The Council has received an application from the Shell garage on Southend Road for a licence to sell alcohol from 0000 to 2400 hours and to sell ‘late night refreshments’ from 2300 to 0500 hours.

Roding Councillors will be opposing this application because we think it is inappropriate given the residential nature of the adjoining streets and the potential of such sales to cause disturbance and anti-social behaviour.

Any local resident who wishes to object may do so via the Council’s website here.

PS  The public are supposed to be able to view original licence applications online, but at the moment the site is not working.  Anyone who does wish to see the original application can contact the Council’s Licensing Authority at Perth Terrace, Ilford IG2 6AT or phone 020 87085716.

The delays to the W14 service continue.  See here for a story in the local press, including TfL’s latest response.

While the photo for this story was being taken, three W14s came past in 5 minutes!!

There’s good news for local motorists now that the LibDem-sponsored ban on car clamping on private land is coming into force, with Royal Assent for the Government’s Protection of Freedoms Bill (now an Act).  The ban on clamping or towing away starts from October this year.

Last year several Roding residents had problems with a clamping firm ‘Elite Parking Enforcement’ working in Woodbine Place in Wanstead, who were extorting hundreds of pounds from people, see here.  As well as the huge cost, dealing with this aggressive clamping firm was unpleasant and very distressing for people.  Furthermore people caught by this firm had no recourse or remedy, since their ‘appeals’ process was a sham, and even if taken to court people were unlikely to see any payment since the firm had no assets to speak of (everything they used was rented or hired) and had already ignored previous County Court judgements won by other motorists.

Cllr Ian Bond, who led a local campaign against Elite, said:  “It is great news that the outrageous practice of pouncing on unsuspecting motorists and holding their cars hostage until they paid over £400 or more is about to be made illegal.  I am very grateful to my colleague Lynne Featherstone MP for seeing this measure through Parliament”

“No-one objects to legitimate and proportionate parking enforcement, but firms like Elite were simply practising exortion.  I just feel sorry for those residents who were caught like this in Wanstead and for whom the new ban will come too late.”, Cllr Bond said.  “Nationally the Government estimates the ban will save motorists a massive £55 million every year in clamping charges”.

People can still be ticketed and fined for parking on private land, to allow private businesses and housing estates to protect their parking.  Firms engaged in this need to be registered and members of the British Parking Association’s Approved Operator Scheme.  The Freedom Act includes a new code of practice covering this activity.

The Freedom Act also sweeps away the Labour Party’s systems for allowing schools to take and keep children’s fingerprints without parental consent, retaining innocent people’s DNA, and introduces stricter restrictions on the use of CCTV, the powers of bailiffs, and town hall ‘snooping’, as well as reducing the maximum period of pre-charge detention without trial from Labour’s 28 days down to 14.

At 09:28 this morning, with river levels continuing to drop, the Environment Agency lifted the last of their flood alerts for the River Roding.

London Lib Dems have revealed that passengers using Oyster Pay As You Go were ripped off by millions of pounds last year at tube and train stations across the capital. Passengers wrongly faced maximum fares for their journeys at every London Underground and National Rail station, with the weekly amount of incorrectly charged maximum fares exceeding more than £1m.

 Across London Underground, National Rail network stations, the DLR and London Overground stations the total amount of maximum fares charged reached a staggering £63,950,000 in 2011.

 The figures were obtained by Liberal Democrat Deputy Mayoral candidate and Leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group, Caroline Pidgeon.

Commenting, Caroline Pidgeon said:

 “This level of overcharging is totally unacceptable. There is something very seriously wrong when each and every week Londoners are ripped off by so much.    

 “Why has Boris Johnson, who has been chair of Transport for London, not taken this seriously in the last four years?

“Of course in some cases passengers might forget to touch in and touch out, but such huge levels of overcharging clearly demonstrate that there are structural problems with how Oyster is operating.  We know for a fact that at some stations, especially when the stations are very busy, maximum fares are automatically set for everyone passing through.

 “It is time TfL stopped putting all the blame for Oyster overcharging on to passengers and started to recognise that they have a responsibility to ensure honest passengers are not ripped off.  “And where Oyster overcharging does take place it must be far easier for people to claim a refund.

 “TfL should stop treating the level of Oyster overcharging as a state secret. The figures should be regularly published at every station, so that passengers are alerted to this serious problem.”

The figures were obtained following a Freedom of Information request, which Transport for London has been refusing to answer for over four weeks, breaching requirements of the Freedom of Information Act.  The Mayor of London has also been incredibly evasive in answering a series of written questions submitted by Caroline Pidgeon.

 The top ten National Rail stations where passengers were ripped off in 2011 were:

•  Waterloo £1,996,000
• London Bridge £1,619,000
• Victoria £1,184,000
• Stratford £1,139,000
• Liverpool Street £1,036,000
• Clapham Junction £734,000
• Charing Cross £729,000
• Wimbledon £554,000
• East Croydon £533,000
• Vauxhall £423,000

 The top 10 London Underground stations where passengers were ripped off in 2011 were:

•  Bank £1,398,000
• Kings Cross £1,126,000
• Oxford Circus £1,049,000
• Liverpool Street £1,045,000
• Victoria £938,000
• Waterloo £620,000
• London Bridge £598,000
• Piccadilly Circus £550,000
• Euston £547,000
• Leicester Square £517,000

In 2011 the number of ‘incomplete journey charges’ at local Underground stations were 119 at Woodford and 91 at South Woodford.

The Environment Agency has this morning published a ‘Flood Alert’ for the Lower River Roding including Redbridge, Woodford, Wanstead, Ilford, East Ham and Barking:

“A large band of persistent rain passed over the area through the night. This combined with the wet ground from previous days rainfall means the river has reacted and is currently rising. The River Roding in the Redbridge area is expected to reach bank full levels around midday today. It will continue to rise slowly throughout the day and into the early hours of Monday morning. Flooding of low lying land and roads near to the river could occur. The rain is expected to ease off by this afternoon which will allow the river to start to drop in the early hours of Monday morning. Currently no property flooding is expected. Surface water flooding or ponding of water on roads or parkland is expected due to the heavy rainfall over night. A few showers will develop on Monday but these should not affect river levels. This information will be updated later this afternoon.”

For the latest Environment Agency information, click HERE, or you can phone Floodline on 0845 988 1188, select option 1, and enter QuickDial number 172915 to get more information.

For Redbridge Council’s live river-level webcam from the Roding bridge near Charlie Brown, click HERE

UPDATE:  The Council has opened its Emergency Control Centre this afternoon and is liaising with the Environment Agency.  The Flood Alert is an early warning of the possibility of flooding issued to give people as much time as possible to prepare; at the moment the latest forecast remains that the river will stay within its banks.  Peak water levels are now expected at 2am tonight (Monday morning).

UPDATE SUNDAY 10pm:  Water levels are still expected to peak at 2 am tonight but not at such a level as to trigger a Flood Warning.  The Council will continue to monitor the situation but we do not expect any risk of flooding tonight.  Your councillors continue to explore all avenues for funding the proposed flood prevention works along the Roding that will significantly reduce the future flooding risk during periods of exceptionally heavy rain.

FURTHER UPDATE MONDAY pm:  We understand that the Flood Alert for the Roding remains in place as the river levels are now high and more rain is expected overnight tonight, with heavy rain returning after 1 am.  For the first time the EA is considering whether there is risk of property flooding and is reviewing the level of alert for Redbridge now.

TUESDAY MORNING:  River levels remain high and with flooding in low lying areas and roads near to the river. The Environment Agency and Council are monitoring the band of heavy rain which is currently passing over the area. As river levels are already high we anticipate that the river will remain high and out of banks in response to the forecast rainfall. With high totals forecast, there may still be some risk of some property flooding.  Meanwhile the Roding remains on Flood Alert.

TUESDAY EVENING:  The river has remained within banks today and the river level is now steady.  With a dry night forecast, hopefully the immediate risk of flooding has passed.  The Flood Alert remains in place until the river level has dropped away.

We have recently received a lot of complaints about the W14 bus service, particularly at this week’s meeting of the Maybank Community Association.

The northbound buses (towards Woodford Wells) are more frequently being taken out of service at either South Woodford or Charlie Brown’s Roundabout.  Thus, passengers heading for anywhere between the A406 and Broadmead Road – including the Orchard Estate – can be stranded for long periods.  Also if the next southbound bus does not start from Woodford Wells, people wanting to travel southbound have to wait longer. 

Cllr Gwyneth Deakins has asked the Council to tell London Buses that it must improve the service urgently, as it is the elderly and disabled who suffer most.  She has also asked for the matter to be raise at the next Public Transport Liaison Forum at which representatives of London Buses and TfL meet local Councillors.

Update: We’ve had a response from TfL who said:

‘Since late 2011, works have been underway in Ruckholt Road, Leyton (which is on the route of the W14) to build a new footbridge required for the Olympics. The works have taken much longer to complete than was originally anticipated, and have been causing periods of disruption to traffic in the Leyton area since late February 2012. The disruption was intensified last month with the introduction of temporary traffic lights. However, the situation should improve between now and the anticipated completion date for the works (early May) as there will be less work being undertaken in the daytime.

‘The traffic disruption has inevitably caused significant delays to buses operating along Ruckholt Road, and in such circumstances – in order to maintain as regular a service as possible – buses are sometimes curtailed.  We regret the inconvenience this causes to affected passengers, but occasionally, curtailing a service is the only way in which we can maintain a regular service for the maximum number of customers.’

So we are hopeful that the recent problems will soon come to an end, but we’re asking local people to keep us informed!

1 May: Unfortunately we are still getting complaints about this service and we understand that to some extent they pre-dated the roadworks in Leyton.   We have also asked that when a service is cut short, passengers with pay-as-you-go Oyster cards are given a ticket so that they do not have to pay again to continue their journey on the next bus.  TfL’s further reply is awaited.

Lib Dem GLA Member Caroline Pidgeon joined local councillors Ian Bond and Gwyneth Deakins, together with representatives of the Maybank Community Association, today as part of the campaign to get traffic signals and pedestrian crossings on the approach roads to the roundabout.    She has called for a date to be set for work to begin.

Caroline said: “People shouldn’t have to take their lives in their hands just to get across the road. It’s absolutely staggering.

“We need to make sure something is done urgently to make it safe to cross here.  This is a big issue at this election for me.”

She saw for herself how dangerous it is to cross the A406 slip roads.  Pedestrain crossings have been promised in the past, particulary by Mayor Boris Johnson, but the project has been continually shelved.

Whatever the outcome of the Mayoral and GLA elections on 3 May, Lib Dems locally and at London level will demand a firm commitment from the new Mayor for this project to go ahead.

Thames Water has published the following ‘hopepipe ban’ announcement, which applies from April 5th:

Thames Water Utilities Limited gives notice to all of its customers, that the potable water it supplies throughout its entire area must not be used for the following purposes:

1. watering a ‘garden’ using a hosepipe;
2. cleaning a private motor-vehicle using a hosepipe;
3. watering plants on domestic or other non-commercial premises using a hosepipe;
4. cleaning a private leisure boat using a hosepipe;
5. filling or maintaining a domestic swimming or paddling pool;
6. drawing water, using a hosepipe, for domestic recreational use;
7. filling or maintaining a domestic pond using a hosepipe;
8. filling or maintaining an ornamental fountain;
9. cleaning walls, or windows, of domestic premises using a hosepipe;
10. cleaning paths or patios using a hosepipe;
11. cleaning other artificial outdoor surfaces using a hosepipe.

Definition of a garden

A “garden” includes all of the following: a park; gardens open to the public; a lawn; a grass verge; an area of grass used for sport or recreation; an allotment garden, as defined in section 22 of the Allotments Act 1922; any area of an allotment used for non-commercial purposes; and any other green space.

Exemptions

i. using a hosepipe in a garden or for cleaning walls or windows of domestic premises, paths or patios, a private leisure boat or an artificial outdoor surface, where such use is necessary for health and safety reasons.
ii. watering a garden attached to a domestic dwelling or watering plants on domestic premises using a hosepipe, by people with severe mobility problems who hold a current Blue Badge as issued by their local authority.
iii. using a hosepipe to clean a private motor vehicle, or walls and windows of domestic premises, where this is done as a service to customers in the course of a business.
iv. using a hosepipe to water an area of grass or artificial outdoor surfaces used for sport or recreation, where this is required in connection with a national or international sports event.
v. drip or trickle irrigation watering systems, fitted with a pressure reducing valve and a timer, that are not handheld, that place water drip by drip directly onto the soil surface or beneath the soil surface, without any surface run off or dispersion of water through the air using a jet or mist.

Your councillors are working with the Council and the Orchard Residents’ Association to try and land a major energy efficiency scheme for the Orchard Estate.

If we get the go ahead, this would deliver big energy saving improvements for the estate:  new windows for the tower flats and the maisonettes, better insulation including new cladding for the tower blocks, and a new heating system.

This work would have to be completed during 2012 if we are to secure the funding, so if the scheme goes ahead a major set of works would be scheduled for the Estate between June and December.

Once completed, the package of improvements is expected to at least halve the energy it takes to heat homes on the estate, meaning lower fuel bills for residents.

We’ll ensure residents are fully informed and consulted.