A group of young people put their political hats on last week, as they were given a tour of Number 10 Downing Street.

The visit was arranged by a former Sydney Russell student and the pupils felt extremely lucky that they were able to visit the heart of government at such an important time in British political history.

Two more community food clubs are set to open in the Mark’s Gate and Alibon areas of the borough following a successful pilot at the William Bellamy Children’s Centre which opened last October.

The community food club allows its members access to £20 worth of groceries per visit for a membership fee of £3.50.

With under two months to go, the full line up for the Barking Folk Festival has been announced. 

The two-day, weekend festival taking place at Abbey Green and the Abbey Ruins will be headlined by Dreadzone on Saturday 8 June and Afro Celt Sound System on the Sunday. 

Other fans favourites such as Beans on Toast, Will Varley, Quiet Loner, The Demon Barbers XL, Worry Dolls and TalkingDRUM will also be taking to the stage alongside others. 

A Dagenham resident has been given a £1,839 fine for holding an excessively loud, late night party.

 

Following a complaint on the evening of Saturday 8 September 2018, a council officer attended and heard excessively loud music coming from a large marquee in the back garden of 165 Lichfield Road, Dagenham. High levels of bass were bouncing off the houses on the opposite side of the street.  

 

Council enforcement officers and the Police have carried out a major operation to clamp down on contractors illegally employing unskilled labourers in and around Hertford Road in Barking.

The joint operation which took place over 10 days in March and April 2019, also tackled anti-social behaviour, including fly-tipping, littering and urinating in public. In addition, officers carried out focused work to clean up the area.

The operation involved council officers, the Police, Immigration Officers, the HM Revenue and Customs and resulted in:  

Residents of Barking and Dagenham who have concerns about managing money or are worried about getting into arrears with their rent will now be able to access help and advice from Dagenham Library. 

From Monday 13 May, the Home and Money Hub service will open in the Heathway Library - the second in the borough after one opened in Barking Library just over a year ago.

Children from Becontree Primary School returned to school last week to be greeted by some new, vibrant artwork thanks to the Bow Arts Trust working in partnership with the school's Cultural Team Lead, Mantee Doogan.

From the onset, the School Council were deeply involved in the decision process about what the new artwork should look like and where it should be placed. After many discussions with their classes, the council decided that the new artwork should spell the word ‘RESPECT’ as that is part of the current school motto of ‘Respecting one another.’

Residents The role of faith communities in bringing people together was highlighted at an event which saw Barking and Dagenham Council and the Barking and Dagenham Faith Forum sign up to a Charter for Faith and Belief Inclusion.

The charter has been created by the Faith & Belief Forum - a charity whose work aims to create good relations between people of different faiths and beliefs.

Residents of Barking and Dagenham are urged to confidentially identify people who dump rubbish as the latest instalment of the council’s CCTV Appeal has been released. 

 

The latest episode features shameless fly-tipping incidents caught on camera including dumping of washing machines, ‘To Let’ signs, bags of rubbish and even someone urinating next to a bin store. 

 

The council launched the YouTube series last year as part of a campaign to reduce fly-tipping and to create cleaner streets. 

 

The Leader of Barking and Dagenham Council today welcomed news from the City of London Corporation that the borough is the preferred option for the relocation of London’s iconic markets.

This announcement followed plans announced last August to consolidate Billingsgate, New Spitalfields and Smithfield markets under one roof, relocating them to a new site.