CAMPAIGNING residents are calling on Redbridge Council for improvements on their estate.

Residents living on the Aldersbrook Estate in Wanstead started the Aldersbrook Voice residents association about six months ago and its chairwoman says there have been some successes.

Residents on the estate pay their council tax to Redbridge Council and their rent to Newham Council.

Members of Aldersbrook Voice have been putting pressure on both authorities for improvements and Shanell Johnson, chairwoman of the group, said Newham Council has started carrying out work on the estate.

In January Newham Council will start putting new windows in about 60 homes in St Gabriel's Close.

Ms Johnson, 28, of Brading Crescent, said: "We have been asking for improvements for a long, long time but now we're asking as a collective and it seems to be paying off.

"Newham are taking us seriously now, there are steps to the flats which have been in a state of disrepair for a long time and they have promised to fix them by December 10.

"Redbridge have been slow to move but we might not have been talking to the right people."

Ms Johnson, who is studying to be a quantity surveyor, said she has showed ward councillors areas which residents want Redbridge Council to improve, including repairing dangerous cracked pavements, providing a play facility for youngsters and putting a mirror on a bend on the estate to help prevent car accidents.

Residents are also after more bins on the estate and better recyling facilities.

Ms Johnson said: "It is mostly safety issues with regards to Redbridge.

"We have a really bad bend and if there was a mirror drivers could see what is coming and it would prevent accidents.

"There was an incident the other day where a car came out into the middle of the road to avoid a parked car and it almost went into another car coming round the bend in the opposite direction.

"The councillors have been sympathetic but I don't know how much of it is going to go into action, whereas Newham have just turned up and started doing stuff."

Ms Johnson said the new association, which has a core of eight volunteers running it, held its first meeting in July and they are always keen to attract new members.

Anyone wishing to volunteer should contact shanell@aldersbrookvoice.com.

A spokeswoman for Redbridge Council said installing play equipment on the estate would be the responsibility of Newham Council.

She said: "The council regularly inspects all public highways and carries out repairs to defects which present a safety hazard.

"Less serious defects are dealt with when planned maintenance is carried out in the area, these repairs are based on results of annual condition surveys.

"As budget pressures grow the funding for this type of work has been decreasing.

"Other than the safety related repairs on the estate there are no immediate plans to undertake any highways works.

"In accordance with the Department of Transport/Government advice the council doesn’t install mirrors on the public highway."