At the opening of Redbridge's newest library in Seven Kings

I had the pleasure of joining Seven Kings residents in opening their new temporary library earlier this week.  A shop on the  High  Road has been transformed into a library for local residents with more than 5,000 books, free wireless internet and four computers.

Since Cabinet  agreed in September 2009 to fund a temporary library in Seven Kings, local residents, Council officers and Councillors have been working together to make sure this library works well for the community.

At library working group meetings, residents have had their say on opening hours, location, which books to stock and regular activities to hold.

It will also be the first library to open on a Sunday following community demand and  I have no doubt that this will be a very well used facility.

About 60 people gathered at the Cardinal Heenan Centre on Sunday July 23 to take part in The Big Lunch.

Guests were treated to a meal of traditional Albanian, Somali and vegetarian dishes.

It was a great opportunity to meet new people and catch up with members of the community and hear their views on particular issues.

Well done to the Refugee and Migrant Forum of East London (RAMFEL), Eastside Community Heritage, and the Redbridge Somali Consortium who worked very hard to ensure the day was a success.

I hope you managed to make it along to the Inspiration 2010 event on Sunday in Valentines Park.

If you didn’t, you missed an excellent family day out. The theme of the day was trying something you hadn’t done before – hula hooping, climbing a climbing wall, skateboarding, and many more activities.

The event was held to mark the fact that the Olympics are exactly two years away, and counting.

As you can see from the photograph, my ‘first’ was a taster session in the karate tent. But the Olympics isn’t just about sport – there will also be cultural events, and the Council’s arts and culture were out in force.

Well done to the winner of the library quiz about local landmarks; she is pictured here with her prize.

As part of the day I held one of my regular Meet the Council Leader events, and enjoyed talking to many residents about the things they would like to see improved in the Borough.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by for a chat, and to all the families who made the event a success.

I was pleased to attend the Gearies Infant School annual Summer Fun Day with my Ward colleague Councillor Mrs Tania Solomon on Saturday 10th July.

It was great to see so many children, parents and teachers enjoying the sun and supporting this wonderful local school.

Entertainment and activities included an interactive music tent, a football arena and the ‘Gearies Got Talent’ show.

Congratulations to everyone involved in planning the event.

Their hard work helped raise over £2,818, which will be used to buy interactive computer technology for the Nursery unit.

A special thanks to Head Teacher Bob Drew for hosting my visit on the day.

I was delighted to see that results from the latest Police Public Attitude Survey showed that residents have more confidence in how the Police and Council are tackling crime and anti-social behaviour.

The Council is always working hard with the Police and all its partners to try and make the Borough a safer place and it is good that residents are feeling more confident in how we are working together to tackle these issues, especially after a reduction in total crime in the last financial year.

Read our latest news item about these results

Redbridge Council recently hosted the annual North London Property Linx event to showcase development opportunities available in the Borough.  The event was attended by around 200 representatives from the business and property investment community.

We demonstrated that Redbridge is a great place to live and work, with great connectivity by tube, rail, road and bus.  We explained that we have high performing schools and a tremendous record on social cohesion, tolerance and diversity.

The projects that I am particularly excited about include our District Town Centres improvement programs and the arrival of Crossrail, which will unlock the potential of the District  Centres along that corridor.

The highlight of the show was the launch of our Blueprint for Ilford which used Virtual Viewing’s groundbreaking and state of the art technology.  This showed that Ilford represents a real opportunity for potential investment.

Developers can use the software to see how Ilford looks today in 3-D but more importantly they can overlay their own plans using CGI to get a realistic 3-D image of how their plans look in situ.

I am delighted that Redbridge has been selected to host the Mayor of London’s Sky Ride event on Sunday 15th August.

The Sky Ride is a tremendous cycling event and will be one of the biggest participatory events ever to be held in the Borough.

I am really looking forward to the day which will create a fantastic opportunity for everyone to cycle on traffic free roads and enjoy the local festivals.  This will also be a great boost to local businesses and put Redbridge on the map. People of all ages and cycling abilities can join in the ride through Redbridge, all you need to do is register at Sky Ride website to take part. The main partners involved in arranging the event are Sky TV, the GLA and Limelight (an event management company who have been commissioned by the GLA).   I look forward to seeing you all on the 15th August.

Young people get ready to use the new cycle path

On Monday 5 July I had the pleasure of attending the official opening of the new Seven Kings Water cycleway, which we hope will encourage more people to cycle and walk in Redbridge.

I was joined by Councillor Mrs Michelle Dunn, Cabinet Member for Highways, and Councillor Mrs. Sue Nolan, Cabinet Member for Leisure, as well as the Ward Councillors, representatives from Transport for London and cycling body Sustrans.

This important initiative was developed by Redbridge in partnership with Transport for London’s Greenways initiative and with vital support from Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust.

The Council will continue to work hard to make cycling and walking easier and safer for people in Redbridge.

Please let me know what you think of the new cycle/footpath.

Ilford paid tribute to the men and women of our Armed Services at the annual
Armed Forces Day celebration this month. Along with the Mayor of Redbridge, I attended an opening ceremony at the Ilford War Memorial Grounds followed by the Last Post and Reveille to honor those from the Borough who have fallen in the service to their Country.

Displays and recruiting stands were manned by 217 Squadron of 101 (City of London) Engineer Regiment, our local TA Unit, together with the Air Training Corps and the Army Cadet Force.

Redbridge Council is proud to support Armed Forces Day 2010.

Wednesday 30 June saw the latest in my Meet the Council Leader events at Loxford Polyclinic. This was probably the busiest event I have done with the whole cafe area filled with people wanting to talk about Council services and living in Loxford. Residents wanted to talk about housing, parking problems on Ilford Lane and their concerns about anti-social behaviour. As always, I will follow each query up and do anything I can to help. Thanks also to Councillors Maravala and Tewari who spent the morning talking to residents with me.

Incidentally Loxford Polyclinic has just celebrated its first birthday. I think the success of the Meet the Council Leader event is tribute to the people who run the Polyclinic, which has become a real community hub for health and well-being services. The next Meet the Council Leader event is at Inspiration10 on Sunday 25 July in Valentine’s Park. This is a family fun day which is part of the countdown to 2012 – I hope to meet you there!