Wansteadium – Page 81

Cycle hangars arrive in Wanstead

Cycle hangars – on-street lockable bike racks which can be rented – have arrived in Wanstead. One has been installed this week in Halstead Road, near to the Duke pub.

The hangars are a common sight in other boroughs and are especially useful in streets where houses do not have side access, allowing cyclists to store their bikes securely. Slots are rented from a private operator, Cyclehoop, and cost £72 per year.

Cyclehoops says that councils pay for the installation of the hangars and decide on location. Some also offer subsidies to reduce the rental figure, though Redbridge does not appear to be doing this. It’s not yet known if more hangars are to come to Wanstead.

Hermon Hill residents’ fear of the future

Another serious road crash at the crossroads between Hermon Hill and Wanstead High Street on Saturday morning has caused more worry for residents.

They have launched a petition calling on Redbridge council to introduce some traffic calming measures, fearing that an accident in which someone dies is only a matter of time.

A number of incidents in the past year have included a serious crash in September 2020 in which a car ended up in the front garden of the Sukkat Shalom synagogue (left).

This weekend’s incident involved the air ambulance and fears of serious injury.

Resident Lloyd Simpson told Wansteadium: “Given how many residents and users of the nurseries and care homes located here use this road it is sadly only a matter of time.

“We live in constant fear due to excessive and consistent speeding and cars mounting the pavements to park. The mums and dads I speak to on the road are beside themselves with worry. Many have lost loved pets but I fear the council will only do something when someone is mowed down.”

The petition is available here.

A parklet problemlet?

We love new things, and despite all the naysaying, we’re rather keen on the Wanstead Parklet (aka the Wanstead Village Hub), now in full service outside the Co-op.

Along with the new flower baskets adorning the railings at the side of the road outside the Corner House, it all feels fresh and summery. Other views may be available.

We have three observations about the experience of sitting in the parklet enjoying a cup of coffee – one good, one bad, and one kind of neutral.

One is that this innovation could increase the number of casual encounters between acquaintances, and that’s a great thing.
Second is that you are, as you sit, unfortunately very close to the traffic – something which doesn’t apply to the corresponding parklet in South Woodford, as that part of George Lane is not a main thoroughfare.
Third is that to fulfil its promise, this is going to have to be kept clean. No one wants to sit at a manky table with other people’s detritus. Feels like we might be heading for an illustration of the tragedy of the commons.

An exciting new shake-up for Wanstead…

The latest proposed reorganisation of parliamentary constituencies is suggesting that Wanstead be in a constituency with…. wait for it…. Leyton.

In other words, even though the last proposed redrawing, in 2016, had Wanstead grouped with bits of Walthamstow, and the one before that, in 2011, would have recreated Churchill’s historic Wanstead and Woodford, the new proposal is only a minor change on the current position.

It does mean that the small part of the Nightingale Estate which is currently in Wes Streeting’s constituency would be added on to Leyton and Wanstead, which would be a logical move.

Blue line, on left, is current boundaries. Red line is the proposed redrawing. Images: Boundary Commission England

The proposals can be seen in detail on the Boundary Commission England consultation site. As recent history has shown, though, it’s far from guaranteed that the changes will take place.

Some questions for the Nationwide – and some answers

Ten days ago the Nationwide Building Society announced it was closing its Wanstead High Street branch, even though it had promised there would be no branch closures before 2023. We sent these questions to the Nationwide – their answers are below.

Dear Nationwide Building Society

We note with sadness your announcement that you are closing your branch in Wanstead High Street in August 2021. While we understand that fewer people use branches now, we do nevertheless have some questions for you.

How do you reconcile your decision to close Wanstead branch with your promise that no branches would be closed before January 2023? On the face of it, your decision makes your promise entirely worthless.
In your announcement, you say that 13% of the customers of your Wanstead branch use only that branch. You also say that 28% of Wanstead branch customers do not use online banking. This means there is a proportion of your customers who clearly rely completely on your branch for their banking – it is likely these are older people or people who do not have access to internet banking. Is the only option for them really to get the bus to Walthamstow, Ilford or South Woodford?
Nationwide Building Society announced recently that your profits had doubled to £823m. You make great play in your advertising about your role in building societies, but your actions here will damage the Wanstead community. Do you not accept that customers’ expectations of you are higher than they are of commercially owned banks?

We received this reply:

“Branches play a vital role for our members and the communities in which they live. That’s why we extended our promise originally made in 2019 to leave no town or city where we currently have a presence without a Nationwide branch until at least 2023. We’ve committed to maintaining a strong network, upgrading over 240 branches and investing over £225 million since 2017. That’s a vastly different position from many of our competitors who continue to close significant numbers of branches. To put this into context, between 2015-2020 our network reduced by around five per cent compared to a sector average of 32 per cent.

“However, for branches requiring significant investment, and where there are modern branches nearby, we must consider whether it is the interest of our wider membership to keep the branch open. We need to determine whether it makes more sense to use that money to improve and retain branches elsewhere in our network, particularly in areas where there is lower provision.

“This is the case with Wanstead, where we have eight branches within a three mile radius and we know that 87% of members already use another branch and only 2% of members use the branch exclusively and frequently. Locally, we’ve invested in our branches in Hackney, Walthamstow and South Woodford to bring them up-to-date, ensuring people in the area have modern branches with the latest technology and services. This means we can focus on delivering better services that will provide our members with the best face-to-face experience and help to protect our branch network in the long term.

“We would like to encourage any member who needs any support to contact their branch to talk through their options in more detail. In addition to this we will be holding a tea and tech event on 4 August at 3pm to help members explore online services, anyone interested can speak to our colleagues in branch to book the session.”

Wanstead Fringe 2021 is ON

Wansteadium is delighted to announce that the Wanstead Fringe will take place in September, after last year’s cancellation. The Wanstead Festival, run by Redbridge on Christ Church Green, is also taking place.

The Fringe will this year run over two weeks – Friday 3 September to Sunday 19 September – and the Festival will take place on the middle Sunday, the 12th.

The Wanstead Fringe Association is currently planning events, including the much-loved Kinema, comedy, Jumble Trail, music and talks, and there are hopes too for some theatre.

A spokesman for the association, which is a not-for-profit organisation, said: “It’s clear that even if the nation’s return to normality continues, things won’t be completely back to normal. But we know how much we want some cultural events and trust the rest of Wanstead is the same, so we’re going to do our best to get things together for September.”

Do you want to organise an event? Please get in touch with the Fringe organisers at wansteadfringe.org.
Do you want to get involved and help out? There are lots of interesting jobs needing doing as the Fringe continues to help develop the cultural life of Wanstead. Please email info@wansteadfringe.org