Hello. It appears that we've managed to make it through 2017 which is a bit of a
miracle; it's certainly taken me by surprise. 2018. We'll see what comes of
that but I thought as it's been quite a hectic year here in Waltham Abbey I'll
give you a review of the year, which I was gonna do by months but there's so
much crossing over and inter lapping and stuff, overlapping, that that wasn't practical.
Public transport. It's a big thing isn't it? It's been a big thing this
year for me. Back in the summer we found out that the 250 and 251
evening services were under threat. I started a little campaign on behalf of
the Epping Forest Transport Action Group to try and stop the County Council
cutting them. The County Council didn't respond to any requests for meetings so
we did a little petition did a few little videos got in the local press a little
bit - I ended up on BBC Kent radio on the Dave Monk show. None of that helped.
they still cut the services. As you know at this point we're - I'm - taking
the County Council to a judicial review over the whole situation. We'll see what comes
of that. Hopefully we'll be able to reach a compromise. Personally I think there
should be one late-night bus that goes from Waltham Cross at about 11 o'clock,
does the the long route round that the 66 was doing up to Loughton and Debden
and then comes back along Loughton High Road so that although people might have
a long time to wait for bus at least there'll be one to wait for, and it should
also cut down on drink driving a bit and it would also mean that people can go to
pubs and get home again. Imagine that! Yeah. Also on public transport there
were concerns about the 13 bus. The timetable wasn't really suitable for
parents and their kids so I organised a meeting with Chris Hunn, who runs
EOS buses, and parents from Epping St John's school and a few other people, and
Ricky Gadsby came along, and as a result of that meeting we've got a 13A bus put
in. Thanks to Chris for sorting that out. It's not often a bus company,
a bus operator, will come along to a meeting like that and as a result that
meeting decide to put on another bus service. So, brilliant from Chris and brilliant
work from all the people that campaigned for it. I was really pleased with the
result meeting, not surprisingly! Also, okay, not Waltham Abbey but over in Buckhurst Hill
Green Party councillor Steven Neville has finally managed to
get somewhere with the step-free access which looks like it's coming next year, I think.
At Easter I got my feet wet in the Cornmill stream, just behind the
council offices, and moved a bunch of litter and the Cornmill cone, which had
been there for ages and which I previously moved, left at a dustbin and it
ended back in the river again. So I actually removed it properly this time
and it hasn't got back as far as I can tell. So there we go.
Then I finished the year on a similar note but somewhat bigger, by starting the Plastic's
Not Fantastic campaign for Epping Forest Green Party, to try and cut down on
single-use plastics, inspired by Blue Planet 2, which I think inspired a lot
of people. So yeah we'll see how that goes. With Waltham Abbey Town Council
already on board I'm just hoping that other town and parish councils will got
on board along with local businesses and individuals. We'll see how that goes -
there's information on the Epping Forest Green Party website and the Facebook groups
and all that sort stuff.
The Local Plan. Deary me. At this point probably the
less said about that the better, other than I have to say well done to the
Save Jessel Green campaign and the Loughton Residents Association and their
councillors and everybody who voted to help protect Jessell Green. It's not in
Waltham Abbey but it's just up the road and it's very important. So well done to
everyone who took part in the campaign and still takes part in that campaign. It's
possible that Jessel Green can be saved but that's for next year.
Also at the start of the year the Royal Gunpowder Mills,
PGL Holidays and RGM put in an appeal
against the decision to stop their development proposals on the Gunpowder
Mills site but a few months later they withdrew that appeal and it now looks as
though the different bodies
within the Gunpowder Mills are speaking together and things seem to be moving on
really well, so that's also extremely good news.
Way back in January I was involved in setting up the Unite Community Essex branch
which looks after unwaged people,
so that's unemployed people, retired people, people with disabilities, carers etc. That was
started with Vincent Wacket who is very very missed. Unfortunately he passed away
last Christmas. But yeah, the branch, it's good. We've done quite
a few good things including a couple of days of action to raise awareness about
various different aspects of welfare policy, namely sanctions and
Universal Credit itself. It'd be good to get the to get membership up for
the soon to be launched Epping Forest and Harlow branch. We've got the banner we
just need the actual branch now!
You might have noticed that I'm quite into
cats. I volunteer at the Scratching Post Cat Rescue Centre every Thursday morning,
with my wonderful landlady Linda, cleaning out litter trays. They'll be
popping up throughout the course of this video. Back in September it was a great privilege to
go around and film some of the stall holders at the Open Day and Craft Fair
which you can find - I'll pop a link down below. It's a great little charity - I'm
very pleased to volunteer for it. Also with charity stuff - on the 1st of December I
raised some money at a stall on Sun Street for World AIDS Day for the
Terrence Higgins Trust. Thanks to Linda again and to Carina for giving us a hand
on the stall. Very very cold! We also collected over 353 pounds for
Marie Curie during the daffodil campaign which was quite a staggering amount so
thanks to all the small businesses of Waltham Abbey who had the little boxes.
At some point I'll be round with the normal collection tins - I just haven't had the
time frankly but we'll get to it. It's been great to see a few more small
businesses opening up on Sun Street and
Highbridge Street. We've got Vintner Mason, the wine bar which I think is just branching out
into pizzas. Regina pizza place which is great. It's
got some bad reviews but I think it's blinding. And there's the
One Love Munchies Bar opening which is something very different for Waltham Abbey
and I wish them all success Christine is excellent she's a good
person and it's a good idea and I hope it's well supported.
Other things have been going on.
The Waltham Abbey Neighbourhood Plan hit a stumbling block -
basically it was a bit disorganised - but that will be back soon and we really do
need to get the neighbourhood plan in place because it gives us one little - it
gives us some leverage and it means that when the local plan is
being implemented - it means we can turn around and say, well no the people of
Waltham Abbey don't want that, we want this, or when you implement that you've
got to have this in place first - infrastructure and schools and
that sort of thing. So yeah, please get involved in the Neighbourhood Plan if you
can when we come back, which should be around about Easter, I believe. Also the Town
Partnership has done a lot of stuff over the year. The big
thing was the Wayfinding project, which is signposts basically, but it's important
there's other stuff that they're looking at. Go along to the meetings!
I think they're the first Tuesday of the month, half past nine at the council offices.
Not convenient for everybody but no time is convenient for everybody. So get along to
the meetings, follow them on the internet if you can. Also I'd like to say Town
Council actually. The Town Council does a lot of good stuff believe not.
They might lack a bit of imagination and obviously I don't agree with
them politically, but it's not really a political organisation the Town Council.
They do try and do good things. They've got very little in
the way of resources and they're all volunteering and doing it on their own
time so yeah, you know, kudos to them for doing what they're doing. Obviously it was a
shame that King Harold day was called off - hopefully that'll be back next year.
It's a really good social event in Waltham Abbey and it needs to come back!
I've been doing my own little bit in the Waltham Abbey Residents Association as a
committee member. They're plodding away - they're
still meeting and doing good stuff as well. It's mainly planning applications
and looking over those and seeing what is reasonable and what isn't but it takes
an awful lot of work. To be honest I'm not that involved in
that aspect of it but yeah, again, a good bunch - good eggs. It's important for
you to get involved in this stuff you know things don't change on their own.
Bad things happen if nobody tries to stop them and good things don't happen
if nobody tries to start them so, you know, if there's stuff you want changed
get involved! There are elections coming up in May - local elections around here tend to
manage about 25 percent turnout which is
rubbish, especially given the amount of stuff that happens that people aren't
happy with. Get out and vote for your councillors
because things don't change unless you help change them.
Speaking of elections, in the County Council elections this May my vote, the
Green Party vote share in Waltham Abbey went up by 356 percent which was quite
staggering actually so thank you everyone who voted for me!
I'm pretty sure that there's an awful lot of stuff that I've missed out - I know there is -
but I just wanted to keep this relatively brief. So there you go -
a little update from 2017 from a Waltham Abbey Green Party activist's perspective.
If you like what we do in the Green Party, if you like what I do locally, join us!
It's not expensive and you'd be part of a party which is utterly committed to
helping the environment and, by extension, protecting our future yeah so consider
joining. We could do with more support - we're only little - so please consider
getting stuck in.
Happy New Year. Let's hope 2018 is a little more stable than 2017.
Yeah.
Anyway, thanks. Happy New Year
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