Littering penalties

Penalties for anyone spotted dropping litter in Redbridge – even as little as a cigarette butt – have been doubled to a £150 on-the-spot fine in a crackdown approved by councillors.

The penalties for what Redbridge calls “grime crime” also apply to fly-tipping and graffiti. People abandoning vehicles are also being targeted.

The fines can be imposed by the Redbridge Enforcement Team, a band of officers who are equipped with body cameras and who can issue formal warnings, Fixed Penalty Notices, Penalty Charge Notices and Community Protection Notices. There is no legal right of appeal against a fixed penalty notice, but anyone given one can refuse to pay and have a full hearing at a magistrate’s court.

The stiffer penalties are part of Redbridge’s Our Streets campaign to improve cleanliness and public standards of behaviour.

The video below gives an insight into the work of the enforcement team.

Infographic: Child poverty in Wanstead

While the new Work and Pensions secretary Amber Rudd defends the UK against a UN report on child poverty, figures have been published on a ward-by-ward basis setting out child poverty levels throughout England.

The figures for Wanstead and Snaresbrook are below a ward breakdown for Redbridge, using the boundaries before the reorganisation. The figures show that in Wanstead, after housing costs are taken into account, there were 420 children in poverty and in Snaresbrook ward, 298.

Wanstead’s Saddam Hussein sign is removed

Redbridge Council has removed a plaque which had been fixed to a bench outside Oxfam on Wanstead High Street.

A spokesperson for the council told Wansteadium: “We didn’t give permission for this to be put up and it has been removed.”

There is still no obvious explanation as to where the plaque came from (though an unscientific poll on Wansteadium favours the option that it was simply someone being mischievous).

 

The mystery of Saddam Hussein’s Wanstead bench

Mystery surrounds a plaque on a bench outside Oxfam on Wanstead High Street which apparently has been put there in memory of Saddam Hussein.

The plaque appears to be a fake, rather than commemorating someone who happened to have the same name, as it appears to be new. The dates are correct for the former Iraqi dictator.

Discussions on Wanstead Community Hub about the sign got heated, with some people saying it was deeply offensive. Others simply took it as a joke. Some noticed that the screws holding the plaque to the bench are anti-theft screws which cannot be removed without a special tool.

Wansteadium has contacted Redbridge council to ask them to check if the plaque is in fact genuine.

Update 12.45: Now the Independent (yes, the Independent) is on the case too.