Barking and Dagenham Council is due to host its first Safer Neighbourhood Board of the year and is asking residents to register and submit their questions in advance.



The online event, which takes place on Thursday 4 March, will give residents the opportunity to talk about any particular issues they’re concerned about or if there is something they feel the police should be focusing on. 



Residents will have their questions answered by an expert panel including:

Barking and Dagenham Council is asking residents to review a proposal for the renewal of two Public Space Protection Orders (PSPOSs) in the borough.



PSPOs help to deal with antisocial behaviour in a specified area and the two up for renewal are in Barking Town Centre and Broad Street, Dagenham.



The proposal is based on a recent survey, conducted a couple of weeks ago, where the initial findings revealed that 83% of residents are in support of the PSPO in Barking Town Centre and 91% for the one in Broad Street.

Year 6 children at Becontree Primary School had the opportunity to participate in a virtual session with children’s author Shirin Shamsi, as part of World Read Aloud Day.

Shirin, who attended Becontree Primary herself as a child and now lives in Chicago, USA, had been due to visit the school in person, but could not because of the pandemic.

She read the children two chapters from her book ‘Laila and the Sands of Time’, and answered questions about life as an author and her time at Becontree Primary.

Don’t run out of time this year to get greener! Residents only have until 14 February to sign up to be eligible for all 19 scheduled collections for Barking and Dagenham Council’s Green Garden Waste scheme. 

Over 3,400 residents have already signed up since 15 December 2020 to the fortnightly service. Costing only £40 per year, it offers residents an eco-friendly way to dispose of garden waste such as flowers and grass cuttings, weeds, leaves, and hedge trimmings.

In its continued effort to beat fly-tipping in the borough, Barking and Dagenham Council is asking local residents about how easy they find reporting the issue to the council.

 

The east London council has been leading the way in the fight against fly-tipping and recently produced its 50th episode of its Wall of Shame CCTV Appeal that aims to identify people dumping rubbish on the borough’s streets. Since launching in August 2018, the Wall of Shame has caught on average of just under one person per episode thanks to the help of residents.

 

Ripple Primary School in Barking has been given 10 laptops to help pupils who are learning remotely during the pandemic.

Arc Group London, who are currently building three reception classrooms at Ripple Primary School’s Suffolk Road site, delighted staff with the generous donation.

Headteacher, Roger Mitchell, said: “I am overwhelmed by the generosity of Arc. Their donation of 10 laptops for our children came out of the blue.

In their continued effort to beat the spread of coronavirus, Barking and Dagenham Council’s enforcement team visited nearly 2,500 businesses last week to make sure they are following the latest Covid regulations.

 

The visits also included checking in on a total of another 1,056 businesses to make sure they were closed as they are not classed as essential. 

 

Of those visited, 265 were not compliant, which meant they were not enforcing social distancing rules, letting too many people in or not having the correct signage in place.

Barking and Dagenham Council worked with its voluntary organisations and local companies to bring some ‘Christmas Cheer’ to the borough, in what was a difficult time for people especially over Christmas. With residents affected by the Covid-19 pandemic in one way or another, the council wanted to put a smile back on people’s faces and help those who need it most.

A Dagenham resident has been fined over £800 after someone was caught dumping litter from his car by council enforcement officers.

While on patrol on Wood Lane, Dagenham, council officers witnessed an occupant in Mr. Andrew Beckers car dropping litter from his vehicle three times, including disposing of a cigarette butt.  

Barking and Dagenham Council is looking to renew two Public Space Protection Orders (PSPOs) in the borough and wants to hear the thoughts of the borough’s residents.

 

PSPOs are used to deal with antisocial behaviour within a specified area which is having a harmful effect on people’s quality of life. PSPOs put conditions or restrictions on an area which apply to everyone.

 

The two PSPOs that are up for renewal are in Barking Town Centre and Broad Street, Dagenham and both prohibit activities, such as: