TASK Newsletter 20

The Library returns...

Without doubt, the week’s headline news is the re/opening of a library in Seven Kings, 18 years after the closure of its Carnegie predecessor, now Ilford Preparatory School. It is located at 679 High Road- between Costcutter and Asha Jewellers.

The sun shone for the formal opening on Monday, with the ribbon cut by Council leader Cllr Keith Prince, cabinet member for leisure councillor Cllr Suzanne Nolan and our own Ali Hai, who bought along the original petition of over 3,000 names and reminded us all that its return was entirely attributable to the determination of local people to reclaim this facility.

First week user figures are looking good, with a reported 240 visitors in the first two days, giving us a figure that rivals a typical week’s throughput at Clayhall Library.

And that is not all. The library is open unusual hours, as befits its location here in Seven Kings, offering residents the first ever taste of Sunday opening from 1000-1400.

If you have not popped in already, please do so. If you are not yet a member, please join. And remember, basic services- including PC hire- are entirely free.

Seven Kings Lorry park

Our last update included reference to a planning application lodged for the lorry park, which we have followed up. This is from the borough itself for a temporary school site, for the John Barker Centre- a pupil referral unit for students excluded from mainstream education. The facility is currently based in portkabins at the edge of Cricklefields Sport Ground, half a mile away, and we are told the aim is to decant them for two years.

TASK is concerned at any challenge to the local preference for long term community use, and will be studying the plans carefully, having secured an extension to the consultation. We will also be picking this up at our TASK monthly supporters session on Monday August 2 from 7-8pm at St.John’s Church.

Monthly meeting

This is a new initiative designed to help involve more supporters get involved planning and moving forward our campaign activity. It is very informal, and particularly welcomes new faces. Our focus this month will be on agreeing goals for this autumn, and taking up an offer from the police to get involved in our local Seven Kings police panel.

Area Committee 5

Some of us attended area committee 5 on Monday 26 July, at which we:

• advocated tighter regulation of the local rented market, with clear landlord contacts for tenants and neighbours concerned about aspects of that renting;
• heard a brilliant presentation from our friends in the Seven Kings and Newbury Residents’ Association, feeding back on a recent walkabout project designed to improve the appeal of the local environment. It came with lots of good, simple ideas like introducing street art in dull walled areas, planting a community garden at St.Johns’s and working with residents to tidy up the often neglected gardens on Aldborough Road South;
• agreed to do some more work on protecting the character of Edwardian properties near Goodmayes Park by way of declaring it a ‘residential village’.

Community Festival: Sunday September 26

This will be our second Council sponsored community festival, held on the Barley Lane Recreation Ground, opposite TESCO. It runs from 12 noon until 4pm and will include information stalls, kids’ activities, food and live music, with an art exhibition happening in the neighbouring St.Paul’s Church.

TASK will be taking a stall to spread the word about us, and to sign up even more supporters, but we need volunteers to staff it so do please offer us an hour of your time on a fun day out. Email Chris on chrisconnelley@ntlworld.com please with offers.

That is it for now. More mid- month. Enjoy the sun.

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Aretha Franklin - Spirit in the Dark.

Seven Kings Library opening (2)

New library interior

New library interior

PCSO Ames with the Book Bear

New library frontage

Crowds at the opening ceremony

Cllr Bellwood, Audrey Shorer (SKNPRA & St John's), Cllr Saund, Mr Hai, Chris Connelly (TASK), and various members of SKNPRA, St John's, and TASK

Newly elected councillor Ali Hai showing the petition which kickstarted the library campaign

Cllr Sue Nolan (Cabinet member for Leisure), Cllr Ali Hai, Cllr Keith Prince (Leader of the Council)

Seven Kings Library was opened today with a simple ribbon cutting ceremony, face painting and storytelling for children, and lots of opportunities for local people to see the facilities and sign up as library users.

Cllr Keith Prince, Leader of the Council, spoke about the Council's commitment to opening the library in Seven Kings as having signposted a shift in Council policy; a commitment to being a listening Council actively consulting with the local community. Ali Hai, now a Councillor for Goodmayes, (who, as a TASK member, played a key role in the library campaign) brought along the petition which made clear the level of community support for the campaign and let to community groups working more actively with Library Services to improve local provision and, ultimately, led today's library opening.

Many of us involved in TASK and the Seven Kings & Newbury Park Resident's Association (SKNPRA) were together again this evening for the Area 5 committee meeting in order to continue lobbying for change and development in the area, including the recommendations of SKNPRA's Community Street Audit of Aldborough Road South and local resident's concerns regarding the increased traffic congestion that will result from the expansion of Farnham Green School. So, as we celebrate a successful community campaign we are also reminded of the need for such campaigns to continue; not least for the way in which successful campaigns bring the local community together.

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Paul Johnson - Every Kind Of People.

TASK Newsletter No. 19

Welcome to our regular TASK mail out on news from around Seven Kings, including feedback from our first regular monthly supporters session, news on the upcoming library opening, an interesting idea from our founder and former leading member, Cllr. Ali Hai, on declaring Goodmayes Park a 'village' to help preserve its distinctive character; and some other nuggets from further afield. So, read on.

Supporters meeting

TASK is now committed to holding an open monthly supporters meeting, which aims to bring local people together and to agree our campaign focus for the next few months. The first session, in June, held in the garden of St. John's Church, with a healthy 9 attendees, included a mix of established supporters and some very welcome new faces.

The session was entirely focused on setting out attendees key issues for future action, which included the:

• Lack of youth facilities locally;
• New library;
• Long-term use of the lorry park;
• Crossrail;
• likely- further- expansion of the private rented sector here following new housing benefit caps which will see many tenants priced out of many inner London boroughs;
• parking;
• campaigning for a new swimming pool;
• policing; and
• supporting local businesses
  

We are hoping that August’s meeting will allow for us to decide where we most want to invest our energies this autumn, and as ever, we would like as many of you to be there to be part of our conversation. If you have other issues you would like us to raise, remember that it is not too late so email me your thoughts, or just come along on the night.

The next supporters’ session is on Monday August 2, from 7-8pm at St. John’s Church, which sits at the junction of St.John’s Road and Aldborough Road South.

Area 5 meeting: Monday July 26 at 7.15pm/Barley Lane School

Redbridge Council Area 5 committee meetings bring together all the councillors from Seven Kings, Goodmayes and Chadwell Heath Wards every 8 weeks or so to consider local issues, and to give local citizens a chance to have their say on how they would like their neighbourhood to develop and grow.

With two thirds of the area 5 councillors newly elected, we are hoping for a more easy going and welcoming approach. So, come along, see how local democracy Redbridge-style works, and maybe chip in yourselves. On the agenda this time is an innovative item from the Goodmayes councillor team looking to protect the distinctive character of attractive Edwardian housing near Goodmayes Park by way of declaring it a designated residential precinct they would like to call Goodmayes Village.

Seven Kings Library opening: July 26 at 2pm

It is now just a week away. The culmination of our three year cross-community campaign to get a library back here in Seven Kings, to right the injustice of the 1992 Carnegie Library closure and ‘sell off’.

Initially, the politicians said it could not be done but a massive petition and door to door campaigning eventually helped change their minds, leading to Monday’s historic opening. The formal ribbon cutting by Council leader Keith Prince happens at 2pm, with normal opening starting at 9 am on Tuesday July 27th. Do pop by for both if you are around.

The new Seven Kings library is at 679 High Road, between Costcutter and Asha Jewellers.

It is all very exciting stuff, and is happening just in time for the summer holidays so local youngsters can take part in the legendary summer reading scheme on their doorsteps for the first time in a generation. We are also delighted that at least one of the new staff team lives locally and that the library has special Seven Kings friendly opening hours including early mornings, late nights and- for the first time ever in a Redbridge library- Sundays.

As TASK see it, distinctive arrangements for a distinctive place.

Lorry park school plan: latest news

Word reaches us that a planning application has been lodged by the borough for portkabin classrooms on the lorry park, the last major development plot in the area and one that TASK has campaigned should be dedicated to community use, such as a permanent library, hall and/ or pool.

Our enquiries with the borough planning department reveal a two year proposal for classrooms and play space for the John Barker referral unit, serving pupils removed from mainstream education.

TASK will be scrutinising the proposals carefully to ensure that our long- term preference is not thwarted, and to ensure that any even temporary use allows for a high quality and appropriate development.

As ever, we welcome your views

Your Square Mile website

This is an interesting new idea from the government, picked up in yesterday’s Sunday Times, which flags plans to develop a nationwide website called Your Square Mile this autumn, allowing for more local involvement in community projects. The site will apparently cover all 94,000 square miles in the UK, and will allow a whole range of community transactions from details of local clean ups and volunteering to promoting discount services, reading groups and babysitting opportunities. A prototype scheme in Southwark, the Southwark Circle, now run independently of the council, and even offers locals access to both volunteer and charged DIY and care services, in a project they call “the neighbourly way to sort the everyday”.

Keep watching this space for more.

That’s it for now. Keep sending us your local stories, ideas and suggestions.

Chris Connelley

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Tom Jones - Did Trouble Me.

TASK Newsletter No. 16

It's been a little while since we have been in touch, in large part due to our main communications man and founder Ali Hai having been involved in local elections for Redbridge Council on May 6th.

As he has already indicated, he was successful in his bid to become a- Labour- councillor in Goodmayes, and will be taking more of a back seat role in TASK from now on, which means that I (Chris Connelly) step up to the plate to take over our regular email bulletin.

The headline news is that it is business as usual for TASK. We will continue to work with the new Council, and all its mainstream political parties, as well as health and other public service providers, to generate the best possible deal for local people in Seven Kings, and we plan to initiate a number of new campaigns as the summer progresses.

These will focus on securing clear arrangements for the opening of our new, hard- fought for local library on the High Road, now expected to open around July 2010, planning for, and costing work on, long-term community use of the lorry park, whilst also working for an interim arrangement that would see it cleaned up and used for a range of creative, but more temporary, events. Like specialist food markets, boot sales or summer sport and play activity for our local youngsters, any funds from which come back into the local economy better regulating the huge local rented sector, to improve conditions for tenants and to smarten up the often shabby and neglected dwellings which reflect so badly on the neighbourhood working with hard- pressed traders to improve our local shopping streetscape, and to reduce the overall volume of fast food and takeout outlets as part of a longer term goal of enhancing retail diversity and choice in Seven Kings.

To do this, we need your help and will be starting a regular series of short supporter meetings from June. These will hopefully allow for new supporters to get involved, and will help us plan our work for the rest of 2010.

Watch this space for more detail of meeting times and dates, and do please share your local news with us as you are our eyes and ears across the area.

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The Housemartins - Build.

A new library for Seven Kings

The Ilford Recorder reports that:

A new library will open in Seven Kings - it has been announced. Terms have been agreed to let 679 High Road, Seven Kings - the site of a former Pound Plus shop.

Residents have been campaigning for a new library since 1991 and the new site is expected to be used as a library for about five years - when it is expected a new leisure centre, including a library, will be built.

Ali Hai, a member of Take Action for Seven Kings, said on behalf of the library working group:

"This is a historic moment for the community in and surrounding Seven Kings."

"After a break of almost 20 years and following a very hard-fought community struggle, we are all delighted that we now once again have our much-needed library."

"We hope the future of this key community asset will never again be threatened and that it will constantly serve to improve the quality of life of today's generation and of those to come."

"We are grateful to the current Councillors from across the political spectrum and council officers, who have recognised our need, supported the plans for our library and have effectively consulted with our community over the last few months."

"There is still much to be done in Seven Kings and we hope the new library will be the much needed catalyst for change."

Redbridge Council said it has been working closely with residents to deliver library services and to set up the new location.

A spokesman said: "The process of selecting stock has been taking place over the last few months and is currently being stored at Central Library, Ilford."

"When the lease is completed it is expected that the building and fit out works will take 12 to 16 weeks to complete."

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Steve Taylor - Since I Gave Up Hope.

Our Community Festival

Councillor Thomas Chan (Mayor of Redbridge), Fr. Benjamin Rutt-Field (Vicar, St Pauls Goodmayes), Mrs Chan, Myself and Gwen Nneji (St Pauls Goodmayes) on the United Churches' stall at the Our Community Festival yesterday.

The United Churches' information stall at yesterday's Our Community Festival.

Peter Shorer at the Seven Kings & Newbury Park Resident's Association information stall.

Audrey Shorer telling the Redbridge Carnival Queen about SK&NPRA.

Chris Connelly & Ali Hai on the TASK stall.

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Curtis Mayfield - It's All Right.

Success in Seven Kings Library campaign

It's a case of good news not taking the front page while bad news does but our community campaign in Seven Kings, led by TASK, for a static library in the area has been successful, as has been reported this week in a small Ilford Recorder story this week.

The Council's Cabinet have approved funding for a temporary static library, in the order of £200,000. They have a short list of locations for this library, primarily along Seven Kings High Road and are aiming to have the library open by Christmas. Additionally, longer-term plans are being developed to locate a swimming pool, fitness centre, one-stop Council shop, and library on the Seven Kings Lorry Park site.

Cllr Weinberg, the Cabinet member for Leisure, has been reported as saying:

"I would like nothing better than for it to open by the end of this calendar year but that is not in our hands - it's down to legal processes etcetera. If we can make it a Christmas present, then all the better."

Cllr Weinberg was Leader of the Council last year when TASK's petition calling for a static Library and signed by over 2,000 local residents was presented to the Council at a time when Cabinet was discussing an initial report on the possibility of a static Library in Seven Kings. At that time Cabinet dismissed the possibility claiming lack of funds. Our campaign continued, political change occurred within the Council, and Seven Kings is to have a static Library again after 17 years without. What a difference a year can make in politics!

A working group consisting of Council officers, local councillors, members of TASK and the wider community, will now meet regularly to progress the development of the new library and will work together to ensure the new facility is works well for the community.

Ali Hai, from TASK, has said:

“The people of Seven Kings are delighted with the news that after a long hard struggle lasting almost 18 years, a static library will again be located in the area of Seven Kings. The library will be a highly valuable asset in a community where there are limited community spaces and where the rapidly increasing, diverse and ageing population have ever greater needs for basic quality public services such as a library in close vicinity.

We hope the coming of this library will also be the long awaited start of the journey towards regenerating this key area in Ilford South and that it will form the catalysis of positive change across the South of the Borough. We are very grateful to politicians from all parties who supported the plans for the new Seven Kings library and to the Council officers who will hopefully deliver this library to us in time for a Christmas opening.”

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Robert Randolph & The Family Band - Going In The Right Direction.

TASK Newsletter No. 14

Welcome to our latest TASK e-newsletter as the sun shines and we move towards spring. As ever, there is a huge amount going on so please read this as a thank you to all our volunteers, and as a set of summary headlines.

Seven Kings Library

This was undoubtedly our big campaign of 2008, and efforts continue to develop permanent library provision in the area, as demanded by residents from all parts of the community. Meanwhile, though, we are generating valuable additional outreach services for local people, to include a 'beefed up' mobile service and regular family reading events at St. John's Church.

A regular programme of children's Storytelling sessions is now happening at St John's Seven Kings on a monthly basis. Future dates include Friday 13th March; Wednesday 1st April; Friday 24th April; Wednesday 13th May; Friday 5th June; Wednesday 24th June; Friday 17th July; Wednesday 5th August; Friday 28th August; Wednesday 16th September; Friday 9th October; Wednesday 28th October; Friday 20th November; and Wednesday 9th December. The times of these Storytelling sessions will be: Fridays - 11.30am to 12pm; and Wednesdays - 2.00-2.30pm.

A book group is also being started. Intended as quite a casual set up, without set questions or structured feedback and just an open ended discussion about how each person responded to the book. It will meet about four times a year and the first book to be discussed will be Oh Pure and Radiant Heart by Lydia Millet. The group will meet to discuss this book on Thursday 23rd April at 8pm. The venue is to be confirmed but will probably be at St John's. The group is open to anyone who wants to come along and for more details, contact Huw Jacob on: huw.jacob@gmail.com.

The next Library Services Coffee morning at St John's is being planned for 11.00am on Wednesday 8th April and will feature a talk on gardening by Nick Dobson. Finally, for the moment, an Evening of Poetry featuring Tim Cunningham and Naomi Foyle will be happening on Monday 27th April at 7.00pm at St John's as part of the Redbridge Book and Media Festival. Tickets are just £2.

Money for Westwood Recreation Ground

Good news- funding has been secured by the Council to allow for an upgrade to play facilities at Westwood Recreation Ground, on Meads Lane. The sum, thought to be around £60 000, will allow for an upgrade to the old school style play equipment, and officers are consulting with the community on how it might best be spent.

TASK have offered some opening thoughts on the desirability of imaginative free style play kit, maybe using the same kind of interesting and stylish designs now being installed at Valentines Park, and suggested leisure staff talk first to the young audience - and their families - who we hope will make good use of it.

The hope is that consultation can happen fast over the spring, allowing action in time for this summer's peak use season. If you have any thoughts on this development, do please address them direct to Leisure Officer, Edward Smith, at Edward.Smith@redbridge.gov.uk, or by phone to 020 8 708 3745, mentioning you are responding to a call for input from TASK.

As we go to press, we have also just heard that there will be a public consultation meeting on Thursday March 26th, starting at 7pm at Farnham Green School. All local residents are welcome so do please let your family, friends and neighbours - and their kids - know so the borough can benefit from the widest possible pool of ideas.

(Yet) more consultation on the Roman Road

It seems like public authorities love to consult more and more often, and having made some input in January to a group looking at the design of urban high streets on behalf of London Mayor, Boris Johnson, we are now giving feedback on a much more specific project aimed at regenerating the Roman Road- basically the road out of Ilford to Romford, covering the entirety of run down Seven Kings High Road. The local press have made much of this new action plan, and we are hopeful too that with political will and funding support, real advances can be made.

Our initial points are summarised below:

• although we are committed to consultation and action for change, the creation of Action Plans that don't result in action does over time lead to the building up of cynicism amongst local people;
• local people strongly associate with the High Road but think it has been run down over generations;
• currently it has a limited and inadequate shopping base dominated by too many takeaways;
• a mixed economy is needed along the High Road; we need a greater variety of retail outlets and community facilities/organisations with a new local library as the major priority;
• introducing this mixed economy may involve changing usage in some instances to enable community services to be delivered from what are currently retail outlets and/or using existing community building (such as schools and faith community buildings) for the delivery of local community services;
• new developments should be high quality which includes environmentally friendly and aesthetically pleasing;
• equivalent parking to that which is currently available should be delivered in new developments in order to sustain business levels for local traders;
• encouraging walking and use of bikes will be best achieved by locating community facilities locally. When libraries and post offices are more than one mile away most people will use cars to get to them; locate these and other community facilities locally and many more people will walk/cycle;
• attention should be paid to enhancing local heritage, where it exists, and enhancing awareness of that heritage. Public art could play a part in doing so;
• the area looks generally run down and needs: better street cleaning; trees/flower displays; enhancing of shop frontages; aesthetic new developments; and public art;
• the area in front of Seven Kings station is dangerous because it is used as a cut through; pedestriansing the area would be an option;
• although the railway is a major barrier, there would be little benefit to building more pedestrian crossings over the railway. Attention should be paid to traffic congestion caused by limited road crossings over the railway.

Special thanks are due to Jonathan Evens for setting things up and taking a bold lead on this project.

Blood and guts on Cambridge Road

Residents on Cambridge Road have been having a tough time recently, with a spate of violent incidents, racist taunting and anti-social behaviour coming from tenants of two rented houses on the street. Despairing residents contacted local councillors and TASK, who, after hours of feverish email exchanges with cabinet member Cllr Vanessa Cole, council staff and the local safer neighbourhoods police team managed to get the tenants moved on. Overall, it was a good team effort that worked on this occasion, but not before time, and with some evident service lapses we need to learn from. The real worry is that these tenants will simply be shuffled to a new location, possibly even locally, where they will reproduce the violence and mayhem once again. This cannot happen and TASK hope that we can all learn lessons, and develop practical strategies and actions, that allow other residents in other streets to benefit from much more rapid responses to displace this kind of offensive behaviour.

It is an issue that is bound to come up at our next Area 5 meeting at 7.15pm on Monday 23 March, at Barley Lane School, which majors on crime and policing. All major players will be there and it really has never been more important to come along.

Next walkabout date

The next community walkabout is scheduled to happen on Friday April 24 starting at 0900 from outside Goodmayes station heading towards Seven Kings station. It is designed to get local residents to join council officers, the police and councillors to pick up on, and immediately address, irksome streetscape issues like dumping, graffiti, public drinking, vandalism, highways, planning and licensing breaches. This time round rail operator national express will also be taking part, and can update us on what is happening at and around our station, the subject of radical and much needed upgrade throughout 2008.

Area 5 festival

Plans continue to develop a small community event at Barley Lane Recreation Ground this summer ahead of a much bigger festival idea for 2010 and a dedicated working group now meets regularly on this to work up a programme and schedule. Already confirmed are martial arts displays, dancing, community group stalls and sale of allotment products. With scope for lots more to happen.The hope is that this will run on Sunday September 20 from noon until 5pm The next working group meeting is on Wednesday April 1 at 7pm. The venue is Barley Lane Primary School.

Redbridge Green Fair is on Sunday 24 May

The biannual Redbridge green fair has now been running for the best part of 20 years and comes around again over the late May Bank Holiday weekend when Melbourne Fields - at Valentines Park - is appropriated for one day only as a giant community and environmental festival space. Its always an inspirational event, with live music, a solar powered cinema, brilliant food outlets and lots of community information and stalls. TASK are hoping to be one of the exhibitors and need volunteers to run our stall across the day. Please contact Chris at chrisconnelley@ntlworld to find out more and/or offer time.

That is it for now. Expect more soon. And do please share your news and stories with us at chrisconnelley@ntlworld.com or ahai@deloitte.co.uk.

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Over the Rhine - The World Can Wait.

TASK Newsletter No. 13

With the new year well underway, welcome to our first TASK e-newsletter of 2009, setting out a whole host of local news and activity.

Crime

Latest figures reveal that our council, the London Borough of Redbridge, has seen the biggest hike in crime across the whole of London, with Seven Kings leading the table on increases in burglary (we have heard this week of a breakout of burglaries predominantly in Cambridge and St Alban's Roads).

This confirms our view that the local situation is more fragile and less rosy than we have traditionally been led to believe, which is why we have argued strongly for a full complement in our safer neighbourhood team at all times, having discovered that police team members are often loaned out for other borough-wide duties and are not always working locally.

A story in the Ilford Recorder this week suggesting that major drug trafficking at Goodmayes Hospital has led to the setting up of a local Seven Kings police team presence there worries us too, since it also pulls officers off the streets, where a high profile presence and the constant intelligence gathering that comes from good local relationships is constantly required.

TASK supporters and local councillors will this week meet with the new borough police commander to make our case for special attention, given our many local issues and the unique negative effects of our having such an abormally large night time/takeout economy, which can be a major magnet for resident misery and crime and disorder.

More licensing misery

As if we have not got enough challenges already, the Council continues to grant late licences for takeouts, even with strong local councillor and community objections, with yet more applications coming in from new outlets. It frankly beggars belief that councillors on licensing committee are unable to understand an obvious truth- that we are saturated with fast food outlets, which cause a whole host of problems- and it is credible to argue that Seven Kings is now being explicitly targetted by fast food entrepreneurs as a 'soft touch' in ways that might not be tolerated elsewhere. We are angry and and will now be taking up this issue directly with senior Redbridge Council staff and the London Mayor, Boris Johnson.

We were told by a Licensing officer recently that the people of Seven Kings do not object in big enough numbers which is why our objections do not make enough impact on licence decision making committees. We would therefore ask you to object to any licences that you become aware of by emailing the Council's Licensing officer at ed.chaplin@redbridge.gov.uk with the grounds of the objection and your name and address.

We are already being consulted on a new bit of research funded by Boris looking at the future shape of the suburban High Street, having met with his architectural advisers in early January. Our points then were simple and linked. That the High Road is a major artery, with which local people strongly associate, albeit one that has been run down over generations, with a limited and inadequate shopping base dominated by way too many takeouts. Out view is that it requires systematic regeneration, over a longer peiriod, but that firm action now on late licenses and still further booze applications can at least begin to stop the rot. Keep reading to see more on how this story unfolds.

We are also aware that some of the takeaway outlets are below the standard health and safety requirements and pose a potential hazard to customers. A copy of the health and safety ratings is available from us if you require and a copy of it is on the Community noticeboard outside Seven Kings station.

Library campaign

The battle cry remains the same: we want a new library- and we want it now, having registered overwhelming support in support of this campaign during our 2008 petitioning. A recent meeting with Ilford South MP Mike Gapes ensured he too is fully up to speed on the issue.

In the short term, though, we continue to work with library officers to develop and market mobile library services and have obtained at least one new regular stop for the 400 plus pupils at at Downshall Primary School. We will also benefit from regular local storytelling activity and a local poetry event as part of the upcoming Redbridge Media and Book Festival in May, both positive developments which are unlikely to have happened without our campaigning.

The offer is also there for a new readers group to be set up in Seven Kings, where local people come together regularly to choose a book, and share their reading experiences. There are hundreds of reading groups all over the country, and they are a great way to make new friends, share your love of books and promote new types of reading. Please contact Chris on 07852 960685 if you would like to be part of this. If you are worried about the cost of buying book, don't worry- the library service will provide all the books for free, so there's absolutely no cost other than an hour of your time every month.

Area 5 festival

The idea of a local community festival covering Seven Kings, Goodmayes and Chadwell Heath has been knocking around for some time in the local Council and it was originally planned to run an event during summer 2009 in a local park. A planning group has now been set up, bringing together many local groups, including TASK, to agree a format and timing. The current sense is that a big festival this year is a tall order and that it is more realistic to run a smaller family fun day in the summer, to test the the water for something bigger and bolder in 2010. We are looking for a volunteer to sit on the planning group for TASK, and encourage all supporters to send in their good ideas about what a festival might offer and how it might run. Supporters with PR/ marketing/events experience are especially welcome.

Westwood Recreation Ground

Good news! Tired old Westwood Recreation Ground on Meads Lane is in line for play improvements from April this year which will hopefully transform a rather jaded and forgettable space into something beautiful and uplifting. We are currently talking to Council play workers and will push for major local input into the eventual design, and will be recommending they talk primarily with local youngsters, the key users and beneficiaries of the site.

Swimming

With our local pool boarded up, but not forgotten, Redbridge Council was name checked in a recent TIME OUT magazine article as the worst place for public swimming opportunities in London. Another unenviable record for our shabby and underperforming Council. Shame on you!

TASK planning group

Over the last year, TASK has developed a high profile, much respect and many great local contacts. For this new year, we plan to run regular planning group sessions to help co-ordinate our various campaigns, draw more fully on our supporter talent and make an even greater impact. A first date and venue will follow later this week.

Seven Kings Events this month

11 February 7.15pm at Barley Lane Primary School - Area 5 Council meeting

27 February 9am starting from outside Seven Kings station - walkabout with council officers from Cleansing Department

That is it for now. More soon.

Please remember. We always welcome your news, your issues and your feedback, which should be sent to ahai@deloitte.co.uk or c.connelley@lse.ac.uk.

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16 Horsepower - Cinder Alley.

TASK Newsletter No. 12

Welcome all to our latest TASK e-newsletter, letting you know what's happening in and around our neighbourhood this November.

TASK meeting

Around 20 supporters got together on the bitterly cold evening of November 21st for our autumn public meeting. The debate was lively and engaging, as ever, and we were especially pleased to welcome a number of new supporters and longer standing supporters attending a meeting for the first time. This newsletter aims to summarise much of our discussion, which took in a wide range of topics including

Ilford Swimming Pool

Tragically, this is now closed for good with only the vaguest commitment for a future leisure development in south Ilford- worryingly still undated and uncosted.

TASK supported the recent protest march in Ilford Town Centre and has also recently discovered that the equipment from the former pool gym is lying unused in the closed down building. We are currently working with local councillors to get a new local gym site opened until firm long- term decisions have been made, salvaging something from a ghastly political mess. We have already made overtures to the agents looking to rent the empty Joker pub- a large space ideally suited for easy conversion to gym use- but are advised that the owner will not even let us view the property so our quest for space goes on. The recent closure of the Ford outlet literally opposite the pool offers another opportunity we shall pursue over the next few weeks. More next time.

Allotment sales

Much better news, with sale plans now seemingly abandoned. The key now is to ensure all local plots are working, an outcome more likely to be achieved in these difficult times, when 'grow your own' becomes a necessity for many affected by the credit crunch and redundancies. If you don't have a plot and would like one for 2009, let us know and we can make contact with the local allotment society for you!

A new library for Seven Kings

Our whopping 2000 signature petition has now been formally submitted to the Council, which still maintains that it does not have the money to develop a new static site in the area, even though funds were made available a year or so ago to open a new library in affluent Clayhall, with no public campaigning required. We continue to press for funds to be released and urge the Council to look at developing something as part of the High Road car/ lorry park development, but are meanwhile working with library managers to develop local mobile library and outreach services.

A library information and coffee morning is now scheduled for the morning of December 10 from 11.00am at St. John's Church and all supporters around are asked to make time to attend and support the cause.

There is also the option of setting up a local reading group, where local readers come together regularly to select books they would all like to read and share their thoughts and experiences. The group could be supported by library staff and all the books selected will be sourced by the library service, so it costs nothing. Nationally, reading groups are all the rage and we think a local group would be a great idea. If you are interested in joining one, or would like to know more, please let us know by emailing Chris at c.connelley@lse.ac.uk.

Seven Kings walkabout

All year we have undertaken regular bi-monthly walkabouts with council staff, designed to clamp down on dumping, graffiti and other highways and cleansing issues. This has seen a significant improvement along the High Road, with additional bin and cleaning services now offered along the 'takeout mile'. The last walkaround of 2008 is scheduled for Friday December 12, starting at 9am outside Seven Kings railway station. All supporters are welcome to join in and we welcome your ideas on suitable locations to cover. Some of the long term benefits of the walkabouts have been more and well positioned litter bins, gum boards, cigarette bins, evening as well as morning shift litter picking along Seven Kings High Road and installation of cameras to capture fly tipping offenders. We also noted a special thanks to Russell Ward who has our vote as the most helpful Council Officer and the one who has made the greatest difference to Seven Kings.

Takeouts - Food Safety Rating

Following a TASK request the Council has provided us with a list of takeouts in Seven Kings alongwith their respective food safety star rating. Star ratings range between 0 and 4, 0 being the worst and 4 the best. Unsurprisingly most takeouts are rated between 0 and 2 but we also have a few with 3 and 4 star ratings. If you would like a copy of this table please contact Ali, ahai@deloitte.co.uk. We are also asking the Council to introduce restrictions to takeouts near to schools as neighbouring Waltham Forest has introduced.

Environment

The Mayor of London has recognised Seven Kings as one of 20 locations across London worthy of funding for tree planting to improve the barren landscape. This should see almost every road in Seven Kings become tree lined in the next couple of years.

Seven Kings station

Major improvements have taken place at the station over the last 6 months, driven by systematic complaints from TASK members. We now have a wonderful station with security staff dealing with troublemakers over the weekend hours. There are further improvements planned such as a better and safer pedestrianised entrance.

Crime and policing

We continue to encourage our local police team to make full use of their speed gun, and are advised that Pembroke Road is especially bad at present.

We also note the re/emergence of large drinking gangs around the station and by the Shannon Centre, and will be demanding rigorous enforcement of the 'no drinking' zone. We are also heartened that the Council is now working to make Seven Kings an 'accumulative impact zone', which recognises the high volume of premises with licenses to sell alcohol and alcohol related crime in the area. We are also seeking to gain more police resource for Seven Kings justified on the high crime levels and wide geographic coverage for the current allocated safer neighbourhood team.

TASK has insisted on better no drink zone area signs and enforcement and we are starting to see this area being better controlled.

Facebook

TASK now has a presence on mass social networking site Facebook. This offers the best coverage of local issues and we urge all supporters with PCs to sign up as a friend to get all the news fastest. Its easy to use- just go to Facebook and search for TASK.

Getting more involved

We are still less than a year old, and our deeply proud of our achievements as a campaigning group. We have definitely made an impact in terms of the major funding upgrade to the station, local walkabouts and in more general terms, the sense that Seven Kings is on the map and will not continue to tolerate the type of neglect characteristic of the last few years. We do need more help though and in early 2009 will be setting up a small operating group so we can focus our energies even more effectively. Please let us know if you would like to be part of this or if you have specific interest and expertise you can offer. Contact Ali at ahai@deloitte.co.uk in the first instance.

Finally, we would like to round up some upcoming activity at the busy St. John's Church, at the junction of St. John's Road and Aldborough Road South.

Lights of Advent: Christmas lights, mulled wine and mince pies in the Church garden from 2.00pm until early evening on Friday 28th November

Christmas Bazaar: Saturday 29th December, 10.30am - 3.00pm. Christmas gifts, Children's toys, Handicrafts, Preserves, Cakes, Plants, Refreshments, Raffle and many other stalls. Visit Santa in his wonderful grotto (digital photo and present included).

Advent Art Installation: Churches in Redbridge have created an Art Installation which will be displayed in six churches, including St John's Seven Kings, throughout the Advent season. The aim is to create a restful space that would enable Christians and non Christians alike to relax and reflect as an alternative to the busyness that the Christmas period brings. The theme of light was chosen as a symbol that crosses faiths and cultures which would therefore would have as wide an appeal as possible. The Installation comprises three panels of mirrored perspex mounted on wooden backing panels with the mirrored surfaces painted to an abstract design using differing textures and densities of paint while leaving unpainted areas forming the shape of a star and the repeated word ‘peace’. A quiet, reflective environment will be created around the installation using music, candles and scatter cushions. One of the key concepts of the artwork is that people will become a part of the installation by viewing themselves in these mirrored surfaces. The Installation will be at St John's in December on: 9th - 10.00 am – 1.00 pm & 2.00 pm - 5.00 pm & 7.00 pm - 9.00 pm; 10th - 10.00 am – 1.00 pm & 2.00 pm - 5.00 pm; 11th - 10.00 am – 1.00 pm & 2.00 pm - 5.00 pm & 7.00 pm - 9.00 pm; and 12th - 10.00 am – 1.00 pm & 2.00 pm - 5.00 pm.

That's enough for now. See you again in December.

Take Action for Seven Kings ("TASK")

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Nu Colours - What In The World.

TASK Newsletter No. 11

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.

TASK & Library developments

Here is a short note from Ali Hai of TASK to inform you that a number of Seven Kings residents and councillors presented arguments to the Council leadership on Monday evening together with the library petition consisting of 2000 names.

The council repeated that they did not have any resource this year for funding a new library however they have instructed their library officers to speak to some of the residents (from TASK) and see what can be done with existing resources to improve the library services in Seven Kings. Although this is not what we wanted nonetheless it is a start of a dialogue with the Council leadership and may lead to short term improvements in the library service.

We will give this pilot study offered by the Council a chance and reserve the right to present our petition and request again should this fall short of a comprehensive library service. Many thanks for your support.

The TASK campaign featured again in this week's Ilford Recorder and on the BBC London website.

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Social Distortion - Don't Take Me for Granted.

1000+ signatures

This comes from Ali Hai of TASK:

"I am delighted to announce that today we have broken through the 1000 name barrier and achieved our ambitious milestone that we set only 3 weeks ago. This is a wonderful achievement and it is thanks to your support.

In my almost 40 years as a resident of Redbridge and Seven Kings such demand for a library is unprecedented. Putting this into perspective, only a couple of months ago, Redbridge Council undertook a Big Conversation with the whole of Redbridge. For this they received less than 4000 written names having spent over £50,000 in advertising and marketing and with its army of resources. To have achieved 1000+ names in a small part of Redbridge and with no resources is a magnificent achievement and shows the depth of feeling in Seven Kings to have a comprehensive library service, that the rest of the borough enjoys without having to demand it.

In the last 3 weeks we have seen 100% support from every person that was approached and without fail each person has been passionate and excited at the thought of a library within walking distance of their home, office, shop, school, surgery or place of worship. Many remember the good old days when Seven Kings had a library (now the Ilford Prep School, which was sold by the Council in 1992). The petition campaign has also shown that our area can be a wonderful neighbourhood as the hundreds of people we have met in the last 3 weeks have been some of the friendliest and most caring people you would wish to meet. We have a thriving community that is ready to get behind to change Seven Kings for the better.

The library petition will be presented to Redbridge Council's leadership at Ilford Town Hall on Monday 6 October at 7pm and all are welcome to attend.Please continue collecting more names for the petition until the Friday before the Council meeting ie 3 October (please let me know and I would be happy to come to collect) to send the clearest and loudest possible message to Redbridge Council that the people of Seven Kings (including parts of neighbouring Newbury Park) demand a static library in Seven Kings today."

Subsequent to this message comes an additional one putting the petition total at 1,250.

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Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers - Morning of Our Lives.

TASK Newsletter No. 10

As our damp squib of a summer gives way to autumn, TASK has been very much back in action and here is our monthly round-up of some of what's been happening where we are.

Cleaning-up the area

Even before the school holidays were over, TASK were out and about on the streets, running a High Road tidy-up- where supporters, the local safer neighbourhood police team and councillors quite literally collected and bagged rubbish on a saturday morning using pick-up kit loaned by the council cleansing team. In just over an hour, over 9 bags were overflowing with all kinds of waste, clearly demonstrating that a 24/7 location like Seven Kings needs constant vigilance to keep things barely ticking over. We will be making a funding bid to Council Area 5 committee so we can buy some pickers and do the pick-up regularly across our patch. Thanks to all of the volunteers and hope to see even more of you next time

A week later, we hosted our regular walkabout with council officials, monitoring the state of our streetscape in terms of things like uncollected rubbish, ilegal dumping, signing and graffiti. Our sense is that whilst people tell us things are much better than a year ago, improvements are fragile and we need to maintain constant pressure so there is no slippage. Helpfully, and for the first time, we were joined by licensing team members on the walkabout, picking up on our concerns about late opening and proper licensing for the vast number of takeouts. We are also concerned that still more takeout franchises continue to open, despite the over concentration of such outlets locally. We will continue to oppose all inappropriate developments, although it sometimes feels that we are fighting a David and Goliath battle.

Much more positively, Seven Kings station has been given a major makeover, having been selected as one of just two stations on the whole Liverpool Street line to benefit from special attention. On the 13 September, rail operator national express sent a number of their senior officers and executives to do some hard practical graft,supported by a small army of workers. As a result, we now have a shiny, clean, newly painted and freshly gardened station that harks back to the glory days of the 1960s, when Seven Kings apparently held the award of best -dressed station. Congratulations to all concerned, and most especially TASK's own Ali Hai, who has kept up the pressure, and the excellent Sailesh Satyani, from national express, who has led from the front.

Seven Kings library

There's no doubting that this is the big news story that just refuses to go away. It has received strong local newspaper coverage and regional interest from BBC London, whose online news carries detailed coverage

To recap, TASK have been campaigning for a new library in Seven Kings on the basis that

1) the old one on the corner of Kingswood Road should never have been closed and flogged off
2) a new library is consistently identified as the key local service need by residents- quite simply, almost everone wants one!
3) we are the only part of Redbridge that does not have access to a static library within one mile distance
4) shockingly, in a cruel double whammy, we also get a less comprehensive mobile library service than other areas with static libraries
5) a number of local locations are available, most notably the High Road car/ lorry park development, whose planning brief talked about having a strong community component and would kick- start a desparately needed wider regeneration of the neighbourhood

Having recently opened a new library in Clayhall at record speed, despite having no local campaigning for one, and attracting limited custom, the Council Cabinet- made up of the most powerful councillors- maintain that the existing service is acceptable and that Seven Kings can expect nothing more. All of which rather confirms our view that as far as the Cabinet are concerned we are second class citizens who can go sing.

If that is their view, they have misread the mood. TASK will not back off, and is currently promoting a petition to get a library back at the centre of Seven Kings. This will go to full Council as a sign of how much support we have. Copies are available in almost every High Road shop or at the local stations and we urge you to sign yourself, and to encourage friends, neighbours and family to do likewise. Our goal is for an ambitious 1000 names.

We are confident that we can win this campaign, but need your support. And your signature. As news breaks, we will provide you with regular e-updates so watch this space.

Meads Lane post office

Closed as part of the national drive to reduce post office numbers, the former Meads Lane PO is now running solely as a school unifomers, depriving postmaster David Shah of an income, local residents of a truly exceptional community service provider and other Meads Lane traders of a valuable business magnet. We urge all TASK supporters who are parents to make use of their local school uniform shop and will be pressing the council on developing it for alternative uses, heartened by news just in from Essex County Council, which has boldly re/opened one closed PO as a Council supported post office cum local service point. The evidence is now there that it can be done . Hopefully Redbridge will follow this best practice example and copy its neighbouring authority.

Facebook

Over the last few years, online social networking site Facebook has attained legendary status and we are pleased to say, TASK are now using it too. We have just signed oursleves up and have a growing presence, which allows us to share news, event details, photos and local discussions much faster than traditional newsletters or email. Over half our supporters have email addressess so do please dip into Facebook, search for Take Action for Seven Kings and hopefully sign up as a friend. We are the fastest growing community group in Redbridge and think this new option will add to the speed and depth of our campaign work . The good news is that you don't have to be an IT wizard to sign up and it literally takes just a few seconds.

Area 5 Festival

Local councillors are looking to run a festival in the Goodmayes, Chadwell Heath and Seven Kings areas during summer 2009 and we have been invited to offer our thoughts as part of a planning group. The first meeting is at 4pm on Monday October 23 at the United Free Church on Norfolk Road and we are looking for someone able to attend and represent us. All offers of help pleas to Chris Connelley at chrisconnelley@ntlworld.com

That's enough for now. More next month- including dates of our autumn TASK supporters get togethers. Now please pass this on to a friend, relative or neighbour who lives locally and might be interested in supporting us. Word of mouth and direct recommendation are our best recruiters and the more support we have, the more we can achieve as its harder for powerful people to ignore us.

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Billy Bragg - Waiting For The Great Leap Forwards.

TASK Newsletter No. 9

With schools now shut until September, and many families thinking of taking some time out - or away- we are pleased to present our end of term report after a busy first few months in existence.

To remind you, TASK was formed on January 1 2008, with a clear brief to tackle what many of us saw as a serious decline in the quality of our local facilities; and a determination to get local people involved in putting things right. Central to our belief is that, whilst its easy to complain about what is going wrong, it is more important to put things right. And that solutions to many issues are held by the communityitself.

Since January, we have:

• strongly promoted Seven Kings, generating a huge amount of publicity on the area, to include lots of easy to implement improvement ideas
• got the Council to undertake regular local streetscene walkabouts, offering immediate action on dumping, vandalism and graffiti
• actively encouraged local police team to enforce the 'no drinking' zone around the station, thus cutting the incidence of unsightly public boozing and all its unpleasant side effects
• successfully opposed applications for new local liquor licences and an attempt to secure extended opening for the Joker pub
• met, and formed rapport with, new lorry park owners, Swan Housing, to promote a high quality build and strong community facilities on this last major local development site
• campaigned to put the idea of a new local library back on the top of the political agenda, maybe as part of the upcoming lorry park development
• built a network of 200 local citizens keen to turn the area around, making us one of the largest community groups in the borough
• secured huge investment in Seven Kings station, to include new windows, major repainting and two dedicated on-site security officers
• supported the campaign to keep our Meads Lane post office. Sadly, this is now closed but as we go to press, we hear the Council may still be willing to support and take over those facilities. Fingerscrossed!
• issued regular newsletters and e-notices, keeping supporters informed of our actions (although we recognise that this has tailed off a bit recently!)
• backed the campaign to keep the local Ilford swimming pool going until full replacement funding is guaranteed
• secured more tree planting locally with yet more to come.

All in all, we think its a pretty flying start and are heartened that so many residents have noticed, and commented favourably on, neighbourhood improvements. We are taking a short break and will return in the autumn, when we will hope to seal the deal on the new Library, and will seek funding for a comprehensive and long overdue regeneration of the whole area, which could so easily be a jewel in the borough's crown yet is consistently overlooked as other less disadvantaged areas derive major funding.

Before we go, three short new items:

1) We need help distributing hard copies of our newsletters, and are looking for someone to organise this for us every 3 weeks or so. Please contact Chris at chrisconnelley@ntlworld.com.
2) The Council is looking for sites to plant street trees and we are supporting this effort. Please let Ali know at ahai@deloitte.co.uk if you are happy to be considered for a footway tree outside your house.
3) Our next streetscene walkabout is scheduled to start at 9 am on Friday 29 August from outside 55 Cameron Road, Seven Kings. We always welcome new faces and hope to see you there.

Enjoy the summer and see you in September!

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The Kinks - The Village Green Preservation Society.

Redbridge Conversation

The following has come from the Redbridge Faith Forum:

Redbridge Council has just launched the Redbridge Conversation. The Council is asking everyone who lives or works in the Borough to talk about the long-term improvements they want to see, and how the Council should pay for them.

Residents are being invited to take part in discussions and events across the Borough, and on the Council's website. It will be the biggest public consultation the Council has ever run.

The Council is asking members of the Faith Forum to consider hosting a Redbridge Conversation discussion with members of their own faith group. This could be a focus group with around 6-10 people or a presentation for a larger group such as a committee meeting or social gathering. The Council can provide speakers and other resources to make sure people taking part are properly informed and the discussion goes well.

The Council wants to make sure that voices from all parts of the Borough are heard in the Redbridge Conversation, which is why it has asked the Faith Forum for help. The results of the Redbridge Conversation will be sent to Councillors, who will be taking decisions that will shape the Borough's long-term future.

You can find out about all the Council's investment and funding options on Redbridge i, the Council's website.

For an alternative view on the Redbridge Conversation, see this week's Ilford Recorder. However, I would echo the plea of Ali Hai, from TASK, encouraging us to participate to ensure that Seven Kings is put on the map and that our priorities are recorded by the Council. He argues that the chances are that only the loudest voices will be heard and therefore we should play our part in making sure the Council hears the voice of Seven Kings.

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Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush - Don't Give Up.

TASK Newsletter No. 8

The TASK e-newsletter is back after a few weeks out for the protracted Easter school holidays, and as ever, there is a deal to report.

United 'save our Ilford pool' campaign is launched: TASK sign up as key supporters

With closedown pencilled in for December, and with no firm commitment or planning in place for any rebuilding of a replacement pool, concern grows that this could be yet another disappearing local service in the south of the borough if we do not act now. Accordingly, a coalition has just been formed linking professional swimming interest groups like the Redbridge Swimmers Association, schoolusers and more general campaign groups like us. The aim is to inform the wider public of the risks, influence the planning of, and timeline for, the new pool and maybe look at extending the existing pool's life until money is found to guarantee a new one, thus avoiding both the loss of a crucial amenity and the potential for hideous overload at the borough's single other pool at Barkingside. A petition is now doing the rounds and as ever, we ask supporters to sign up and then share it with friends and family. We will post a return date in our next newsletter.

Also, we are looking for volunteers to take an active role in this new united pool campaign. Please identify yourself to Chris in the firstinstance - chrisconnelley@ntlworld.com if you have email or by post at 31Bradford Road if not - and he will put you in touch.

Streetscene walkabout: gruesome health centre shocker!

April 25 saw our latest local streetscene walk, when TASK supporters join council officials on a 'show and tell' trek around some of the area's various trouble spots, identifying action required around dumping,graffiti and other streetscene violations. Everyone involved noted the evident general improvements along the High Road, focusing our attention this time on the area around the Seven Kings Health Centre and the High Road itself, which we think now invites similar urgent action. The steps area by the health centre presented itself as the most obvious candidate for our attention, with clear signs of dumping, graffiti and general dereliction in a locale used by many locals as a cut-through to nearby residential streets. Officers will be taking up the issue in the first instance with management staff at the health centre, who are ultimately responsible for the upkeep of this facility. The hope is that by taking concentrated action now, the next streetscene walk in June will show marked and permanent improvement. Watch this space.

Clean up extra

On a related theme, Peggy sends us a link from a feature seen on a recent BBC TV 'The One Show" - http://www.peopleclearinglitter.co.uk/Index.aspx. We could do this! Who is interested?
Library campaign: now back up and running after local elections

Over the last few months, we have been collecting names for our 'bring a library back to Seven Kings' petition, which we had hoped to present to full Council. This action has been delayed by the recent Mayoral and Greater London Assembly Elections, which have seen councillors fully engaged in doorstep campaigning. Now the election is over we will be talking to them about best approaches to progress this. A report back on the Library issue also comes to Area Committee 5 in June. See our next newsletter for more details.

Station improvements: new windows now installed

The ongoing programme of station improvement continues, and eagle eyed commuters will have noticed the installation of smart new upper walkway windows behind the builders hoardings. Flower beds have also been turned over for planting, with the full schedule of works due to be completed by the time the schools break for the summer. All the work has been prompted by sustained local efforts to getoperator 'national express' to recognise the years of neglect that have seen Seven Kings decline from an award-winning station in the 1960s to its current sorry state. Special thanks are due to Ali for all his hardwork.

Leafleting: give us an hour

Our next regular leaflet drop is on Sunday 11 May at 1400, starting outside Seven Kings station. If you can offer an hour, that will hopefully allow us to complete leafleting each and every road locally. Please let us know if you can attend so we can gauge numbers of leaflets required. If you'd like to help us leaflet but cannot do Sunday, then please let us know and we can drop you off materials to do your own road at a time of your choice.

Meads Lane post office: its going to close!

Some truly sad news as we go to press. The consultation exercise is now over and there is no reprieve for David Shah and the team at the local post office, which will now close unless the borough steps in. More next time.

That's it for now. We will be back during week beginning 19 May with more news and local stories, including an update on the lorry park development.

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Vigilantes of Love - Resplendent.

TASK Newsletter 7

Hello again, another fortnight has passed and here is TASK's latest round up of local news, which we would ask you to read and then share with at least one other person so we can extend our coverage as far as possible.

A new Seven Kings library: the campaign hots up

We are now in receipt of early returns of our library petition and ask anyone with outstanding forms to get them back to us at 31 Bradford Road, Seven Kings as soon as possible so we can collate numbers and organise next steps. Our hope is that we can complete this by the end of the month, allowing for forms to come back from some local shops and schools, which are now closed for their Spring holidays. Under new legislation, if a petition has more than 250 names - which we have already easily achieved - it is a legal requirement for the Council's Cabinet to make a direct response to the issue raised, so the obvious issue is for us to book speaking rights at an upcoming Cabinet meeting in May - we are checking dates - and make the case strongly in public. We also hope our local councillors will be on hand to support and reinforce the case.

The campaign was launched with an open letter from Chris in last weeks' 'Ilford Recorder' inviting as rapid a response to the opening of a new library here as in Clayhall, which got a new library facility last year without any public interest and in the face of low mobile library use. As he said in his letter, if they get one quickly without any obvious local interest or campaign, why is that nothing is happening here, where we have had a continuous demand over many years. The letter also invited Cllr Ronnie Barden, the Cabinet member for the arts, to meet with us to discuss this at an early date. As we go to press, we still await his response.

Zebra crossing now installed outside Downshall school

Following a long campaign by parents and school governors at Downshall Primary school on Meads Lane, concerned at traffic volume and safe access to the school, a new zebra crossing has been placed outside the school. Whilst this is helpful news, school governors are still concerned about the exceptional traffic volume on Meads Lane, which has been substantially enhanced since the closure of Downshall Avenue a couple of years ago. This controversial decision is seen as aiding the residents of a small street - interestingly including the incoming Redbridge Mayor - to the disadvantage of the wider population, whilst blocking the most appropriate route heading towards Aldborough Road to go north. The issue comes up again at Area Committee 5 on Monday 14 April, held at Barley Lane school, starting at 7.15pm. This is the regular local forum for people to have their say on Council related matters, involving council staff and local councillors from Seven Kings as well as neighbouring Goodmayes and Chadwell Heath wards.

Yobs are history, say police

Local police are confident they have cracked the back of local yobs, and feel that there is the option to move onto new activity according to a recent piece in the local press. TASK welcome all local improvements, and recognise a decline in some local issues like aerial graffiti, but caution against complacency. We are still aware of too many yellow crime scene notices around the station - recognised by the Council's own Licensing Strategy as a crime hotspot - and worry that with lighter nights and warmer weather, public drinking around the station exit and Joker pub will continue to be a hazard.

Our advice to the safer neighbourhood team is to keep watching and keep visible on our streets as often as possible, especially since we are advised the team is now operating at full strength after some team sickness. Please keep them - and us - aware of any issues where you are in order that any response can be speedy and effective. If the situation is turned around, as is claimed, it is imperative we keep it that way.

TASK leafleting: time for a final push on the High Road

Thanks to our brilliant supporter base, we have now completed leafleting in most areas apart from the long roads off the High Road. With this in mind, we are going to do another big group publicity drop on Sunday May 11, starting at 1400 outside the railway station. If you can help with this for an hour or so, please contact Chris at chrisconnelley@ntlworld.com. If you cannot make this date, but still want to help us complete our leaflet drop, you can still sign up to do a drop in your own time by making the same contact.

Local street scene walkabout: make a date

This regular activity involving local citizens, councillors and council officials designed to pick up on, and take action to address street scene issues like dumping and dereliction, next takes place on Friday April 25 from 09.00. Please contact Ali at ahai@deloitte.co.uk if you want to be part of the group. A warm welcome is guaranteed to all newcomers.

Local photos from yesteryear

A sense of its local history is important to any area and one idea we are currently looking at is mounting an exhibition of local images from the past during the autumn so newer residents get a sense of what it used to be like here, and longstanding residents can share their memories from yesteryear. Our hope is that this will be interesting in itself, as well as helping to make links, and further enhance understanding and respect, between different parts of our diverse and ever changing community, so anyone with photographs, letters or local memorabilia they are willing to share is asked to make contact with us explaining what resources they have to offer but sending nothing direct at present. We will report back on progress with this in future issues of the newsletter.

Meads Lane Post office: it's a waiting game

The national consultation period on post office closures is now over, and local postmaster David Shah- and all the other affected traders- nervously await details of their fate. We are saddened that Redbridge Council seem to have discounted the idea of taking over some of these sites as local service outposts, an idea being actively pursued by around 150 more imaginative local authorities nationwide.

New play space on Vicarage Lane: maybe

For a year or so now a local campaign group has been working up ideas for a new play space on unused allotment land on Vicarage Lane, near the junction with Mundon Gardens. This would allow for desperately needed and high quality open play space in an area that has been massively over-developed over the last decade, following the closure of the old Plessey Siemans factory and development of at least three sets of high volume new apartments, many units of which are rented to families with children despite having decidedly zero or very limited garden and play space. Redbridge Council has just been awarded £1m funding for enhancing play facilities and our hope is much is that much of it is spent here. Find out more at a public meeting on this scheduled for Wednesday 30 April at Canon Palmer School starting at 7,30pm.

That is it, folks. We are back in three weeks time - slightly longer than usual to account for school holidays! - during w/b 28 April. See you then.

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The Kinks - Waterloo Sunset.