Monday 22 February 2010

From John

Please see comment below. It is important and I promised to post if but I cannot for the life of me work out how to paste into a fullpost - but managed to do so into a Comment. Any advice appreciated on that technical problem!

Sunday 21 February 2010

Contact from Ray

Dear all, I'm pleased to say that a Winns Ave resident, Ray has been in touch.
Please do check out his comments, my response and hopefully soon his response to that, in the comments at the bottom of the post called "Leaflets along Winns Ave" a couple down from this one.
Best wishes,
Andrea

Saturday 20 February 2010

Leaflet from Vincent and Roy

While I'm not going to get into a slanging match on these issues, all residents are within their rights to express their opinions, I'd like to address a couple of things in the leaflet that I'm sure many of you received last night like I did.

Firstly the WMCPAG did not request the consultation/reconsultation. Back in March last year we presented the difficult issues that residents were facing due to the CPZ imposition to the Council and asked for a discussion as to how these could be addressed. These were issues faced by those within the zone as well as outside. The Council said they would get back to us in 3 weeks with ideas, they didn't - in September last year this consultation plan was presented to us as a done deal, no discussion. It was not what we wanted at all, but the Council went ahead anyway.

The re/consultation is being done because individual residents complained. These included residents from Winns Ave (yes including me, as an individual not on behalf of the group), Badlis Road, and Diana Road as well as those from outside the zones. Also I was not the only resident of Winns Ave to not receive the original consultation documents and therefore was not allowed my say. And those who did get the opportunity to vote, voted against being in the zone.

I began this blog as a personal blog back in March last year - a resident of Winns Ave who was not at all happy about the CPZ. It is not fair to say that the WMCPAG is solely people from outside the zone, I've met many unhappy Winns Ave residents over the last year.

While I'm sure Roy and Vincent do truly believe what they wrote, I'm afraid they are wrong on some of the issues they raise - and the Council have acknowledged all of the above, so I'm not sure what complaints about the group would be for or about, to be honest. Anyway. I'll take another read of their leaflet when I get home and respond properly.
Best wishes all,
Andrea (winns ave)

Friday 19 February 2010

Leaflets along Winns Ave

Dropped some leaflets along Winns Ave this evening and counted the cars as I went, just a random Friday evening - I left the house at 9pm.

In the LP zone there were 20 (out of 32 capacity, 62% occupancy) cars, from LP down to Holmes Road there were 40 cars (out of 77 capacity, just 52% full). From Holmes to Priory Court were 15 cars and from Priory Court to the end there were 19 ( 34/88 capacity - only 38% full). That is a total of 94 cars on a road that can house 197 cars. Wow, hadn't done the maths till just now....that is under 48% occupancy. That is 52% of the spaces free - spaces that our families and friends could use to visit us this weekend, but we would have to pay £8.40 per car per weekend for that.....

I'd like to apologise to John who sent me an email to post for him, but my new computer isn't letting me do it. I'll sort out my word application and get onto it this weekend.

Most frustratingly the flyposting continues unabated and it seems our lawbreaking friend has become aggressive and offensive. Having seen the emails he sends and heard the way that his own neighbours talk about him, I think it is clear the man is a patronising bully. Normally I wouldn't post something this unpleasant about someone, but since we haven't named him I think it is only fair. And we imagine he reads this - so hello there, welcome, please feel free to comment, but remember NO SHOUTING.
Best wishes all (but one;)
Andrea

Thursday 18 February 2010

Vote Now!!

Hello all,
Please do remember to vote! I only got round to it yesterday, too much time removing illegal flyposters and almost forgot!
On the flyposting issue, just FYI I asked the council to look again at this activity, they are going up about twice a day. Please take them down if you see them, it is an illegal activity and it is essentially vandalism. We have stuck to legal and responsible methods. Our local corner shop has been taking these posters down too, they have even been put up on his shop! Outrageous.
We will be leafletting Winns Ave tomorrow/early weekend to encourage people to vote and to put forward some information the the Council hasn't passed on. We will have put leaflets through a couple of thousand doors when this has been done, thanks to everyone who has given up their time and facilities to help achieve this.
Best wishes,
A

Sunday 14 February 2010

Flyposters

Dear all,
Someone has been posting leaflets over the official council notices informing residents that a consultation is taking place. We reported it on Friday morning, but they were still there Friday night. I removed as many as I could see and they were reposted yesterday. Just as a reminder - this time last year our group attached a few laminates to lampposts to inform residents about our group - we were reported and they were taken down overnight. We didn't know it wasn't allowed (there are lost pet / missing posters and community notices on our lamposts all the time and they are not removed). However, since then we have not repeated this action. My point is that when perfectly sensible community notices are put up (but imply residents might like to meet up about a community issue) the council took immediate action. Nothing was done about defacing the council notices with leaflets in favour of 7 day a week restrictions. I'll leave you to your own conclusions.
Best wishes,

Wednesday 10 February 2010

Dear all,
Quick update on the issues people are raising with us. Having leafletted a large area people are kindly copying us in on emails to the council and approaching us with questions. We will answer them if we can, but do encourage you to contact the council as they can answer with authority - we can only tell you what the council has said previously (sometimes contradictory), information they have given us, council minutes we have etc. They need to know your concerns, any confussions or outright objections. They reluctantly met with us on 2 occasions in the last 14 months, they ignored our suggestions on how to make the system/questionnaires simpler and more transparent, hence the mess we are in. They aren't interested in our opinion as a group - so be persistent and get answers!

Issues raised in the last few days:
Chingford Road/Brettenham Road. A resident contacted us asking how commuters could possibly be responsible for the parking troubles in the evenings near the junction of Chingford and Brettenham and suggested it was actually the residents of Chingford Road (where there are few spaces currently) parking in Brettenham that are causing the issues there. One of the problems with parking zones is that they reduce the number of parking spaces, the other is that all roads in the zone can park anywhere in the zone, it isn't road by road. Looking at the map distributed with the pack it appears there are very very few spaces allocated on Chingford Road in that area. If Chingford and Brettenham are included in the new zone there is nothing to stop Chingford Rd residents continuing to park in Brettenham Road, everyone will just pay for the priviledge - and there will be fewer spaces on Brettenham to boot. Again a note on number of spaces - the council has not taken into account lamp posts, trees or other obstructions that will prevent parking , or make it difficult, reducing spaces further.

Missing consultation packs - so far 5 residents have copied us in on emails to the council requesting consultation packs that never arrived.

Cost of Zone - a resident of Badlis Road copied us in on a mail outlining that she wanted the option of 5 days a week 2 hours a day, like the options on the new zone consultation. She calculated that she had spent £200 on permits in the last year and that the inconvenience of 1, 2 and 5 hour scratchcards was unbearable. Before the inclusion of Winns Ave (against residents will) her visitors had parked there, causing no congestion in the area because Winns Ave was an effective buffer, with plenty of space especially at weekends when visitors come. After the inclusion of Winns Ave and Diana Road she was forced to pay for visitor permits (while Winns Ave sits nearly empty) and the costs are very high.
We weren't allowed to see the draft of the LP consultation and would have asked for the same options as for the new zone. We asked for this for the Winns Ave consultation - so that Winns Ave could be included in which ever zone most closely matched its wishes - we were ignored.

More people have emailed us about how unsatisfactory the public Drop In's were and why not put in complaints to the Council if you feel the same.

Leaflets in LP - a resident of Winns Terrace has distributed his thoughts to some homes in the LP zone. He states that the council is trying to turn LP into a carpark to service the newly (soon to be) renovated park. Clearly this is what he believes, but how does that add up when the council is actually trying to completely surround the park with a CPZ in this consultation? Residents of Winns Ave, Diana Road and Badlis Road all complained to the council about having the strictest restrictions in the Borough.
As a note as well, Winns Terrace is an incredibly underutilised road - according to council statistics and also, just as a random sample I have counted the cars on it on my way home the last few days. Please bear in mind that the Council states there are bays for 66 cars. On Monday at 21:25 (after restrictions end at 21:00) there were 22 cars, yesterday Tuesday just minutes after midnight there were 25 cars, today at 21:10 there were 24 cars. One third full.

Sorry for the random useless posts below - I tried up upload copies of our leaflets and the one another resident (of Winns Terrace) distributed to some homes in LP for you to take a look at. It didn't work, but I will try again:)

We also know that various residents are starting petitions, that at least 2 residents have been distributing leaflets against the zone/consultation independantly of us. I think the level of activity shows how strong a reaction this has provoked. We know some people are passionately in favour, and that of course is fine too, and you are welcome to post - but note that the comments are moderated and we have a few guidelines for you. Please be polite, no personal attacks, NO SHOUTING and no bad words.
Goodnight for now.
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Sunday 7 February 2010

Consultation underway....

Hello all sorry for the silence, lots has been going on as you can imagine.

Firstly thanks to everyone who has been in touch. We have now been contacted by people from right around the proposed (and the existing) zones. Marten Road, Douglas Ave, Penrhyn etc many people having been totally caught out by the consultation dropping through the door and having just 3 weeks to respond or even work through the issues with neighbours and figure out what is best for them.

I'm attaching a link to another blog that a resident has started (hello!), I think it would be good if we all take a look at both, as we will no doubt come across different issues.

The DROP IN's
Have been quite a hot topic with residents reporting fury at the one on wednesday, with no councillors in attendance and apparently Tom Wright claiming that the residents of Winns Ave wanted the zone they are in, hence the problems for everyone else. Now we all know that the Winns Ave residents voted convincingly against being included and it was a unilateral decision by Mr Belam that went against the consultation results, so this is a worrying turn of events - complete misinformation. If anyone has anything to report from teh Saturday meeting it would be great to hear your thoughts.

Various residents are proposing petitions, leaflets, some posters went up on lampposts too, but they were taken down by the Council. It would be great if you would all act on these ideas - the Council has started pointing people in our direction when they ask difficult questions that they don't want to answer. I'd like to encourage you to hassle the Council for information - it is the Councils job to listen to us, we elect them and pay our taxes. We are very pleased to hear from you, but don't let the Council fob you off with "get in touch with them", get annoyed and get answers!

They didn't listen to any of our feedback about these consultations, they didn't let us see a draft for the LP zone (which gives few options and doesn't reflect the prefered results from WinnsA and Diana Rd when they were consulted in 2008). They didn't even inform us when it was going to take place (though they managed to tell other resident groups). The only way we will get any joy is to get residents to get involved and vote and use the comments boxes, to call, email and write letters to the Council and hopefully get the local press involved.

I'm trying to attach a text only copy of the leaflet we have been putting through doors (or will upload a picture of it), so that residents in other areas can see what information we are passing around. Do feel free to copy, print and distribute where you are. And please let us know if you find people who haven't had the consultation pack through - just FYI I had a complaint against the council partially upheld, and only partially because the Council kept such poor records, because not all residents (4 including me that I know of on Winns Ave alone) simply did not get the pack through their door. I have had 2 emails so far this time saying the same thing - so please do let us know.

There is lots more to be said but for now we have to get on with writing to LP and WA zone residents (on the W side of the park, if anyone is interested in sorting the E side let me know).
Best wishes all - and Lorna, thank you for getting in touch about Penrhyn Hall, a worrying story and one to add to our list. Are you are in touch with the Council and petitioning users of the hall? I would also contact the local Guardian newspaper - it is an important local news story.
Andrea