Tag: Havering Daily

Havering’s Places Overview and Scrutiny Committee, 18th July 2023

David Taylor’s debut as chair proved he’s affable and courteous. The principal items on the agenda concerned trees and Havering’s fleet of vehicles. Both items had officers presenting reports with skill and panache. It was refreshing to hear experts nimbly answering questions.

Trees are very complex. A ‘canopy’ cover in Havering was a surprise. What wasn’t a surprise was a discussion of fruit trees. Brian Eagling (39 mins)1 and Gerry O’Sullivan (46 mins) spoke passionately about the damage, danger and mess they cause. They are an unintended consequence of the 1987 Great Storm, when there was no choice of replacement trees. The lack of maintenance was emphasised by Brian Vincent (34mins). Nonetheless the political consequences of stripping trees from streets was remembered by Osman Dervish (35 mins). Trees have passionate supporters.

The principal officers for Havering’s fleet of vehicles were a masterful double-act. The ULEZ programme has many ramifications. ULEZ fines were a burning topic and no-one believed the implementation August 29th date will be postponed.2 It seems Havering will pay about £88,000 in fines. This has incentivised the procurement of compliant vehicles. Air pollution was emphasied as a driving force in addition to efficiency though Climate Change wasn’t mentioned.

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Havering Daily: a comment

The e-newspaper did a survey of councillors about ULEZ.3 Not a single councillor mentioned Public Health, which was depressing. Even the Labour Party is trapped by a desire to have it both ways.

The Havering Daily should be congratulated for their efforts. And councillors who replied are sensitive to the democratic necessity of transparent dialogue – so they too should be congratulated. A surprising non-responder was Keith Prince – a ULEZ ultra.

Notes

1 Annotator Player (sonicfoundry.com) All times refer to this webcast

2 And they were quite correct as the High Court ratified ULEZ on the 28th July

3 Havering Councillors Reveal Their Views on the ULEZ Expansion and Pay Per Mile Scheme – The Havering Daily

Political Reporting in Havering

If Havering had Proportional Representation, there wouldn’t be any councillors because most people don’t vote. There’d be an empty council chamber. Local elections are boycotted and newspapers will only report what is interesting.

Romford Recorder: 30th June 2023

The Recorder gives politicians1 a weekly column. Ray Morgon, Leader of the Council, filed a piece for this week.

He outlined administrative changes in the council structure, which are a Target Operating Model. The key priorities are three areas of activity: “improving our digital offering, improving our customer service and resident engagement.” He then discussed enforcement of littering laws, locking park gates (the majority don’t have gates), and cashless parking meters.

It was fascinating for geeks.

Havering Daily: accessed 3rd July 2023

This is an e-newspaper with a section called, ‘Politics’. They highlight HRA, Brexit, Labour and LibDems.3

Access is excellent: content is terrible. Brexit and the LibDems have articles from November 2019. The most recent for HRA is 5th June 2023 and Labour, 28th June.

Each article is a local issue with one principal member identified with it.

An innovation is the Taylor Talks4 monthly column. There’s been one so far and he doesn’t identify himself as a Conservative councillor. Why? His article focuses on being proud of Romford, showing a tragic lack of ambition. His second article was due on July 1st and didn’t appear. Maybe he has a flexible concept of ‘monthly’?

Notes

1 Andrew Rosindell’s Big Idea – Politics in Havering This blog discussed Andrew Rosindell’s thoughts Recorder 14th April 2023

2 Recorder p33 30th June 2023

3 Conservatives aren’t listed, which could be a considered opinion

4 NEW: Taylor Talks-‘It’s time we take pride in Romford.’ – The Havering Daily