Author: Wansteadium

Redbridge abuse rules in force

Signs promoting Redbridge’s new rules on street harassment are now on show in Wanstead, part of the council’s programme to tackle abuse against women and girls.

The borough was the first in the country to implement the rules under a Public Space Protection Order, which means that “on-street sexist behaviours, such as cat-calling, unwanted attention or touching are now enforceable offences”. Any man who harasses a woman in the street can expect to be fined, the council says.

The council has also published some guidance for men who would wish to help in reducing street abuse (“male allies”) with suggestions about what they can do, with these suggestions:

  • Give women and girls space on the street, or on a train or bus
  • Avoid touching women even when there is no inappropriate intention behind it
  • Offer to escort your female friends and family to places
  • Know how to respond if you see someone being harassed in public
  • Don’t flirt with a woman who isn’t showing any interest
  • Keep comments to yourself and don’t stare
  • Do not approach a woman in a group

(Full guidance is on this page.)

The council says enforcement of these rules can be done by police officers and police community support officers, and also by council officials, who may issue fixed penalty notices of £100 in the first instance. It is not, however, clear how the rules would ever be enforced if no officers were on hand to witness incidents.

It’s also worth pointing out that the council banner, above, which says “making sexist comments is now an offence” possibly over-reaches. Sexist comments which are made in a way that harass people may be an offence, but it will be interesting to see if any attempt is made to fine people for making sexist comments in ways that are not harassing anyone.

Big day for Wanstead Youth Centre

The full Redbridge Council will on Thursday evening be debating a petition against the closure of Wanstead Youth Centre.

The petition was signed by 2,432 people, enough to trigger an automatic debate before the council. The agenda paper can be seen here, but it doesn’t tell you much about what might happen.

The final decision will be made by the Redbridge cabinet – the inner group of senior councillors which make material decisions – possibly next Tuesday.

It remains to be seen if the council will accept the request by campaigners that a 12-month moratorium be placed on the closure to give time for proper consideration of the building’s future to take place.

The proposal from Vision, the charity which runs leisure facilities for Redbridge, was only published in January and the site – which has been used for more than 50 years – faces closure at the end of April.

It also remains to be seen if the councillors will exercise democratic control over Vision’s proposal or if it is prepared to accept the decision at arm’s length.

One of the risks which was highlighted at the public meeting at the centre earlier this month was a rising sense that Vision had become unaccountable even though it runs key public assets including parks and libraries.

The council meeting will be streamed from 7.15pm on this page – a recording should be available afterwards.

High Street ad screens: It’s a no

Image: Redbridge Planning

Redbridge planners have rejected three applications to put hi-tech advertising screens on Wanstead High Street, saying they would not fit with the character of the area.

The three screens – one outside Gail’s, one outside the Lighthouse fish and chip shop, and one near Luppolo – would have had illuminated screens and also a phone (not in a box) and a defibrillator. However, the high street is part of the Wanstead Conservation Zone which restricts the use of internally-lit signs – shops are not supposed to have them.

The rejection of the plans said the screens would be:

at odd with local distinctiveness and character and appearance of the wider conservation area and its siting would detract from the openness of the street scene and the frontage of the street facing commercial units and would add to visual clutter which would further undermine the vibrancy of the district centre, failing to preserve the character and appearance of the conservation area. As such, the proposal would be contrary to Policies LP26, LP28 and LP33 of the Local Plan and HC1 of the London Plan.

The story is not necessarily over though. The rejections also note the the applicants had not consulted with the council before submitting the plans, and advises them that they should seek “pre application advice” before they resubmit.

  • There are several defibrillators currently available in Wanstead. This is not a complete list – please send any additions to info@wansteadium.com and we will plot them on a map for everyone’s reference.
    * Wanstead Leisure Centre
    * Wanstead and Snaresbrook Cricket Club
    * Alan Burgess Centre (Corner House)
    * The Nightingale Pub
    * Tesco
    * M&S
  • (Thanks for defib. info: Toni, Kat)