Ilford South Labour Party

Last night (Wednesday 16th) a farcical “public” meeting was held to present proposals by E-Act to open a Free School on the site of the current Downshall Centre in September (see post below). Below are some of the issues beginning to emerge

• E-Act have already advertised for a headteacher for the “proposed” school. The closing date for applications is this Friday, 18th March! If you wanted to apply, you’re already too late: the project briefing days for applicants were earlier this week.
• Back in October the Ilford Recorder ran a story about E-Act’s interest in bidding to open a free school in or near Newbury Park. It reported that a disused building such as a former office block would be used.
• The Department for Education website shows the proposal was approved to the “business case stage” on 14th January.
• About a dozen people attended last night’s “public” meeting held by E-Act. Most were representing voluntary sector groups using the centre. Also present were local councillor & Labour Group Leader, Bob Littlewood & union representatives. None of these people had been sent notice of the meeting. Only a couple were prospective parents, one of whom arrived minutes before the meeting ended.
• E-Act claims to have been running a consultation since December 2010. This has consisted of a survey carried out by MORI of a about 300 prospective parents about whether they would want to send their children to a free school in the local area. No consultation of existing users of the Downshall Centre. No consultation with local residents or their elected representatives.

Some of the questions which need answering are:

• When was the possibility of using the Downshall Centre first raised with Keith Prince, Leader of the Council, or Alan Weinberg, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services?
• Why was a true consultation of all stakeholders not implemented as soon as consideration of using the centre had been agreed?
• What consideration has been given to traffic management at the crossroads on which the Downshall Centre stands? This is already a longstanding problem which will be greatly exacerbated as the school builds from its opening capacity of 120 children to 420.
• What alternatives were considered?
• How can the results of the totally inadequate “consultation” be regarded as valid when those surveyed were not told the location of the school? Nor were they told it will take over the home of many servics provided by the voluntary sector & one of just four centres across Redbridge for the borough’s Youth Service.

Everyone accepts that there is an urgent need for more primary school places in the borough. That is why the last Labour government funded the building of new, purpose built primary schools on the old Port of London playing fields and off Winston Way. But the current proposal is not the way to go about it.

The Department for Education says free schools are “set up in response to what local people say they want”. We say:

• This is the ConDem government hurriedly pushing through its ideological free schools agenda with the connivance of local Tories & Liberal Democrats. This denies local people the chance to say what they want.
• This is no way to plan for the future.
• This is top down, not bottom up government.
• This is not transparent government.

Seven Kings and Goodmayes Allotment gardeners now believe they have finally won their fight to save much loved allotments form sale, helped by local residents and similarly threatened allotment gardeners in Hainault. Goodmayes Labour Councillors and Labour Deputy Leader, Cllr Bob Littlewood, were involved early in helping allotment gardeners.

The battle began early in 2007 when Redbridge Council Cabinet voted to sell off Vicarage Lane South and Goodmayes Lane allotments. They decided in secret, with the public unable to attend or even find out that plot sales were on the agenda. Councillors were forbidden to talk about sales, yet according to Alan Weinburg, Council Leader, the decision was not a secret!

The sale move was doubly cynical as Redbridge had recently announced a “consultation” on the future of allotments. As one gardener said “it’s difficult to call it a consultation when a key decision has already been made” . Sale plans also threatened other open space with allotment holders to be displaced into Goodmayes Park extension.

They were soon joined by North Hainault Allotment Holders Society, also threatened with the sale of two flourishing sites. Sites were chosen solely because they were easy to develop. Two sites were fully occupied and the others nearly full.

When they found out allotment gardeners went to war. They protested outside Town Hall meetings joined by Labour Party members, spoke at Council, Cabinet and Scrutiy Committees and publicised their case in the local papers, radio and the national press. Their fight was even mentioned in the book “One man and his dig” by Times journalist Valentine Low.

They lobbied their Area Committees and were rewarded by a split in the Conservative ranks. Several Conservative councillors were concerned by the potential loss of open space and the risk of overdevelopment.

They could also have considered that selling four allotment sites run by voluntary groups flew in the face of a national Conservative policy that claims to support voluntary groups. Not so in Redbridge. The only Council run site, Chigwell Road, was withdrawn from sale when local residents objected en masse and it was conveniently discovered that the site was in a flood risk area.

Selling allotments also flies in the face of the growing national popularity of allotments. Ironically the voluntary sector let sites are much better occupied than the Council’s own sites so it looks as if the Council wanted to penalise voluntary success.

Most allotment gardeners are not terribly political. For many it was their first visit to a Council meeting. They went away appalled at the cynical way they were treated by Redbridge Conservatives.

After a very long campaign by Ilford South Labour MP, Mike Gapes, Labour members and Councillors, local residents and allotment holders, we have FINALLY persuaded the Tory Council to find the money to build a new leisure centre and pool in Ilford and NOT to sell off our allotments.

See the full story by reading the Valentines Labour News, currently being delivered in Valentines Ward, which also gives details of some of the recent work carried out by the local Labour Councillors.

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On November 4th Redbridge’s Conservative Cabinet has to decide how to react to the 5,000 people who responded on line and on paper to the Council’s questions about what major developments to go ahead with and how they ought to be paid for.
They are likely to put off any solid decisions until next year.

Respondents chose school improvements and the construction of a new leisure Centre and Pool in Ilford South to replace recently closed High Road Pool above all other options.

They also chose the sale of land in North Ilford as the means to pay for these developments.

Labour supported the setting up of the Conversation, as an alternative to the Tories “solution” to the financial mess they have been in for years which was to sell allotments.

Labour also support the choices the people have made, especially the building of a new Leisure Centre and Pool to replace the recently closed High Road Pool, and we will continue to campaign until we get what the local people want.

Seven Kings and Goodmayes Allotment Society attracted over 900 people to their open day, held at their Goodmayes Lane site. Visitors will have been struck by how well used these allotments are. Yet this is one of the sites under threat from Redbridge Tories’ desperate plans to raise money by selling off the borough’s assets.

Gardeners get the health benefits of exercise in the open air and a good diet from the fruits (and vegetables) of their own labour. For many, gardening also brings great satisfaction and mental relaxation. And think of the impact on your carbon footprint from growing some of your own food. Goodmayes Labour member and allotment holder, Mike Fitzmaurice said:

“There’s nothing better than putting something on the dinner table that you’ve picked from your own garden. I’ve only recently started working a plot, but some people here have put many, many years into producing immaculate gardens and would be devastated if they had to start all over again.”

Labour Councillors and members of the party have been supporting the campaign to save allotment sites in the borough, and our MP, Mike Gapes, has raised the issue in Parliament. It seems that only the Tory council thinks that selling busy allotment sites is the right thing to do.

Click on this link (Seven Kings & Goodmayes Allotment Society) to see what you can do to help save the allotments.

On Saturday 1 September the Redbridge Carnival Event took place at Goodmayes Park Extension. Next day there was a festival and open day at the adjacent Goodmayes Lane Allotments. Both events were well attended and enjoyed by many local people. But if the Conservative Council has its way, this is the last time these events will take place in our community.

The Council has downgraded the protected status of Goodmayes Park Extension, and the Conservative Cabinet has voted to dispose of Goodmayes Lane and Vicarage Lane South Allotments. This is despite the fact that the land sales programme was referred back at the last full Council, when the divided Conservative Group could not even muster the support of all its own members for the proposals. If they have their way the sites can be developed. This against the background of decisions just across the boundary in Barking to develop the University site for flats.

These sales are part of a massive programme of land disposals originally agreed by Conservative Councillors in secret and without consultation……who knows what could go next?

• We say that open space is badly needed in the Ilford area with so many sites already being developed.

• We know money is needed to develop more facilities for all the residents of Ilford, but we say there must be a holistic approach to any disposals with full public consultation.

Your Labour Councillors have presented petitions signed by hundreds of local people against the sale of the allotments and the loss of protection of the park. Residents have made it clear to us that they oppose the sales and the loss of their open space. Now the matter will again be discussed at full Council on 20 September. We hope to manage to defeat the plans again. The Seven Kings and Goodmayes Allotment Association are organising a demonstration outside the Town Hall, Oakfield Road entrance from 6.15 p.m. The meeting is open to the public.

Come along and show your support for our community

More information contact Cllr Satnam Singh (0208 911 9372), Cllr Vinaya Sharma (0208 708 0209), Cllr Dave Radford (0208 708 9600), Cllr Ayodhiya Parkash (0208 708 0211), or the Ilford South Labour Party Office on 020 8554 3070

Anyone who has used King Georges hospital or has children at school locally will know how public services cannot cope with the existing population of Seven Kings without putting it under more pressure. Yet the Tories intend to sell off our land and put flats on it, plus community use and shops. What Seven Kings needs is something to draw people to the ward, community use and sports facilities would do this. Flats between the Railway line and the High Road are a poor place for children to grow up in..

Seven Kings support the report published by Gordon Brown which says far too much land is protected from development. It is far better to open up some green land outside Seven Kings to cope with our growing population than make people live between the noise of high speed trains and the exhaust pollution of the High Road. Shame on the Tories for wanting to sell off our land rather than keep it under public ownership for public use in Seven Kings.