Chadwell Allotments

Last night in the pouring rain allotment holders and local residents fo Chadwell met with the Chadwell Safer Neighbourhood Team and the Redbridge Allotments Management Team. Both the Chadwell Heath SNT and Barking and Dagenham ASBO Team (they did apologise) failed to arrive.

Much was discussed in the meeting including whether sycammore Trees should be removed from the perimeter hawthorn hedges - this is due to purported diminished vegetable growth. However, I eventually managed to steer the meeting back to crime and grime related issues (admittedly,I did return to the topic of hedges - this was however security related).

The two main and important subjects that came out of this meeting (not that other matters were less salient - just inappropriate for this meeting) seemed firstly to be a misguided definition of where our borough boundary lies amongst agencies. I must add, however, that the error in judgement seems to be entirely a London Borough of Dagenham error (not the first time), I cannot clarify this at this stage as no Barking and Dagenham representative arrived?

Secondly, I pr posed that the long bushes be cut back to allow better visibility to the site when vacant and at night so that any untoward or nuisance behaviour could be reported to the authorities. This call was backed by an allotment holder who stated that a height of 4.5m would probably provide adequate pollution cover and would allow adequate biodiversity.

An officer from the Allotment Management Team confirmed that he would investigate the boundaries issue via property services and would provide me with a response to provide to both ASBO and Police Teams affected. The Same officer also advised that due to the "Wildlife & Countryside Act 1984" and the Council's own biodivesity strategy and policy it would not be feasible to cut back the hedges till October as it would disturb nesting birds which is an offence and reduce a large habitat. However, he confirmed that a full consultation with Allotment holders would ensue prior to this date and their wishes would be taken into consideration when deciding on how much to cut the bushes in the proposed October works.

The Police backed my assertion that increased visibility reduces crime.

I also agreed to chase up the antisocial behaviour team regarding the temporary measure of placing an overt (visible) camera as a deterrent to crime, on the lamppost to the for of the front gate. This would allow monitoring of crime and evidence post-incident.

I also confirmed that I would be applying to the RNWA and and Area 5 Committee for the funding of a secure metal palisade fence to side of the property on Park Villas adjacent to the park. This is to stop the arson attacks and trespass to the property of very elderly and vulnerable residents. I acknowledged the decision not to fund the fence from a limited budget with the Allotment Management Team who only have a limited budget and do not have the power to enact such a precedent, that could end up costing the taxpayer £1000s in additional claims. However, I do hope they will encourage allotment holders to allow a significant reduction in the hedge growth that may culminate in reduced privacy but would make their area a lot safer.

Chadwell Police have improved a lot under the sterling leadership of Sgt Mark Lowrie and have appeared at many local meetings including the Area 5 Committee (previously bereft of police presence). This has created a welcome and friendly community association that resulted in much applause at the end of the meeting. It is imperative, however that we as a community make effective use of their time and I hope that more people choose to attend public meetings at which such committed community figures forgo other commitment to attend.