Landlords and letting agents in one east London borough have been warned they must have a property licence or risk a hefty fine.

Barking and Dagenham Council issued the advice after two homeowners appeared in court and were ordered to pay almost £5,000 for failing to have a private rental licence.

The two landlords – Lincoln Barker and Paul Farthing – appeared in separate hearings at Romford County Court on Friday, 27 September. Barker, who owns a property on Greenslade Road, Barking, was fined £666 with a £66 victim surcharge and £873 costs.

An Ilford man has been fined after hiring a ‘man with a van’ to take away rubbish, which was later found illegally dumped on the streets of Barking and Dagenham.

On Saturday, 28 September the individual had paid £200 without checking if he was using a registered waste carrier and did not receive any documentation for the transaction.

Two days later, when enforcement officers from Barking and Dagenham Council investigated a pile of rubbish that had turned up on River Road, Barking, they discovered paperwork containing the Ilford man’s details.

A host of new job opportunities are available exclusively for residents of the borough – but to access them you must be registered with Barking and Dagenham Council’s job shops.

This week there are trainee engineering roles, driver vacancies and site manager posts on offer, as well as full or part-time openings that need to be filled.

To view the roles, potential applicants must be registered with the borough’s job shops, which can be done for free online or in person at any one of the three venues in Barking and Dagenham.

It’s no longer just the parks that are green in Barking and Dagenham – the cars used by the workers who keep them tidy are too.

As part of Barking and Dagenham Council’s £10million investment in new vehicles, four all-electric Renault Kangoo vans, which produce zero emissions, will be taking to the borough’s streets.

The council’s parks and maintenance managers will be using the vehicles to travel across the borough for day to day supervision and care of the parks, grounds maintenance and cemetery services.

The work of two schools in Barking and Dagenham have received a top accolade from the Mayor of London. 

Leys Primary School and Rush Green Primary School in Dagenham were honoured for their work to reduce educational inequality and achieve exceptional results for children who were previously behind in their studies. 

Students at Riverside School are going to be getting rather creative this year with the school lining up a number of exciting projects.

To begin with, the school has continued the partnership with the English National Opera and, for a third year in a row, will put on a performance in the summer that coincides with their Art Week. The theme for this year’s performance is ‘Space.’

They will also be working closely with Bow Arts over the next year to create a community garden which will include a pavilion. 

Valence House will unveil its latest exhibition this half-term – but unlike any other display, this one will be deliberately hard to discover, and families will be challenged to spot it.

 

The Becontree Avenue museum is one of only nine locations in London selected to take part in a nationwide campaign called Where’s Wally? The Big Museum Hunt.

 

Visitors will be tasked with finding Wally, the typically hard to find character who is famous for his red and white striped jumper and hat.

On Wednesday 2 October, Barking and Dagenham Council celebrated the values and teachings of Mahatma Gandhi on the 150th Anniversary of his birth and planted a peace tree on the grounds of St Margaret’s Church in Barking.

Robert Clack School welcomed children’s author Dan Freedman as part of their transition project which is based on his book ‘Born to Play’.

The project has been designed to help with the transition from primary school to secondary school for Year 7 pupils. Each child is given a copy of the book before starting Year 7 to read and complete a range of tasks.

In its third year, the successful project now includes a meet and greet with Dan Freedman and the children get to have a discussion with him about the book and why reading is so important. 

Nigeria marked 59 years of Independence today 1 October. The Nigerian flag was raised at Barking Town Hall, as the borough came together and celebrated with members of the Nigerian community, council staff and well-wishers.

I am delighted to join the residents of Barking and Dagenham in wishing all Nigerians a happy Independence Day.