A constituency-wide General Election special edition of the FOCUS newsletter has just gone to press, and will be delivered by our team of volunteers.
Please contact Carl Quilliam, our Parliamentary candidate, if you would like to help his campaign.
His email address is: leytonandwansteadcarl@gmail.com.
You can also contact him via his agent, Clyde Kitson, on (010) 8534 2947 or Bob Sullivan on (020) 8556 8335.
You can access an advance copy here: General Election Special
Liberal Democrats are taking the fight to the Tories and Labour across Waltham Forest. The Liberal Democrat candidates in the General Election are below. If you would like to help the Lib Dems in the General Election then please contact any of the candidates.
mobile: 079847 771 487 – email: amc59@gmail.com
email: leytonandwansteadcarl@gmail.com
mobile: 07872 427 778 – email: steven@stevencheung.co.uk
web: www.stevencheung.co.uk – twitter: twitter@stevencheung
Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg has announced a £150m investment to transform the treatment of children and young people with eating disorders.
Nick has secured the fund in this year’s Autumn Statement and forms part of the Liberal Democrats ongoing campaign to bring mental health services on a par with physical health care.
PLEASE CLICK TO SIGN OUR PETITION:
The fund will be rolled-out over the next five years and paves the way for the introduction of new waiting standards.
Research shows an increasing number of young people, some as young as five are being admitted to hospital for treatment of eating disorders at a cost to the NHS of around £200m a year.
The new funding will focus on channelling money from expensive institutional care to local provision through:
– pilot schemes to get young people with eating disorders early access to services in their communities, with properly trained teams, making hospital admission a last resort.
– extending access to talking therapies so that children and young people have choice of evidence based therapies.
Nick said:
“Too often children with mental health problems are being completely let down by the current system, with many suffering from eating disorders going unreported and untreated.
“We know that if an eating disorder goes untreated for more than 3 to 5 years the chances of recovery are greatly reduced, while incidents of self harm increase.
“That’s why we need to act now to transform the current system, intervening earlier with dedicated and targeted community-based services to ensure that we don’t fail this generation or the ones that follow.”
Transport for London (TfL) has announced that work will include a new enclosureand new lighting to improve visibility and reduce anti-social behaviour. This will incvlude some work to strenthen the footbridge.
Work will begin on Monday 16 March and will last approximately 16 weeks, or until the works are completed with the agreement of the local Council. The working hours will be from 21.30 to 05.00 at night and 08.00 to 16.00 Monday to Friday.
The strengthening works, taking place under the footbridge, are due to be carried out at night from 16 March until 3 April.
The surface renewal, enclosure and lighting replacement are to to be carried out during the day from 30 March until 26 June.
TfL says that every effort will be made to ensure that noisy operations are completed berfore midnight, but explain that vehicle reversing beepers are essential safety devices.
During bridge closures pedestrian and cyclist diversions will be clearly signposted.
For further information or an update while work is underway, contact the Customer Services Department on 0845 305 1234, or via the web at www.tfl.gov.uk/contact or via vemail at customerservices@tfl.gov.uk
Fred Wigg and Joihn Walsh Towers, Montague Road
In November a packed meeting of tenants voted for the option of refurbishment of kitchens and bathrooms for John Walsh and Fred Wigg tower blocks in Leytonstone.
Tenants Ignored
However, the Labour Council over-ruled the tenants, agreeing a plan to strip back the towers to the core, completely refurbish the flats and build a smaller block between them.
Labour Selling Off Flats
Brand new flats for the tenants? No! The Council wants to sell off one of the blocks to the private sector, thus reducing the number of Council flats from 232 to 160! Waltham Forest has thousands of families on the waiting list, so a further reduction of affordable homes will dash the hopes of many people. In effect Labour is getting rid of tenants who are, in the main, less well-off and inviting wealthy people to buy up the flats.
Labour MP and councillors ignore cries for help
The residents have asked their Labour MP and Labour councillors for help but they stay quiet. They have even been ignored by one of their Labour councillors who was once a tenant in one of the blocks!
Focus says:
The Council has said tenants can go back once the refurbishment is complete. This is rubbish as there will not be enough flats to house all of them! One of the tenants has said “The Council is treating us worse than something stuck on their shoe”.
Focus will keep you informed of the tenants’ campaign to save their homes.
Link to article in the national Guardian:
Carl Qulliam pictured outside Leyton Youth Centre (former County Cicket Ground) with former Lib Dem Council Group Leader Bob Sullivan
Carl Quilliam, the former Head of Office for the Lib Dems on Waltham Forest council, has this week been selected to stand in the Leyton and Wanstead constituency by the local Lib Dem party.
Carl is a former civil servant who worked in regeneration under the last Labour government. He supported the Liberal Democrat council group as their Head of Office from October 2011 until October 2013 and now works for a large London-based housing association.
On being selected Carl said:
It’s exciting to be selected to stand here in Leyton and Wanstead. The Lib Dems have been the main opposition to Ed Miliband’s Labour here for over 20 years. And locally we’ve been at the forefront of campaigns on housing, children’s services, school places and protecting our environment.
It’s great to finally see local schools expanding thanks to coalition funding and without another of Labour’s expensive PFI deals but we still need more places to meet the growing demand.
And we all know that we desperately need more affordable homes for local people, as well as more jobs and apprenticeships our young people.That’s why I will use this campaign to stand up for more local school places, more and better housing and tackling youth unemployment in the area.
Local Lib Dem activist Bob Sullivan said:
It is great to have Carl as our candidate, as the leader of the Lib Dem Group on the Council I spent two years working closely with him. He knows the people, knows the problems and knows the area. There is no doubt he will be the best person to represent our residents as an MP.
London City Airport
Waltham Forest E Guardian – 28 January 2015
An airport has refused to attend a public meeting as it plans to go ahead with flight path changes which campaigners claim will cause a “noise ghetto” for those living under it.
London City Airport is planning to implement new technology to enable a much narrower and concentrated corridor over Wanstead, Leytonstone and Leyton.
Campaign group HACAN East believes this will increase the noise level for people living in these areas and wants the plan scrapped.
The airport will submit its proposal to the Civil Aviation Authority by the end of February, and if the plan is passed, it could be implemented in early 2016.
In a letter to the airport from deputy leader of Waltham Forest council, Cllr Clyde Loakes, he requested a further public meeting on March 2.
He said:
“I remain concerned that a significant proportion of residents are still unaware of the introduction of the RNAV technology and the impact that this will have on the quality of life of those living under the flight paths.
“I think it would therefore be useful if residents were able to hear from you directly about the next steps that will be taken and how the technology will be rolled out.”
But in reply, Jeremy Probart of London City Airport, ruled out attending a public meeting in the near future.
He said:
“There is very little that we can add to this currently, and feel that a public meeting, such as the one you suggest, would actually be counter-productive.
“We know that some people are opposed to the proposals (and the objections received have been incorporated in the report to the CAA) and a meeting in March would not be able to offer anything in the way of further information, which may simply serve to inflame, rather than to assuage.
“Therefore we will respectfully decline the opportunity you have outlined. If such a meeting were to take place, it would make sense to hold it after the CAA’s decision on the proposals and slightly before the replicated flight paths take effect.”
To sign the petiton:
The recently closed Police Station in Kirkdale Road
With the closure of Leytonstone Police Station there is now no police station in the south of the borough.
Following the closure the Police are providing a contact point at Tescos in Gainsborough Road. Officers are present every Wednesday and Thursday from 6 – 8pm. and on Saturday from 2 – 4pm.
The only other local contact point is The Police Base, 593 Lea Bridge Road, E10 6AF. It is open every Wednesday and Thursday from 7 – 8pm, and on Saturday from 2 – 3pm.
The Cathall Neighbourhood Policing Team telephone number is (020) 8721 2767.
For non-emergency calls the Police ask you to dial 101. However, for emergencies call 999.
Waltham Forest Council is one of the few Councils, successful in their bid to Transport for London for ‘Mini Holland’ funds to radically improve cycling in the borough. One of the areas for improvement is Ruckholt Road.
At a consultation meeting in Leyton Library, Lib Dem Focus Team member, Bob Sullivan had a chance to discuss the plans with officers and residents. Overall the scheme looks innovative and will assist safer cycling in the area. Bob outlined many small changes that would improve the scheme for cyclists and residents. The main one was allowing a left turn from Oliver Road into Ruckholt Road. Blocking the left turn would only encourage vehicle rat running.
He also said that the present bus stop in Ruckholt Road by the library should not be moved to Warren Road. The area in Warren Road is constantly used by motorists to park and shop locally in the High Road.
He also felt that the two current CPZs need to be combined and the times of operation extended.
Bob says: My full list of comments and suggestions has been sent to the Council. This website will keep you informed of developments.