I knew the re-opening of the Blackwall Tunnel ahead of schedule after Sunday’s fire was too good to be true, some loon has decided to park himself on the roof of the 491 Gallery in Leytonstone, prompting the police to close Grove Green Road and the northbound carriageway of the A12!!!

Quite why they needed to close the A12 is unclear – presumably they reckon he could leap onto the road from the roof. Unless he’s a combination of spiderman and Carl Lewis, it seems a bit unlikely. Better safe than sorry I guess

491 Gallery from the A12

There’s been quite a bit of discussion in recent months about street clutter (signage, advertisments etc.) and its negative impact on London streets. The guys over at The Wanstead Society had a link to a nice Guardian/English Heritage interactive tool which demonstrates some of these issues extremely well.

English Heritage also started the “Save Our Streets” campaign…

The towns and villages of England are being blighted by superfluous signs, haphazard paving and obstructed footways. As a result our streets are losing their local distinctiveness and character.

Save our Streets is a campaign to return England’s streets to places where people want to be, where all street users are accommodated and where communities thrive as a result.

A series of policy documents are available on their website which detail the problems caused by insensitive street additions and maintenance.

Waltham Forest Guardian reports that Waltham Forest councillors have agreed to take action to oppose the expansion of London City Airport…

At a full council meeting this evening, Liberal Democrat Farooq Qureshi put forward a motion acknowledging residents’ concern about the expansion of the airport and the increase in noise it will create for residents as well as the environmental impact.

The motion also pledges that on completion of the investigation, the council will take action by writing to the Mayor of Newham condemning its decision to allow expansion and to consider legal action in relation to the expansion or flight path changes.

All parties supported the motion and councillors voted unanimously in favour.

The full article can be found here.

Looks like Leytonstone’s councillors have finally joined the “Fight the Flights” party…

Councillors Demand Action on Aircraft Noise

Along with many local residents your Leytonstone Labour councillors Clyde Loakes, Jenny Gray and Marie Pye are very concerned about the increased aircraft noise over parts of Leytonstone.

At our request the council undertook an investigation to identify the main causes of this.

These appear to be:

• London City Airport recently changed the direction of some of their flights particularly from runway 28, and of course many of these flights are jets.
• Further changes were made to London City Airport as a result of planning application for extra flights submitted to the London Borough of Newham. This application was not referred to Waltham Forest Council.
• Air traffic control at Heathrow airport has been redirecting a very high number of planes due to weather conditions during the summer.

As local councillors we are determined that the voice of Leytonstone is heard loud and clear about these issues.

• We have ensured that the council will respond to the current BAA Heathrow consultation programme Noise Action Plan.
• The council’s noise level assessment team will be prioritising checks to see whether residents are eligible for the London City Airport (LCA) Sound Insulation Grant Scheme.
• Waltham Forest Council will also be demanding a place round the table at the the London City Airport Consultation Committee which at the moment is only open to Barking & Dagenham, Bexley, Greenwich, and Tower Hamlets.
• As local councillors we will be contacting the London Borough of Newham to express our concern at their agreement to increased flights from City Airport.
• We will also be involved in an upcoming consultation by the National Air Traffic Service which will focus on flights coming over our area.

I do find the political posturing by all of the main parties quite amusing. At a flights meeting earlier this month the Lib Dem’s and Ed Northover (Conservative parliamentary candidate) made noises about working together and not trying to gain political mileage out of this issue. Haven’t seen any evidence of it yet!

A mural featuring Leytonstone’s most famous son, Alfred Hitchcock, sporting a studded leather jacket has been painted outside 491 Gallery’s “Vertigo” building on Grove Green Road, Leytonstone…

Vertigo Mural: Alfred Hitchcock

Seems to have met with a mixed reaction. I quite like it, certainly brightens up the outside of the building – I’m sure Hitch would be amused. Further info on the 491 Gallery project can be found at www.491gallery.com.

Press release from Fight the Flights…

Anne-Marie Griffin of Fight the Flights said: “The High Court has today given us costs protection for our legal challenge to Newham’s decision allowing increased flights from London City Airport”.

Without costs protection, Fight the Flights would have been at risk of unlimited costs liability and could not have proceeded with the case. Costs protection is only normally given where the Court recognises the public importance of the case.

“This is a very important case and we now look forward to pursuing the case to the next stage.”

Fight the Flights is a pressure group formed in response to the application by London City Airport to increase the number of flights to 120,000 per year. Many Leytonstone and Wanstead residents have already been affected by recent increases and wider flight paths due to greater use of jet aircraft. Things are going to get much worse if this expansion goes ahead. Further details on the Fight the Flights Website.

Residents in the Upper Leytonstone Area now have their own Residents Association, LARA. There are already a number of Residents Associations covering various parts of Leytonstone (BARA in Bushwood, FARA around Ferndale Road and FORA in the “Forest” Ward), but one for the Leytonstone Ward has long been noticable by its absence.

The domain name www.leytonstoneresidents.org.uk has been registered and I’m pleased to say I’ll be helping out with the website. We’re still to switch over the domain name to the “new” site – but it can currently be viewed at leytonstoneresidents.wordpress.com.

The next meeting is at 7:00pm on 28th April at the St. John’s Ambulance building on Queen’s Road.