Snow and Ice

Everyone will have experienced the very cold, snowy and icy conditions twice last year, in February where London ground to a halt and again in December.

With more snow last night and more expected today along with freezing temperatures, we thought it would be helpful to explain what the council's approach is to clearing roads and gritting during this weather.

First, we've received assurances that there is enough grit for the next few days which should see us through the worst of the weather over the next few days.

The approach the council takes is to grade roads into three categories. Category one and two roads are prioritised for gritting. These are the main roads, bus routes, town centre roads and those roads around hospitals.

This work can be slow and our street cleaning staff are taken off their normal work and are tasked with distributing grit and sweeping snow as well as our contractors. The council does try to do as many streets as possible, but the priority is to keep traffic and public transport moving. February last year showed what happened if the main roads weren't cleared often enough and didn't have enough vehicles on the road. The amount of traffic is critical to ensure that the salt put out on the road actually works in removing the snow and ice.

We are happy to raise areas within the ward where you do have particular concerns, so please do get in touch, or alternatively, contact the council directly.

We do advise people to refer to the news and to heed the advice being given during this weather. Wrap up, take care and don't risk injuring yourself.

Happy New Year!! Time to recycle all the Christmas waste...

First, can we take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy New Year!

With all the usual additional stuff we accumulate at this time of year, Hackney Council has been encouraging all local residents to carry on recycling over the festive period.

Most of the waste generated over Christmas can be recycled through the Council's recycling services – alongside the usual refuse collection services, which makes it even easier for residents to recycle this year.

As well as all the other materials you can recycle make sure you recycle the following this Christmas:



Christmas cards
Glass bottles
Sauce jars
Plastic drinks bottles and packaging
TV guides and magazines
Foil from your turkey
Vegetable peelings
Real Christmas trees

More tips on recycling this Christmas can be found here.

Merry Christmas!

We just wanted to take this opportunity to wish all of our constituents and other readers of this blog a very merry Christmas and a happy new year.

2009 has been a busy year for all of us and 2010 will be another significant one for us, and for everyone in Hackney: a general election, council elections and not to mention a certain someone running the London marathon in April! It will be action-packed and we hope that at the beginning of 2010 we will have some great news for some of our residents as a result of a meeting we had with officers earlier this week - come back in early January and see!

In the meantime - we hope that you all have a wonderful and restful holiday period.

Alan, Samantha and Vincent

December Issue of Hackney Central Safer Neighbourhoods News

The December issue of the Police and Council's Safer Neighbourhoods newsletter for our ward has been issued and will be delivered with the current edition of Hackney Today.

You can also read it online here.

Boxing Day Parking

You may have seen this story about how London councils are deciding on how to treat Boxing Day with respect to parking enforcement.

Boxing Day is normally a bank holiday in England, but due to it falling on a Saturday, it isn't actually a holiday, which is instead on the 28th.

As a result, the 33 London councils are taking different approaches to how they are planning on dealing with parking. Boroughs like Westminster will be enforcing parking restrictions as usual.

Hackney was going to be doing the same - until a discussion was led by Labour councillors with officers of the council and, as a result, the council has decided to extend the season of goodwill to include Boxing Day and so we will be treating the 26th of December as if it was a bank holiday - giving much greater freedom for people parking when they're visiting their friends and families.

Merry Christmas to you all!

Hackney Enterprise Network Launched!

Businesses in Hackney are being offered the opportunity to join a new network that can offer them targeted support and advice.

The Hackney Enterprise Network (HEN) has been launched for local businesses in the borough. It is designed to help local entrepreneurs to make new contacts, enter new markets, grow and fund their businesses.

It will also offer targeted support and advice – with networking events, business skills workshops, advice on enterprise growth, loans and small grants, advice for recession-hit businesses, and information on central government support.

Businesses can register their interest in joining the Hackney Enterprise Network (HEN) by calling: 020 7241 7087, visiting the website: www.hbv.org.uk/hackneyenterprisenetwork.html or e-mailing: hen@hbv.org.uk Alternatively, visit: HBV Enterprise, 34-38 Dalston Lane, London, E8 2AZ.

Hiccup in training

Ok, so after a keen start the pelting rain has put me off slightly, but I ventured out tonight only to find that my knees are killing me. Not sure if it is still the adjustment to running, but I think I also twisted one in the wet rain as I was running to a meeting I was late for...

Either way, I need to get back into it next week...!

Alan

Mare Street roadworks

Whilst we've been delighted with the improvements made to Mare Street, which we've discussed previously, we've been disappointed that the traffic light works have taken months.

These works are to help create pedestrian crossings that are straight across, making it easier for people to cross the street and get over to Morning Lane.

Unfortunately, the responsibility of working on traffic lights across London lies with Transport for London and not the council. The boss of TfL is visiting the borough in a couple of weeks and the horrendous over-run and delays to the works is on the agenda.

We apologise for any inconvenience that the works are causing and for how it looks, but the problem doesn't lie at the door of the council, but we're pressing TfL to sort it out soon.

We've won for the Mountford Estate!

An earlier post pointed out that the TRA on the Mountford Estate hadn't met for months and residents were without the chance to hold Hackney Homes to account on their estate for their management and to raise issues and questions about their properties.

After we pressed Hackney Homes to arrange something, we've had confirmation that they will hold a surgery for residents between 5pm and 7pm on 9 December in the Community Hall.

In addition, we've had a confirmation that officers have spoken to some of the key residents and they'll hold a Tenants & Residents Meeting at the beginning of February.

We're pleased that we've been able to work hard to ensure that residents have now got the chance to ensure that Hackney Homes hear their concerns and questions.

Some of the things we're up to...

We're still being kept busy, with Full Council having met on Wednesday night.

During the meeting, Vincent introduced a deputation from the Hackney Cycling Campaign that argued against Boris Johnson's decision to cut funding from the Commercial Vehicles Unit of the police, which helps enforce regulations on HGV's and which helps ensure the safety of cyclists on the roads. Reassurance was given that the council has opposed this decision and will convene another meeting with the local cycling campaign to keep up the good work done in Hackney to educate cyclists to avoid collisions with lorries.

Also, we're keeping up the pressure on Town Hall chiefs to prevent the roads around the Town Hall being blocked up by council employees, making it more difficult for residents and their visitors to park. This is particularly a problem on Horton Road, Wilton Way, Eleanor Road and Penpoll Road. Helped by our colleague, Cllr Sophie Linden, we will keep the pressure up to alleviate the problem.

On Monday night, we'll be meeting with residents of Wayman Court (pictured) and officers of Hackney Homes to discuss the "Decent Homes" works on the estate and to make sure that all residents are kept up to date and informed of the works to improve their properties.

And on Tuesday, there will be a meeting between us, council officers, the Arts Council and the Hackney Empire to discuss the upcoming temporary closure andtheir plans for reopening as a more financially viable operation. A report will follow next week.