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An illegal traveller site was removed from Dagenham’s Central Park last Thursday (29 March) in the latest demonstration of the council’s powers to tackle unlawful encampments.

Three caravans and four vehicles, including a small tipper lorry, were issued with an enforcement notice to vacate the site within two hours or risk being arrested.

Despite the individuals being aggressive and threatening towards police and council officers, the car park was vacated within an hour.

Could you be the next Ridley Scott, Danny Boyle or Andrea Arnold? Budding film directors of all ages and backgrounds are invited to enter the borough’s first film festival.

Called DIY Film Festival, the one-day event will offer Barking and Dagenham enthusiasts an opportunity to share an amazing mix of short films on the theme of the past, present and future of the borough.

The festival is just one of the many projects created with the assistance of Every One Every Day, the £7.2m community driven initiative that launched in November 2017.

A total of 12 caravans have left the Millennium Centre car park in Dagenham after they were given two hours to leave the site by Barking and Dagenham’s Street Enforcement Team.

The Council was granted an injunction, thought to be the first of its kind in England and Wales last October, that bans unlawful campsites from being set up as well as prohibiting fly-tipping.

Any breach of the order is a contempt of court, punishable by a term of imprisonment.

The winners of the inaugural Street Tag competition in Barking and Dagenham have bagged themselves £1,000 worth of bicycles.

Al Noor, a team of four friends and two of their children, upped the ante and decided to try and cover 1,000 miles during the six-week game, which turned the streets of the borough into a giant walking, running or cycling challenge, to raise money for charity.

Sylvia Sielicka, Shormin Begum, Erum Rashid, and Yasim Sattar braved wind, rain and snow – even completing the 4.2-mile course in -2C conditions.

The largest new film and media studios to be built in London for decades will be constructed and operated in Dagenham by Pacifica Ventures in partnership with Media Content Capital (MCC) it was announced on Thursday, 22 March.

Councillor Darren Rodwell, the Leader of Barking and Dagenham Council, announced that the USA based Pacifica Ventures, in partnership with MCC, will be the preferred builder and operator of the ambitious new film and media complex on the 22-acre site.

Barking and Dagenham Council has won two awards and been highly commended in another category at the prestigious Local Government Chronicle (LGC) Awards on Wednesday.

As well as being named the winner of the Driving Growth award, the council took home the top title of Council of Year at the 22nd annual awards ceremony, which was held at Grosvenor House, London on 21 March.

A special reception was held at the Civic Centre in Dagenham on Monday night to reveal more details about the Onside Future Youth Zone that opens in 2019.

History will be made when the centre officially opens in Barking and Dagenham as the Youth Zone will be the first of its kind in London.

Building work has already got underway after West Ham captain Mark Noble was among a number of people who helped put a giant spade into the ground to officially start work at a ground-breaking ceremony back in January.

A new order which will clamp down on anti-social behaviour is being introduced in Barking Town Centre.

The Public Space Protection Order (PSPO), which went live today (Monday 19 March), will cover behaviour such as drinking alcohol in a public place, to spitting, begging, and urinating. The PSPO will target those engaging in behaviour which causes residents and other users of the area harassment, alarm or distress.

The order means council enforcement officers and the police will have new powers to hand out £100 fixed penalty notices on the spot.

Chair yoga and healthy cookery classes are just two of the many free classes available to residents in the borough, as Every One Every Day publishes its latest programme of events.

Over the next eight weeks, there will be more than 50 free community get togethers arranged in Barking and Dagenham from cooking, making, learning or growing, to fixing, trading, sharing or eating.

Classes include discovering how to take great photographs, setting up a play street or becoming a bee keeper.

Barking and Dagenham youngsters have unveiled their vision for the OnSide Future Youth Zone with specially-designed hoardings at the centre’s Parsloes Park site.