• Plans for a homeless hostel on Cambridge Park were approved by the Redbridge Planning Committee. More than 150 Wanstead residents had opposed the plan. Voting on the committee was split, but the plan went through on the chair’s casting vote. Opponent Mick Goodenough told Wansteadium legal advice was being taken with a view to mounting a judicial review indicated a judicial review of the decision was unlikely to succeed.
• Litter bins on Christchurch Green are too small for the amount of litter, the Wanstead Society has told Redbridge Council. That, or foxes, or something else,  might be the reason for the regular sight of overflowing litter, though tweeter Paddy Fantastic (below) has other thoughts. The council says it will replace the bins, when the current ones wear out.
[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/PaddyFantastic/status/102973321167118336″]
• Welcome to the Larder Mark III. After opening a new branch in Bethnal Green, Wanstead’s favourite is also taking over the Butlers’ Retreat tea rooms in Chingford Plain. The Larder is turning into a Wanstead success story.
• Speaking of which, Little Bears nursery on The Green has announced a pretty big expansion. From having places for 35 children, it is growing by adding a further 90 places, and is creating 20 new jobs.
• They are not the only things growing. The ArcelorMittal Orbit (also known as that weird red sculpture next to the Olympic stadium) is now about a third of the way through its construction. When it reaches its full height, it will disrupt the Freeview signal to houses on Hermon Hill.
• Wanstead is gearing up for the second Wanstead Art Trail, which runs from 11 September. The event’s new website is taking shape too; it’s here.
• Where Wansteadium goes today, the Sunday Times will go tomorrow. After our efforts to prove – despite apparent odds – that hedgehogs still roamed through Wanstead gardens, the paper reported this week that:
Hedgehogs could be wiped out in Britain within 15 years, a study has warned. They are on a list of the 10 indigenous species suffering the biggest decline in numbers in recent decades, along with the cuckoo, left, turtle dove, brown hare and Scottish wildcat. According to the Eden Species Report, which measures native species’ populations and rates of decline, there are about 1m hedgehogs left in the UK — a decline of about 25% over the past 10 years. In some parts of Britain the fall could be as high as 50%. With populations becoming more isolated as a result of the decrease in numbers, naturalists fear that the species will struggle to maintain a sufficiently large gene pool to sustain a healthy and viable population.
• There’s a full calendar of events in Wanstead here. You can submit your events at events@wansteadium.com
• Wansteadium’s fledgling free classifieds advert service, which allows you to sell your unwanted items to other Wanstead residents, can be found here.
An interesting article in Saturday’s FT about the future of high streets, points out that the pressures from out-of-town stores and internet shopping are happening to high streets all over the world. But drawing on the experience of Marylebone High Street, right, which has been completely reinvented over the past decade, the paper says it has become “the model of an innovative, independent and successfully varied community-orientated street”, and has four art galleries alongside its restaurants, cafes and clothes shops. It concludes: “Ironically, the lack of choice facing most high street businesses could, eventually, improve choice for customers. Certainly, the high streets that do succeed will become far more interesting and community-orientated than they currently are.” More 
Wansteadium’s food blogger Suki Orange adds:
Wansteadium’s food blogger Suki Orange writes:
The name ‘farmer’s market’ covers a pretty wide variety of ventures, from the earthy and truly local, through designer and oh-so-trendy, to the travelling street market with not very much to do with farms. Wanstead’s, which is held again this Sunday, thankfully has enough of the authentic about it to make it worth returning to.
Near the end of the line is the unusual-looking vehicle known as the Cheesewheeler – odd enough, in fact, to make it possible to imagine it trailing from one charming deserted French village to another, keeping les baguettes of vieux hommes on banquettes stocked with slimey smelly fromages. The side of the van flips up and hey presto more than 100 different kinds of cheese – British regional and overseas varieties – are on offer. In some ways the presence of Cheesewheeler, or a stall like it, is a measure of the authenticity of a farmer’s market. As the 
The cheese on offer at our farmer’s market is not all British, of course, and I hope in future months to explore this a bit more. Any recommendations from fellow Wanstead folk are welcome. I’m interested in this business of cheese, but to be honest it’s not my chosen specialised subject. I’m not a cheese bore, you might say. But I decided to conduct something of a practical challenge, and I chose Brie de Meaux – one of the names common to delis as well as supermarket shelves – as the guinea pig for my taste test. How would the Cheesewheeler brie fare against a seemingly identical sample brought from Wanstead’s favourite, the Larder? I didn’t really expect there to be much difference, but my dinner guests two weeks ago were in no doubt. The Larder’s version was decent enough; it held its form and didn’t offend. But the van’s version was pungent, runny in the middle and almost al dente on the outside; it felt like it was oozing to get on to a biscuit. Visitors to my fridge hadn’t appreciated it, but visitors to the table did.