Forest Gate North – Rachel Tripp's councillor blog

Rachel writes…

Newham is currently consulting (actually, approaching the end of a consultation) on the Detailed Sites and Policies Development Plan document. It’s a bit of a mouthful to say, and even more to read! If you look at the link above you’ll see there are a fair few documents linked to, and enormous amounts of information to read.

Even after six months on the Strategic Development Committee (which I have been finding tremendously interesting, have been meaning to blog about, and mention here only in order to make myself accountable) I still consider myself very new to planning. The more I learn, the more I find that I know very little, and am endlessly thankful to the many far more learned people than me providing detailed professional information to the committee about such diverse topics as policy, the legal framework, transport, design, air quality, and much more.

This particular consultation seems important, not only for the obvious reasons, but also because people in Forest Gate seem particularly interested in their physical environment. We see this not only in queries that we get about litter, and dog fouling, but also in resident reactions to planning proposals, and of course collective memories of the proposed Obsidian development on the high street, which provoked very strong reactions.

At our recent Community Neighbourhood meeting (a meeting of Forest Gate North and Forest Gate South councillors, led by our Community lead councillor Rohima, and supported by some of the staff who work in the Community Neighbourhood structure) we had some officers from planning policy attend to talk to us about the consultation. They focussed on only a couple of aspects of the consultation and gave more information, and asnwered our questions. We all listened closely, asked questions that we thought residents would want to know, and the information below is very imperfectly reproduced from notes I took. Needless to say, any inaccuracies are all mine and not the fault of officers, or anyone else!

Officers explained that the Core Strategy is the document which underpins Newham’s approach to planning, and is the main basis for planning decisions. There is a local plan, which forms part of the Core Strategy. In practical terms, this means that when an application is received, it’s judged against local policies, which form part of the plan.

The core strategy has been overall reasonably successful in promoting the Council’s planning objectives. But on reflection, some parts need strengthening, and that is what the current consultation seeks to do.

At this stage, this is an issues and options paper. It highlights various issues, looks at the evidence available, and presents different possible ways forward. In doing so, it pulls together issues that have come up since we adopted the Core Strategy. This includes comments from residents, and members on issues like betting shops, takeaways, and further protection against houses of multiple occupancy. The consultation runs until the 27th February. The consultation is asking whether people think all the issues are included, which option is best way forward, and whether other options might be a good idea.

There are two main sections to the consultation. First is thematic policies, and second is spatial allocations.

One part of the consultation looks at revising the boundaries to town centres. Effectively, outside town centre boundaries, housing is often prioritised in order to help meet the demand for housing. Inside the boundaries of town centres, you can protect town centre facilities. But defining town centre boundaries can be a difficult balance to strike. For example, you don’t want to draw boundaries too wide, because this ‘distills the effects of regeneration’.

The consultation also looks at ‘community facilities opportunity areas’. Currently policy states that community facilities (health, schools, etc.) should be inside town centre boundaries. But this can be difficult as town centre sites are often not available or are too expensive. Therefore some suggested secondary sites have been identified where planning applications for community facilites could be encouraged, provided that the applicants have looked at town centre sites first. Officers explained that a few issues have come up with applications, and this seeks to provide more detail to strengthen current policy.

Other issues being consulted on regarding community facilities are that we might make requirements of developments regarding their design, specifically that they should be ‘welcoming and inclusive’, and open to all members of the community (with some protection for sacred spaces that form part of places of worship). The consultation also looks at being more specific when talking about the ‘need’ or ‘demand’ for facilities, requiring more evidence of need, and wanting at least 67% of users to be ordinarily Newham residents. The consultation suggests that where post-16 education is proposed, should be about our growth sectors, providing recognised qualifications, with links to local employers.

The consultation also looks at what happens when one community group leaves a site, and needing more evidence before it can be released from community site designation.
Recognising that some sites are needed more than others, the documents suggest prioritising health, childcare and education.

Overall, officers described Forest Gate as, ‘not designated for growth, but maintenance and regeneration using the existing floor space, and the arrival of Crossrail’.

We asked about Maryland, and were told that a ‘local centre’ is proposed for there.  We need to find out more about this but hope that this would facilitate more facilities and a greater sense of place in this area.

The other main area that we discussed from the consultation was about proposed ‘areas of townscape value’. This means highlighting a particular area that has characteristics that are worth preserving through planning, and was described as a kind of ‘conservation area lite’. Officers said that Newham has hardly any protected heritage areas compared to other boroughs (for example Islington, or Hackney). Apparently there is evidence that if you live in a conservation area, you are more likely to take pride in the area.

In Forest Gate North, the south side of Sebert Road has been suggested as an area of townscape (ATV) value due to the large quantity of attractive Victorian housing.  If this goes ahead, it is intended to help to maintain the quality of the area. In practical terms, this means that people who want to carry out improvements to their home may find it costs more, but on the other hand an ATV creates a more decent environment overall and should help to make the area more pleasant.

We asked specifically about the Obsidian application (which has now been withdrawn and does not seem likely to reappear). Officers told us that the site of previous Obsidian application is designated for regeneration, which is already in core strategy. The framework for decision making essentially remains the same, and what’s being proposed here would not make any substantial difference to how an application like that would be considered. The Obsidian application was out of character with the existing high street, and anything similar would still be out of character.

We wondered how the public were being consulted, and officers told us that the consultation was launched on the 16th Jan. They had an advert in Newham Recorder, and a feature in Newham mag. With this consultation they haven’t held exhibitions, as they have found previously that responses are not huge.  We invited them to come along to the next Forest Gate networking morning (which is tomorrow, as I type this up, the 25th February, at the Gate library). They said that anyone – including us! – has until midnight on the 27th February to respond.

I am aware that even this, intended to be an easy to read summary of some areas of the consultation, has turned into a blog post of massive proportions, and is itself not enormously easy to access.

In any case, I hope that the information above is useful. Do respond to the consultation if you’re able to. Do contact us if you have questions or concerns. We will almost certainly have to liaise with officers to get a proper answer, but we can definitely do that and get back to you.

Rachel writes…

A very quick update, with some information about upcoming events:

Thursday 19th February from 5:30-7:30 at The Gate Library: Arts Exhibition Launch in partnership with Rosetta Arts. Introductions to artists Tim Timewell and Karen Colley, with refreshments and networking. If you would like to attend, please contact Ian Martin at the Gate library (ian.martin@newham.gov.uk).

Saturday 21st February from 9.30am at Azhar Academy: The Academy in partnership with Keep Britain Tidy and the Forest Gate Community Neighbourhood team have organised a community clean up and information event starting at 9.30am at the Azhar Academy. This will include refreshments, information stall, presentation from KBT followed by a community clean up.

Monday April 13th: the library will be hosting a City Read event from 4pm with acclaimed writer Ben Aaronovitch. This themed event will include a Q&A and book signing session with Ben himself, competition to win fifty copies of Rivers of London, opportunity to purchase the other titles in the series at a large discount, magic show, Punch and Judy show and historical discussion, animation workshop and much more. Further information and official flyers will be available closer to the time.

Thursday 23rd April at The Gate: World Book Night event to celebrate your love of literature and to encourage reluctant readers with activities and free book give aways from the Reading Agency.

————————

As well as the above, I wanted to draw blog readers’ attention to a new online local resource, E7 magazine. It’s only recently been launched, but is already our own virtual treasure trove: a one-stop shop for information about local places to go, events, news and more. You can find it online, or like on facebook or follow on twitter for updates.

Rachel writes…

I want to be entirely honest with you and say that a desire to get involved with parking was not a motivating force for me when I was thinking about trying to become a councillor.  But here we are, just over six months in, and I would say that parking is probably one of the main issues that we have been asked about, raising enormous passions, confusion, anger, and even conspiracy theories. Sometimes all at once.

I like to think that I understood even before summer 2014 that parking was important to residents … but I think if I am forced to reflect then I realise that I didn’t realise just how important it was. One could speculate for hours on exactly why this is. Obviously increasing pressure on parking spaces is one. I wonder also about the interaction between public and private space that a place for one’s car on the road represents. But the practical upshot is, it’s very important to a lot of our residents. And this importance is why I want to try to write another blog post on parking (remember the last one? Of course you do! In the unlikely event that you haven’t printed it out and glued it into your diary, here is a handy link.) to explain where we are now, and why.

In the summer, we – which is to say Newham Council, but led by the Council’s parking design department – consulted on parking in various roads in Forest Gate. This included roads in Forest Gate North and Forest Gate South, and even a little bit of some roads that go into Manor Park ward. There is a certain undeniable logic to consulting on a large area all at once. It’s obviously more efficient, both in terms of getting the message out but also in terms of time and effort planning the consultation. It also recognises that parking problems do not exist in isolation – if one road requests a Residents Parking Zone (RPZ) and gets it, then some of the people who don’t live there but were parking there anyway will just move their cars on to the next road. And so on, and so on. But the downside is that a larger consultation area will almost inevitably include people who do not want their road to be within an RPZ. And thus it proved.

We received a fair amount of feedback. I want to be balanced about this – actually the numbers of people contacting us probably weren’t huge. But they felt huge, because the strength of feeling definitely was enormous! We were contacted on twitter, by email, and in the street. We received questions, comments, suggestions and even a petition. As well as all the issues and queries mentioned in the last blog post, we also heard from people whose households owned more than one car, and who were therefore unmoved by our telling them that (unusually compared to other boroughs) in Newham the first residential parking permit for each household is free. I have to admit that it was with some relief, therefore, that we found out that the returns from the consultation in Forest Gate North echoed the feedback we’d had: broadly speaking, people in Forest Gate North did not want their roads to be part of an RPZ. Letters to that effect have now been sent out to everyone in the consultation area.

Whilst a final decision was being made about those roads outside our ward with a less clear-cut response, we received another request from residents for an RPZ, this time in St. James’ Road over in the west of the ward. Whereas our initial feedback from Sebert Road had been via individuals, this came in the form of a petition, with broad support from a number of residents.

Fresh from the summer of parking, Ellie, Seyi and I proceeded with caution. I can only imagine how much the officers in Parking Design must love us. We went through two different drafts of the proposed area, questioning each boundary and why it was there. We pored over the diagram, learning about what the different colours and different proposed types of bays were, and asking what I am sure was a series of very ignorant questions about all of it. We went through the letter to residents with a fine-toothed comb (and rewrote parts of it, I hope to make it clearer), and we met with the officers so we could all be completely clear about what was being proposed, why, and how it would all work. The officers were very patient. Overall, I think it’s fair to say all three of us had learnt some lessons!

We learnt a little bit about how resident-led RPZs work, too. Whilst it is definitely true to say that the abiding principle is a democratic one (“If the residents on a road want to have an RPZ, then they can have one!”) this lofty idea is somewhat complicated in the implementation by the practicalities. Parking restrictions have to be easy – or at least possible – for motorists to understand. They should be clear and not change suddenly, or vary in a confusing way between small areas. To create an RPZ, a group of roads are collected together into a parking zone – which needs to be at least a certain size – and the restrictions within the zone all operate on the same days, and the same times. In practical terms, this means that if you live on a road next to an RPZ that operates Monday – Friday from 10am – 12pm, you would be quite unlikely to be able to bring in restrictions just on your road which were 7 days a week, from 9 – 6.30pm. This is because your road could not be a zone by itself, but would normally be added into the zone of neighbouring roads. So introducing those longer hours on your road would mean changing the hours in the whole of the neighbouring zone. Similarly, you can’t leave a single street ‘island’ of unrestricted parking, surrounded by RPZs. It would be a target for anyone wanting to park in the area, and would be unfair.

With this new consultation in St. James Road, we initially considered consulting with a wider area, but then remembering the feedback from the summer we went back and redrafted this so that the area under consideration is as small as good parking design could make it. This means a few of the neighbouring roads to St James’ road are included, but only just as many as were required to make a cohesive and straightforward zone extension.

This is not an uncontraversial approach. It is highly likely that some of the pressure on St James’ Road will move along to Odessa Road (not part of the consultation area), and we have accordingly briefed officers to be ready to consult there if residents ask. Some residents on Odessa Road will probably ask why they weren’t included initially, and I suppose the answer is that we are acting a little more cautiously now, realising that some people will always believe that we have an agenda, appreciating that when a consultation is created many people will believe the decision is already a fait accompli, and aiming to consult only in places where we know that there is a definite desire for the creation of an RPZ. This approach may change over time, but we wanted to explain it here in order to be transparent about what we are doing and why.

The other thing to say here, which is definitely controversial, is that if I were a betting woman (I’m not) I would say that I would be astonished if there was as much unrestricted parking in Forest Gate North in say 10 years’ time as there is now, and my bet would be that there will be RPZs here in the future. As parking pressures continue to increase, I think residents will want them.

For what it’s worth, I live in the ward, and I find it quite handy to have freedom to park without permits. I often can’t park very near to my house, and with three small children and mountains of stuff to carry around this is no picnic, but I tend to shrug this off as being part of London living. But then I previously lived in a part of Newham which had an RPZ and I can honestly say I didn’t find that enormously inconvenient either. A little, perhaps, when it came to visitors, and trying to keep a supply of permits for them. But otherwise it was very easy to live with – and it was in fact much easier to park close to my house, as well . But I can’t help feel that the combined pressures of increasing traffic, the pressure from other RPZ extensions, not to mention the impact of Crossrail, will mean that parking continues to be on the agenda, and eventually keeping parking unrestricted will prove untenable.

I could be wrong! (and I can assure you I don’t have any inside information on this, or any masterplan to carry out) But that is my prediction, and it’s perhaps worth bearing in mind when we all, together, think about what will happen in the future.

The only thing I am certain of, is that there will definitely be more on this blog about parking in the future, and many more conversations with residents to come…

Ellie writes…

About a year ago we came across the concept of play streets, an exciting yet simple initiative allowing kids to ‘play out’ like a lot of us enjoyed doing as children. By temporarily closing residential roads this gives children the chance to play freely and safely on their doorstep and brings communities closer together.

It fits perfectly with the Council’s Building Communities vision; promoting social cohesion, helping people to get to know their neighbours and thus tackling isolation, and creating supportive, resilient communities. As well as looking like a whole lot of fun!

Sessions can be anything from two hours every Friday night to five hours on a Sunday afternoon held monthly, after school or at weekends. Basically it is up to your and your neighbours to decide what you want.

Luckily there is a wonderful group of residents on Tylney Road who have taken the lead on this and have applied for a Let’s Get the Party Started grant and road closure for this Sunday January 25^th from 1pm to 3.30pm. This is a bit of a pilot and depending on its success they plan to apply to do it on a more regular basis which requires a consultation.Luckily those who we have spoken too who live around there are keen to get involved so I am hopeful this will be a regular occurrence on Tylney Rd.

Play streets exist across London but this will be the first in Newham, if you would like to see your road turned into a play street we would be more than happy to help with the bits of bureaucracy needed to get a road closure.

Also, London Play has also been incredibly helpful and are more than happy to help you too. London Play is a small charity that strives to get more children in London playing out more often. They have been supporting and promoting the development of play streets in London since 2008. They can go with you to meetings, answer questions, address any doubts, offer helpful advice, supply materials, and, depending on where you are, maybe even help with funding. Just get in touch with Rich, Rich@londonplay.org.uk or myself, ellie.robinson@newham.gov.uk to find out more.

If children, families, neighbours had as much right to their roads as cars do that would be pretty exciting, right? So let’s take back ownership of the public space from cars to our young people (and those young at heart!).

Ellie writes…

I can’t believe last year went so quickly! We use this blog to talk mainly about ward specific issues but as I was filing (aka shredding) my papers over Christmas I flicked back through some of the Council and Cabinet papers and felt a lot had been achieved Borough wide (though of course there is still lots to do!). Some highlights for me included:

• The allocation of grants to foster carers and adopters to carry out work on their homes. This should increase the number of permanent homes for our looked after children, particularly those who are harder to place such as disabled children, older children or sibling groups
• The commissioning of activities for young people. The voluntary sector and Council are now providing a range of activities enabling young people to be active and connected (Forest Gate’s provision is through the youth zone opposite Wanstead Park station)
• The approval of an Independent Domestic and Sexual Violence (DSV) Advocacy Service. This is a vital element of our one stop shop service which I have talked about here before and should reduce repeat victims of DSV and increase the reporting of DSV to the police
• The ban on advertising of high cost payday loan companies on council-owned spaces.

We also agreed: a new training programme to help Workplace candidates to get a sustainable job; the lease of Ascot Community Centre to the Friends of Ascot Hall Limited (a community group); for more homes to be built; to lead the campaign against gambling on the High Street; to set up MoneyWorks (a new initiative which will offer affordable credit and advice to residents in need of financial assistance) and to give a loan to NewCred, the local credit union. Such a wide range of things!

And a personal lovely thing for me from last year has been working with Seyi and Rachel locally who are both terribly hard working, passionate and good fun!

So, looking forward, this year Newham celebrates its 50^th birthday! For us the General Election is also a biggy and we’ll be campaigning to make sure a Labour government can get in power which will help the lives of our residents. Personally, I am particularly looking forward to a few local things in the next couple of months including the launch of play streets (I’ll blog about this soon), the Community Garden taking off, and the opportunity to get as many people involved in the Crossrail consultation as possible (I will blog about this in more detail soon as well).

I am sure by next week a whole new load of things will be wriggling their way into the priority list! One of my new year’s resolutions is to remember to blog when I find time so watch this space to see if I manage it.

All the best to you and yours for 2015.

Rachel writes…

Writing about the #iheartforestgate campaign reminded me that there are plenty of people who care about making our local area more clean and tidy. Perhaps none more so than Misty, a hugely hard-working local resident who runs ‘tidy our flats’ to help make Wanstead Flats a more beautiful place.

Rather than try to summarise this rather brilliant scheme, I asked Misty if she would do a quick blog interview with us about it. And she did. Read on for more…

What is #tidyourflats all about?

#TidyOurFlats is a volunteer group that meets monthly on Wanstead Flats to remove help remove rubbish. Anyone is welcome from babies to pensioners….it is supported by City of London.

Why did you start it up?

We live in Forest Gate, I feel very privileged to have such a large open green space in London, Often going on a run or walk, I was so sad to see the unprecedented amount of rubbish while jogging around the parks.

What happens at one of the monthly litter picks?

Everyone is asked to sign in so that they’re insured in the unlikely case of any injury, then people are given gloves, litter-pickers and rubbish bags. We try and attack different areas each month. Talking to people while walking around is a great way to educate people that litter is bad for the environment. It is also really bad to feed birds bread as it attracts rats and is causing algae on our ponds – unless it is an ice-cold winter the Flats have ample food!

What has been the high point for you?

We were given a grant by Newham Council “Get The Party Started” and hosted a BBQ for all the volunteers in the Summer, everyone made a salad and Michael Saunders our local celebrity chef (and his gorgeous wife) marinated and cooked all the meat. It was truly delicious, if you live locally you should go to one of his dinners – invitetosupper.com.

We also helped planting the new shrubs at Jubilee Pond which was brilliant!

Any lows?

Just the sheer amount of rubbish we pick up each time! So sad that people are too lazy to take their rubbish home with them when they obviously enjoy visiting Epping Forest.

What is the strangest thing anyone has ever found?

We’ve found everything, washing machine drums to motor-bikes – when I was cleaning the pond (in Summer we have waders) I found a safe but unfortunately it was already open, so no treasure!

What next for #tidyourflats?

We will be continue to meet every 2nd Sunday of the month at Bandstand Pond (Capel/Woodford Rd) at 11am throughout 2015 – follow my Twitter @EccentricLDNer as it is expanding to meet outside the Golden Fleece (Capel Road, Manor Park) too on another weekend.

How can people get involved?​

​People just need to turn up, we will give you everything you need. If you can join for 30mins or two hours – every little bit – really does help!

———————–

Thanks so much for being interviewed, Misty, and of course for the work you do helping to improve the Flats. We hope some readers of this blog will want to come along and join the next litter pick.

(If anyone reading this is interested in applying for a Let’s Get the Party Started grant, then you can find information about the grant online here, or you can go to the Gate library and speak to Glennette.)

Rachel writes…

Firstly, a big thank you to everyone who took part in giving us information for ‘I heart Forest Gate’ during November. We created the campaign because we knew that litter, anti-social behaviour and fly tipping were all important to residents, and you certainly backed up our assertion there. To read my introduction to the campaign, explaining what we want to do and how, you can read my original post here.

This post is to provide an update about what we have been doing, and what happens now.

Firstly, we have been passing on all the information you have given us through the normal channels. This means in most cases they are being passed to Enforcement, a Council department which deals with issues including fly tipping and ASB, liaising closely with the police where appropriate. We thought it was important that doing something different shouldn’t mean that normal ways of working stop.

Next, we have been collecting all of the information that you sent us together in a spreadsheet. Hands up on this one – I have emails collected in a special folder but I have not yet put all of them into the spreadsheet, despite Seyi’s very polite reminders! Christmas has somewhat got in the way here, but collating and collecting is the stage we are at now.

Once the spreadsheet is complete (including not only information specifically emailed and tweeted to us as part of the campaign, but also information gathered from our pop-up street surgery, from our regular surgeries, and through any other route) we will then sit down together as a three and think about what might be our priority areas. This could be places that several people have mentioned as being a particular problem, or it might be an area where intelligence from residents suggests that there is a solution we could work on. However we choose, we will let you know.

We will then have a discussion with Enforcement about our thoughts, check up again on the work they are already doing, and finalise our priorities. At that stage, we’ll let you know, probably via another blog post, where we are concentrating on, and why.

We will then leave a reasonable period of time for some work to happen. The work that happens as a result might be enforcement work, or awareness-raising, or something else entirely. Then we will ask you to let us know whether we have made a difference or not. And it does seem that gaining honest feedback won’t be a problem – see below for more on that!

As we explained when we first introduced the idea, this is basically an experiment to try out several different things: whether we can try getting people involved, whether we can make a visible difference, whether running this as a ‘campaign’ rather than business-as-usual work makes any difference. We will report back to you honestly on the answers to these questions.

So far, it does seem that the campaign attracted some attention. There aren’t many concrete ways of measuring this, but as an example, my tweet announcing #iheartforestgate was retweeted 15 times, which I think is the most retweets I have ever got. The blog post has had 278 views at the time of writing, making it by far the most viewed post on our blog. (These are small numbers, of course! I certainly don’t think any major media outlets are quaking in their boots here…)

We also attracted some less complimentary attention, which I will share here in the spirit of openness. Whilst some – indeed most – people whom we heard from reacted positively, a few were not so keen, finding the name cutesy, or commenting that this kind of thing had been done before and we shouldn’t reinvent the wheel. There was even a discussion about whether our ‘graphics’ were out-dated. (Confession time. We have no design team as such. Or even really any graphics at all. The image with the post was in fact simply an iPhone photo which Ellie took, I believe against the background of her coat, of one of the badges that were made for the Mayor’s Show in the summer for each of the neighbourhood areas in Newham.) An unintended though lovely consequence of the campaign was a small flurry of interest in the badges though! There are still a few about, so if you would like one please contact me and I will see if I can get one to you.

But broadly people were positive, both on social media and in real life: stopping us on the street, or retweeting to show their support. Although the rubbish left on our streets can be depressing, it was heartening to see people responding to say that they, too, love Forest Gate and wanted to contribute to helping to improve it.

So that’s where we are now. More to come. In the meantime, if you have information about areas where litter, anti-social behaviour or fly tipping are particular problems then do carry on letting us know. We pass on all information we receive. In fact, one of the interesting things to come out of the campaign for me, has been finding out more about what Enforcement do (loads, actually), and thinking about how we can help to communicate this to residents.

More to come! I will write another post on this campaign once we have progressed things. In the meantime, I shall leave you in a tantalising fashion by promising – soon – a blog interview with a resident who is running her very own community action to help make our surroundings less litter-filled and more lovely.

Seyi writes…

Good stakeholder relationships is one of my key strengths I am utilising in Forest Gate North. One key stakeholder relationship I have prioritised since being elected in May is with Newham Metropolitan Police. I felt this was important to build this relationship in order to work together in addressing ASB and crime issues (although we have the lowest reported crime figures as a ward in the Borough), outling a preventative strategy and sign posting to each other’s services.

In July I had a really good joint resident surgery with PC Toby March back . I picked up a few bits of casework but the majority related to crime and ASB which was great for PC Toby to hear and deal with straight away. Together we were able to advice residents on ASB issues and suggest preventive things they could do. PC Toby gathered more intel on ASB in particular areas of #ForestGateNorth. This is a continuation of a fruitful and productive working relationship with the Neighbourhood Police Team. Rachel, Ellie and I are thinking about holding future themed resident surgeries in the future and inviting the appropriate partner or Newham Council team along to provide efficient and quicker responses to resident.

Also in the Summer I went along to #OpShineKF Newham MPS Street briefing held by the Forest Gate North NPT  on Cruikshank Road, E15 to meet other officers, pick up intelligence from residents and learn more about what the police do in Forest Gate North. Their street briefings are brilliant! If you’re around on 17th December in the morning the NPT will be holding a Forest Gate North Police Surgery at Coffee 7.

I also went patrolling Forest Gate North with PC Toby to learn about the hotspot areas for criminal and ASB activity. It was very useful and calming to hear what work is being done by both Newham enforcement and Newham MPS.

I popped along to the Safer Neighbourhood Team meeting in September in Forest Gate and we’re encouraging another SNT in the West side of the ward.

One last key benefit of this working relationship has been our joint response to residents concerns. Recently residents have been raising ASB concerns on Leytonstone High Rd. Because of this great relationship I was able to call a meeting with the Housing Association, the police and enforcement and have agreed joint actions.

Forest Gate Newsletter

December 2014

Festive Fete at the Gate
The Gate Library will be hosting a day of festive fun and activities on Saturday 13th December from 11am – 3pm. Come and join in the fun! Santa will be opening the event at 11am with a magical show. Christmas entertainment will include carol singing by ‘Forest Voices’, a taste of Russia with songs by Sputnik, craft activities include an Origami Workshop, a cup decorating workshop and you can also make your own gingerbread man. At 3pm children aged 5-12 are welcome to stay and watch a Christmas movie, speak to library staff to add your name to the list as seats are limited to 25 seats – first come first served –
For more details; Contact the Gate Library on 020 3373 0856 or email CH.forestgate@newham.gov.uk

Forest Gate Youth Zone
Forest Gate Youth Zone are partnering with the Manor Park Neighbourhood team to host a ‘Young Peoples Christmas Showcase’ this will be an intergenerational event taking place on Saturday 13th December 2014 from 3-6pm. The event will have something for everyone including, an awards ceremony, intergenerational board games, henna art, arts and crafts, cake decorating, salsa and line dancing workshops, outdoor sports activities and much more.
Showcase artists will include;

• Boy Blue entertainment
• Rain Crew
• IMD Legion
• Unity UK

Light refreshments will be available.

Transport Bus: 58, 330, 308, 25 and 86 Train Forest Gate and Wanstead Station.

For more details contact:
Forest Gate Centre Manager Zahra Maalow at the Forest Gate Youth Zone on the following contact details Zahra.maalow@newham.gov.uk or 07784 776 895
Manor Park Horace Lewis Little Ilford Centre Manager on Horace.Lewis@newham.gov.uk or 07890517331

Activities at the Gate Library
Monday:
• ESOL: 9.45-am – 12.15pm (term time only)
• Sexual Health promotion information stall: 2nd and 4th Monday of each month 11.00am – 2.00pm
• Love Newham App’ demo drop in session: 10.30am – 11.30am
Tuesday:
• ESOL: 9.45am – 12.15pm (term time only)
• ESOL: 12:30pm – 3.00pm (term time only)
• UEL promotion information stall: 1st Tuesday of each month 10am – 12noon
• Under 5s Story Telling: 11.00am – 12.00pm (Run by Kay Rowe)
• Do It Online basic computing course: 10am-12noon (must book in advance)
Wednesday:
• Games Club 3.30pm – 5.00pm
Thursday:
• ESOL: 9.45-am – 12.15pm (term time only)
• ESOL: 12.30pm – 3.00pm (term time only)
• Deaf Club for BSL users: 3rd Thursday of each month 5.30pm – 7.45pm
• The Gate Writers Group: 4th Thursday of each month 5.30pm – 7.30pm
• Oral Health stall: 1st Thu of each month 3-5pm
• Alcohol and Drugs awareness stall: 3rd Thu of each month 3-5pm (starts 15 Jan)
• CYANA promotion information stall: 4th Thursday of each month 3pm – 5pm
• Film Club: 4.00pm – 6.00pm
Friday:
• ICT help drop in sessions: 10am – 12pm
• Sing, Dance and Play session: 10.30 – 11.30am (run by Deanery road cc and starts from 16 Jan)
• Chess club: 3.30 – 5.15pm (starts from 23 Jan)
Saturday:
• Forest Gate South Councillors surgery: 10.30am – 11.30am
• Forest Gate North Councillors surgery: 10.30am – 11.30am
• Mayor surgery 4th Sat of each month: 9.30-10.30am
• Children’s homework club: 10am – 12noon (term time only)

Friendship Club
Friendship club is for young adults with learning disabilities, the group will be holding its Christmas Lunch on
Wednesday 17th December 12pm
At Brewers Fayre Pub
Winsor Terrace,
Beckton,
E6
(Nearest station Beckton DLR)
Come along and say hello to the group, or join us for Christmas lunch.

Friendship Club
The group will be hosting the next planning meeting on
28th January 12 – 2pm
The Garden Café
7 Cundy Road,
Custom House
(Nearest station Custom House DLR)
Come along to find out what’s going on in your area, and to meet the group.

Forest Gate Community Garden
If you are interested in joining the Forest Gate gardening group, the group meet at
Coffee7 on the first Saturday of each month, lifetime membership £2
Please email info@forestgate-community-garden.org.uk for more information.

TOGETHER! 2014
TOGETHER are hosting a FREE Disability Arts Festival in Newham to celebrate Disability History Month. Festival dates 19th November to 15th December 2014 for more information contact email info@together2012.org.uk or mobile 07973 252751

Don’t ignore it Report It!
Don’t’ forget to use the Love Newham app to report any problems affecting your local environment in Forest Gate you can report, graffiti, fly-tipping, fly-posting, litter dog fouling simply download the free application to your mobile phone now at http://www.newham.gov.uk/lovenewham – See a Problem? Take a Picture!

Community Neighbourhood Link workers
Support older and disabled residents, volunteers and community partners to run activities and events that make a difference in your area. For more information contact chsocialcare@newhm.gov.uk or call 020 8430 2000 or visit http://www.newham.gov.uk/adultsocialcare

Forest Gate Christmas Lights Switch-on event
Forest Gate Neighbourhood team partnered with the organisers of Woodgrange Market to host the Christmas Lights switch on event on Saturday 6th December 2014. The Mayor of Newham led the countdown surrounded by dozens of local children and their families, visitors and market traders. Jenny Beeching coordinated the Forest Gate Schools choir who were accompanied by local musicians and Kay Rowe Nursery provided interactive activities for the under 10’s and Coffee7 served mulled wine, mulled apple juice and modern mince pies!

The event was followed by an international food and music event which was hosted by the Woodgrange Market organisers. Both events were supported by the local businesses in Forest Gate.
A grand time was had by all! Look out for next year’s event!

If you would like to share information about interesting things happening in your area or in your community group, with the local community in the Forest Gate, Please contact Glennette Bowles-Dove via Email; Glennette.bowlesdove@newham.gov.uk telephone 020 3373 8382 or mobile 07817 385 000

Seasons Greetings to you all!

Glennette Bowles-Dove
Forest Gate Community Neighbourhood Senior Officer