Editor

Co-chair of the South Woodford Society Pearl Arbenser-Simmonds reports on the group’s progress as they prepare the South Woodford Neighbourhood Plan. Photo by Geoff Wilkinson

We have been preparing for the South Woodford Neighbourhood Plan (SWNP) for a while now and it’s time to give you an update on what’s to come in this thrilling year ahead!

A key aim of neighbourhood planning is to allow the local community to play a vital role in guiding future development to achieve well-designed places and buildings; ensuring a positive relationship between development and quality of life.

Through the creation of the Neighbourhood Plan, the South Woodford community will be more aware of, more involved in – and therefore able to influence – the design of proposed developments. This will ensure that places and buildings reflect local community preferences.

The SWNP will be based on your vision and aims for South Woodford, drawn from evidence, consultation feedback and knowledge of our area. You may remember a survey we conducted at the very start of the process, where you gave us your views, hopes and aspirations for the neighbourhood, as well as agreeing the boundary area of the plan. These views have fed into the vision and aims outlined below.

There are three stages to the process. Stage one was completed with the approval of the boundary area and official designation of the Neighbourhood Forum, the group of people who will drive the Neighbourhood Plan forward to completion and acceptance.

We’ve recently applied for funding to set us off on stage two, which entails identifying information and policies to inform the plan. Stage three will bring the plan into force. You can find out more about the process in the Locality Neighbourhood Plans Roadmap (swvg.co.uk/np).

We will stay in touch to keep you informed and also to invite you to get involved, especially where you have particular areas of interest and expertise.

Our vision

The vision for South Woodford covers the environment, business and culture:

1. South Woodford will be a clean, green and safe environment that is well-managed and maintained for all those who live, work, learn and visit. It will be a place that people of all ages and from all walks of life can be proud of and will want to work together to protect.
2. Our town centre will be even busier and more vibrant with a great shopping experience for all.
3. Our green spaces will be enhanced and an environmentally sensitive culture will be fostered to protect and improve our amenities for everyone’s benefit.
4. The creation of well-designed and well-built structures that benefit all who depend upon South Woodford.

Our aims

We will achieve our vision through a number of strategies and actions:

1. Building a stronger community, fostering a collaborative and inclusive approach.
2. Creating a clean and safe environment.
3. Engendering a coherent and sustainable approach to development to support Redbridge’s policy of becoming net zero by 2030.
4. Ensuring a holistic approach to planning and infrastructure improvements.
5. Improving and increasing access to green spaces within the community, encouraging residents to support biodiversity and Redbridge’s Grow Zones initiative.
6. Enhancing the vibrancy of the town centre with a great variety of businesses.
7. Supporting local businesses through the established South Woodford Business Forum.
8. Preserving the heritage of South Woodford.

To achieve these aims, we’ll be exploring a range of topic areas such as social and community, economic issues, development and infrastructure and sustainability and environment. These will include arts, culture, sport and leisure, green spaces and more.

We’re now conducting a survey as our next step to confirm the vision and aims to allow the SWNP to progress. Please let us know what you think.

For more information and to take part in the South Woodford Neighbourhood Plan survey, visit swvg.co.uk/npsurvey

For more information on the South Woodford Society, visit swvg.co.uk/sws

A network of foodbank collection points is seeking more homes in the local area to participate in the initiative.

“Tin in a Bin (TinaB) is a network of homes across Wanstead, Aldersbrook and South Woodford, each with a bin where generous neighbours can drop donations. Sadly, the need for food support is growing rapidly, and we are now hoping to expand the network from its current 40-plus collection sites,” said a spokesperson for TinaB, which launched in April 2020 and supports a wide range of charities.

Visit swvg.co.uk/tinab

Residents have until 11 March to take part in the consultation over the closure of South Woodford’s Crown Post Office. Communication Workers Union rep Clive Tickner urges you to do so. Photo by Geoff Wilkinson

Firstly, let me introduce myself. My name is Clive Tickner and I am the Communication Workers Union (CWU) sector rep for South Woodford Post Office on George Lane, which on 27 January was announced for closure. I have represented the office for many years and have worked for the Post Office for over 35 years.

A bit of background behind this closure. In 2017, South Woodford Post Office announced it was going to be franchised; however, the buyer pulled out. Then, in 2018, the terms of the lease were changed and the landlord gave the Post Office notice to be out by early May of this year.

South Woodford is a Crown Post Office that transacts the full range of services and is publicly owned. The next nearest Crown Post Office would be Houndsditch, which is 10 miles away, with the nearest sub Post Office two miles away. The staff currently working in there have nearly 200 years of experience between them.

Crown Post Offices – those that are directly managed by Post Office Ltd – are a cherished institution, loved by all who use them. If the closure was to go ahead, it would have a devastating effect on George Lane’s businesses and the communities that the office currently serves.

The petition launched on the day the closure was announced has already received over 2,600 signatures at the time of writing, and responses are growing daily. The campaign has cross-party support, with Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP particularly vociferous in his support of keeping the site open. It is also my intention to set up a public meeting at a date to be advised, and I would expect Post Office management to attend such an important meeting and to be answerable to the community of South Woodford.

My biggest fear is that the local community will be left without a Post Office. It is our belief that the decision to close is based on pure financial dogma as we also believe the lease could easily be extended or an alternative premises found to house a Crown Post Office.

A consultation started on 27 January and runs until 11 March. This is why we moved quickly to set up a campaign committee to stop this destruction of a national treasure, something that is a vitally important part of our social fabric. We need as much support as possible to halt this process.

When this pandemic finally abates, the Post Office will be an integral part of the economy bouncing back, both nationally and locally, as well as retaining its position as an essential community hub to the people of South Woodford. These are some of the many reasons why we need to save South Woodford’s Crown Post Office. Please help to support this vital campaign.

To contact Clive, call 07876 344 456 or email cstickner99@yahoo.co.uk

To sign the petition, visit swvg.co.uk/po

To take part in the consultation, visit swvg.co.uk/poconsultation

Judy Noble is one of several volunteers from churches in Wanstead and South Woodford who have been hosting Bereavement Cafés since 2016. Having stopped in lockdown, sessions will now resume virtually

We are about to start up our Bereavement Cafés again – by Zoom! We had been running these cafés for several years before lockdown, and now see our way to opening up again. The cafés offer a safe and friendly place for people who are struggling with the feelings of loss after the death of someone close to talk with others.

We are a group of volunteers from St Mary’s in South Woodford, Christ Church in Wanstead and St Gabriel’s in Aldersbrook. Anybody, with any faith or none, who wants a chance to talk about these things can join us.

“Grief doesn’t end with the funeral, but that is the point at which the level of community and social support we get from those around us can sometimes begin to lessen. As life for others returns to some sort of normality, it can be hardest for those experiencing the grief most profoundly to continue to process the thoughts and feelings they continue to feel, in many different ways and at unexpected times,” said Fr Martyn Hawkes when he helped found the cafés in 2016.

We are not therapists but we are very good listeners. We have some training and we have experienced something similar ourselves.  Before lockdown, we offered these meetings in a café meeting space at St Mary’s or Christ Church. The atmosphere of quiet peace there created the calm which helps these conversations.

We know that, for many reasons, it can take a long time after a death to feel enough at ease with ourselves to get on with living our lives alongside our memories and thoughts about those we loved. You may have lived with this person for a long lifetime, had complex and important relationships with them, and experienced an unexpected and shocking loss. More so, perhaps, after COVID-19. We offer people space to talk about their situation over a cuppa when often this may be difficult to do within their own circle.

It’s not quite the same by Zoom but you can join us, in a comfortable chair, with your own cuppa to hand. In a few months, we hope to return to meeting properly, face to face. In the meantime, we hope you will join us online. The meetings are drop-in, so you can come once, come occasionally or come often. You’re always welcome to join in, share and listen. This starts, and sometimes finishes, in a group, but even on Zoom, we can organise space to talk to one another in a ‘break-out room’.

We will be offering a morning and an afternoon session every month. Mornings will start on 16 March from 10.30am to 11.30am (continuing on the third Tuesday of each month). Afternoon sessions will start on 6 April from 2pm to 3pm (continuing on the first Tuesday of each month). We look forward to meeting you there.

To join the Bereavement Cafés on Zoom, use the following Meeting ID and passcode:
Meeting ID: 883 9411 1083
Passcode: 12345

A black swan – named Bruce – took up temporary residence on Snaresbrook’s Eagle Pond recently.

“Black swans are native to Australia. They were brought to the UK as ornamental birds for collections but, like other captive species, occasionally escape. This bird was seen at Walthamstow Reservoirs and Hollow Ponds as well. Their habitat requirements are not dissimilar to those of mute swans, so they could turn up on any stretch of fresh water,” said Tim Harris of the Wren Wildlife Group.

Essex Art Club unveiled its first-ever online exhibition in February.

“Our club has held annual exhibitions locally for many years – and survived two world wars – but we had to cancel our Wanstead House exhibition in 2020. In its place, we have rewritten our website to host our first online exhibition, with works for sale… We hope to be able to resume some activities in spring, and be back in Wanstead with a real exhibition in October,” said club chairman Mary Springham.

The virtual display will run until April.

Visit swvg.co.uk/eac

Redbridge Council is analysing responses to its School Streets consultation.

If the initiative is implemented, it will see non-residential traffic banned from certain streets near schools – including Oakdale, Snaresbrook and Nightingale Primary Schools – for an hour at the start and end of each school day.

“We are grateful to all who took the time to input into the consultation. We are now considering the responses as we decide how to proceed,” said Councillor Jo Blackman, Cabinet Member for Environment and Civic Pride.

Local police are seeking new members to join the South Woodford ward panel.

“In order to ensure the work of each Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT) is focussed on resolving problems in the ward, each ward requires a panel, made up of people whose role is to assess local concerns, identified through community engagement and analysis. The panel gives direction and local advice to the SNT. This allows us to establish priorities for policing in that ward,” said a police spokesperson.

Email SNTJI-South-Woodford@met.police.uk

South Woodford Village Gazette’s resident diarist is keen to hear lockdown stories from local residents.

“Composing 1,000 words gets increasingly tricky under lockdown. Next time round, how about some ‘South Woodford scribbles’ that reflect the spirit of our community? Drop me a line with your stories, your positive strategies that keep you going. I’ll put them in my melting pot and produce a piece to represent more of us. No names, of course,” said DD, whose diary series has been running since 2013.

Email dd@swvg.co.uk

The police have issued a message for residents.

“The South Woodford area has seen a recent spike in overnight burglaries. In a lot of cases, entry to properties has been made through the front door, where occupants have either failed to lock the door at all, or in the case of UPVC doors, they have not been double-locked from within. Residents are urged to securely lock all doors and windows, including porches,” said a police spokesperson.

The South Woodford Society is raising funds to erect two village signs in the local area.

“Hopefully, this will make South Woodford a more defined area, create an even better community feel and be good for our businesses… We are applying for funding from various bodies, residents and businesses through the Spacehive crowdfunding platform,” said a spokesperson.

A number of materials are being considered, including traditional wooden signs, as found in Wanstead and Woodford Green – which cost upwards of £10,000 each – and cheaper aluminium signs (the group’s preferred option at around £1,000 each).

“Possible sites include opposite the Railway Bell pub, on the island at the top of George Lane or outside the Co-op, George Lane East.”

Community input will be sought for design ideas.

Visit swvg.co.uk/sign