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Leytonstone residents and businesses call for 2012 improvement funding for High Road

3:45pm Tuesday 9th March 2010


A MASSIVE pot of money to carry out improvements to south Leytonstone ahead of the Olympics will not be spent on the area which needs it most, according to High Street traders and residents.

Waltham Forest Council has been handed £9 million to improve streets, access to the Olympic Park, business, skills and ‘inspire the community ahead of the 2012 games.

But it has emerged that money has not been secured to improve the High Street area of south Leytonstone, which borders Stratford has suffered from a long-term lack of investment.

A total of £1.75 million has been allocated to improve Cann Hall Road and Crownfield Road and while business owners and residents welcome the investment, they say the High Road must be addressed.

Simon Watkinson is the manager of Rivetts motorcycle supplies, which has traded in Leytonstone High Road for 112 years.

But the shop will close on Saturday and the 41-year-old blames a lack of investment in the area.

He said: “It used to be a nice area, but it is horrible now. With the history and heritage of the shop in the area, it is a shame to go.

"Crime is a problem and the area could be improved if it was kept cleaner. I am not surprised they don't have the money for the High Road. But it is too late for us.”

Jina Eze, 39, manager of First Choice Hair in the High Road, said: “They need to invest. They need to tidy it up to make people feel safer.”

The funding was announced by Keith Henshaw, council director of public realm, at Leytonstone Community Council on Monday.

He agreed that the High Road needs investment, saying a bid had gone in for money to improve the Thatched House junction area.

The improvements in Cann Hall Road and Crownfield Road will see roads and pavements re-surfaced, the removal of road-narrowing chicanes, street lights replaced and refurbishing railway bridge areas.

Jane Sterland, of Davies Road, in Leytonstone, told Mr Hanshaw at the meeting: “You are making fantastic improvements to these particular roads and if it goes ahead it will probably be spectacular.

“But it will be futile if people have to go from there through the High Road, which is run down and has a ridiculous one-way system. I wish you well in getting more funding, but that funding needs to be got.”

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March Hare, says...
4:19pm Tue 9 Mar 10

I find it shameful that the only thing which is now galvanising the powers that be into belated action is the fact that the world is coming to the doorstep. If it's worth doing now because of the Olympics it should have been worth doing years ago for the sake of the community. Any improvements are welcome, of course, however spurious the motivation but to let the public realm decay to this extent and then panic at the eleventh hour when years of neglect is about to be revealed to an astounded world is an utter disgrace. The words too little, too late come to mind. Even if it's done now we borough residents will always know it wasn't done for our benefit but as mere window dressing. It's a scandalous sham!

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Techno2, Walthamstow says...
5:18pm Tue 9 Mar 10

March Hare wrote:
I find it shameful that the only thing which is now galvanising the powers that be into belated action is the fact that the world is coming to the doorstep. If it's worth doing now because of the Olympics it should have been worth doing years ago for the sake of the community. Any improvements are welcome, of course, however spurious the motivation but to let the public realm decay to this extent and then panic at the eleventh hour when years of neglect is about to be revealed to an astounded world is an utter disgrace. The words too little, too late come to mind. Even if it's done now we borough residents will always know it wasn't done for our benefit but as mere window dressing. It's a scandalous sham!
Well said.

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jack de large, chingford says...
9:25am Wed 10 Mar 10

All the comments on this story are well-made, ever since Labour explicitly bought into conservative thought, first in order to become a credible opposition, then to get elected and then to govern they have found the problem with stealing other parties ideologies. Now it is collapsing under its own contradictions. Through Pitt the Younger, Robert Peel, Disraeli to Churchill the Conservatives have led this country through some difficult periods. We have seen what this Labour council supported by the sly, conniving Liberal Democrats has failed to do, let's hope the good people of Walthamstow, Leyton and Leytonstone come to their senses and realise we must have change.

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March Hare, says...
10:07am Wed 10 Mar 10

Thank you for your appreciation, jack de large. However I do not share your political conclusions. I note that your list of Tory achievements ends at Churchill. I assume that is because even a Tory Boy like yourself can't find it in him to act as an apologist for Thatcher and Major's 18 years of misrule, which systematically and catastrophically dismantled the public realm (no doubt the words "there is no such thing as society" ring a bell?). New Labour has still not managed to reverse this situation, even after 13 years, largely I suspect (as you quite rightly point out) because they mistakenly clung on to too many Tory policies for fear of 'frightening the horses' instead of (to pursue the equine metaphor)completely cleansing the Augean Stables. That was their great mistake, which fear we will all pay for if we allow ourselves to sleep-walk into another 5 years of Tory government.

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jack de large, chingford says...
11:13am Wed 10 Mar 10

Unfortunately, March Hare, I am short of time as I have to leave for work, otherwise I might enjoy this debate a little longer. Please do not think I am making a political point, my concern is more sociological. My parents talk of Leytonstone as a thriving area with its own department store (Berman's?) Not that long ago, and there is a reason why this has happened and I do not believe the sticking-plaster of the Olympics will heal that wound. Leytonstone needs a major rethink and I see nothing and no one in the Liberal Democrat/Labour coalition with the vision, especially not in the Liberal Democrats who I believe actually are damaging Labour.

As I approach my first opportunity to vote have to say I am more anti-Liberal Democrat than I am pro-Tory, so I'm sorry if I come across as Tory Boy, but hey! I live in Chingford. And you are bang-on with Thatcher, no I can't support her but I was tempted to include Macmillan, in my view an underrated Prime Minister. Gotta run!

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Techno2, Walthamstow says...
11:14am Wed 10 Mar 10

March Hare wrote:
Thank you for your appreciation, jack de large. However I do not share your political conclusions. I note that your list of Tory achievements ends at Churchill. I assume that is because even a Tory Boy like yourself can't find it in him to act as an apologist for Thatcher and Major's 18 years of misrule, which systematically and catastrophically dismantled the public realm (no doubt the words "there is no such thing as society" ring a bell?). New Labour has still not managed to reverse this situation, even after 13 years, largely I suspect (as you quite rightly point out) because they mistakenly clung on to too many Tory policies for fear of 'frightening the horses' instead of (to pursue the equine metaphor)completely cleansing the Augean Stables. That was their great mistake, which fear we will all pay for if we allow ourselves to sleep-walk into another 5 years of Tory government.
You will probably not like to read this in a couple of years if Labour get re-elected. (Actually you may not be able to, as this paper will possibly be closed by them, like so many other businesses will be). The current government has hollowed out the manufacturing base and is wrecking other fundamentals of our economy. It'll take decades to recover from the damage of their criminal levels of public sector debt. This will soon enough bring serious inflation as Gordon Brown continues printing increasingly worthless money.

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Mr Bernard, L'stone says...
6:22pm Wed 10 Mar 10

Conservative Cllr Ed Northover has been concerned with the lack of investment in South Leytonstone for a long time now so it is good to see that our visionless council has now cottoned on to the fact that something needs to be done. Jack is right...Labour and the Lib Dems have left us here with nothing but litter, chicken shops, charity shops and hairdressers. There should be more specialist shops like Rivets at this end of the High Road to attract more shoppers to the area. Crime needs to be addressed in a serious manner and parking needs to be less draconian.

Labour and the Lib Dems have failed here miserably and have continued to fail us residents over the years. I wrote to the council in 2007 regarding the road 'safety' scheme and explained that it was a total waste of money to the tune of £350,000 if I remember rightly. Its good to hear that after thousands of pounds of taxpayers money being wasted on two roads that needed no more than a predestrian crossing and better parking facilities the council will now remove the damage that they have done to the roads, at yet another cost!

That quote “It used to be a nice area, but it is horrible now" is one I here all too often and after years of utter neglect and mismanagement I hope that both Labour and the Lib Dems are shown the door.

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March Hare, says...
10:27am Thu 11 Mar 10

Yes, one is tempted to say "a plague on both their houses" but I still think if Labour could find the guts to get back to its socialist roots (not in the Eastern-bloc communist sense but more the William Morris, Fabian, Co-operative sense) we would all be happier bunnies. Maybe I'm just an old, head-in-the-clouds Utopian idealist but, disappointed as I am with New Labour, and Lib-Lab pacts, I will NEVER countenance the Tories (even the One Nation variety jack de large looks back to so wistfully) as a credible alternative or solution.

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Mr Bernard, L'stone says...
9:04pm Thu 11 Mar 10

It goes to show that for all the parties in this borough it was the Tories who realised the potential of South Leyton and Leytonstone.

It is the attitude that people will always vote Labs/Libs back in which has allowed many parts of Waltham Forest to become so uninspiring in the first place. They have become complacent and do very little knowing that they are not challenged.

However I do think that attitudes towards the Conservatives in Waltham Forest south of the A406 are changing as people realise that both Labour and the Liberals are failing us miserably and if the tories can make positive, lasting changes then they are worth the vote.

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March Hare, says...
8:39am Fri 12 Mar 10

I agree with your analysis of the situation, Mr Bernard, up to the point where you suggest the Tories as a viable alternative. However, it is hard to see another way (one hesitates to employ the now discredited phrase 'third way'!) out of the impasse other than a complete re-organisation of London local government - as I have suggested previously. I think a large part of our problem is historic, going back to the way the borough boundaries were drawn in 1965. Waltham Forest is made up of several disparate parts crudely stitched together which, like Frankenstein's monster, was always likely to prove dysfunctional. Until this situation is remedied I'm afraid it;s likely to be the same old same old. However, if I were being Macchiavellian I'd say go ahead, vote Tory and see what you get. After a very short time I think the days of the Lib/Lab pact would take on a much rosier glow!

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Mr Bernard, L'stone says...
1:16pm Fri 12 Mar 10

To say that by voting Tory, we may look back on the days of the Lib/Lab pact with a "rosier glow" is unlikely. To be honest it would act as a wake up call to our 'cummunity' leaders and show that we want action.

The way both the Liberals and Labour have ruled over the general ruining of Waltham Forest I think you would be hard pushed to find anyone who would look back on their 'leadership' with a great deal of happiness.

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March Hare, says...
3:06pm Fri 12 Mar 10

Still not a risk I'm willing to take, Mr Bernard.

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Mr Bernard, L'stone says...
4:49pm Fri 12 Mar 10

Without risks March Hare there is very rarely change!

I want a better Waltham Forest not the Waltham Forest of today.

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March Hare, says...
1:27pm Sat 13 Mar 10

And I don't want a Waltham Forest at all, Mr Bernard. As I've observed previously, a return to the constituent townships of the present borough, each with an Assembly Member in a GLA with real powers ro run London, seems to me the only realistic way forward now. Rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic will get us nowhere - except sunk!

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Simon Wilkinson in Leytonstone High Road. Simon Wilkinson in Leytonstone High Road.


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