Save our lungs!

Picture Credit: Jennifer Blatchford/Save Gooshays Village Green Group

When Harold Hill was first developed in the 1950s, the town planners put a big emphasis on the provision of open green spaces.   They were considered by many Harold Hill residents to be the ‘lungs’ of the estate, and local people were assured by the powers-that-be that they would never be built on.  Although there has been a lot of new housebuilding in the area over the years, they have largely kept their word about not destroying the green spaces.  Until now, that is!  Havering Council announced plans earlier this year to build 64 houses on Gooshays Green in Gooshays Gardens.

Although we cannot deny that there is an urgent need for new housing,  the proposed development on Gooshays Green appears to be poorly thought-out.  As well  as the fact it will deprive locals of a much-cherished green space, the development itself seems to be extremely cramped and out of keeping with the surrounding area.

As you can no doubt understand, there has been quite some consternation about these plans.  Local residents have got together to form the ‘Save Gooshays Village Green Group’.  They have a Facebook group which can be found here.   There will also be a protest outside the Town Hall under the banner of ‘Save Our Greens’ – in which opponents of  the Gooshays Green plans will stand alongside those protesting against plans to build on Dovers Farm in Rainham and the Pitch and Putt site in Upminster.  It will take place on Wednesday 25^th September at 6:45pm.

Regional planning – keeping plebs like us out of the loop

Do you think that the local government planning system is phoney? The Heckler certainly does…

The South Essex Heckler - Archive

On October 31st, council representatives from East London, Essex and Kent met with business leaders and major developers at the Thames Estuary Growth Day event held at CentrED at the Excel Centre in Newham: Thames growth day an “opportunity for real, meaningful debate”. Out of interest, how many of you were aware of this? Probably not many of you because apart from the occasional regurgitated press release, a lot of this stuff seems to pass by the attentions of what’s left of an overstretched, understaffed local media that’s all too often in hock with the developers anyway.

How did we find out about this? A contact of ours tipped us off about this by sending the above 3 Fox International link to us. Who the heck are 3 Fox International? In their own words, this is part of what they’re about: Our job is to promote big development schemes, to…

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A reminder: budget consultation

In July Havering Special discussed Havering Council’s planned consultation process regarding their spending plans for the next four years (Budget consultation – do your bit!).  This consultation process has now started, running until the end of September.    You can find the council’s plans and a link to the online survey here or else pick up paper copies at local libraries (one of the services which may be badly hit by the cuts) or the Town Hall.  This material is much easier to digest than the waffly documents we linked to  in our previous post on this topic, thankfully!

As we remarked in that article, these ‘public consultations’ tend to attract a pathetic number of responses, usually because few people knew they were happening.   As a number of important services are at stake here, it is vital that this one bucks the trend –  especially now that we face uncertainty about the Brexit process on top of the government’s austerity agenda!

Budget consultation – do your bit!

Havering Council have announced their budget proposals for the next four years, which involves cuts in many services,  and will be running a consultation process in August and September.  Although it is far from riveting, the main report can be found here,  with Appendices  A to E at the bottom of this page adding a bit more detail.  Tedious reading maybe, but if you care about quality of life in the borough it is worth the effort.

There are some proposals that ring alarm bells immediately, and show a severe lack of imagination and forward-thinking –  for instance  the plans to close a number public toilets and to switch off ‘non-essential’ street lights at certain times.   The latter creates the risk of increasing crime and will make many people feel less safe  – and in terms of cost, the savings are likely to be tiny.   Whilst there are many non-council toilets scattered around, such as in shopping centres and in cafes etc,  they are not a like-for-like replacement.  For one thing, they have shorter opening hours.    Yet again, the actual savings are likely to be miniscule –  and if the potential outcome is dark unsafe streets reeking of piss,  is it worth the penny-pinching?

Havering Council also propose to create new ‘community hubs’ by putting services such as housing offices and  public advice centres on the same sites as libraries.  Depending on how it is spun,  this can be seen as  an attempt to reduce and dilute the library service even  further OR a way to make it easier for residents to access community services in a cost-effective way.

One surprising proposal is to charge owners of empty properties the full amount of Council Tax inside of giving them the 50% reduction they enjoy at present.   Bearing in mind that many of these properties are likely to be owned by property speculators and developers who tend to lean Tory, it is good to see the Conservative-led administration are not afraid of biting the hand that feeds them for once!

Typically, these ‘public consultations’ attract few responses, usually because hardly anyone was aware they were taking place!   So it is important that this one bucks the trend.

 

 

 

The Better End

Towards the end of 2016 the Romford Recorder reported that a group of (former) squatters had moved into the Bitter End, a pub which had closed some time before, in order to renovate it and turn it into a ‘social centre’ for the local community.  All with the consent of the owner of the property, who was a former New Age Traveller/Crustie type. One of the occupants was quoted as saying that they hoped to get the place ready within six months, which would’ve meant by the middle of 2017.  I took a look at the place each time I walked past and had eventually assumed that the idea had fallen through, so I am pleased to see that I was wrong.  Considering the dire state of the place before they moved in (there had been a fire which gutted the ground floor) I think six months to get it ready was a tad too hopeful!  I am probably not the only one looking forward to seeing it open.  The following is from the South Essex Stirrer blog

What’s the Point?

There is this widespread idea that local councils only exist to collect your rubbish and give meals-on-wheels to elderly folk. Perhaps that’s one of the reasons that the turnout for local elections is so low. In real life of course they do a lot more than that, and in many ways local councillors and councils can serve as the penultimate line of defence against unpopular government policies – for instance they can approve or decline planning permission for large-scale housing developments, and can either roll over and accept ‘austerity’ measures or else stand their ground in order to ensure there is a decent level of funding for essential local services. They also have the powers to decide whether or not to allow a multinational chain to build and open a new branch in the area. In fact councils can have more of an impact on our everyday lives than national or even EU government.  But how many of us see that?

This one of the reasons why I started this blog (and this is a one-man-band at the moment, and I am not gonna pretend otherwise and say “we”!), as a way to get more people engaged with what goes on around them. And if you are wondering about the “penultimate line of defence” comment earlier – the last line of defence is us!