Councillor Report June-July 2018
General News:
Like the last two months this has been an extremely busy month with lots of activities including attending surgeries, going on a walkabout with council officers, attending overview and scrutiny meetings and of course the anti Trump rally! In addition to being on the Health and Wellbeing board and the overview and scrutiny committee I have now also been nominated to three outside bodies to represent Newham-Hallsville Quarter Long Term Management Committee; Royal Docks Management Authority (RoDMA) Limited and the Health and Wellbeing Strategic Reference Group (HWBSRG). These appointments were made on 27th June 2018.
Overview and Scrutiny:
I attended the overview and scrutiny meeting on 19th June 2018. Following an introduction to Overview and scrutiny training; the scrutiny committee met at 7PM to discuss the workplan for the year ahead. A key component of this role will be to scrutinise the mayor and examine key decisions taken by her and her cabinet and understand how this will benefit the residents.
Surgeries:
I have received various casework by phone, email as well as those visiting my surgeries. These have ranged from issues around parking to housing and crime. I have been dealing with these casework over the last few weeks. I held my regular surgery on 05th July 2018 from 6 until 8 this month at Canning Town Library.
Two of our residents also raised issues around regeneration in Canning Town and about the lack of shops in some of these developments. On my encouragement this was sent as a question to full council which the mayor has responded to.
With regard to issues around crime I have met the residents and talking to them about what can be done in their neighbourhood. I have encouraged all residents to report any kind of anti social behaviour to the council immediately.
Parking- This is particularly regarding Paragon close. I have told the resident that I have spoken to the cabinet lead for environment regarding this issue and unfortunately the decision which was taken will remain for now. What I have offered is to make sure when the consultations come back CTS gets the same deal as CTN and CH with regard to RPZ and we are in no way disadvantaged. I have also told the resident that I am happy to take a petition from him forward to the mayor in the next council meeting in September.
My casework timings for this year will be every first Thursday of the month from 6-8 PM. I had my first formal surgery on 07th June 2018 in the Canning Town Library
Meetings:
On 20th June 2018, I was invited to attend the BAME Labour celebration and 70th anniversary of Windrush. There were moving speeches made by John McDonnel MP; Dianne Abbot and others.
05th July 2018- Had a walk about with council officers and fellow CTS councillors around Canning Town South. Lots of important issues raised regarding the areas we managed to visit.
1. Terry Spinks Place- I have mentioned the level of rubbish that gets thrown there after a summer day including broken glasses etc. I have been assured by the officers this will be raised and we will look at installing a bin or two there.
2. Keir Hardie School safety- the bollards opposite to the Fife road side are too wide and there have been instances of car chase. I have been assured this will be followed up with highways department about moving the bollards around a bit
3. Hammersley Road- Lots of residents mentioned feeling unsafe. The advice has been to avoid using the lane that goes through the parking lot (figure 3 and 4)as it doesn’t have lights. Please use Fife road or cut through Edwin Street around the residential buildings instead. I also raised issue about more street lights in this area.
4. Hallsville Quarter- rubbish being dumped is an ongoing issue. Given the bins are under private management this will have to be raised with them. I will shortly be the council representative on the Hallsville Quarter long term management company so I shall be able to raise these issues then.
5. 40 acre lane- this green patch is being used as a dumping ground. This has been noted and I will get an update on whose responsibility it is to get this cleaned up.
11th July 2018- I was at the new Manor Road Quarter, Canning Town development meeting yesterday. This is an ambitious project delivering 850 homes for Canning Town of which 50% will be affordable. The public drop in sessions are on Wednesday (today) from 4 until 8 and Saturday from 10 until 2 at the Canning Town Library. I would urge Canning Town/Newham residents to go and check it out and ask any questions you might have.
The project is funded by English Cities fund which brings together public and private sector. More details here: www.ManorRoadQuarter.com
Initial thoughts:
50% affordability is a great target
Lots of green space being promised
Architecture will lead to more communal spaces
Affordable units for start ups and local business.
13th July 2018- The CTS councillors alongside the mayor met up with residents of the Royal Docks West group which is based in Western Gateway area of CTS. A number of issues have been raised regarding lighting, schools, amenities and local development plans. I am not going into the details in this report but all of these are being chased up between the councillors. These meetings will continue on a quarterly basis.
Community events:
28th June 2018- I attended the Keir Hardie Primary School community celebrations with my fellow councillors and branch members. I spoke to the Head of the school regarding how I could get more involved. I have since then received an email inviting me to a meeting with the head to discuss possible collaborations. I even played some football on Kevin’s encouragement!
04th July 2018- I was invited as part of the LGBT Labour socialist society national committee to attend the Mayor’s Pride reception at City Hall with fellow Newham colleagues. The mayor reiterated his commitment to fighting for equality in the city. I also attended London Pride with Labour colleagues on 07th July 2018.
08th July 2018- I attended the Newham Show with the mayor and fellow councillors. I took part in the community voice section where I had a range of Newham residents talking about local issues such as rubbish collection, housing and green spaces.
09th July 2018- I attended Labour group meeting before which a group of councillors got together to take a picture with the Mayor to send out a strong message against racism and hate. This was prompted by Donald Trump’s visit to the United Kingdom.
You can also download this report from here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kEty-IQr5LkftAOVxvPG-iDeQebEGko4/view?usp=sharing