Leader of Redbridge

On Sunday 31st March I tried White Water Rafting at Lee Valley Regional Park. To ride the rapids before the world’s best athlete’s paddle for Gold in the canoe slalom events at the London 2012 games was an exhilarating experience.

Although the season has now ended before the Olympics the centre reopens in September for rafting and canoeing.
Visit Lee Valley White Water Centre

The White Water Centre is one of many facilities run by the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, the Authority is a statutory body responsible for managing and developing the 26 mile long, 10,000 acre linear Regional Park. A zone of sporting excellence is being created which includes centres for athletics, horse riding, ice skating, sailing and golf.
There are a variety of things to see and do including sports and outdoor activities, nature reserves, farms and heritage sites.
The Authority has an appointed board of 28 members; the Redbridge representative is Councillor Mrs Joyce Ryan.
http://www.leevalleypark.org.uk/

HM The Queen meets Redbridge residents with Councillor Keith Prince

I was very privileged to be able to welcome The Queen to Redbridge on such a beautiful day as part of her Diamond Jubilee celebrations. I was delighted that so many residents came out to greet The Queen and Prince Philip. Valentines Mansion and Gardens looked at its very best, and The Queen was very taken with the new ‘dry garden’. As she noted, it was well designed for a summer of water rationing! She was also clearly very interested in the London Pride exhibition of art and design from the last 60 years, and enjoyed her tour of the exhibits. I’d like to thank every resident who turned out to make it such a special day for the Borough, and a real honour too. If you couldn’t make it today, I hope you will be able to visit the London Pride exhibition this weekend, and enjoy Valentines Mansion and Gardens which is one the jewels in Redbridge’s crown.

On Friday 23rd March I attended the Redbridge Chamber of Commerce’s breakfast networking event.   The meeting was held at The Papermakers Arms in Roden Street, Ilford, and hosted by the Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, Geoff Hill. Sainsbury’s Supermarket Ilford sponsored the event

This was attended by Members of the Chamber of Commerce, Redbridge Police Borough Commander, Detective Chief Superintendent Sue Williams and Councillor Thomas Chan.

At the event David Silvey, from the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) and Olympic Logistics spoke on the arrangements for traffic during the games.

The Chamber exists to be an effective voice for businesses and to be a resource to help business to flourish and grow within our Borough. They provide a range of support services to businesses.

The Chamber works actively with Redbridge Council and other Agencies to stimulate business activities and help influence decision making bodies in the Borough.

Vision Redbridge Culture and Leisure (RCL) parks development and sports development teams have been awarded almost £50,000 by Sport England towards the refurbishment of Hainault Recreation Ground Pavilion.

On Friday 23rd March, I  together with Councillor Mrs Joyce Ryan had the pleasure of being at the official presentation organised by Sport England where Lee Scott MP was presented with a cheque for £50,000 from their Inspired Facilities Award.

Inspired Facilities is focused on making it easier for local community and volunteer groups to improve and refurbish sports clubs or transform non-sporting venues into modern grassroots sport facilities. This funding has been added to the current Capital Improvements Programme at Hainault Recreation Ground pavilion which will modernise and provide better access to sport.

In addition, Vision RCL has also been awarded an additional £5,000 by the Thomas Cook Children’s Charity and this was formally awarded at this event too.

• Find out more on Hainault Recreation Ground.

• View the Sport England website.

The event was organised by Hainault Business Park Ltd and I would like to thank Chris Wyles and Jim Ridley for once again putting together this important event.

A wide range of businesses were represented and positive discussions were held on a variety of topics including the importance of small and medium sized businesses being key to the UK’s recovery and future growth and the value to businesses in employing skilled disabled people into the workforce.

Lee Scott MP and Councillor Shoaib Patel, Cabinet Member for Community Safety attended and during the morning Councillor Patel presented Redbridge Green Awards to MotorAid Ltd, Rowswell and Lees Ltd, Lodge Group Care UK, Vissi Ltd and Trafalgar House Cowes Ltd.  The awards are being piloted by the Council at the business park, and recognise and promote businesses that are operating in an environmentally sustainable manner.  An impressive sixteen awards have been presented since May last year. Find out more about the Redbridge Green Business Awards here.

Hainault Business Park Ltd was credited as being the first industrial BID in the south of England and the Thames Gateway in 2006. During the first five-year term, which ended March 2011, Hainault BID successfully levered in three quarters of a million pounds delivering major enhancements and improvements to the Park, including; security fencing, an enlargement of the CCTV system, landscaping and business support. In March 2011 Hainault BID achieved an overwhelming successful ‘yes’ vote in its renewal ballot to continue a second five-year term.

The Council works closely with HBP Ltd and I am very proud of this continuing partnership particularly during these very difficult times for businesses.

On Wednesday 7th March I took my children to see a showcase performance of a powerful drama “Waste of Time” which tackles the dangers of alcohol and the use of cannabis.

The showcase was attended by the Mayor, Councillor Chris Cummins, Councillor Alan Weinberg, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, and Councillors Mrs. Joyce Ryan and Richard Hoskins, Members of the Drama Centre Advisory Panel.

The performance was held at the Redbridge Drama Centre and is being shown to Year 9 classes in some of the Borough’s secondary schools and pupil referral units.

The drama is delivered in a classroom around the pupils which captures the pupils’ attention as the scenes unfold around them. Each performance is then followed by a discussion with the students around the themes raised by the performance.

Pupils watching actors from Substance Misuse Awareness Theatre Project

It was a very powerful performance and incredibly engaging.  My son, who had already seen the drama earlier in the week, found it very hard hitting and I believe it had a very profound effect on his sister who was due to see it later in the week at their School.

Cllr Prince with Janet Crossland Cllr Solomon and Mary Daven

I had the pleasure of attending the celebration of Women’s World Day of Prayer held at St Andrews Church in The Drive, Ilford on Friday 2nd March.

Women’s World Day of Prayer is a global day of informed prayer and prayerful action held on the first Friday of March each year.

The services are written by a different country each year and that country becomes the focus of the world’s prayers on the day itself.

This year the Women’s World Day of prayer was prepared by the Christian women of Malaysia with the theme “Let Justice Prevail”

The service was introduced by Reverend Marie Segal and led by Janet Crossland. Sharing her personal experience with us at the service was Mary Daven.

I found the service both moving and informative.

Find out more on the Women’s World Day of Prayer here

On Wednesday 14th March I attended an event organised by London Councils to celebrate the London Borough Apprenticeship Project.

In January 2009, all of the Council Leaders and Chief Executives of London’s 33 local authorities pledged to offer 2,000 apprenticeships in their own workforces or in those of their contractors by March 2012. This target was met six months early and has now been exceeded.

The event was held at Coin Street Neighbourhood Centre, Stamford Street, SE1.

Apprentices from across London attended and I was pleased to be joined by two of our apprentices Katerina Brant and Ruhul Ameen. They are employed on a 2 year Apprenticeship and are both based in Property Services (Environment & Community Services Cluster). Both Ruhul and Katerina are coming up to the end of their first year and are studying for a level 3 Diploma in Surveying and Property Maintenance.

The Council’s Apprenticeship Scheme offers 1-3 year Apprenticeships and Advanced Apprenticeships and aims to enable young people aged 16-19 years old to have access to a range of programmes that will develop their skills, provide them with a recognised qualification and prepare them to be “job ready”.
There are currently 24 young people working within the Council as apprentices. Since the scheme began the Council has recruited over 40 young people into Apprentice posts of which all have been given support in finding permanent jobs either within the Council or in the private sector.
The scheme has been successful in placing young local people in hard to recruit posts such as Social Care, Highways and Horticulture providing non-traditional NVQ routes i.e. placing young people into areas which have skills shortages or where they can progress to a professional qualification after attainment of their Apprenticeship. For instance Highways & Engineering, after completion of their Advanced Apprenticeship, apprentices are qualified to apply for Highways Technician posts and also access to a Higher Level Certificate (HNC), thereby advancing their career in engineering. The scheme has been highly commended by London Councils.

As well as providing apprenticeship opportunities within the Council workforce, the Council also promotes the creation of apprenticeships amongst local employers. Apprenticeships bring considerable value to organisations, and can bring enormous benefits to businesses, not only in terms of developing a highly skilled workforce but also by boosting productivity and staff retention.
As part of our Work Redbridge project we are currently working with an organisation called REDS 10 to help create apprenticeship opportunities in the Construction sector. The Council helps identify potential employers in the construction sector who are working on developments in the borough. REDS 10 will act as an apprenticeship training agency, employing the apprentices directly and placing them with local construction companies. They are guaranteed two years paid employment and will gain their experience on different construction sites in the Borough. This avoids some construction apprentices losing their place with their employer before completing their apprenticeships due to them not being on site long enough. We are looking for more employers in the construction sector to participate in this scheme, so that we can offer more opportunities to local people.

I was privileged to be among the many people who took part in this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day service at Valentines Park on Friday 27 January.

Councillor Prince, Leader of the Council, gives a speech on “Speak Up , Speak out” , the theme of Holocaust Memorial Day 2012

The Holocaust is an incredibly harrowing subject and I am proud that we were joined by so many residents and more than 300 of the Borough’s schoolchildren to remember the those who died in the atrocities and to commit that we would learn from the past so such acts may never be repeated in the future.

The service, which was presided by Councillor Alan Weinberg, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, was very moving, featuring readings from the Borough’s students, the Mayor’s Chaplain Reverend Dr Liz Horwell, from Christ Church, Wanstead and prayers from the Rabbi I G Hyman from Ilford United Synagogue.

There were also speeches from the Mayor, Councillor Chris Cummins, a poem from Maria Leier, a member of the Roma Support Group, and an incredibly touching first hand account of the horrors of Auschwitz from Ivor Perl, a Holocaust Survivor.

The crowd, which included MPs Mike Gapes and Lee Scott and Councillor Jas Athwal, Leader of Redbridge Labour Group, also heard a hymn from the combined choirs of the South West Essex and Resettlement Reform Synagogue and Ilford United Synagogue.

The theme of this years Holocaust Survival Day was “Speak Up, Speak Out” which encourages us to speak out against discrimination.  This isn’t a message to be taken lightly.

We can each do our bit to ensure that racism, discrimination and xenophobia have no place in our society and I would encourage each of our residents and workers in Redbridge to speak out against any such behaviour to ensure that Redbridge can be a safe and happy place to live for people of all faiths and ethnicities.

A panel at Show Racism the Red Card event held on 26 January 2012

On Thursday 26 January I went to along to the ‘Show Racism the Red Card’ event at Dagenham and Redbridge FC.

Over 100 pupils from five schools in Redbridge had the chance to meet top footballers and managers to talk about the issues of racism and get involved in different workshops to teach them about the impacts racism can have on people’s lives.

I was a member on the panel, during the Question Time session, which gave pupils the opportunity to ask about views and personal experiences of racism.  Also on the panel were Luther Blissett, former Watford legend and ex-England international footballer,  Sam Williams, Kevin Maher and Exodus Geohaghon, ‘Daggers’ players,  Laura Greason, representatives from the Roma Support Group along with Stephen Thompson Managing Director of ‘Daggers’ and Vasile Calin, year 8 pupil from Mayfield school.

Show Racism the Red Card event held on 26 January 2012

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved and for Dagenham and Redbridge FC for hosting this very worthwhile event and helping to develop good relationships and respect the differences between people. I would also like to thank Gurdeep Singh Jutte for the Roma Support Group, Sue Mutter, Traveller Education Coordinator for Redbridge Council and Theresa Parish, Community Liaison Officer Dagenham and Redbridge FC for supporting the event and workshops.

I believe it is very important to take part in such worthwhile events and I was impressed by the pupils’ challenging questions and the positive impact the event and workshops clearly made on them.