Council news

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Council Tax 2012-13
Loughton Town Council (which is LRA-led) is holding its Council Tax precept unchanged for the third consecutive year (Band D properties pay just £49.18 a year towards the wide variety of services provided by the council, such as eight children’s play areas, two community halls, various items of street furniture, several recreation fields and open spaces and the Loughton Cemetery in Church Lane. More.

The bulk of your Council Tax goes to Epping Forest District Council (EFDC) and Essex County Council (ECC); they get an extra 2.5% on their Government grants if they hold Council Tax at last year’s levels (there is no similar Government help for the Town Council). The Government has said that it will not provide a similar 2.5% for 2013-14, leaving EFDC and ECC with dilemmas about whether

• to make no change in 2012-13 and a possible significant increase in 2013-14

• to “smooth” their Council Tax increases over 2012-13 and 2013-14

• to look for further savings

or some combination of these options - ECC and EFDC have both said they hope to keep the tax at the same level for 2012-13. The Essex Police and Fire Authorities also levy a charge - we have not yet heard what their intentions are.

Town Council

York Hill repairs
The Town Council have work in hand to replace the wooden bench and litter bin at the junction of Potters Close and York Hill.

Olympics 2012 and Queen’s Diamond Jubilee
Loughton Town Council has agreed a 2012/13 budget of £10,000 for use in connection with 2012 celebrations. It has already committed £1,000 towards twelve street lighting column banners in the High Road for the Olympic period.

Playgrounds
The Town Council will be carrying out resurfacing work at the Newmans Lane and Westall Road play areas once the weather conditions have improved.

Protecting the War Memorial
Loughton Town Council has applied SmartWater – a fluid containing a unique code that cannot be destroyed by burning or melting – to the metal plaque on the town’s memorial in King’s Green. The fluid, which helps the police track stolen metal, has been supplied to the council free of charge by the War Memorials Trust and the SmartWater Foundation. More.

High Road drinking fountain
An underground leak has been found – the Town Council expect to have it repaired in time for the fountain to be turned on again for the summer.

Blue Heritage Plaques: The Town Council have installed a plaque in memory of Sir Hugh Cairns (1896-1952), pioneer neurosurgeon and inventor of the crash helmet, who lived at Woodcroft School, Woodcroft Way between 1921 and 1927.

• They will also be installing blue heritage plaques to commemorate Sir Geoffrey de Freitas (1913 - 1982), who had lived at Greengates, Albion Hill, and William Brown Macdougall (1868 - 1936) and his wife, Margaret Armour (1860 - 1943,) formerly of Elm Cottage.

Two more plaques are under consideration:

• Comedy actor Ken Campbell, who lived in Baldwin’s Hill and died in 2008, will be remembered to many as the ‘Elf of Epping Forest’

• Alexander Colvin, curator of Loughton and the first to be awarded the Military Cross for his exploits in World War I, who lived in both High Beech Road and King’s Hill.

Lopping Hall: the Council continues to fund the maintenance of the clock on the outside of the hall. (You may have noticed that refurbishment work is underway, and a lift is being put in).

Kings Green: some residents were concerned about the use of the grassed area around the War Memorial on Kings Green by Loughton Boot Camp for some of its exercise sessions; the City of London, which owns the Green, have been asked to address the issue.

Skateboard Park
LRA and Loughton Town Council have had a long-standing project to provide a skateboard park for local youngsters, and has been involving local youngsters. Investigations are now underway on a site on the nature reserve opposite the Oakwood Hill Industrial Estate. For more details, call 020 8532 1911

Environment Agency's River Roding Flood Risk Management Strategy
Loughton Town Council has expressed strong concern about the possible long term impact of the withdrawal of Environment Agency maintenance on the river for the Loughton area and, in particular, whether this will jeopardise properties on the Roding Estate and around Greensted Road. More. (see item 234)

Local Council budget and services cuts
See County Council and District Council

The Town Council is run by the majority LRA group, who work very hard to increase or maintain the council’s services to residents, at the lowest possible cost.

District Council

District Council enforcement activity 01/04/11 – 30/09/11

• fly-tipping incidents: 630 were reported to the Council; they investigated 382 where there might have been evidence to trace the culprit and sent 62 Warning/Enforcement letters. They undertook 4 prosecutions, including one on a fly-tipping incident at Pyrles Lane, Loughton (£145 fine; £400 costs, including £128.68 towards the Council’s clean-up costs)
  
  
• Complaints dealt with included 794 noise complaints, of which 320 related to out-of-hours noise, 103 complaints about bonfires, 39 about street trading, and 19 about refuse nuisance.
  
  
• Fixed penalty notices (FPN): 22 FPNs offered for littering offences resulting in an income of £1050 and 4 (£240 income) in relation to breaches of s.46/47 Environmental Protection 1990 notices requiring the correct waste receptacles to be used.

More

Shops Local
The new website listing local businesses, set up by the District Council to help local shoppers and traders, is at http://www.oneshopslocal.com/. Please try it. And if you run a local business, please make sure you’re listed (free) under Loughton, or Debden, or both.

Land between Cheltenham Gardens & Lancaster Drive Council: For the last three years, LRA Cllr Ken Angold-Stephens has been battling to get this area cleared of waste (the footpath was closed to prevent problems). Finally, a gate to gain access to the land has been installed, and the area has been cleared of waste. The District Council’s Parks section should now regularly maintain the area (if problems recur, let us know at contact@loughtonresidents.co.uk )

Loughton Station Approach: Another of Ken’s long-running sagas. The shrubs behind the bus-stops collect litter, and occasional clean-ups by the District Council have had only temporary effect. A resident recently contacted us to say that the space behind the bus stops was full of rubbish again, and that she had seen a couple of rats there. Ken contacted the District Council at once. They sent down their cleansing crew and parks team, and a senior council officer also came down to check on the work, and to discuss the way forward with SITA (the council’s cleaning contractors). As a result, the sweepers should now clean the front part of this land (as far as they can reach) on a daily basis.? Also every two weeks there will be a more in-depth clean, including going along the back (the bushes will need to be kept cut back to allow this). Again, if problems recur, let us know at contact@loughtonresidents.co.uk .
There is also a problem with rats, which appear to have burrowed into the bank, and are also coming from the Underground station rail tracks and banks. The cleaning team can’t deal with this, but the Council’s Environmental Health dept are being asked to help.

District Council desk in Loughton Library
We understand that the District Council is considering outsourcing the manning of the Council desks in Loughton Library and Waltham Abbey Library. We don’t know whether this would extend the service back to the afternoons, or whether existing staff would be redeployed.

Essex County Council

Street lights in Loughton
The local Guardian recently carried an article on the County Council’s plans to reduce costs by turning off some street lights in the small hours. LRA Cllr Chris Pond was heavily involved in the committee work which scrutinised the proposals, and ensured that no changes will be made without prior discussion with the relevant Town/Parish Council – in our case, that will be the LRA-led Loughton Town Council, who have not yet been approached by the County Council. The aim will be to make sure that lighting is retained where necessary, and that local conditions (such as the times of the last trains to Loughton station), are taken account of.

'Whole place' community budget pilots
Essex County Council has been chosen by the Government for one of four 'whole place' community budget pilots: we await details of what this may mean in practice. More.

Children’s services
The Minister of State for Children and Families has now lifted the Direction issued to the County Council in December 2009 regarding the need to deliver improvements within the children’s services department. Since 2009 the Council has worked hard with their partners to ensure that improvements have been made, and this was acknowledged by both announced and unannounced Ofsted inspections last year.

Loughton Pool
Theft: LRA Cllr Rose Brookes has been discussing with SLM, the pool managers, about what can be done to protect swimmers’ valuables following an incident in which five lockers in the dry changing room were broken into (one locker had car keys in it and the owner's car was stolen too). Rose has asked that some special lockers for keys, phones, money be put both in the gym and by the poolside, and the manager is looking into this. The police are involved and have seen CCTV etc. In the meantime anyone visiting should be extremely careful of their valuables and if necessary use swimming lockers within the view of the lifeguards or take them to the gym with you.

General issues: Rose has also been pressing SL, to sort out the out-of-action showers and lockers, and to improve the general level of cleanliness. Rose has also taken up the issue of how SLM deal with complaints, after residents contacted her to say they didn't think their comment cards were dealt with.

Public swimming time: She is also lobbying more public swimming during the summer holidays and for Bank Holiday opening (next time, with much better advance publicity!) with some success as next year they will open on the May Day holiday.

Car park charges: Finally, following pressure from Rose, and others in the summer, the starting time for car-park charges will be changing from 8am to 9am, so early-morning swimmers won’t have to pay – getting the necessary paper-work done by the Councils accounts for the delay in implementation.

Loughton Centre for Young People
The building on Border’s Lane which houses the Murray Hall is used by the Town Council and is also the Loughton Centre for Essex County Council Children’s Services. The County Council is currently looking at the range of services it offers and seeking ways to deliver future services with fewer resources. When the universal “Connexions” Service closed, the targeted personal advisors were relocated to the Centre.

At the Loughton Centre, there are currently two full-time youth workers plus a small team of part-time youth workers; other County youth staff also use the building.

[From the time the building was completed, LRA has felt that the County Council has failed to fulfil its earlier promises of providing youth services based in Loughton, and the current financial situation means that even the current provision is at risk.]

MOT tests in Langston Road
Did you know that Epping Forest District Council can do your MOT test at their facility, just beyond the BMW showroom? Ring 020 8532 0357.

High Road trees

• LRA Cllrs Jennie Hart and Chris Pond have been pressing for the replacement of the missing trees in Brooklyn Parade – the District Council has agreed to re-plant this winter
• LRA Town Cllr Chris Harper is following up the condition of the two “distressed” robinia trees on the pavement at the south end of Centric Parade, which are on private land (we are hoping that the problem stems from the dry weather, and that they will recover, with help).

Enhancing Debden
Pressure from LRA District Cllr Jennie Hart and County Cllr Chris Pond has led to the dead and missing plants and trees in The Broadway being replaced. We are also pushing for signs to show shoppers where the car parks are (behind the rows of shops – plenty of space – please give it a try!)

Graffiti in Centric Parade
LRA Cllr Lance Leonard has been following up reports of graffiti on the upper levels of Centric Parade. Cleaning these up is the responsibility of the parade owners (not the District Council) but because some of the graffiti is offensive the Council is paying for its contractors to paint it over as soon as possible. Unfortunately access to the roofs is easy, and so graffiti quickly reappears. We will be looking into what can be done to arrive at a permanent solution.