Parking row heats up

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Overton Drive on Tuesday

Opposition to the way Redbridge Council is planning to introduce dramatic parking changes in Wanstead without consultation has strengthened over the Christmas break, and campaigners are intending to make their views known at a series of council meetings.

But despite an acknowledgement from council leader Cllr Jas Athwal of the plan’s controversy the plan, poles for new parking restriction signs were installed along Overton Drive on Tuesday afternoon, infuriating residents.

Opinions vary about the £93k scheme which would introduce pay and display parking on Wanstead High Street and massively increase the area of residents-only parking in central Wanstead. But the greatest ire seems to be reserved for the council’s refusal to consult with residents – with some campaigners saying this is against the law. Previous parking proposals were widely discussed before being implemented, but Redbridge is planning to use a loophole for “experiments” to avoid consultation obligations.

One Overton Drive resident wrote to Sajid Javid, secretary of state for communities and local government,* appealing for his help in forcing Redbridge to consult residents before introducing the scheme. Meanwhile a petition which is demanding a consultation now has 1,500 signatories – some on paper, some online. Anyone wishing to sign the petition can do so via the link below. If they can get more signatures before Friday, campaigners are hoping to able to force a vote at the next full council meeting.

 

* Correction: this story earlier said the resident had written to Sadiq Khan, mayor of London, rather than to Sajid Javid .

Wansteadium’s most read for 2016

fullsizerender-22016 was another year of amazing growth for Wansteadium, so as we say every year at this time, THANK YOU to everyone who has read, commented, subscribed, contributed, tipped-off, submitted photos, liked us on Facebook or retweeted us.  Without you all there wouldn’t be much point in Wansteadium existing, and it would be much less fun too.

Also a word of thanks to anyone who has clicked on an advert on this page, or even more, bought something through Amazon by using the search box on every page. Both things help us pay the software and hosting costs which would otherwise make this a bit of a costly hobby.

So here is the rundown on 2016.

This year Wansteadium published 293 posts.

There were 300,103 individual visits to our pages, up from 190,500 in 2016. In total there were nearly half a million page views.

These visits came from an incredible 99,262 people.

More than 1,600 get our (almost) daily e-mail newsletter. 1,965 people like us on Facebook and 3,629 follow us on Twitter.

(We don’t do much in the way of advertising, but if you are interested in getting a message out to the good folk of Wanstead, talk to us here.)

And so here is the traditional rundown of stories.

  1. Wanstead to be on film again (February) – first news that Tom Hardy would be in the hood filming for Taboo, shortly to be on BBC One
  2. Tom Hardy in Wanstead: The photo (February) – and the first photo, brought by ace snapper Marcus Tylor.
  3. Armed police chase in Wanstead street (November) – dramatic scenes
  4. Wanstead butcher: The Ginger Pig is talking (January) – dramatic sausage rolls, after the shock closure of A G Dennis on New Year’s Day last year
  5. Fingers crossed for the Wanstead butcher (January) – though at the time it felt a bit like wishful thinking
  6. Is this the Ginger Pig effect? (May) – a renewed sense of confidence in the High Street… but rent rises have led to a fresh wave of closures even – it seems – Starbucks.
  7. The Ginger Pig confirmation we’ve been waiting for (April) – yes, all acquaintances from outside E11 are now fully aware that Wanstead has a Ginger Pig.
  8. Get ready for Blake Hell (May) – more roadwork misery, but it didn’t go on as long as people feared it might
  9. Circus boss writes: ‘Get used to us’ (July) – the circus was coming to town. Then it didn’t. But maybe it will be back? Who knows.
  10. Five things in Leytonstone which Wanstead could covet (February) – Good things from beyond the Green Man roundabout.

So thanks again to one and all. Keep the tip-offs coming – info@wansteadium.com is the place to send them.