Two post offices in nearby Chapel End ward are on the latest list of closures. The post office on the corner of Forest Road and Kenilworth Avenue and the one in the parade in Chingford Road by the Dog & Duck. There offices are used by residents of Higham Hill. Residents are starting a petition in the post office on Monday 25th February which will be attended by the Guardian and Cllr Bob Belam. Please join us in protest, sign the pettitions.

Cllrs Patrick Smith, Sean Meiszner and Peter Woollcott are against all post office closures.

We will keep you posted

Chingford Road from the Billet to Morrisons is about to get a new road surface.

You will see the signs saying

OVERNIGHT ROAD RESURFACING

STARTS HERE

2 MARCH – 9 MARCH

8 PM TO 6 AM

DELAYS POSSIBLE

ENQUIRIES 020 8496 3000

The most heavily polluting lorries are facing charges of £200 per day to enter Greater London as Britain’s first low emission zone (LEZ) comes into force. 

The £49m scheme uses cameras to check all lorries over 12-tonnes entering the zone against a database of vehicles certified as meeting EU exhaust limits.

Firms whose vehicles are not on the database will be told to pay up.

The rules, aimed at improving London’s air quality, will be extended to cover buses and coaches in July.

By 2010, it will also cover some vans and smaller lorries. Cars and motorcycles are exempt.

Firms are responsible for making sure their vehicles comply with the anti-pollution rules, which stipulate the amount of airborne dirt and nitrogen oxide each vehicle is permitted to emit. Unlike London’s congestion charge zone, which is lifted in the evenings and at weekends, the LEZ will be in force 24 hours a day, every day.

It also covers a larger area of 610 sq miles (1,580 sq km). Failing vehicles will be issued with a warning letter the first time they are seen in the zone.

In response to claims not enough was being done to make haulage companies aware of the new requirements, firms have been given an extra 28 days from the launch of the zone to ensure their vehicles comply before the fines kick in.

 Firms which fail to pay the £200 charge will be fined £1,000.

 Hauliers have protested about the new rules, which they say will be expensive to comply with.

But Transport for London, which is implementing the zone, says it will improve quality of life for people with asthma, cardio-vascular disease and other health conditions.

Nick Fairholme, head of the LEZ, said: “Despite significant improvements in recent years, London’s air pollution is the worst of any city in the UK and among the worst in Europe. “The LEZ aims to reduce traffic pollution by deterring the most individually polluting diesel-engine lorries, buses, coaches, minibuses and large vans from driving within our city.”

All lorries made after October 2001 automatically comply with the EU standards of particulate emissions of 0.05g per km. Older vehicles can be adapted to comply with the rules.

TfL said it had identified 120,000 lorries of over 12 tonnes inside the zone during six months of monitoring last year and estimates that about 10% do not meet EU standards.

Low emission zones are already planned or in operation in 70 towns and cities in eight European countries including Norway, the Netherlands and Germany. BBC transport correspondent Tom Symonds says other UK towns and cities with pollution problems will be watching the implementation of the LEZ with interest.   

Waltham Forest is having a big conversation on climate change. Tell us your bright idea on climate change and we’ll give you a free low energy light bulb!

Write down your idea, draw a picture or write a poem on how to tackle climate change in your house, neighbourhood, school or business.

Your idea could be something you’re already doing that other people could copy or adapt. You might have an idea of something you would like all residents, businesses, organisations or the Council to do. You could also tell us how you feel about climate change, and how you feel about what is being done at the moment.

Submit your idea online

Or you can send your idea to:

Climate Change, Waltham Forest Town Hall, E17 4JF

The closing date for ideas is 15 February 2008.

Terms and conditions

1. Entry assumes acceptance of these terms and conditions.

2. An entrant must be a resident of Waltham Forest or have close links to Waltham Forest by either going to school, working or running a business within Waltham Forest.

3. A bulb will be supplied to eligible entrants subject to availability.

4. Prizes are non-transferable and there is no cash alternative. Waltham Forest Council reserves the right to substitute prizes of equal value or greater value at any time.

5. Waltham Forest excludes liability for any defects or faults to the bulbs or prizes or any loss or damage suffered whatsoever.

6. Waltham Forest will not accept entries submitted after the deadline and reserves the right to exclude offensive entries.

7. Waltham Forest Council reserves the right to verify eligibility of all entrants.

8. Prizes are awarded at Waltham Forest Council’s discretion.

9. Waltham Forest Council’s decision is final.

New Development news 

Your Lib Dem councillors Sean Meiszner, Patrick Smith and Peter Woollcott met with the planning team and architects to feed back residents concerns from a meeting in December. 

A new Health Centre was top of the agenda.

We expect to have further news in the near future. 

We are also talking about a new bus route that will help residents travel to both Blackhorse Tube and to Highams Park.

Your Lib Dem councillors met with Sgt Martin Kirby last week to discuss issues affecting residents of Higham Hill Road Topics discussed  

Higham Hill SNT Newsletters

 Crimestoppers List We will be meeting again on 16^th April, If you have any concerns please let a member of the team know.

The Mayor has agreed to change the way empty home targets are set following pressure from Dee Doocey, Housing Spokesperson for the London Assembly Liberal Democrats.

This week, Dee Doocey criticised the Mayor’s housing strategy for not setting challenging targets for empty homes, with only a 2.5% vacancy rate needed by 2016.

She highlighted the fact that this target could be met without a single empty home being returned into use, because of the expected increase in housing stock through new builds.

As a result of Dee’s challenge, the Mayor agreed to move away from percentages to absolute figures. Commenting, Dee Doocey said, “The Mayor must also work closely with boroughs to bring these homes back into use. Too many homeowners find it difficult to obtain good, consistent advice about the help that is available. We need a targeted, London-wide approach to this very serious problem.”

The Mayor this week refused to commit to a target figure for reducing crime in future years while being questioned by Graham Tope at Mayor’s Question Time.

Graham Tope commented, “In January 2004 the Mayor pledged to reduce crime by 50% by 2008.

He has failed to hit this target by almost two-thirds.

At the Mayor’s Question Time meeting I challenged him to be held accountable for his future actions and he refused, yet again, sticking his head in the sand.

The Mayor’s dismal record on crime needs to be highlighted. Actual crime has not fallen and it is misleading for him to claim it has. Ken can lie about his crime-fighting reputation, but he is no superhero.”

The Metropolitan police announced this week that they were not going to conduct a criminal inquiry in to the actions of Mayoral aide Lee Jasper, despite Ken Livingstone having asked them to do so. 

The police said there been “no criminal allegations reported to us in connection with this individual.”

The Mayor at a meeting of the full London Assembly on Wednesday morning rejected Liberal Democrat Assembly leader Mike Tuffrey’s suggestion that he reinstate Lee Jasper.

“If the Mayor was certain that Lee Jasper had not acted illegally, then surely he has wasted police time with this matter” said Mike.  “The allegations made about Mr Jasper cannot be swept under the carpet by the Mayor, and I want to make sure that there exists no reason for Lee Jasper not to appear before the London Assembly on March 5^th as we conduct a detailed scrutiny into the issues.”

Senior officers from the London Development Agency and senior Mayoral advisors, Simon Fletcher, Lee Jasper and John Ross will appear before the London Assembly on March 5^th.  More details at http://tinyurl.com/2gake9

Figures obtained by the London Assembly Liberal Democrats show that the number of people charged for drink-driving in Brent, Barnet, Hounslow, Southwark, Hackney and Bexley has risen in the past three years.

The Liberal Democrats have outlined key proposals to revive London’s failing Tube network. It is hoped that these measures could restore confidence in the London Underground after taxpayers have forked out at least £2.6 billion for Gordon Brown’s disastrous Public Private Partnership.The ideas focus on improving the daily travel experience by making the Tube safer, faster and more friendly. They include initiatives to ensure an increase in the number of step-free access stations by 2012 in a bid to help reduce congestion and improve disabled access. Strong emphasis will also be placed on passenger safety on the Tube with a suggestion that every evening train should have a ‘SAFE’ carriage supervised by a security guard.

Currently under the PPP station upgrades are placed as the top of the priority list. Rather than worrying about how the station looks Geoff Pope, the Lib Dems Assembly Transport spokesperson, has argued that first work to improve the signals and tracks should take priority –  which would see a massive reduction in the delays and cancellations that currently hinder the daily journey of many Londoners.

Geoff said, “We would like to make London Underground as successful as the DLR and London Overground railway networks.  Under Labour, the waiting time for a Tube has actually increased and overcrowding has become a real danger at some stations. It is clear that the current system is being mismanaged.”

Cllr Patrick Smith reported lights not working at the Billet Roundabout

Below is an officers response

A contractor working for Transport for London appears to have damaged a LBWF street lighting cable feeding six lights around the Billet Rd junction on to the Roundabout.

TfL have been informed of the situation and we are in the process now of locating where the damage has occurred.

We have engaged a specialist to locate and repair as necessary.

Any costs will be recharged to the contractor.

At this stage I cannot confirm when the lights will be re-energised, but we will be pressing for the repair to be made at the earliest time.

Winnie & Brian Paddick Mayoral candidate on the election trail.

WINNIE SMITH recaptured the third Leyton Ward council seat last night in a spectacular Valentine’s Day victory.

SMITH LIB DEM  1360

Lab                       695

Respect                176

Con                       108

Grn                         90

Back in the run up to the 2006 elections, Labour’s Miranda Grell ran a smear campaign, describing our candidate as a paedophile and told electors he had sex with teenage boys.

 In September the courts convicted Grell of making false statements, imposed a £1000 fine, £3000 costs and barred her from council office.

Surprisingly, the Labour party then agreed to put up £30,000 to fund an appeal but at the last minute they backed away.

The appeal was lost, with the judge commenting that Grell’s evidence was “contrived and not honest” and that she “has let herself down and everyone in her community.” 

Last night’s resounding win for Winnie Smith shows what the voters think of this shameful episode.Winnie will be a real asset to the party and to the good people of Leyton.

Labour’s vote was cut to 29% and David Cameron’s Tories were left trailing in fourth place, only beating the Green by 18 votes.

Congratulations to the team in Leyton, especially Bob, Jenny and Henry, and also to the many people who went to help in person or on the phones.

The Mayor admitted today before the London Assembly that his pledge of
1000 extra police was not as a result of his budget.

Commenting on the Mayor’s misleading budget pledge, Policing Spokesman
for the London Assembly Liberal Democrats, Graham Tope said:

“The Mayor promised London 1000 extra police but they certainly won’t
be as a result of his budget. The Government and London boroughs will
be providing the majority of extra police.

“The Mayor would actually be responsible for a fall in the number of
police in London by 525, if it were not for Government and London
borough funding. The Mayor is taking credit for the hard work of
others.

“If the Mayor’s headline pledge for the budget is a lie, imagine what
rot lies beneath this empty promise. This is blatant spin on the
Mayor’s part.”