A man in Dagenham will have to stump up almost £2,750 after keeping his neighbours awake with late-night karaoke sessions.



Jason Harvey, 50, of Wood Lane, played music so loud that when Barking and Dagenham Council enforcement officers visited, music and singing could clearly be heard through the walls next door.



Harvey was issued with a noise abatement notice by the council in February 2019, however he ignored it – racking up a further 155 complaints relating to loud music and late-night DIY.

Residents are being invited to join an online session about the coronavirus vaccine roll-out in Barking and Dagenham.



Two local GPs and the borough’s director for public health will join council leader, Councillor Darren Rodwell, and Councillor Maureen Worby, Cabinet Member for Health and Social Integration, for a one-hour question-and-answer session in a bid to dispel any myths and address any concerns people might have.

Throughout the pandemic, Barking and Dagenham Council’s enforcement team has been on the frontline providing advice to businesses to ensure they stay open as well as enforcing where needed.



Last week was no different and officers visited 2,200 local businesses to make sure coronavirus rules were still being followed. This round of visits also included checking in on 822 non-essential shops to make sure they were closed, which they were.

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.