Editor

I want to be a councillor that brings the community together and work with a Labour team that is on your side.

I know that in South Woodford there are many hardworking families like mine who are worried about rising energy bills, national insurance hikes and more. On 5 May, you have the opportunity to send the Conservatives a clear message that they aren’t doing enough by electing three Labour councillors. Let’s make sure we have a team in the Town Hall that will work for South Woodford.

I am a 53-year-old local resident having moved to Woodford over 10 years ago.

I’m a registered nurse and have worked most of my life for the NHS. For the last five years, I have been employed as a senior lecturer at Middlesex University, Hendon. I’m a parishioner at St Anne Line and my children attend Trinity School. I watch rugby, like a drink at The Cricketers, have a kebab from Woodford BBQ and I think I’m normal. I vote Green because I can’t afford not to. And on 5 May, I hope you will too.

I have lived in E18 for 18 years and served as a councillor for Roding ward for eight years until 2018.

I am a retired civil servant. I am a Friend of Elmhurst Gardens and have been heavily involved in the campaign to secure the former bowling club for community use. I take a keen interest in housing and planning issues. The Labour council’s record of providing sustainable and truly affordable housing is appalling. We need councillors who will stand up for the local area and not just nod through every developer’s proposal.

I have had the privilege of representing South Woodford ward since 2018 and, before that, the then Snaresbrook ward since 1998.

As the current spokesman for the Conservatives on health, I will continue to fight for more beds at Whipps Cross, better transport links and to retain the Margaret Centre. I also successfully fought for blood testing at Wanstead Hospital. I am passionate about protecting and enhancing the character of South Woodford, and I will fight for our residents to the best of my ability.

I have lived in Churchfields ward since 1971, and for 10 years taught in Churchfields Junior School.

My top priority is to make our council stop paying lip service to tackling climate change. We need measures such as positive encouragement to install heat insulation; traffic calming and good cycle lanes; reliable charge points and free parking for electric vehicles; refusing planning permission to all developments that are not carbon neutral; public transport improvements; and many more!

After graduating with a Master of Physics honours degree, I became a software engineer.

Together with my partner, I have lived in South Woodford for 16 years. As a parent of a Year 6 child, I’m aware of many of the issues facing parents of school-aged children in the ward. As well as supporting a greener, fairer future, I can be found running along the Roding Valley Path most mornings. I believe this, as well as the rest of Epping Forest, is a local resource that should be promoted and made accessible to all.

I have lived in South Woodford for most of my life, having been born and educated in the area.

I had a long career as a film and television engineer and even (briefly) as a stuntman. Following that, I worked for 20 years as a bus and coach driver. Living in Crescent Road, I am supporting the campaign against the development proposal there that would damage the local environment. The Liberal Democrats are the only party who get things done locally and keep residents informed.

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