Tag: redbridge

A Redbridge-led recovery?

The BBC has today published a whole series of statistics about how vulnerable different areas of England are to public sector cuts. They have been calculated by the credit rating agency Experian, which has vast databases of the make-up of the country, and are based on a range of different factors such as the number of people employed in the public sector, life expectancy, benefits etc. The BBC News website has all sorts of whizzy maps to explore on the subject.

The overall picture for Redbridge is that it is almost exactly at the mid-point of vulnerability in England – 166th out of 324 areas. But beneath that are a number of interesting figures.

The borough scores highly for the number of self-employed people – 83rd – and is 50th where earnings are concerned. Crime is relatively high at 231, and considering the image many have of Redbridge it scores poorly – 273rd – for the amount of green space (though given the number of very rural districts in England, this is perhaps not so surprising).

Where Redbridge really stands out is on the number of business start-ups since 2008 – third out of the whole of England, behind neighbouring Barking and Dagenham in second place, and Newham in top spot. This is a fascinating picture of enterprise in east London, perhaps influenced by Olympic investment, and particularly important in difficult economic times when so much store is being set on a revival led by the private sector.

Wanstead news roundup, 4-6-10; Cardboard, chutzpah, and Fatboy

• Following Wansteadium’s report about blue recycling boxes, and Redbridge’s non-acceptance of card and cardboard, the Wanstead Guardian reports that a trial is beginning in July in parts of Redbridge which might lead to card being accepted with paper.

• An instance of Chutzpah Car Crime in Colvin Gardens – not content with housebreaking while householders slept upstairs, thieves took the car keys of the family’s Toyota Verso and nicked that too.

Redbridge Life, May edition• Redbridge Council’s colourful but harmless freesheet Redbridge Life could be under threat – more than 100,000 copies are distributed each month and it could fall prey to budget cuts. The Ilford Recorder puts the cost of the publication at £100,000 – which seems low but must account for revenues from advertising. Council-run publications are one of the targets of the new government, especially where they amount to unfair competition to the local press.

• Fatboy in EastEnders is from Wanstead.

Wanstead’s got blue boxes. (But keep your cereal packets.)

Wanstead blue recycling box
The new blue newspaper recycling boxes distributed to Wanstead houses are part of a trial to see if they increase recycling rates. Wanstead is the only part of Redbridge taking part in this trial, but the council’s intention is that if successful it will be extended borough-wide.

As the table below shows, Redbridge is mid-ranking among London boroughs in its recycling rate. The increase in recycling, from pretty much nothing in 1998, is in its way remarkable. But with London boroughs being given targets of 50% by 2020 and 60% by 2031 by the Mayor of London, Redbridge and others have their work cut out.

So why can Wanstead residents still not put cardboard with their kerbside recyclables, especially when they can take it to recycling centres?

An answer comes from the Redbridge website:

Cardboard
We do not accept cardboard in your recycling box and this includes thin card such as cereal boxes and small food packaging.  The reason why we don’t accept these is because your recycling box is taken to a facility that cannot recycle cardboard therefore we encourage you to take this to a cardboard recycling bank or if you can’t then put it in the rubbish.

With many councils offering cardboard collections, and even moving into the realm of food waste collections, this is evidently an area for future activity.

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