Newsletter
Welcome - Newsletter dated Sept 02
Welcome to the 2nd edition of Westborough Times. RAW would like to thank all those who contacted us earlier this year after the first edition went out– the response was fantastic. It showed that there are a great many people in Westborough who really care about their community. Again, please feel free to contact us regarding any issues that affect you in the ward (good or bad) and please continue with your support. We cannot run without the backbone support of residents and traders, and are pleased to represent ordinary (and extraordinary!) members of the community - Joanne Wheatley
Nappies
Did you know that eight million nappies are disposed of in Britain every day, accounting for four percent of all household rubbish? Added to that, nappies can take up to 500 years to decompose and use non-renewable resources like wood and crude oil in their production. Worrying, isn’t it?
This is why many parents are now turning their back on disposables and starting to use old fashion cotton nappies. These nappies are better for the environment and use up far less of the world’s resources in their production (including all the washing involved). They are also better against your baby’s skin as it is not coming into contact with the many chemicals that are now in disposables. Parents will be surprised at how easy it is now-a-days – no more pins or complicated folding. They will also save money in the long run and see nappy rash disappear.
After some pressure from RAW, Southend council are now starting to look into promoting reusable nappies (although it is very slow). Disposable nappies cost the council a fortune in landfill tax, so parents changing to reusables would save the council tax payer a fortune. The council should be using these potential savings to encourage more parents to start using cotton nappies – either buying them or using a local laundry service. - Joanne Wheatley
`People Power’ – it’s in your hands
Within a few months of its birth, the Residents’ Association of Westborough found itself in a David and Goliath situation.
Facing RAW appeared the daunting sight of one of the largest developments planned for this over-crowded and neglected ward - a housing estate on the old Fairfax Drive woodyard site. RAW is not against the site being cleared and developed, but not in this way. A junior school; hospital out clinic and parking with some homes for key workers and a multi-purpose community centre, were just some of the ideas members suggested.
The planning application, which if it had been presented before RAW was formed, could have been nodded through in minutes. However, the council have now discovered the ‘people power’ of Westborough.
At the time of going to press, no-one can foretell the eventual outcome but what is clear is that the name of Westborough is now in councillors’ minds and with it the message that its residents have had enough of being the town’s `Cinderella’ ward.
Westborough has probably had more publicity thanks to the actions of RAW than in the previous decade. David Amess described RAW in a parliamentary speech as the best Residents’ Association in his Southend-West constituency, and indeed he even seemed rather taken aback at the number of people at the last meeting he attended.
But RAW stems from the determination of a few people alarmed at the deterioration of what was a well-located pleasant area of homes and businesses. Now it needs the support of everyone living here.
We all have a stake in this community whether we are young, old, tenants, business owners or homeowners. The worst enemy is apathy. Many of the problems we live with – like lack of street parking, rubbish collection – have been mainly caused by over-development in the 70s and 80s which was allowed because of lack of vigilance and protest by residents.
The early days of RAW have shown how people banding together can make a difference. Membership at £3 for a year is little more than a pint of beer or half the price of a cinema ticket, but that membership support together with power of the eyes and ears of Westborough residents is vital if we are to enjoy the quality of life to which we all have a right - Tania Painton
Planning developments in Westborough
This summer has seen the planning sub-committee working almost full time researching and objecting to planning applications in the ward. Our aim is to ensure that the massive amount of over- development in the area is looked at closely to see if any proposal is of benefit to the community.
We have taken the views of all of our members and have been out talking to local residents and all agree that in this ward we need the following:
1) A primary school Many parents in the ward have to travel an average of 4-6 miles each day with their young children on the school run. This invariably means that most journeys are by car and this creates extra problems with traffic and parking.
2) More doctor, dental or clinic facilities. New families moving into the area are finding it impossible to register with a doctor’s surgery and a NHS dentist. Many have to travel into Southend to attend various clinics not related to the hospital site. (e.g. child clinics, orthodontists, chiropodists etc).
3) Leisure/Community facilities. Some local residents are unwilling to use existing facilities in church halls etc. due to religious beliefs and would like a community-based centre to be available to all members of society, servicing all religions and age groups.
4) Small shops/supermarkets.
Many residents feel that some neglected sites in the ward could be used as a base for a small local supermarket (Aldi/Lidl etc.). This would also help to bring extra customers for existing traders.
The current applications we have been researching, from various developers are:
To convert a 4 bed roomed house in Wenham Drive to bedsits and flats.
To convert the old wood yard in Fairfax Drive into 47 houses and flats.
To convert the waste ground beside Argosy Toys in the London Road into 2 shops and 19 flats.
Conversion of building in Westborough Road to special needs nursery.
Our biggest campaign to date has been fighting the application for 47 houses and flats in Fairfax Drive, which is mainly for private housing with a small amount of ‘affordable’ housing. We have not just been fighting this application on the basis of ‘Not In My Back Yard’ but have discovered enough about the application to give rise to serious concerns.
The law says that any new planning application must take into account the full impact of new homes into a neighbourhood. The Housing and planning regulations are called PPG3 and this requires local planning authorities to build in ways, which "exploit and deliver accessibility by public transport to jobs, education and health facilities, shopping, leisure and local services". PPG3 also requires local authorities to "place the needs of people before ease of traffic movement in designing the layout of residential developments" and to "seek to reduce car dependence by facilitating more walking and cycling, by improving linkages by public transport between housing, jobs, local services and local amenity, and by planning for mixed use".
We also discovered that the site has asbestos on it, which is stable UNTIL disturbed. The recent spate of fires in the wood ward has disturbed this. We have informed the council that we are very concerned about the public health aspect of this.
We attended a planning committee in June 2002 at Southend Borough Council and made a speech outlining the fact that we believe that putting extra houses into a small site on Fairfax Drive is NOT fulfilling the legal requirements of the council. The planning committee made no decision and the application was forwarded to the full council in July 2002 (where we made another speech). The councilors voted to put the application back to the planning committee (who met on August 21st ) and recommended changes to the application from the developers.
We have had a sustained media campaign on this issue (Southend Echo, Essex Courier, BBC Radio Essex etc.) and have also had questions asked in Parliament by our local MP, Mr. David Amess. We intend to keep up the pressure on the council to ensure that we no longer see the massive over- development, which has been allowed to happen in this area in the past. Our new campaign slogan is Stop the Rot, which means we, as residents, do not wish to see more and more homes crammed into this area by developers only interested in profit and not the community. We have an overpopulated, traffic congested ward and need more community services, not less - Judith Smith
The ward of Westborough suffers with many ongoing rubbish problems, ranging from sofas being dumped in our alleyways to rubbish bags being left on the streets for weeks on end (often attracting rats).
Given the many charges imposed by the council for rubbish clearance on top of your council tax, it is hardly surprising that certain individuals choose to dump their waste rather than use proper disposal methods. There are currently charges to dispose of your garden rubbish, charges to dispose of your furniture, charges to dispose of your car, and to add insult to injury, there are now proposals to charge residents £1 a week to have normal household rubbish taken away! This will only make the problem worse.
RAW are currently setting up a think-tank to discuss ways of keeping this area clean. The alley-attack took place over the summer and was a great success. However, this is only a temporary measure as fly-tippers start to dump again. Alley-gating is one option, but can be a costly option and would require agreements to be set up between all the relevant residents. We would welcome any suggestions from the residents and traders of Westborough on how to clean up the streets/alleys, so that we can start lobbying the council with the full backing of the people who live/work here.
Cory have advised us that official rubbish collection days are as follows:
Tuesdays All up and down roads between Southbourne Grove and Beedell Avenue (including in-between parts of Fairfax Drive and Westborough Road)
Wednesdays All up and down roads between Ramuz Drive and Wenham Drive (including in-between parts of Fairfax Drive and Westborough Road east of Beedell Avenue), London Road and West Road.
Please remember also that Bank Holidays usually mean a change in rubbish days (often one day later) - Joanne Wheatley
Welcome - Newsletter dated May 02
Welcome to the
first edition of Westborough Times! The Residents’ Association of
Westborough (RAW) will be issuing regular newsletters to the residents and
traders within the Westborough ward, with the aim of providing information
regarding what’s happening in this part of Westcliff. However, we would
also welcome feedback. Please feel free to attend our monthly meetings,
telephone us or write regarding anything connected to living/trading in
this area (details of how to contact us are below).
- Joanne Wheatley
Aims and Objectives of RAW
Why
have we created this residents association in Westborough?
A few of the community minded individuals were getting increasingly
fed up with the way our ward was being dragged down to the level of a
slum, and decided to stop the rot. Elections have come and gone, but the downward drift has not
been halted. We believe that
whoever our councillors are, they will receive more attention within the
council if it is known that a strong and determined residents association
will take whatever action is needed to support their suggestions for
improvement. It follows, of
course, that our councillors will have no doubt as to what the people who
vote them in expect of them.
The first thing we did was to create a constitution that members and committee agreed with. Our overall purpose is to improve the quality of life for all sections of those who live or work in the ward. R.A.W. intends to involve, and reflect the wishes of, all sections of the community. We shall recruit, and keep informed, a meaningful proportion of the ward`s residents. We set out to work with ward councillors, and Southend council, to ensure that the reasonable and realistic needs of Westborough people are known and understood. If needed, pressure will be applied to organisations that obstruct improvements that we campaign for. R.A.W. will at all times be non-racist, non-sexist, non-ageist and non-sectarian.
Membership is open to all who live, work, or are active in the ward. Annual Subscription is £3, which provides free attendance to meetings and copies of RAW Newsletter. If you agree with our aims please add your strength to ours by joining us. We meet monthly and details of forthcoming meetings can be found on page 2 of this newsletter. - Alan Abbott
What
has happened at meetings already?
After
the inaugural meeting in November 2001, the elected committee of the
association wanted to find out from members what was really concerning
them in the ward. After all the association has been set up by the members
for the benefit of the members and residents of Westborough, so it is only
right that the members can dictate what issues urgently need looking at!
Well
– what happened? We were inundated with requests regarding what members
want. There were so many suggestions that not all members had a chance to
speak! However, the main points that came across to the committee were
that the residents would like better parking provisions, less HGV’s
coming through the ward and overall traffic reduction (stop rat-runs),
safer roads, more pedestrian crossings, less speeding (introduce 20mph
limits), less congestion, less rubbish in alleyways/streets, better street
collections, prompt removal of dumped cars, better bus service, improved
street lighting and concerns regarding flat conversions (especially from
former shops). (The list does continue but would overtake the whole
newsletter if we mentioned everything).
We are starting to look at ways to help to deal with all the above problems/concerns and have set up various sub-committees to concentrate on certain issues. The association cannot guarantee an overnight solution to all the above, but we will work with the council to try to find ways of implementing improvements in Westborough. - Joanne Wheatley
Traffic and Parking in Westborough
Our
first public meeting made it very clear that high amongst the many
problems we face are those created by the car. We live in the most densely
populated ward in Essex, and near the top of the list in the U.K. These roads were designed when the car was not more than a
twinkle in the eye of world industry.
Over recent years Southend Council has worsened the situation by approving the division of houses designed for single residence to double, or multiple, occupation. Problems arising from this attitude have been mostly ignored by those creating them. Most families and many individual occupants need a car to travel, due to the complete inadequacy of the privatised public transport systems operating. In our ward there are considerably more cars than places to park them. This is one car problem that we have, causing irritation, aggravation , friction and sometimes danger.
With cars parked solidly both sides of roads, the space between them is just wide enough to allow traffic to pass down the roads. Providing the moving traffic proceeds at a sensible speed accidents can sometimes be avoided. This is often not the case, and accidents are all too frequent. This is our second car problem.
R.A.W. recently invited Southend Council to send along technical officers who would discuss with our members the problems, and solutions involved. The meeting voted overwhelmingly to have a 20mph speed limit for the whole ward, which consists entirely of residential roads. Areas of this kind are termed by the council as `environmental rooms`, which means that in these roads residents are considered first, and traffic second. An outcome of this meeting was that R.A.W. were invited by the council to produce a group of members to sit with technical officers to decide how best to plan the improvements needed in Westborough. These meetings will start during April, and continue for as long as is necessary. This is a democratic process that must not be undervalued. Come to our monthly meetings, listen to reports and give your views. - Alan Abbott
Rubbish,
Rubbish, Rubbish!
Westborough's streets are becoming littered with household rubbish and we need your help to cure this problem. Many homes are putting their sacks out on the pavement far to early, sometimes the day after the last collection. This allows cats and foxes to rip open the sacks and spill the contents over the pavement, children can kick them around and people can trip over them. If your collection time is very early in the morning then put the sacks out last thing at night no earlier. The Council are considering fining people who unnecessarily leave their sacks on the pavement (some Councils already do this). Normal collection days for the Westborough ward are as follows:
Mondays - Southbourne Grove, St Georges Park Drive, Westbourne Grove and Westminster Drive
Tuesdays - Fairmead Avenue, Hildaville Drive, Fleetwood Avenue, Ronald Park Drive, Tintern Avenue, Southview Drive, Electric Avenue, Northview Drive, Westcliff Park Drive and Beedell Avenue
Wednesdays - Ramuz Drive, Brightwell Avenue, Hainault Avenue, Glenwood Avenue, Inverness Avenue, Silverdale Avenue and Wenham Drive.
London Road, Fairfax Drive and Westborough Road are collected on the same day as the roads which run between the three roads.
Recyclable items (eg milk cartons, newspapers, plastic bottles) can be put in the pink bags and are now collected weekly.
Garden rubbish can be put in special grey sacks that can be purchased from Cory or hardware shops like Gilcos . These sacks will be collected by Cory along with the normal black sacks but the contents will now be composted. If you have a lot of garden waste it might be worth considering hiring a green wheelie bin that is collected during the summer months only. This is the first year of the scheme and we hope that it is successful.
Unwanted
furniture and other large items can be colleted by Cory. This can be
arranged by telephone (tel 01702 617766) and there is a small charge.
Examples of charges (for items that are left in the front garden) are:
Double bed base: £5.57,
Double mattress: £4.43,
Settee: £5.15, Carpet
roll: £3.86, Cooker: £5.57.
The Southend Community Furniture Recycle Project that is housed in the Westborough Road may also take unwanted furniture. The project provides furniture and crockery to people on low incomes. Tel: 01702 430058. - Brenda Smith
Abandoned cars
Are
you fed up with abandoned cars on your doorstep? Join the rest of us!
At
a recent RAW meeting, various members of the Residents’ Association of
Westborough complained to the executive councillor for the environment,
Ann Holland that we are NOT satisfied with the speed of removal of
abandoned cars on our roads. Ann advised that currently abandoned cars
will have a seven day notice sticker put on them and are then usually
removed within 10 days. However, members advised Ann that this is not
always the case and abandoned cars often remain on our streets for weeks.
It is not good enough! An amnesty was suggested, but the council won't
consider providing somewhere to dump a car free of charge.
Abandoned
cars are now a real problem in Southend. Between 2001-2002, there were
2508 abandoned cars in Southend. This compares to 1172 abandoned cars in
the twelve years previous (less than 100 a year). However, RAW are
demanding action NOW regarding the removal of these cars, especially
considering the problems with parking that we already have to put up with
in this ward.
Regarding
untaxed cars, the council refuse to have anything to do with this, and
advise residents to write to the DVLA. However, members have complained
that this is too time consuming and feel that the council should be
shouldering some of the responsibility.
The methods currently in place for reporting are:
Abandoned cars phone - 01702 215381
Untaxed cars write to - DVLA Chelmsford, 2nd floor, Parkway House, 49 Baddow Road, Chelmsford Essex CM2 0XJ
Auto
Recovery & Disposal in Shoeburyness will take unwanted cars for a
payment of £15 or collect for £20. They can be contacted on 290890.
However,
RAW want simpler, faster solutions to the problem.
Chairman's
comment: The type of people that dump cars in the street won't pay £15 if
they can dump it for nothing. Also the cost of administration and
collection of abandoned vehicles must cost more than £15. There is also
the danger of an abandoned vehicle and the loss of a parking space. -
Joanne Wheatley