDE TO OUR CHILDREN IN CARE

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”.

 

LEA BRIDGE ROAD – FAULTY BUS STOP INDICATOR – update!

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.

LEYTONSTONE FIRE STATION – update

Leytonstone Fire Station

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.

Barking – Gospel Oak Line – electrification update

Caroline Pigeon, the Liberal Democrat Chair of the London Assembly Transport Committee, is continuing to lead the campaign for electrification of the Barking – Gospel Oak Line which has seen passenger numbers increase dramatically since the introduction of the new diesel units.

Caroline Pigeon says:

“We were disappointed when confirmation of funding for the Gospel Oak-Barking line electrification failed to materialise in the Budget, but are hopeful that the Government will choose to sanction these line improvements as a priority when it reviews the plans in June.  Electrification will deliver huge benefits to both the local area and London as a whole, including improvements to the rail network connectivity, and a reduced environmental impact.

“Full funding must be confirmed this year or, due to the impact of Crossrail’s construction, costs will rise far beyond the current estimates. Confirmation this year will mean this significant milestone for Britain’s rail infrastructure can go ahead without further delay or spiralling costs.”

PRESS RELEASE: Local Lib Dems to criticise budgeting, waste and misleading statements by Labour

Last Thursday’s council meeting was rightly used to bring the Borough together after the awful attacks in Woolwich on Wednesday.

However, cancelling the speeches of the three party leaders also meant that the time usually devoted to scrutinising the council’s priorities for the next year and to review the last year was lost.

The speech prepared by Lib Dem Leader Councillor Bob Sullivan, before the attack took place, contained criticism of the council’s budgeting process, attacks on money wasted on unnecessary events and exposed the misleading statements being made by Labour over the £160 million they claim to be investing in the Borough in 2013-14.

Councillor Sullivan was to say:

On budgeting

“The councils’ recent finance report show that almost all council departments were reporting under spends.

“In accountancy terms an under spend is just as bad as an over spend because it means that there is something wrong with the budgeting process.  It also means that our services are not being carried out as planned and our residents are losing out.

“So what is going wrong with our processes? And how are we building this into our planning? The council can’t continue to plead poverty simply because it is over-estimating what’s needed in the budget.”

On the £160 million

“As for investment, Labour cabinet members seem to be sending confused messages about the £160 million that they’re touting around to residents through Waltham Forest News and the various announcements and videos that they’re making.

“Many residents have read the big figures plastered over their copy of WFN and have been asking me if the council could spend some of this money on local projects.

“Unfortunately the explanation is, that most of this investment is not council money and all of it is already earmarked and being spent on other things.

“The confusion isn’t helped when Cabinet members give confusing written answers at full council meetings. Such as when Cllr Rusling declared ‘We are investing £160 million in the borough…’ in a written answer in March.”

On events

“…under Arsene Wenger, Arsenal has only spent £9 million net on players over the last ten years.

“That’s less per year than this council are spending on events!

Although these events are said to be free, they are not really, as the council tax payers are funding them.

“It seems like every day this council feels more and more like a booking agent or a live music promoter, with over a million pounds planned for events this year.”

Council chooses Fireworks over Library Funding!

At the Council’s budget meeting Liberal Democrat councillors highlighted the Council’s spending of £130,000 on fireworks in January. This money could have kept the Library at Harrow Green open for a year.

At the meeting it was said funding of Harrow Green library is a waste of money. Labour councillors also said that they liked the fireworks. This is astonishing given that Harrow Green library is situated in one of the most deprived areas of Waltham Forest.

Children and families in this area now see that their Council prefers half hour of fireworks rather than keeping open their library.

What do you think – should the Council spend money on fireworks or open Harrow Green Library?

Focus says: This is not all. The Council is planning to spend another million of tax payers money on fireworks and other events this year. Given the current financial situation is this the right priority?