Author: Wansteadium

Wansteadium’s property blogger, George C Parker, writes:

Gracious readers, Spring has arrived and the local property market continues to blossom. Increasingly I note that properties in this area are listed ‘sale by tender’. These three words are estate agent catnip – usually meaning that sealed bids are invited to avoid underpricing in a seller’s market.

An example is this handsome 5-bedder on Grove Park for which bids of around £1.3m are invited.

On offer are a very generous living area, and a mature, leafy garden-cum-cricket square in an excellent location. However, the successful bidder may choose to dispense with the rather trendy Dalston beard on the lower front bay window.

Alternatively, for those who would like yet another bedroom, plus walking access to stables, this Empress Avenue house is on the market with Churchills for a more transparent 900k.

Narnia in Aldersbrook

I needed a double-take when I spied this Martin and Co advert on Zoopla this morning. Were these Queenswood Gardens apartments truly “Built in wardrobes” like the fabled kingdom of C.S.Lewis? Perhaps when the Flats are snowy in winter, the residents might see a resemblance.

The comparison does pall somewhat when we remember that Narnia had a splendidly elegant lamp post. In contrast Redbridge appears to pride itself on finding the ugliest and ill-matched collection of street illumination outside of a war zone.

Returning to the property in question: with off-street parking, and directly on the 101 bus route to either Wanstead tube or Manor Park station, the price does begin to look extremely competitive (yes I did spot the reference to a June 2013 open day which I presume is a typo).

You’d probably get an even better view of Narnia might be afforded by this 5th floor residence in the little-known Belgrave Heights development.

Two wheels good

As anywhere in London, the ever-increasing number of new apartment buildings appears to be increasing the strain on infrastructure and services. Wansteadium has carried a number of articles on the increasing pressure on parking around homes, schools, and the High Street, and the difficulty in striking a happy medium.

Fundamentally there are too many short car journeys, yet Wanstead remains a truly wretched place to run a bicycle, not least for school kids who should be using their young legs rather than bouncing about in the back of cars.

I’m adding my two penny-farthings to this matter because there is solid evidence to suggest environmental, commercial and public health benefits to improving cycle access and storage facilities.

Thanks to Heather Whitney who posted an interesting article to the Wansteadium Facebook page recently.

Remember that local elections are coming up, so now is a good time to mention this and other issues (the state of Christchurch play area?) to your candidates as they attempt to canvass your endorsement. Like an estate agent: they work for you.

Last month Wansteadium wondered if the seemingly brutal pruning of the fine London plane trees on Wanstead High Street, which leaves them bereft of leaves and indeed branches, was being done at the right time of year.

After all, it’s one thing to know that a tree species responds well to this rather severe pruning (or pollarding, as it’s called). But it’s another thing for that pollarding to take place in the middle of the growing season. Isn’t that a bit like closing Selfridges for redecoration in the middle of December?

We asked Redbridge Council for a statement of their policy towards pollarding. It turns out we were right – this is NOT the time of year for pollarding to take place. The council told us: “There are 1,611 Highway trees that are maintained as pollards. This year work was scheduled to pollard 866 of these trees between January and March. Due to emergency tree works resulting from the high winds experienced since October 2013, the routine programme could not start until the middle of January.”

However, this is not necessarily a disaster. The council’s tree experts say that the planes on Wanstead High Street are “robust”, and “should soon produce vigorous new growth”.

So, readers of Wansteadium, please be like Norman Lamont and keep an eye out for green shoots of recovery.

Congratulations to Wanstead’s Nick Drew, managing director of visual special effects company Milk, which this week won a Bafta for its work on the Doctor Who 50th special episode, The Day of the Doctor.

Nick and his colleagues set the company up last June, and the BBC commission was its first job. There’s a taste of it below.

Geoff Wilkinson writes on Wanstead Daily Photo: “I was walking across Christ Church Green, a journey I’ve made countless times before when I spotted this wonderful woodwork on the side of this building. I really like the horizontal lines of the planks and the tiles on the adjoining roofs. If it wasn’t for the bricks on the building behind it would be like being whisked back in time. Where is it I hear you cry, well it’s the flank wall of local estate agent Petty Son and Prestwich in Woodbine Place. Always something new to discover.”

Parents of young children living in central Wanstead believe a “schools black hole” has developed, with their children not being able to get school places at any of the area’s four primaries.

Children living in Nightingale Lane, Grosvenor Road, The Avenue, and Leicester Road are among those who have not got places in Wanstead primaries, instead being told they must go to other schools in the borough. Several children have been told they will have to go to Barkingside, including twins in one family – though they have been placed at two different schools.

Wansteadium reader Emily O’Grady writes:

“Like all parents we want the best education for our children, so when it came to choosing a school for our daughter we listed six local schools in the community where we have put down roots. In order to provide wrap-around care we applied for a place at the local breakfast/after-school club affiliated with the nursery my daughter has attended for the past three years.

Then the nightmare began. We were told that the council had allocated our daughter to Mossford Green Primary, which we had never heard of and never considered as it is more than three miles away in Barkingside.

The journey to reach this school involves a 10-minute walk to the station, five tube stops in the opposite direction to our places of work and a further 15-minute walk. Such a journey twice a day is exhausting for any child and seems ridiculous in 21st Century in London. In addition to having a long arduous journey every day, our daughter will be separated from her existing community and we will be unable to use a local breakfast/afterschool club as these do not serve the schools in Barkingside. I am not even clear how we can get her to the school and back – we both work – but this situation means that one of us will probably have to give up our job.

This is a life changing decision for our family and we are not alone. There are numerous other families living in central Wanstead who have not been offered any of their preferred schools, including one family with twins who have been offered two different schools in Barkingside. How is it possible that all these families can effectively fall into a ‘black hole’ where we are out of catchment for every single local school? We are liaising with local MPs and local councillors to explore the possibility of expanding a Wanstead primary school to address this year’s school crisis.”

Emily invites anyone who is in a similar situation to get in touch at wansteadschoolplaces@gmail.com.

Marian Temple, guerrilla gardener, writes:

Another successful work party at Wanstead Station. Many thanks to the two dads and five children who came along on Sunday all set to make a difference. The dads hacked away while the kids de-manked the bare patches and then chucked wild flower seeds around with gay abandon. The birthday cake was very welcome too, just right for hungry guerrillas. We had fun planting more foxgloves and primroses. Small children have their own style which involves immediately walking over what’s just been planted. Fortunately, our plants are tough.

We probably need just a couple more working parties before we’re at the Pimms and deckchair stage. Unfortunately, I can’t manage any more Sundays. I hope Saturday proves to be an equally family friendly day. Next working party is this Saturday, 3rd May, 10.00ish onwards. All welcome, no experience necessary. Bring any tools you think might be useful and gloves for those so inclined. See you at the station.

The first Sunday in the month is a working party at the Corner House garden. This month it’s Sunday 4th May, 10.30 onwards. On the menu is bluebell bashing, a bit of shifting and planting, and maybe a bit of watering and some sawing. We might even get that lavatory cistern in the front bed planted with the sweet peas that are waiting in the wings. Maybe some useful person could come along and fix a couple of steps in the back garden. The present ones are sloping at a death-defying angle. Good for the adrenaline I suppose but maybe not good for your Wanstead gardeners. All welcome. No experience necessary. Marian.