Update

It's been a while since my last post. I resigned as a Havering councillor back in January - this was for personal reasons, including family (a question of time and the need to be on the other side of London) and altered work commitments with a new job.

Putney (pictured) is home. Part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, it's closer in to the centre of London - although in fact my commute into the City was quicker and easier from, say, Romford or Upminster. Cycling to work, though, has become more of an option and I've found that the journey time is not much different from public transport (and I'm unfit!) and is often more pleasant. Richmond Park is just around the corner, and many other green spaces, although Havering, being on the edge of London, had the advantage of being closer to real countryside.

I haven't got involved in Wandsworth politics - mainly the time factor but also because I've been something of a floating voter. The Conservatives, for me, generally have the right instincts on the role of the state, but at the recent elections I went for the Lib Dems - principally because of the need for electoral reform but also other issues. The Con-Lib coalition (or whatever we are calling it) seems to be a good election result.

Audit Committee Dec 09

Audit Committee on 8th December 2009 was one of our longer meetings. As it happens, the way in which we manage our agendas was part of the "Annual Review of Audit Committee Effectiveness" which we looked at - as chairman I'm always grateful for the efforts of members (of all parties) in keeping our work focused and effective. We probably benefit from being one of the less politically-charged committees.

One of the principal agenda items was the Annual Audit Letter from the Council's auditors (PWC). This includes scores for the Council in terms of managing finances, governing the business and managing resources. The Council comes out well (taking into account that the scoring system is harder than in previous years), and members asked searching questions on areas where improvements could be made.

Other matters included updates on housing benefit fraud, adult social services (which had budget problems in 2007/8), treasury management (how the Council invests and borrows money) and the regular internal audit progress report. We also looked at the annual review of the Council's risk management arrangements - as usual there was a debate about how one assesses both likelihood and impact of risk in drawing up the Council's risk register.

The agenda can be found here, as can the minutes in due course as part of the next agenda.

Illuminating Elm Park 2009

Illuminating Elm Park 2009 saw local businesses and residents again enthusiastically taking part in the festivities on what was a cold evening. The mayor, Cllr Roger Ramsey, switched on the Christmas tree lights, while James Brokenshire MP assisted with the countdown. The Elm Park Regeneration Partnership did a great job as ever (and, among the annual traditions, Ingrid Brandon was again in costume - this year as a tin soldier).

A good night once more for Elm Park - a nice moment was when one lady stepped up to say she had just moved into the area and was really impressed with the community spirit.

This will be my last Illuminating Elm Park as a councillor and I shall miss my (limited) role in the festivities - where else would one be asked directions by a roller-skating christmas pudding?

"Mr Holly", James Brokenshire MP, Simon Jones

Recent meetings

Just to catch up on recent meetings, Council on 21 Oct 2009 was a lively occasion. The key debate was on a Residents' Association motion to suspend car parking charges in out of town centres in view of the recession. The Administration amendment (which was passed) focused instead on the benefits of the charges in terms of deterring commuter parking. There's more on the meeting in the Romford Recorder here, and also a more recent piece here.

The other debate was about making Council proceedings available online. In short, there are a variety of views as to how fast/far we want to go on this - I made the point in my contribution that councillors will have varying experiences of technology. Accessibility is, I think, the strongest argument - a resident's ability to observe meetings shouldn't, in this day and age, depend on their physical ability to get to the Town Hall. I supported the Administration amendment which provided for webcasting of Full Council and Cabinet, but with other meetings to be given further thought. As was said in the debate, we need in particular to think about meetings where the public can speak, e.g. planning, but who may not want to be filmed.

Other aspects of the meeting included a lively Q&A session and acknowledgment of the achievements of the Royal British Legion Band & Corps Of Drums Romford at the 2009 World Music Contest. The agenda for the meeting, and in due course the minutes as part of the next agenda, are here (there are two agendas - we had an extraordinary meeting first to deal with a piece of business which couldn't be dealt with in the main meeting).

On 27 Oct 2009 we had the Joint Area Committee Oct regarding the proposal to put Clydesdale Road into a residents' parking scheme (which I've previously mentioned). In the end the decision was to recommend that the road be put into the scheme, but without the single yellow line in front of dropped kerbs which seemed to have caused a lot of concern. The matter will now go before the Regulatory Services Committee. This meeting was also covered by the Romford Recorder, here, and the agenda (including the reports) is here.

The Elm Park Story

On Tuesday I attended the launch of "The Elm Park Story" at Elm Park Library - the book celebrates Elm Park's history on the eve of the area's 75th anniversary. The event was well-attended, with visitors from as far away as Bristol and Norfolk. We were introduced to the authors - Chris Hipperson, Simon Donoghue and Ingrid Brandon - and we also heard from the Mayor (Cllr Roger Ramsey) and the Council Cabinet Member for Culture (Cllr Andrew Curtin).

So what of the book itself? Well, it is truly a fascinating read for anyone who lives in Elm Park or who has a connection with the area. The book explores Elm Park's history from prehistoric times to the present day, but of course with the majority of the material being about the years after the creation of Elm Park Garden City by Costain in the 1930s. The initial sales process is particularly well detailed, with the reproduction of some of the advertisements providing a good insight into people's income and expectations of the time. House styles such as the Villete, Mayfield and Coronation Arcadia were proudly shown off by the developers.

The book then moves steadily on through the war years including material on RAF Hornchurch, and the impact of the base on the town including in terms of the enemy bombing and the aircrew stationed there. In particular there are striking pictures of bomb-damaged houses.

The book deals with the post-war development of shops and housing, including some good pictures of Tadworth Parade being built. Modern-day Elm Park is described, including mention of community events such as the annual Elm Park Fiesta and Illuminating Elm Park celebrations. Chapters of the book cover specific themes such as religion (including former places of worship such as Elm Park Synagogue), schools (with a detailed section on each), community groups (including Guides and Scouts, the Red Cross, the Woodcraft Folk and the Elm Park Horticultural Guild) and the railways.

The authors' efforts to include the personal recollections of Elm Park residents mean the book has a very human touch - for example, personal stories of the wartime years give a take on Elm Park's place in history.

All in all an excellent book which I thoroughly recommend. On sale at any Havering library or from Swan Books in Upminster, priced £12.99. I've bought two - having sadly left my signed copy on a train!

Planes and automobiles - Area Committee 13 Oct 09

Cars and aircraft were among the topics discussed at last week's Elm Park & Hylands Area Committee. As regards the former, the principal agenda item was a report into whether Clydesdale Road should be made part of the Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) thus requiring residents to obtain a permit. This has been talked about for a number of years - the short of it is that some residents feel that the road should be included (reasons include the growth in car numbers in the area, the Queen's Hospital, and the fact that nearby roads are in the scheme), whereas other residents feel the road should not become part of the zone. There is now an additional issue of how to prevent obstruction of dropped kerbs in a CPZ which is adding confusion/controversy. The matter was not taken any further forward at the meeting, as it was decided that a special joint session should be held with Romford Area Committee on 27 October at the Town Hall (7.30pm) - Clydesdale is one of those roads split between two wards and two Area Committees. I'm hoping for a high turn-out of residents which will help give the issues a good airing.

Cars also featured in the public forum session, where concerns were raised about taxis building up in the centre of Hornchurch - the Committee agreed to look into this although it's not necessarily something the Council has power to solve. Mention was also made at the meeting of progressing the Pembrey Way parking plans - my understanding is a revised scheme is going to be put forward after technical difficulties were found with the plan the committee earlier approved.

Planes came up in the context of residents' worries about changes in flights into City Airport. Mention was made of Andrew Rossindell's campaign on the issue. Clearly this is a topical matter at present in the borough as a whole, and I see the Romford Recorder has had some lively correspondence on the issue.

Agenda for the meeting is here (minutes will form part of the next agenda).

Havering's Health Profile

One of the more interesting bits of recent government reading has been the "Health Profile" for Havering, prepared by the Association of Public Health Observatories and others. A copy of it can be found here.

Havering is "significantly better" than the England average in many areas, including in terms of GCSE achievement, child poverty, children's tooth decay, drug misuse, violent crime, binge drinking, teenage pregnancy and the health of the over 65s. Contrary to the view sometimes portrayed of Romford after dark, it is on the binge drinking score that Havering is most ahead.

Less happily, Havering is "significantly worse" than the England average in terms of the levels of physical activity in adults and children, breast-feeding initiation and the number of people diagnosed with diabetes. The physical activity scores are perhaps suprising given Havering's prowess on the sportsfield (e.g. at the London Youth Games), and the fact that Havering is said not to be significantly different from the England average in terms of obese adults or children.

All in all, an interesting report, and one where Havering has some good scores.

Council 22 July 2009

Full Council on Wednesday was a rather lengthy affair, and appeared (to me) to be a little more politically charged than usual. One example came in the Questions & Answers session where the Residents asked a number of questions about financial matters. The Conservative Administration referred the questioner to the relevant accounts on the Council's (public) website where the information could already be found or derived. In my view the Residents might have asked better questions (their leader, Cllr Barrett, even sits on the committee that considers the accounts) but then again the Administration might have been more helpful. Fuller answers were given to other questions on various topics such as fire safety in tower blocks, housing development in Rainham and the removal of dead animals.

As regards the debate session, three motions were on the agenda. The one on webcasting Council meetings and special events, proposed by the Independent Local Residents (not the same as the Residents or the Rainham & Wennington Independent Residents, if you're new to Havering politics) was withdrawn due to lack of time - it's a good motion and I think will be an interesting debate.

We did deal with Labour's motion that the Administration was derelict in its "representative duty" as regards both changes to flights from London City Airport and NATS proposals to alter flight paths, including as regards a lack of information given to residents, and, in the case of the London City flights, councillors. Even the debating skills of Cllr Darvill (Lab leader) couldn't really overcome points raised by the Conservative Administration e.g. that councillors were informed of the London City Airport changes and thus had the ability to raise the issue in Council or committee, and that NATS is go through a new consultation on its proposals. An Administration amendment to the motion, commending the Administration's execution of its representative duty, was passed and became the motion approved by Council.

The other motion, also a Labour one, was on the topic of consultation arrangements with Council tenants and leaseholders and specifically the need to conduct in the near future a survey about additional services and charges payable. The Conservative Amendment was to the effect that Homes in Havering and the Administration constantly review these things and that the Audit Commission recognised the effectiveness of resident involvement methods. As I've said before, there are perfectly reasonable arguments that can be made both ways on the subject of the additional service charges. On balance, and whether or not the original "consultation" was sufficiently detailed, there do seem to be advantages in seeing how the additional services work in practice rather than embark immediately on a (costly?) survey. The Conservative Amendment was carried and the amended motion was passed. Due to the length of the meeting, shorter time limits were imposed on speeches in this debate - I wonder if there is merit in slightly more frequent but less agenda-heavy meetings.

Among other things at the meeting, the Leader made a statement about the Government's u-turn on Decent Homes money. The Mayor also presented a trophy to representatives of Havering's winning team from the London Youth Games, and presented medals to the Mayor of Havering's Cadet and Reserve Cadet. We also learned from the Mayor that Cottons Park and Harold Wood Park are the latest Havering parks to win Green Flag status.

The agenda for the meeting is here (the minutes will appear as part of the next agenda in due course). In particular the agenda includes the annual reports of various Council committees that were presented to the meeting.

Mayoral At Home

Friday evening saw the annual Mayoral At Home where the Mayor of Havering greets councillors and others at Langtons. The Mayor (Cllr Roger Ramsey) spent some time in his speech focusing on young people in the borough, and he mentioned the Mayor's Cadet role that he has established - the cadet for this year (Lydia Skilleter of St John Ambulance Cadets) attended the event. Also present were representatives from the Mayor's charity for the year, Havering Crossroads, which provides support to those caring for others. Interestingly we learned that the Mayor has a good command of German and was recently able to deliver a speech in Ludwigshafen (one of Havering's twin towns) in the language.

As for Langtons, it is looking great after its refurbishment. Havering appears to be unusual in having such a good Council-owned marriage venue - last year I was speaking to a registrar outside London and when I mentioned Havering she asked if this was the council which had that fantastic place Langtons.