Our plans for water: new consultation opens today 

Today marks the launch of our draft business plan for 2010 to 2015, and the publication of a summary of our proposals: ‘Our plans for water - what will you get and how much will it cost?’

What will you get?

We plan to:·    

v    Continue our Victorian Mains Replacement project to greatly reduce leakage

v    Introduce a programme of metering in areas where water supplies are under greatest pressure
  

v     Provide more advice and assistance to help customers use water wisely

v       Develop plans for and, if approved, start work to construct a new reservoir to safeguard water supplies

v     Greatly reduce sewage overflows into the Rivers Thames and Lee

v    Make sure our sewers and sewage works can serve our growing population

v    Greatly reduce the number of our customers’ homes threatened by sewer flooding

v    Improve 250km of rivers to meet new water quality standards

v    Cut our carbon emissions by 20%, and implement projects needed to meet the requirements of legislation

v    Provide more financial assistance to customers who have difficulty paying their bills to ensure our services are affordable

What will it cost?

Our  £6.5bn investment programme will lead to an average annual increase in our bills for water and wastewater services of 3%.  The total increase from 2010 to 2015 will be 16.2%.  This is an increase in real terms from £283 to £329.*

Let us know your views

Our proposals have  been  informed  by  our  biggest  ever  programme  of consultation,  and  I  am  confident  that we have put our customers at the heart  of  our  plans.   We are launching a 12-week online consultation to continue this dialogue, and I hope you will take this opportunity to let us
know your views.We  will  use  the results of the consultation to modify our plan before we submit  the  final  version  to  our  regulator Ofwat in April 2009.  Their review of our proposals will set price limits for 2010 to 2015.We look forward to receiving your comments.

Peter Antolik
Regulation and Strategy Director

v    Bill impacts are quoted at average 2007-2008 price levels.

 Please  click  http://www.thameswaterconsult.co.uk/  to  register  for  our consultation   or http://www.thameswater.co.uk/fiveyearplan  to  view  our
plans.

Waltham Forest Council is declaring war on dog owners who persistently let their pets foul the borough and don’t bother cleaning up after them.

Street Wardens, Police Safer Neighbourhood Teams and enforcement officers will be patrolling the areas most affected by the issue, at the times most often visited by dog owners.

Anyone who is spotted failing to clean up after their animal will be asked to do so, and issued with a fixed penalty notice if they refuse.

Bags for dog owners will also be available at the Council’s Waltham Forest Direct shops.

 Waltham Forest Council’s spokesperson for Community Safety, Enforcement and Protection, said:

“Dogowners who refuse to clean up after their pets are exhibiting disgusting, anti social and hazardous behaviour towards other residents. “If you own a pet you need to take responsibility for its welfare and for cleaning up after it. People who are unwilling to do that, will be targeted and they will be punished.

It’s as simple as that. “We are sick of some dog owners using this borough as a toilet. We want to make Waltham Forest a place where people aspire to live and we won’t do that if people can’t be bothered to clean up after their pets.” 

To report dog fouling, contact Waltham Forest Direct on 020 84896 3000.

Residents can collect dog bags from WFD Shops in the following locations:

Leyton, 774-776 High Road; Walthamstow, 137 Hoe Street; Leytonstone, 819 High Road. 

Hard working schools in partnership with the Council have implemented plans to reduce congestion, improve road safety and encourage walking to school.

All 88 schools in Waltham Forest successfully introduced their travel plans, one year ahead of the government targets.Waltham Forest Council’s School Travel Planning Team hosted a celebration event at the SCORE centre to mark the achievement and identify and reward schools with particularly good plans.The event was attended by schools’ representatives, senior councillors and council officers. 

 Performers ranging from clowns to jugglers and trick cyclists kept everyone entertained.

Over the past 20 years the number of children travelling to school by car has almost doubled and account for at least one in five cars on London’s roads between 8-9am and 3-4pm during term time.The Council also wants to encourage young people to socialise with their friends and get some exercise on the way to school as well as cut congestion and car use.In the last year there has been a 4.9 per cent drop in the number of pupils who travel to school by car.

The aims of the school’s travelplans are to:

•  Reduce traffic congestionaround schools and encourage people not to use cars on the school run
•  Increase the number of children walking, cycling andusing public transport while travelling to and from school
• Raise awareness of road safety and the health and environmental benefits of using alternative transport for the journey to and from school

Conservative and Labour MPs are working together to STOP attempts to strengthen the Climate Change Bill.

They want to stop emission targets on shipping and aviation being included in the bill. But scientists and leading environmental organisations believe that such targets are vital to make the bill effective.

Liberal Democrat MPs have been working hard to make sure such targets are included. Their efforts have been praised by the Chief Executive of World Wildlife Fund UK David Nussbaum.

Higham Hill Cllr Sean Meiszner said, “Other parties may talk green, but they fail to deliver when it really matters. I am proud that Lib Dem MPs are leading the charge to tackle climate change in Parliament.”

Higham Hill Cllrs Smith, Meiszner and Woollcott, would like to congratulate the Higham Hill Safer Neighbourhood Team and P.C Adam Maullin, for the anti-crime surgeries and security advice provided to the Trencherfield Fertility Allotment Association plot holders, this summer.The anti-crime work and expertise from the SNT Team, enables better protection of garden tools and wheelbarrows and gives plot holders an improved sense of security.

When Lloyd George brought in the first Old Age Pension for over 70`s, in 1908, at five shillings a week, drunks and those with a prison record were not allowed a pension.

Only 1 in 4 people were able to claim a pension in 1908. In 2008, pensions should be an absolute human right for all.

Now in 2008 growing older into senior years should be something people look forward to, as a `golden time’.  But now in `Brown’s Britain’ there is a real prospect of `Fuel Poverty’ next winter, for many pensioners, unless they take action on the:

Ten Ways to Save Energy in the Home.

1.Turn the thermostat down to reduce room temperature by 1C that could cut the heating bill by 10% or £50 per year.

10.Do a Home Energy Check. This can save up to £270 a year on your household energy bills.

On one of our regular ward walks the Focus Team were disgusted to see how much fly tipping had been deposited next to recycling facilities. We reported the following:  

Billet Road

Recycling point is currently extensively fly tipped. In fact we moved some of this to ensure the path was still accessible.

McKentee Avenue

One of the two waste bins there is missing and the area has been fly tipped with predominantly gardening waste.  A supermarket trolley is full of concrete.

Higham Street

Both recycling points have been fly tipped, with a tyre left at the end of the street.

Sutton Road

The recycling point there is again a fly tipping point.

 Don’t dump it phone 0208 496 3000 and arrange for your rubbish to be collected. The Council allow three free collections of furniture a year.

 Pictured Lib Dem Councillor Bob Belam with Michael Hayes National Express Environmental Champion at Chingford Station. 

This is the first paper recycling facility to be opened at a transport hub in the borough.National Express and the council are looking at ways of installing these facilities at main line stations across the borough. 

The council is talking to LU with a view to having recycling at all Underground stations by the end of the year. 

If you want something done it is the LIB DEMS who get it done

The national public consultation prompted by the Liberal Democrats, has revealed that 500,000 local people want to see changes in the Climate Change Bill 2008, presently being discussed in Parliament..

Cllr Patrick Smith says “there are two important changes to the existing Climate Bill that are required”: 1.There must be a new 80% carbon emissions threshold, legally in force, until 2050, in reducing the environmental damage (currently it is set at 60%)

Around a third of the contents of an average refuse bin is organic waste which could be composted. Composting at home is a great way to prevent this waste going to landfill, where it releases methane, a major greenhouse gas.

Composting at home will give you a free source of nutrient-rich plant food for your garden.

How to purchase a home composting unit

Until 31 March 2008, you can order up to two 330 litre compost bins from the Council for £12 each. This price includes delivery. To order, please call Waltham Forest Direct on 020 8496 3000. From 1 April 2008, residents will be able to purchase compost bins that are subsidised by the Council directly from Recycle Now. More information will be available on the new scheme shortly. For further information contact Anita Starling on 020 8496 3000.