Redbridge Conversation - Blog

Sunday 8 June was a gloriously sunny day for the Redbridge Conversation Café in Ilford. It was so hot that staff had to break out the factor 50 and came close to wilting. As you might expect on a sunny Sunday Ilford was busy busy busy.

Residents, although initially a bit shy, were soon won over by the Redbridge Conversation Café staff and during the day over a hundred forms were filled in and many hundreds more taken away to be considered in more detail. There were also a good number of residents who left comments.

Susanne Marshall said, “More bike lanes, less traffic, more pedestrian areas and better public transport as a real alternative. Cut down on cars - more public transport.”

Laura of Airlie Gardens commented, “As a resident I think it’s a shame no Councillors are present.”

Hamza Kazmi, a fourteen year old resident who had already visited the ‘You Choose’ site on-line and purposely came down to take part in the Redbridge Conversation Café as well said, “Housing is the most important investment that the Borough needs. There are now new people coming to the Borough and we need to provide affordable housing for them. We also need shops to compete. Ilford is a great town centre, and we need the Unity Square investment.”

The balloon magic and face painting were also winning factors attracting many parents to take part in the Conversation. This meant that there were some particularly stunning pieces of art roaming the high street that day.

On Saturday 7th June the weather was perfect for when The Redbridge Conversation Café visited Wanstead High Street. The Café set up bright and early and had the tunes pumping out. Residents of Wanstead were a little bemused at the sight of yet another café springing up on their beautiful little high street, but most were interested and ready to participate in the Redbridge Conversation.

One sprightly 94 year old went through the Conversation form in detail, wanting to know the background and making sure that funding in the schools was planned for the Wanstead area. She then went on to explain the kinds of trouble that young people used to get into in her day… Their favourite trick was to run between the legs and under the bellies of the horses that used to pull the carts that delivered milk to the area.

One young couple felt that they got a bit of a raw deal - they didn’t drive, they didn’t have children and couldn’t afford to. They felt that the only thing that the council did for them was to collect the rubbish, but the lack of wheely bins meant that foxes constantly got into the bags and spread the rubbish all over their garden. So, another vote for wheely bins.

Early on in the day Cllr Chan was on hand to speak to residents and encourage them to take part in the Conversation and a little later Cllr Caulfield sidled by. Over the day as a whole staff were impressed by the way that the residents of Wanstead weren’t only interested in their own patch but considered the needs of the Redbridge as a whole.

Between the 19th and 23rd of May the Redbridge Conversation got taken to Redbridge’s commuters. Between 7 and 9 in the morning Conversation staff leafleted the stations of Redbridge to make sure that Redbridge’s working population knew about the Conversation and had the chance to join in.

It was an interesting exercise. Monday and Tuesday were pleasant and relaxed, but later in the week people seemed to become a bit more stressed and it became more of a challenge to give out the leaflets to people as they literally ran for their trains.

It was good natured and many people were interested and had seen it in Redbridge Life, but very few had the time to stop and talk. An estimated 4,000 leaflets were given out over the week.

Eddie Gibb, Head of Marketing and Communications, said, “I found it a fascinating experience - I saw bits of the Borough I hadn’t seen and got a real sense of the diversity of the place, the statistics don’t really tell you. I was also pleasantly surprised at the take-up for the leaflets. It also demonstrates just how little time you have to get people’s attention.”

On Sunday 1 June the Redbridge Conversation Café moved to Hainault. This was quite a quiet day, but a number of the congregation of the Church of the Assumption stopped by after their Sunday morning Mass.

Once again the face painters and children’s entertainer did a brisk trade.

Steve and Julie Carnaby stopped by. Julie said, “Housing - as much as it is an issue - there’s too much emphasis on it - too much housing makes an area feel enclosed - it’s not building communities its building ghettos,”

while Steve said, “It’s a very good idea to get public opinion. It makes people feel more involved.”

On Saturday 31 May the Redbridge Café went to Fullwell Cross. It was situated at the head of the high street between the library and the swimming pool. It was a busy day with children and teenagers queuing for the face painters and enthralled with the juggling and magic tricks of Allin Kempthorne fresh from the set of Harry Potter.

Across the day over 400 adults stopped by for a chat and a coffee. Many took away the You Choose forms to fill in, some sat and did it while they had a cappuccino. Some were even prepared to give us a few comments.

Latta Bassi said, “I am very happy to take part in the Redbridge Conversation”. Linda Matthias said, “I hope its all worth while. It’s important for us all to have a say. If we sit at home and moan there’s no point.” Simon Thompson said that he’d like to see wheely bins come to Redbridge.

John Sharrock of Barkingside 21 was one of the first to the Conversation Café and had a lively exchange with Cllr Lambert. John said, “I can see what the Council is trying to do but I think it is flawed. I don’t think enough people will participate to give a mandate. Cutting the Councillor’s wages should have been an option… Thanks for the coffee though.”

Mrs Barbara Barton (aged 78) dropped by and said “I was just curious, so I came along to see what’s going on. It’s an opportunity for the community to express their real thinking. It’s very important.” At the other end of the age range, Blathain Iqbal (just back from uni) said, “It’s good that the borough is taking the time to find out what residents think. Its good to find out where the Council Tax goes.”

Staff at the event were kept busy throughout the day and all agreed that the residents of Fullwell Cross were lovely and just so polite (especially the children).

The Redbridge Conversation team have been out and about this week explaining what it’s all about and how to get involved. There were presentations at Area Committees 2, 4 and 7 this week, and we will be at the remaining Area Committees in June. Feedback has been generally positive though some residents raised were concered that leaflets and other materials weren’t yet available in libraries. Fair point. Residents who can’t get online will be able to read all the content from the website in libraries from early next week, and pick up ‘You Choose’ leaflets. A couple of residents in Area 4 asked for more detail about some of the land sale options. We’re trying to get answer which will be posted on this blog next week.

We want to make sure that everyone in the Borough can join the Redbridge Conversation. We are working with the Council’s partners at CVS Redbridge, which promotes the voluntary and community service in the Borough.

This week we met a group of graduates from CSV’s ‘Community Voice’ scheme, which develops community leaders. The group is involved in a wide range of community activities, from a Sikh football team to a network of adults with learning disabilities. The eight group leaders are now recruiting Redbridge Conversation discussion groups within their communities, to ensure their voice is heard.

We would like to hear from other community groups who want to get involved so please contact: redbridgei.admin@redbridge.gov.uk

Redbridge Conversation, the Council’s major new consultation exercise, launched on Friday 16 May and will finish at the end of July 2008.

The aim of the Conversation is to get as many Redbridge residents involved in helping the Council to plan ahead and find money for the many improvements residents quite rightly expect from their Council.

To chart the progress of weekly events and milestones of the Conversation, you will be able to read first-hand how the consultation is progressing and how the events are going across the Borough.

We hope you enjoy reading the Redbridge Conversation Blog and feel free to let us have your comments.