Editor

I am proud to have been able to represent the interests of Churchfields residents over the last four years.

If you re-elect me, I will continue to campaign to: keep our children safe on the streets outside schools; work with the Safer Neighbourhood Team to stamp out antisocial behaviour; oppose inappropriate developments, such as on Crescent Road; and campaign for improvements around the Orchard Estate. Most importantly, I will continue to listen to residents, regardless of whether they voted for me or not.

A new air quality monitor has been installed next to the children’s playground in Elmhurst Gardens in South Woodford.

The solar-powered device was provided by Breathe London, an air monitoring programme run by Imperial College London and the Mayor of London, and will monitor levels of air pollution over the next two years.

“I discovered just how dangerous air pollution can be and how it is linked to a number of serious health conditions, from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to stunted lung growth in children. Considering the close proximity of the playground to the motorway, I decided that monitoring needed to be done,” said local mum Lydia Fraser-Ward, who applied for the device and is now working to secure more monitors for other parks in the borough.

For more information, email mumsforlungsredbridge@gmail.com

The Thames21 project is making improvements to the River Roding adjacent to Wanstead Park. Catchment Partnership Development Officer Will Oliver provides an update in the third of a series of articles

The River Roding is London’s third-longest tributary of the Thames. It rises in Essex before flowing 50km south, through east London, meeting the Thames at Barking.

If you head down to the River Roding at Wanstead Park, you may notice some felled trees in the river channel. These trees are actually playing an important role in restoring habitats within the river, and have been added as part of a volunteer-led project run by Thames21, with support from City of London (Epping Forest) and Vision Redbridge Culture and Leisure.

Historically, before humans began ‘tidying up’ landscapes, rivers would have been full of fallen trees and large woody material. As water flowed around these structures, it would have been forced to move at different depths and speeds (these rivers are known as having high flow diversity). Different species of animals and plants each have their own preference for different depths and speeds of water, and so rivers full of fallen trees are rivers full of wildlife.

Over the years, many of the fallen trees have been removed from the Roding (something replicated in rivers all across the country). This, coupled with historic artificial straightening of sections of the river channel to reduce flood risk, has resulted in much of the flow diversity of the lower Roding being lost.

With help from our team of enthusiastic volunteers and City of London staff, we’ve been working to address this and improve habitat within the River Roding adjacent to Wanstead Park. The first step to this project involved tree surgeons selectively felling trees and large branches into the channel. A volunteer team then manoeuvred these trees into position so they provide maximum benefit to the river channel. Some trees were used to protect areas of the bank from erosion, whilst others were used to speed up flows in areas where the river was otherwise unnaturally lazy and slow. Our teams then had to drive stakes into the river bed and secure these trees in place with wire cord to prevent them being washed away in high flows.

This work will instantly help improve flow diversity and encourage a greater range of wildlife to return. Over time, as these structures establish themselves, the river will begin to permanently shift away from its current straight, canal-like, course, with water instead following a more sinuous, natural and ‘wild’ path within the original river channel.

So, next time you see a fallen tree in a river, make sure you take a moment to appreciate all the great things it’s doing for the river and its wildlife!

For more information on the Thames21 project in Wanstead Park and other areas, email will.oliver@thames21.org.uk

The Post Office has issued a statement regarding its services in South Woodford:

“A temporary Post Office for South Woodford had been operating in The Galleria since last year. Following an armed robbery at this site on 7 March, the branch has now regrettably closed at this location. We apologise for any inconvenience caused. We are working hard to restore Post Office services to the area as soon as possible. In the interim, alternative branches include Woodford Green (471 High Road) and Wanstead (75–77 High Street).”

Bell-ringers at St Mary’s Church in South Woodford are keen to welcome more volunteers to join them in the ringing chamber.

“Readers who enjoy DD’s Woodford Diary might themselves like to see and hear the bells at St Mary’s. We have regular open days, and the ringers are always looking for new recruits. We practice on Monday evenings,” said Philip Petchey. St Mary’s has eight bells, six of which were cast in 1721 at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry.

Call 020 8505 3000

Some South Woodford scribbles from DD, our resident diarist, commentator and observer of all things local

Within the past week, I looked down on a world-famous tower from a dizzying height. I also climbed up into a lesser-known tower that I pass by every day. A superfast lift took me to the first viewpoint; a super-narrow spiral staircase to the second. From the astonishing Sky Garden, ‘the highest garden in London’, the Tower of London looked like a child’s favourite plaything, a toy castle within its toy walls. The reward for squeezing myself up the spiral staircase was to join the team of bell-ringers at St Mary’s Church Woodford, and to sit and listen with awe as they launched into their celebratory peal of bells.

You may wonder where this is leading. Most of the time we probably take our five senses for granted. Sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell. The Covid virus produced all sorts of symptoms: a cough, sore throat, tiredness etc. But it seemed particularly outrageous that our sense of taste came under attack. Some sufferers reported not just a loss of taste; they said everything tasted horrible. The famous astronomer, Edwin Hubble, is on record as saying: “Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him.” Has the pandemic forcibly reined in our exploration of our small corner of the universe?

We had not heard St Mary’s bells during lockdown conditions. Bells that were first rung in 1721. Now, those campanologists, standing in their small circle in the bell tower, are creating glorious sounds. Seriously painful has been the loss of some other precious sounds over at least a year (a quarter of a child’s life if he were four): the shouts and laughter of the children in the Churchfields Park playground. And believe it or not, after months of avoiding Tube travel, I found I quite liked hearing that nice lady telling me my train was “terminating at Epping”. Even if she told me rather too often. I suddenly didn’t mind hearing the thoughtful advice about avoiding the gap. It all seemed so comfy and normal. But I do draw the line at the ludicrous ‘See it, Say it, Sorted’ campaign. Some smart journalist has dubbed it ‘Tannoy spam’. I wish I’d thought of that first.

There are no spectacular sights in South Woodford to compare with Sky Garden. But for a long time, when our neighbours did our shopping and we deliberately took our permitted exercise in unfrequented areas, we missed the signs of routine activity, even the well-stacked supermarket aisles; clusters of shoppers stopping for a chat; the trees in George Lane keeping pace with the seasons; the world going about its business. Personally, I have missed watching the jumbo jets turning into their assigned flight paths to Heathrow on their ‘final approach’. As lockdown relaxes, our café culture is being restored, even in what are usually the coldest months: groups sharing a meal out on the pavements. Sitting late over a beer under the awnings in the forecourt of The George. ‘A sight for sore eyes’.

Giving someone the elbow meant something quite different before Covid barged in. Being deprived of our sense of touch has been shocking. Two friends well apart, sitting at the far ends of a park bench. Walkers stepping aside when passing strangers. Sons and daughters trying to bring comfort and reassurance to parents in care homes through a perspex screen. Hundreds of thousands of people, millions probably, responded to the rules. I was reminded of the examination hall: “You may now turn over your paper and begin.” Only it was, almost unbelievably – and only occasionally – “You may now hug your grandchildren.” Is this the most acutely missed of the five senses? Is the joy of its recovery the most profoundly felt? Covid has brought home to us with blazing clarity the fact that we are social animals. Arms are for hugging.

Taste was itself under direct attack from the virus. But indirectly too, when the cafés and restaurants were closed, our lavish choices were refused us. Let’s be honest, there was widespread genuine unease about eating out. Even fear. Could shoppers who routinely disinfected their supermarket trolley handles really feel safe sitting at a café table or collecting a takeaway, eating food cooked in an unknown kitchen? I met Gemma, the manager at M&S. (Gemma sparkles.) She was right on the ball when I explained my theme. She contributed this very pertinent comment: “We have not been able to secure our ‘tasting budget’ since lockdown began. You know, offering customers in the store a sample of a new product. Perhaps a special gin at Christmas or a little square of cake with a new recipe.”

What of that humblest on the list: our sense of smell? Our fish counter at Sainsbury’s with its familiar salmony scent disappeared. The deli counter too. Who knows when they will return? Passing the Indian restaurants or the Turkish or the Chinese, there were different unique aromas to enjoy when lockdown occasionally eased. And the feast of fragrant coffee bars. We do love our smells, don’t we? Recently, I had a chat with Senem at Woods Fish Bar. “Oh yes,” she said, “even if they are just passing, customers will often open the door a little and take a good sniff to savour the aroma of the frying fish.” Debbie helped me too; she has worked in Sainsbury’s for 30 years. Not infrequently found on her knees, quietly filling up gaps in the shelves. “The final baking of the bread and rolls is upstairs now,” she told me, “so you don’t get the rich aroma we had when the bakery was out the back. You really need to come shopping first thing to smell the loaves when they are still warm.”

Fortunately, South Woodford gardens are abundant with rosemary and lavender. I confess I often pluck a sprig or two if the bush is trailing over onto the pavement; I breathe in the fragrance. Covid has been powerless to deny us that.

Redbridge Museum will open a new permanent exhibition later this year exploring 200,000 years of local history. In the first of a series of articles, Museum Officer Nishat Alam looks at some of the items on show

For Women’s History Month, I want to celebrate a major event in British women’s history – winning the right to vote. From the mid-19th century, women across the country campaigned endlessly for this right. Redbridge was no exception.

Much like today, Ilford, Wanstead and Woodford each had their own distinct identities, often informed by affluence and class, and this influenced the kinds of suffrage activity that took place in each area.

In Ilford, campaigners known as ‘suffragettes’ who aligned with the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) were considered militant in their approach, smashing shop windows and setting fire to post-boxes to bring about awareness of their cause. Women in Wanstead and Woodford tended to be more conservative. Woodford had its own branch of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies who believed in peaceful protest, distributing petitions and pamphlets or writing letters to their local MPs. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the shock factor of the WSPU’s methods drew more attention, and in 1918 some women were finally given the vote.

One woman who did not stop fighting, even when both groups suspended their campaigns during wartime, was Sylvia Pankhurst. Sylvia had been deeply involved in WSPU activities; her family had founded the organisation, she had designed flags, badges and banners, and had undergone force-feeding while on hunger strike in prison. She was also a pacifist and opposed the WSPU’s support for the war. As Sylvia’s politics became increasingly socialist, she was expelled from the organisation but continued to campaign with her own working women’s group in London’s East End.

In 1924, Sylvia moved to Woodford. From her home on Charteris Road, she campaigned in support of mothers’ rights and against racism and fascism for 30 years. She opposed the Italian colonisation of Ethiopia, and in 1956 was invited to move there by the Emperor Haile Selassie. She died and was buried in Addis Ababa in 1960.

Sylvia’s legacy in Redbridge remains and women continue to connect with her struggle for social justice. The Anti-Air War Memorial in Woodford Green, which she commissioned in 1935, became the site for events held in the 1980s by the Wanstead and Woodford Women for Peace, a local activist group that campaigned against the use of nuclear weapons during the Cold War.

The story of Sylvia’s life is documented on a new website (sylviapankhurst.com) and will be explored through objects, photographs and film in the new Redbridge Museum.

Redbridge Museum is located on Clements Road, Ilford. Visit swvg.co.uk/rm

To complete a survey on what else should go on display, visit swvg.co.uk/rms

Derek Inkpin from local solicitors Wiseman Lee explains why a new law is a step in the right direction to ending the ground rent scandal in the world of leasehold property

Leases of flats sold say 40 or 50 years ago were normally for 99 or 125 years, at a fixed ground rent of £50 to £100 each year. In the past few years, however, land developers of both leasehold houses and flats have started to include ground rents of between £250 and £500 per annum. What is worse is that some leases now have rent review clauses, which allow the ground rent to double say every 10 years.

If a ground rent of say £250 a year doubles every 10 years, a leaseholder would be obliged to pay £16,000 each year after 60 years. Not only would a flat owner find that amount unmanageable, but the flat, if let, would have a rent expense that could not be passed on to the tenant.

If you had bought the house or flat and did not appreciate the problem of rising ground rents, and your solicitor also failed to notice this, your mortgage lender most certainly would not lend in such cases, and this at least would stop a purchaser buying a property that would be pretty much worthless on the open market.

All this may be familiar to you because in recent years it has hit the headlines as a mis-selling scandal. Leaseholders saddled with this problem may try to purchase the freehold to overcome their defective lease or alternatively try to agree amendments to their leases, but these potential solutions are likely to come at a significant cost. If solicitors fail to notice these problems then they are likely to face a successful claim against them for negligence.

Being stuck with an unsellable flat or house (much like the cladding scandal) is, of course, the stuff of nightmares. As a leaseholder, you will feel trapped due to unfair ground rent charges, and claiming against your negligent conveyancing solicitors may take years to resolve.

The Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Bill – which received Royal Assent on 8 February – seeks to tackle the unfairness of these ground rent situations. The government has committed to legislate to restrict ground rents in new leasehold houses and flats to a peppercorn rent (of no value). In addition, loopholes in leasehold law will be addressed to improve transparency and fairness. The new law will allow leaseholders of houses and flats the right to extend their leases as often as they wish at a zero ground rent for a term of 990 years. Just in case landlords try to impose administration charges instead of a peppercorn rent, this is prevented in the bill.

Although the new law will only apply to the grant of new leases, it is a step in the right direction after a scandal which has gone on for far too long.

Wiseman Lee is located at 9–13 Cambridge Park, Wanstead, E11 2PU. For more information, call 020 8215 1000

The Friends of Wanstead Parklands has created a YouTube channel to present the recordings of a new series of online talks about the park’s history.

The Wanstead Park in Context presentations began in January and continue with an event on 24 March. “The next talk will cover the Roman period. What do we know about the Roman settlement in Wanstead Park, and how did it fit into Roman Britain?” said Richard Arnopp. The talks are held on Zoom, with opportunities for questions and discussion.

Visit swvg.co.uk/wpic

Iconic Routemaster busses will return to Wanstead on 26 March for the London Bus Museum’s Route 101 running day.

Buses will depart every 10 minutes from Woodbine Place (10am to 5pm; free) and follow the original route – which was initially numbered 54 but changed to 101 in 1914 – to North Woolwich, via Manor Park, East Ham, Beckton and Cyprus (Royal Albert Dock).

Routemasters were used for the 101 service from 1971 to 1982, and in December 2005, the route was diverted to Gallions Reach.

Visit swvg.co.uk/101

Elaine Atkins and Rena Pathak of the South Woodford Business Forum welcome the launch of new virtual high street service Click It Local, which they hope will be embraced by shops here

A new virtual high street service, Click It Local, which aims to support independent shops, has launched in Redbridge and is an exciting innovation to support our South Woodford businesses.

Click It Local Redbridge was introduced to the South Woodford Business Forum, held in Tipi Coffee Co, on 17 February, and was greeted with great enthusiasm. “It’s a fantastic idea and I’m very interested to hear more about it,” said Saqib Khan of Heron’s Nest cakes in The Galleria.

The scheme is in partnership with Redbridge Council, which is supporting the project until December, to allow businesses to get involved and try it out for free. No cost to businesses and everything to gain!

Residents anywhere in the borough can use Click It Local Redbridge, enabling them to buy from any participating local shop and have their order delivered on the same or next day for a single delivery charge of £3.50. From weekly food essentials, gifts and treats to last-minute basics, customers can buy everything they need from as many shops as they like, with one payment and one delivery.

Click it Local has already successfully launched in Cambridgeshire, Brighton, Essex, Surrey, Hertfordshire and London, and is now extending to towns and villages across the UK in a bid to support local and independent business.

Co-Founder Steve Koch said: “We are delighted that Click It Local has expanded to Redbridge. Our mission is to help independent stores across the UK by making shopping local easier and faster.”

Local stores that have already signed up include South Woodford’s Source Lifestyle (227 High Road), with a range of gifts, homewares and jewellery, and Venture Photography Studios (223 High Road), offering photography experience vouchers. And in Wanstead, The Larder (39 High Street) and Dagustation Wines (13A High Street) are also taking part. Many more are also listed from across the borough.

This is something we really want to grow for our businesses and shoppers alike, and as it expands, it will help our local economy to thrive.

If you search for ‘South Woodford’, you’ll be able to see how our local options grow as more of our businesses sign up, but you’ll also be able to pick and mix from high streets across Redbridge.

For more information on Click It Local Redbridge, visit swvg.co.uk/click or email jeraldine@clickitlocal.co.uk

The next meeting of the South Woodford Business Forum will take place at Tipi Coffee Co on 12 May from 7am. For more information, visit swvg.co.uk/swbf

As the pandemic wanes, will high streets return to their previous state, or will temporary changes to street space become part of the ‘new normal’? Dr Emilia Smeds from the University of Westminster introduces the EX-TRA research project surveying opinions on South Woodford. Photography by Geoff Wilkinson

In September 2020, a colourful seating area appeared in front of Tipi Coffee Co on George Lane, near South Woodford Station, where a couple of parking spaces had existed only weeks before. This South Woodford Mobility Hub was the first of its kind to be installed by Redbridge Council. The South Woodford Society and local businesses had their say about it, with a diversity of perspectives. Now the hub has been in place for 18 months, we are revisiting the debate.

Redbridge Council’s vision is that the Mobility Hub allows people to easily switch from one mode of travel to another, with many travel options offered in one place. Next to the seating there is bicycle parking and a parking bay reserved for an electric car club vehicle. You could, for example, cycle or take the Tube to the hub, and then travel onwards in a car club car. The George Lane hub also provides a new seating area or ‘parklet’ for local people to meet and enjoy the high street. It is free for anybody to use, not exclusive to Tipi Coffee customers. You might use it to take a break with your kids while out shopping, or as a meeting point.

Our EX-TRA research project (Experimenting with City Streets to Transform Urban Mobility) is interested in the Mobility Hub because it was implemented as an experiment to explore a new idea. An important issue is to what extent local communities are aware of such street space experiments when many have been introduced quite rapidly since the start of the pandemic.

Is the Mobility Hub a good use of street space? We are interested in all views, whether you like the hub or find issues with it. While the University of Westminster is collaborating with Redbridge Council and charity Living Streets, our study is independent. Redbridge Council Cabinet Member for Environment and Civic Pride, Councillor Jo Blackman, said: “We are keen to hear what residents think of the Mobility Hubs, to better understand how they are being used, and encourage residents to participate in the research to give their feedback.”

Understanding local opinions about the hub is only a starting point for a wider conversation about the future of local high streets. This is why our website includes a second survey about your views on streets in South Woodford and Wanstead more broadly, where you can place a pin on a map and comment on where you would like to see changes.

The pandemic has accelerated the redesign of London streets to provide more outdoor space for people (whether sitting, walking or cycling), rather than space for cars and parking. There is a finite amount of street space, so the question for the future is: what balance is fairest to make space for everyone?

In George Lane, that question has now arrived.

To take part in the street space survey, visit swvg.co.uk/extra. Residents can also speak to project interviewers, who will be outside Tipi Coffee Co (117 George Lane) on Thursdays this spring.

For more information, email extraproject@westminster.ac.uk