From traffic light signalling to flood defences and waste collections, Councillor Michael Duffell (Conservative, South Woodford) spends much of his time holding the Labour-run council to account
I am proud to have been elected as a Conservative councillor for South Woodford. I had been picking up casework and issues regularly in the years running up to election, and since then, it has been no different. Most of the work stems from chronic mismanagement of council services from the administration in the townhall.
South Woodford is in the forgotten corner of the borough. The streets are getting dirtier, pot holes are endemic and hedges go unpruned. The administration is getting the basics wrong while spending money on vanity projects elsewhere.
We are hearing time and time again that rubbish, recycling and green garden waste is not being collected from homes, and when they are collected, the council are leaving streets littered with rubbish. Please ensure this is reported both directly to the council and your Conservative councillors. We are holding the administration to account on all these issues, but residents are our eyes and ears on the ground.
We have been pressing the Labour administration on:
- The appalling rates of recycling and the substandard recycling scheme in the borough.
- The inadequate state of flood defences along the Roding.
- How much taxpayers’ money was wasted in Labour’s decision to axe weekly green garden waste collections, then to be forced into a fortnightly service.
- Investigating school applications to ensure our children can go to local schools.
- Traffic light signalling from the Queen Mary Gate development leading to the yellow box outside Waitrose on the High Road.
- The council’s current plans for the Station Estate in South Woodford.
- Speeding and parking issues throughout the area.
- Fly-tipping and cleanliness throughout South Woodford.
One of the main concerns over the past couple months was the council’s decision to build a three-storey, 30-unit modular development under the A406 flyover next to Charlie Brown’s Roundabout. There was a complete lack of consultation, and Conservative councillors spoke against the plans to house some of the most vulnerable in society in one of the most polluted areas in London in a development which did not meet the minimum requirements for housing.
