As Councillor Beverley Brewer (Labour, South Woodford) settles into her new political role, the local resident highlights some of her party’s environment-themed priorities
Having lived in South Woodford for so many years, I am tremendously proud of our area and what makes it special.
I am also very proud to have been elected by you as the first Labour councillor for the new South Woodford ward. As your councillor, I am committed to working hard for everyone in South Woodford. In particular, I will always stand up for the most vulnerable members of the community.
Until 2014, Redbridge Council had never had a Labour majority, but this May, local people elected Labour members to 51 of the 63 seats on the council. During the election campaign, I helped deliver a copy of the Labour manifesto to every home in the area. That manifesto set out our priorities for the next four years and it is worth highlighting some of those here.
I want to enhance and protect the green spaces in our area, as well as reducing pollution and cracking down on environmental crime. I want South Woodford to be an even better place to live.
Many local residents have told me how concerned they are about pollution and air quality. The council will be tackling air pollution by working with local schools to create ‘clean air’ zones. We will also work to roll out these zones around our parks and children’s play areas. Residents with electric cars will park for free in resident permit zones, and we will also increase cycling routes and continue developing our cycle renting scheme, and more.
The council has an ambitious target of a 50% recycling rate in the borough by 2022. I support the work of enforcement officers cracking down on environmental blights, such as illegal dumping and vandalism, to help us create a cleaner, greener borough. In our manifesto, we pledged to crack down on fly-tipping and we are now the toughest council in London on this issue and on environmental crime – we’ve already issued over 700 £400 fines to those committing offences.
In addition, creating a cleaner area is one of my biggest priorities. Millions will be invested each year to keep our streets clean, removing litter and cracking down on fly-tipping, graffiti and flyposting.
In recent years, national government has cut 48p in every pound that Redbridge Council used to receive. Despite that, the council continues to work hard to ensure all our residents can realise their ambitions and fulfil their potential.
I am sure many of you will join me in supporting the council to achieve these goals.
