March 21st, 2011 by Mark Rusling

We are being forced to take nearly £30 million out of this year’s budget by the government. However, we have agreed some areas where we will grow the budget to improve the service we offer you – street cleaning is one of those.

These streets will go from being cleaned twice a week, to three times a week: East Avenue, West Avenue, Stainforth Road and Pembroke Road. Wingfield Road will go from once a week to twice a week and Randolph Road will go from once a week to three times a week.

If you live on these roads, and you don’t think that this is happening, let us know and we’ll chase it up for you.

February 10th, 2011 by Mark Rusling

The council is organising the Waltham Forest Spring Clean from Friday 25 to Sunday 27 March. A number of small clean-ups will be taking place across the borough, organised by residents’ associations, schools and councillors. Local communities will get together to pick litter, paint, prune and remove graffiti and fly-tipping. All the litter will be recycled. We want to work with you to make Hoe Street cleaner, in time for Spring.

On Friday 25 March, school children will be involved in clean-ups throughout Waltham Forest. Many groups in Hoe Street ward have already decided to get involved – including the Walthamstow Village Residents Association, Milton Road Residents Association and the Friends of Wingfield Park.

If you would like to organise your street to join the clean-up, let us know. Council officers can provide you with the equipment, and we’d be happy to join you to help out.

Get in touch, and together we will make Hoe Street a better place to live in!

January 12th, 2011 by Mark Rusling

Happy New Year!

As part of the council’s Dirty Front Garden campaign, 71 gardens have been cleared by the council in Hoe  Street ward in the last three months. This hasn’t cost residents a penny, as the costs have been charged back to the residents who have blighted their streets.

In total, 109 tonnes of rubbish have been cleared from 2185 gardens in the borough, making Waltham Forest a more attractive place to live.

If you know of a dirty front garden that is an eyesore in your street, report it by calling 020 8496 3000 or emailing wfdirect@walthamforest.gov.uk.

August 5th, 2010 by Mark Rusling

The Labour manifesto for this year’s council elections promised £1 million extra funding for street sweepers and cleaner streets. We have started to deliver on this promise by agreeing increased cleaning rotas for nine roads in Hoe Street ward.

Wingfield Road and Randolph Road will both move from being cleaned once a week to being cleaned twice a week.

The following roads will move from being cleaned twice a week to being cleaned three times a week: Grosvenor Park Road, Pembroke Road, East Avenue, West Avenue, Stainforth Road, Folkestone Avenue and Woodbury Road.

We know that Kier do not always clean the streets as often as they should (or as well as they should). If your road is not being cleaned properly, let us know and we will take it up with Kier’s management.

July 5th, 2010 by Mark Rusling

Over a number of years, the gardens outside 30 and 32 Clarendon Road have been used to pile up a variety of rubbish. This has directly impacted on other residents’ abilities to enjoy their properties. On 30 June, the council’s officers attended the properties to clear the nuisance, as the owners had not complied with a previous enforcement notice. Over 20 tonnes of rubbish were removed by hand and the gardens are now clear.

Do contact us if you are concerned about this or any other nuisances in the ward. The council has powers to issue enforcement notices to residents who allow their properties to become eyesores. If residents don’t comply, the council can clear the land and charge the resident the costs. We will always look to work with residents, but will use the council’s powers where necessary.

April 29th, 2010 by Mark Rusling

Some of you will have received a Lib Dem leaflet yesterday, which stupidly was put under car windscreen wipers. Many of the leaflets have blown away, littering the ward. Street cleaning is currently a Lib Dem responsibility on the council – a responsibility that they have failed to uphold. And now they add to the mess by creating their own litter!

Not only that, but the leaflet mentions “your local Lib Dem team”, with a photo. Well, they don’t seem to be too local to me – these three people are standing in Lea Bridge ward, not in Hoe Street. The leaflet mentions the lack of a cinema in Walthamstow, blaming that on Labour. They seem to forget that the cinema is in High Street ward – a ward with two Lib Dem councillors! What have they been doing for the last four years?

We want the Lib Dems to stop shifting the blame for dirty streets and the cinema onto others. Your local Hoe Street Labour team (unlike ‘your local Lib Dem team’, we aren’t standing in Lea Bridge ward!) has pledged an extra £1 million for street cleaning – to go into the council, not Kier. Read our statement on the EMD cinema building - we want a cinema in the EMD and, unlike the Lib Dems, we won’t make promises to get your vote on May 6th that we can’t fulfil on May 7th.

If you vote Labour in Hoe Street, what you see is what you’ll get - and that includes cleaner streets, and a team who knows which ward they’re standing in!

March 1st, 2010 by Mark Rusling

A number of residents from Eden Road have contacted us about dog fouling on their street. This problem – a Lib Dem responsibility on the Council – is not being tackled effectively. If residents are concerned about dog fouling, they should contact Alan Shaw, the Council’s enviro-crime enforcement manager, at alan.shaw@walthamforest.gov.uk. Copy in Lib Dem Cllr Bob Belam, who is responsible for street cleaning – cllr.bob.belam@walthamforest.gov.uk.

Labour has pledged an extra £500,000 for street cleaning and £100,000 to tackle dog crime as part of our local manifesto. Let us know if you would like more details.

February 18th, 2010 by Mark Rusling

Residents on Tower Hamlets Road have been in touch to complain about the amount of dog mess on their street. We’re working with the council’s enforcement unit to identify the dog owners and hold them to account. We need more dog patrols in the ward – Labour has pledged £100,000 extra funding for dog wardens in Waltham Forest, which will definitely help.

Let us know if things get better, or if we need to step up our efforts.

February 15th, 2010 by Mark Rusling

It was First, Second and Third Avenues and Orford Road for us on Saturday, where we managed to speak to a lot of new residents. Street cleaning is still your major concern – litter blows up these streets from Hoe Street. If you are concerned about the dirty state of our streets, write to the Liberal Democrat Cabinet member in charge, Cllr Bob Belam – cllr.bob.belam@walthamforest.gov.uk.

Labour has agreed an extra £500,000 for street cleaning – do let us know how we should spend this.

January 31st, 2010 by Mark Rusling

Today, Saima, Ahsan and I visited residents in West Avenue Road, Aubrey Road and Beulah Road to hear about how we can better help you. We saw litter on every one of these streets, and picked up what we could. You told us that you often don’t see street cleaners from one week to the next.

This isn’t good enough. Street cleaning is a Lib Dem responsibility, and Saima is always in touch with Cllr Bob Belam, who is supposed to be in charge of cleaner streets. Tell him what you think of the service offered by the Lib Dems – we have been! His email address is cllr.bob.belam@walthamforest.gov.uk.

If there is anything that you think we should be doing to make your street cleaner and safer, let us know.