Wansteadium very rarely writes editorials, but here is one. The reason? It’s becoming obvious that Redbridge is not going to rethink its decision to put permanent market stalls on Wanstead High Street. But it should.
The decision is against the wishes of the people who live here. Wansteadium understands applications have been discussed for a florist and part-time stalls selling souvlaki and jerk chicken, as well as the seven-day-a-week fruit and veg stall outside the George and Dragon.
A public meeting discussing the issue is being held on Saturday 27th at 4pm at Christ Church which it is hoped councillors will attend; further light might be shed on the matter then.
But responses to letters show Redbridge considers it has done nothing wrong in the process, and, in our view, continues to hide behind a consultation which was so ineffective as to be worthless.
There are a number of ways Redbridge could have consulted council tax payers if it had really wanted to. Let’s just note down a few.
- Perhaps a mention in one of the fortnightly emails which are sent out to residents by council leader Kam Rai?
- Maybe a couple of paragraphs in Redbridge Life, the 28-page newspaper the council sends to every house in the borough four times a year?
- Why not a press release to media organisations announcing the consultation?
- Failing that, they could have put public notices on lamp posts?
- Or maybe a sign in the two public noticeboards on Wanstead High Street which Redbridge owns
And yet the biggest reason the council should urgently reconsider is actually something else. It is that Wanstead people feel so strongly that they have been ignored that there is a risk of Redbridge squandering public trust, of undermining the relationship the council itself has sought to foster with residents. Put simply, this is not the time in our nation’s politics to allow that to happen: public bodies need to cherish all the trust they can get.
I shall attend the meeting. Do the councillors DARE to do so? This is not for Wanstead but about the council trying tomake money. What if it just shuts down local businesses? There are places in the area which are apparently happy with all this. Leave it there. After living here for over fifty years I could never have imagined seeing this.
Exactly my thoughts…though I’ve only lived here 40 years. The next thing will be a Reform Council and flags all over the High Street. I can’t vote for another Labour Council after this.
There are two florists trying to make a living,plus supermarket flowers…not to mention the cafes and restaurants,what the hell are they up to?
Thank you for posting this
As always with this council the decision had been made and they’re now trying to say that residents were informed which is nonsense ,It’s all about money with no thought about local business being impacted on or being transparent and genuinely allowing residents a say in decision s like this.im appalled at the way the high street will end up with both this scheme and all the double yellow lines appearing which limits parking for people to use all the shops and eateries. Doctors surgeries chemists etc impacting everyone.
Who is the person behind this idea?
What are their motives?
I’d be very surprised if it’s someone who lives in Wanstead.
Hopefully, those councillors will be gone at the next election. This, the roadside pods that are used by nobody except deliveroo drivers and have been implicated in at least one accident, the destruction of the evergreen field, the collapse of policing on the high street. I can’t think of a single good thing that they have done.
Why is Redbridge doing this to Wanstead.?
Is Our MP backing Wanstead residents on this?
I shall be at the meeting to quiz them at length. Does our MP know about this?
I’ll be attending the public meeting tomorrow, but I don’t hold out much hope of the councillors being there to face questioning of their actions. Redbridge Council are a disgrace on many fronts, but a just legal consultation is low. They knew what they were doing hiding it an online only publication (which I don’t read). This is in stark contrast to Kensington & Cheslsea who in 2021 published a Markets Plan Consultation Document which included 1-1 interviews, group meetings & conversations with traders, residents, local businesses & the wider public, as this should have!
On another point, policing is dire on the high street, last night I saw (from over the road) another instance of shoplifting from Tesco.
Disappointing but this is typical of the non-transparent and high-handed approach which seems to make the Council Leadership’s style of business. Jas Athwal’s legacy lives on it seems.
The market stall issue, the new parking restrictions and the threat to the threat to the W!4 bus are all part of the same issue, there is not enough money in London to run our public services.
London generates 20% of this country’s tax revenue but we only get back about 5% for our public services as the Labour Government has sent all the funding north the the “Red Wall” M.P.s to fend off the threat from Reform
It should be pointed out to Labour that there are elections in May and unless Wanstead is treated fairly that they will loose votes and seats.
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I think this has already been decided by the powers that be and that the best way to deal with this is to boycott the stalls when they appear – plus – has anybody noticed the road sign on the black road railings outside the ‘George & Dragon’ which says that the High Street is a ‘VILLAGE CONSERVATION AREA’ – LOOK THIS UP IN THE DICTIONARY AND THEN ASK THE QUESTION ………WHY. IS THE BEING ALLOWED..
The truth is that the Council don’t care about the Conservation Area status, one of the requirements being that there are no internally illuminated signs on shops in our High St. Under Athwal and the new leadership as well absolutely nothing about this is done. That’s part of the reason why it was impossible for the Council to make the case for resisting the illuminates signboards blotting our High St. As for the defribulator noticeboard which is massive, there are ALREADY at least two such pieces of equipment within 25 metres of the board.
Beautifully expressed. Thank you for posting this. Worth remembering for the local elections next year. So deeply disappointed that it was supported by local councillors.
If no one has already approached our mp I would be very happy to do so. He has been very helpful in other matters I’ve raised with him.
And don’t forget the installation of the hideous electronic notice boards, the now annual Christmas Tree market, and the coffee stall in the park – all of which were opposed by residents, and yet went right on ahead anyway!
I have, due to other events, come to the conclusion that LBR do what LBR want to do…I think it probable that the decision was made, signed and sealed before we even heard about it, as in the case I was involved with. I hope so much that the meeting tonight (sadly I can’t make it) proves me wrong but I have an awful feeling it won’t.
These Redbridge councillors are intent on destroying Wanstead and everything it represents. Look back at the M11 link road they permanently built in Wanstead. They killed the 250 year old Chestnut Tree on George Green and brought permenant air and noise pollution and congestion to Wanstead.
This latest attack with their market stool policy isn’t a democracy, its an authoritarian dictatorship where a minority of bigoted councillors are abusing their position of power, utilising our taxpayers money, which keeps them in their jobs, to do the exact opposite of what residents and local businesses want.
The Wanstead population should not take this lightly, we need to stand up for ourselves and remind these councillors that they work for us.
Protest, spread the word, stand up and fight for the good of our High Street and surrounding area. If we let this one slide, the floodgates will open and Redbridge will have Wanstead looking like a scrapheap.
Tip toeing around this councillors doesn’t work, they smirk at how they (in their own words on Saturday) did the bare legal minimum to push this consultation and policy through legal loopholes.
Push back, resist, this is where we live, its our home and we need to defend it!
To put it bluntly, the three Wanstead village councillors appear to care nothing about Wanstead and are all for what the council wants to do. None of them are fit for purpose. – ie: protecting our rights. I attended a meeting regarding policing at Wanstead house the other week and the only proactive councillor there was from the Park ward. The village two had nothing to say and one didn’t even turn up. If these three are not interested in what the local population wants, and are only happy to follow the party leader to turn us into Ilford, then perhaps it’s time they stepped down and let someone who is willing to fight our corner take over.
I attended the local consultation meeting on Saturday at Christ Church.
It is crystal clear that these 3 “redbridge councillors” could not care less about Wanstead. The female councillor (Jo I believe her name was) had a superiority complex and was more condescending than anyone should ever be.
These “councillors” are not fit for purpose and we need to make them step down.
The UK population is at a turning point, Keith Starmer is intent on forcing through digital IDs to permenantly invade our privacy, this will be irreversible. We need to push back. We cannot reply on politicians making the right decisions for us, our environment, and out future.
Either we become fully assertive, take control and make demands or we are going to a point of no return.
It starts with defending our beautiful high street in Wanstead, if we let Redbridge council destroy it we will forever regret that we did not do enough. How can 3 pathetic councillors be allowed to make a terrible decision that negatively impacts tens of thousands of Wanstead residents? Do not let them!
Agree about local councillor Jo, who when pushed refused to say yes or no as to whether she had voted for the proposal. The meaning of that would appear very clear. The only people I have do far heard supporting the proposal were a man who loved on Aldersbrook Road and a young man walking along the high street asking where the charity shops were, indicstingbthat he did not live in Wanstead.