Drapers Field and Marsh Lane – post Olympics plans

Drapers Field - lost to the community for at least 16 months

Drapers Field

A planning application has finally been lodged with the Council for the temporary use of Drapers Field as a service centre/store for the Olympic Village.

The application number is: 2011/0623, and comments can be made online at the Waltham Forest website, or by post to the Planning Officers at the Town Hall.

Local residents have been very concerned about what the Labour Council has in mind for the reinstatement of this historic playing field when it is returned in 2013.

Kinnear Landscape Architects were commissioned to develop improvements, and their plans will be subject to a public consultation event to be held at Drapers Field on Tuesday 14 June, between 3 and 7 pm. Council officers and the design team will be present.

Don’t miss this opportunity of seeing what the Council has in mind, and making your views known.

Marsh Lane

Again, Kinnear Landscape Architects were commissioned to develop improvements, and their plans will be subject to a public consultation event to be held at Marsh Lane on Thursday 16 June, between 2 and 8 pm. Council officers and the design team will be present.

Don’t miss this opportunity of seeing what the Council has in mind, and making your views known.

Exhibition at Leyton Library

If you cannot attend either of these events you can see the proposals at Leyton Library from Friday 17 June until Monday 27 June.

A representative of Kinnear Landscape Architects will be present at the following times:

Drapers Field – 4-6pm on Thursday 23 June

Marsh Lane – 4-6pm on Wednesday 22 June

Halt Tory plans to cut local fire service

Leyton’s Liberal Democrat councillors have called for Conservative Mayor Boris Johnson and Conservative councillors on the London Fire Emergency and Planning authority (LFEPA) to reverse a proposal to permanently remove a fire engine from Leyton Fire Station. 

The cuts threat was made by LFEPA’s Conservative chairman earlier this week when he called for the Fire Brigade to look at saving money by making permanent the temporary reductions in fire cover during the recent strikes. It could see 27 of London’s 169 fire engines scrapped and around 500 fire fighter jobs lost. The proposal was backed by Conservative members of the authority.

Councillor Winnie SmithLocal Leyton Lib Dem councillor Winnie Smith said: “It is shocking that the Conservatives are now looking at permanent cuts to the number of fire engines protecting Leyton residents. This inevitably raises questions about the time it takes for engines to get to fires and accidents and about cover if the remaining engine is unavailable. Like all public services London Fire Brigade needs to save money, but Mayor Boris Johnson has promised that there will be no cuts in frontline fire services and he must honour that promise.

“Waltham Forest Lib Dems have also expressed concern about the removal of a fire engine from Chingford Fire Station.

London City Airport expansion plans

HURRY – two day left to give your views on City Airport expansion plans

Are you affected by flights from London City Airport? Many Leyton and  Leytonstone residents have told the Liberal Democrat Focus Team that they have noticed a difference in the number of noisy flights passing overhead. The flight paths from the airport were changed last year to direct more planes over our area.

Liberal Democrat Cllr Bob Sullivan and the Leyton FOCUS Team are reminding local residents that there are just two days left to complete the London Assembly’s survey into the environmental impacts of the expansion of London City airport. The survey won’t take long to complete but will help ensure that local people’s voices are heard by the London Assembly and Mayor of London.

You can fill in the survey here:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/YNDKMXS.

The survey will close on September 30.

Click here (www.london.gov.uk/city-airport) for more information about the investigation into London City Airport being carried out by Lib Dem Assembly member Mike Tuffrey (www.tuffrey.com) and other members of the London Assembly Environment Committee.

L & Q News

Beaumont Estate may be given the bird! 

Many residents of the Beaumont Estate are complaining about the roosting pigeons that mess up their balconies and windows.

Councillor Bob Sullivan has been told that L & Q is looking into getting a hawk to patrol the estate.

Lea Hall Gardens

The proposed redevelopment of Lea Hall Gardens by L & Q is awaiting the Government spending review in the autumn.

Lib Dems push Government to build new schools in Waltham Forest

Cllr Bob Sullivan at George Mitchell SchoolLiberal Democrat councillors are pressing the Government to provide money for new school buildings for our local children.

“Anyone who has visited schools such as George Mitchell and Buxton (formerly Tom Hood) 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 Group Leader Bob Sullivan.

The Liberal Democrat group is hugely disappointed that the cancellation of 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 important thing is what happens next.

Councillor Winnie Smith 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.”