We hope you will be able to join other residents of the BAG area at our 2011 AGM:

on: 28 March 2011
at: 7.30pm
venue: Frederic Street Community Centre, E17 7LF (Frederic Street opposite St James’ Street station) – see link for map below**

Now that we’ve got a real chance of securing the old St James Street library building for use as a community centre, the AGM will be an opportunity for you to hear about how things are progressing and – more importantly – contribute ideas for what activities and resources you would like.

There will also be updates on the situation with Willowfield School, the proposed development of the Blackhorse Lane Area, and many other local matters. Oh, and it’s your chance to come and talk to the committee and even get onto it!

We look forward to welcoming you to the AGM!

** Here’s the link for finding the venue: http://bit.ly/gm0X10

We need the community to come along and show their support.

The meeting is organised by a collective of residents groups working to try to secure a future for the St James St Library building.

Representatives from the St James St Library Campaign, Senior Citizens Asian Group, Blackhorse Action Group along with local councillors and MP Stella Creasy will be there to talk and listen to residents views.

PUBLIC MEETING – A FUTURE FOR ST JAMES STREET?
Sunday 28th November 2010 @ 8pm

Blackhorse Road Baptist Church Hall
(Corner of Southcote Road & Blackhorse Road, entrance on Southcote Road)

View Larger Map

Waltham Forest Council want to sell it to the highest bidder and it may never be a community space again. What do you think?

Residents groups are working together to keep the building open as a community centre, and are looking to raise funds to buy the building. Applications are also being made for grants.

Your views are important, and will show the Council that the local residents really care about what happens in their area.

It’s the last chance to save the building

To keep up with the latest news join BAG and The Library Campaign on Facebook.

The Blackhorse Action Group’s AGM is the place  to get things aired and have your say. What do you want action on?  Litter?  Car tyre slashing in Edward Rd? The library?

All these questions and more will be addressed at the Blackhorse Action Group (BAG) Residents Association AGM.
Tuesday 1st December 2009 at 7.30pm
Douglas Eyre Playing Fields Pavilion Centre (MAP)

The agenda will include:
The constitution and invitation to stand for election as a member of the BAG Organising Committee.

What have we been doing?
Reports on what BAG has been doing in the past year, including making a start on setting up a community garden.

What next?
Plans for future activities and your chance to say what you would like BAG to do.

Local issues :
We’ve invited speakers to report on, and answer questions about, what is happening including:
Re-location of Willowfield School
The St James Street library campaign. If the building is not to be a drug rehab centre, what should it be? Re-instated as a local library or what?

There’ll also be:
An opportunity for you to ask questions or raise concerns about other matters affecting our community.

And finally …
It’s an opportunity to meet your neighbours to make friends and join together in making our area of Waltham Forest the place we would like it to be.

A residents group is only strong with support and input from the residents themselves, so please come along and take part even if you can’t stay for the full meeting.

Click here to view the draft agenda. We’ll do our best to stick to timings but these things are never exact.

2009 Agenda

There’s a sort of stream of consciousness account of tonight’s Walthamstow West Community Council meeting on Twitter. Check out http://twitter.com/BlackhorseAG. Hopefully there’ll be a fuller write-up soon…

The date for this meeting has been shifted and is NOT now on the 13th. Apologies for any confusion or inconvenience. 

Have your say on THE FUTURE OF OUR CHILDREN AND OUR LOCAL AREA

Public meeting about the relocation of Willowfield School

Wednesday 18th of March @ 7:30pm

At Willowfield School, (main hall, entrance through the car park) Clifton Avenue, E17 6HL

Your chance to question councillors and officials about the quality of their plans 

Key issues:

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IMPACT ON TRAFFIC AND ENVIRONMENT

IMPACT ON SURROUNDING HOMES

HOUSING ABOVE SCHOOL

ARE THEY PLANNING A HIGH-RISE SCHOOL?

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Contact BAG :: mobile: 07847 059 164 / email: chair@blackhorseactiongroup.org.uk

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The Council plans to relocate Willowfield School to the area at the northern side of the playing fields and south of Blackhorse Road tube station (the old goods yard area).

The Council is consulting parents, residents and others on the planning brief, which will then shape the plans for Willowfield School. The current brief proposes the following:

• A much larger 1000 pupil school with a small provision for post-16s.
• The council has identified a limited site of 1.83 hectares of which 0.17 hectares are green belt land. The site is next to a very high-risk flood area and also right next to the overland railway line, green belt land and residential streets.
• Possibly, flats above the school development.
• Provision of a prominent ‘landmark’ building  -which usually is taken to mean a high-rise building.  No upper limit on height in current plans, though probably ‘more than 3 storeys’ high.
• A one-way traffic system to be introduced to Cornwallis Road, Lloyd Road, Hawarden Road and part of Edward Road.
• Car parking restrictions in the area.
• No guarantees that the building will provide any free or affordable facilities for community use, despite vague promises.

The meeting started with a short presentation by Archie Onslow, explaining the issues involved. The NLWP will provide a planning framework to identify sites suitable for waste processing facilities (of industrial as well as household waste). North London, will, in future, have to make provision for processing a higher percentage than previously of the waste produced in the seven boroughs that now constitute the North London Waste Authority.

The tonnage of waste each borough has been allocated by the Mayor is called “apportionment”. This is the minimum quantity of waste each waste authority has to process within its own boundaries. To process the waste tonnage set by the apportionment for north London will require around an extra 9 hectares of land for the accommodation of new waste processing facilities. Beyond that, it is deemed desirable that London boroughs work towards increasing self-sufficiency in waste processing. To achieve self sufficiency for the six north London boroughs of the NLWP would require an extra 24 hectares of land (1 hectare = the size of one football pitch).

The report outlines the issues and options involved in dealing with the challenges presented by the need for increased waste processing facilities in north London. In this context, the report lists six locations that have been identified as suitable for the siting of new waste processing facilities in north London. Three of these sites are in Waltham Forest (one at Blackhorse Road), two in Enfield, and one in Barnet.

Local residents expressed their extreme concern over the suitability of the locations listed in the report and the effect pollution from waste processing facilities will have on residents’ health and quality of life in the adjacent residential areas. It appeared to us that research data relating to these issues are rather scant. Furthermore, is there any legal provision defining the minimum distance waste processing facilities have to be sited from residential properties?

Some of the other issues raised concerned:

The fact that the boroughs Waltham Forest and Enfield are already accommodating most of north London’s waste processing facilities, allowing boroughs such as Barnet to offload the problem almost entirely outside of their own area.

The effect increased traffic caused by trucks transporting waste to and from these plants will have on the local environment.

The lack of cohesion in the Council’s planning policy as far as the future of the Blackhorse Lane area is concerned: intending to place quality housing, shops and cafés in close proximity to a waste processing plant.

In summary, local residents expressed severe discontent over the fact that north London’s waste processing problem will be solved largely at the expense of poorer boroughs such as Walthamstow, which are already “hosts” to most of this area’s waste processing facilities.

Links:
North London Waste Plan website

Greenpeace Incinerator buster kit for residents opposed to plans for incinerators in their area. This relates to a year 2000 court case over plans to site Europes largest incinerator in Edmonton as well as GP activists taken to court for protesting at the site.

The framework document for these plans is the North London Waste Plan. This document will be finalized following a number of public consultation meetings held at various locations in the borough earlier this year.

As far as BAG is concerned, the opportunities for public consultation were not widely advertised and therefore, quite possibly, missed by many people who are concerned about this issue.

We have therefore asked NLWP to hold one more public meeting at which local residents can get information about these plans and express their opinions.

Anyone concerned with plans to site Incinerators and waste facilities in the Blackhorse Road area and other places in the borough should come along to find out more and get their views across to the NLWP.

North London Waste Plan meeting details:

Tuesday, 15 April 2008, at 7.15pm

The church hall of Blackhorse Road Baptist Church
Blackhorse Road
Walthamstow
London
E17 7AS.

(Google Maps)

Business will include reports on activities, the establishment of working groups and the election of committee members.

Looking forward to seeing as many residents as possible there!

2008 AGM Agenda