Hello again from TASK.
As autumn sets in and the days get shorter, so do our tempers, following a truly turbulent month which has seen the premature closure of the Ilford pool, local business shut downs, worries about the High Road lorry lorry park project and the submission of our huge 2000 signature library petition.
Lets have a quick round up
Ilford pool: gone but not forgotten - march planned for Saturday October 25 - we offer to develop site as a community development trust
The pool was originally due to close just before Christmas but councillors decided to pull the plug at the end of September, citing emergency health and safety hazards. The closure deprives us not just of two pools but a popular gymnasium and host of leisure and fitness classes, inconveniencing literally hundreds of people who now have to trek miles to use the only other public pool facility in Barkingside, now hideously over stretched. No substantive plans are in place for a replacement and citizens must despair for their leisure futures if Redbridge Council operate at their usual speed and efficiency.
Which is why TASK have made the audacious offer to the Council to sell us the site for a peppercorn sum - we suggested a fiver - so we can develop it as a community development trust committed to opening a replacement pool and leisure facility on the site asap. The benefit of this approach is that it is safeguarded as a leisure site for the future, is taken out of the troubled Council's portfolio and can be worked on in a more focused way, drawing on appropriate local and specialist talent. A development trust can also seek funds from a wide variety of sources, including the lottery and private sector, with many examples of successful achievements using this model. One of the best London examples is at Coin Street on the south bank, whose development trust has transformed the area and now runs scores of profitable community businesses employing hundreds of locals.
Not surprisingly, the Council has failed to respond to the proposal, which local paper the Ilford Recorder - in a front page feature - described as stunning the Cabinet member responsible.
Meanwhile, TASK will be supporting the upcoming march planned for Saturday October 25th to deplore the closure. It is a chance for local swimmers and the wider community to come together and condemn yet another blow for the area and pressure Redbridge to develop a feasible plan for the site. At the very least, it will further embarrass them and the larger the march the greater the impact. Organisers are asking people to meet up outside the Ilford Recorder building on the High Road, Ilford at 1.30pm to walk to the Town Hall where there will be short speeches at a rally. Do please make every effort to attend.
Shops shut in hard times
It has been the toughest economic news month for years and our own small shops are feeling the pinch. Both new coffee outlets- Toscana and Viva la Mocha- have now gone and are empty. TASK fear they make be stalked by yet more fast food operators, with a further chicken outlet recently opened by the station, and will be monitoring the situation closely. Following the controversial re/licensing of the Shannon Centre and the award of a new local alcohol license we have also just been made aware of new powers that allow local councils to set up cumulative impact zones in areas of leisure/alcohol industry saturation, which are basically designed to limit the future stress on such areas, and we think may now be approppriate in Seven Kings. More next time.
Library petition now submitted: thanks to all our trader helpers and signatories- offer of talks now on the table
The huge 2000 strong petition in support of a local library has now been submitted to Council Cabinet, with strong speeches from Jonathan, Ali, local Councillors Bob Littlewood and Gary Staight in support of a new facility. The official line is still that we are reasonably served by mobile and other services and do not need our own static library but the strength of the campaign has opened up a new negotiating flank with the offer of a series of meetings with library officials to explore new outreach services. They begin at the end of October and we hope to offer details of specifcally what is on offer in next month's newsletter.
Meanwhile, huge thanks to everyone who helped gather signatures, especially local traders, almost all of whom enthusiastically signed up. Amongst these, Station Superfoods , PG Creed, Costcutter, Taqwa Carpets, Brothers Fish and Chip shop deserve special mention for their sterling efforts. In addition special thanks to the Headmasters of Downshall Primary School and Canon Palmer School for the hundreds of signatures they helped obtain.
TASK public meeting- make it a date for 21 November
The date is now set for our autumn TASK supporters meeting, which will happen on Friday November 21 from 7,30pm at St. John the Evangelist Church, at the junction of Aldborough Road South and St. John's Road. It is a brilliant opportunity to meet other local residents, make new friends and find out what is going on in other parts of the area. As well as a chance to bring your ideas for making the area a better place.
If you did not come along to our spring gathering, please make an effort to join us this time. We aim to be welcoming and informal- and want to assure you that its definitely not just another boring meeting. If you did come in the Spring, we hope to see you again.
High Road Lorry park development: is continuing silence golden?
It may be a sign of building business meltdown but it has all gone ominously silent on the lorry park site, where developers Swan Housing were due to consult locals over the summer on their service preferences for this major new build development before submitting plans in the early autumn. We have heard nothing thus far and are trying to re/establish links with Swan following the departure of our contact there in June.
Seven Kings Station: yet more improvements
The planting is still in place and the station is looking even better following the resurfacing of the stairs, making acces and exit quicker, easier and safer. Well done again, station operator national express, which is rapidly becoming our favourite local agency.
Area 5 Meeting
The next opportunity to raise issues to the local Councillors is the Area meeting on 10 November starting at 7.15pm at Barley Lane Primary School. Alternatively they have a weekly surgery at the United Free Church on the corner of Norfolk Road and Meads Lane every Friday between 6pm and 7pm.
That is enough for now
See you in November
Chris, Take Action for Seven Kings ("TASK")
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Nanci Griffith - It's a Hard Life Wherever You Go.
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