CENTRAL ROMFORD ENVIRONMENT

The owners of 29 High Street, one of a very appealing row of Victorian properties, have worked with the Council to carry out the restoration of their shop front in Romford Conservation Area. It is hoped that others in the row might be able to follow suit and that it may be possible to improve the street scene and setting of the historic environment in the High Street. The Council have approved excellent plans to restore the façades of the old Woolpack (formerly "Secrets" nightclub) public house opposite. We look forward to this scheme being brought to fruition. The owners of the old Post Office (formerly "Brannigans") in South Street have also received approval for an excellent conservation based restoration of the façade of this building. We look forward to them implementing this scheme too and hope for street scene improvements to improve the setting of historic buildings in South Street as well. The Council has successfully persuaded BT to remove the unsightly advertisements from their phone box outside St. Edward’s Church in the Market Place in Romford Conservation Area and negotiations are ongoing with utility companies to mitigate the negative impact of the clutter of service boxes outside the Co-op Bank also in the Market. What seems to us to be a highly unsympathetic shop front has been installed at 8 North Street in Romford Conservation Area. The owners have been invited to submit a planning application for it. The owners of the site of the half-built monstrosity at 21-55 North Street have gone into administration. The Council refused this application but were over-ruled by the National Planning Inspectorate who felt it was acceptable. A programme of refurbishing the beds and surrounds on the roundabouts at Ludwigshafen Place, North Street, London Road and Oldchurch Road has been carried out by the Council. Pavement improvements have been made between the station and Havana Close in South Street. We continue to lobby for the scaffolding to be removed from Tollgate House in the Market Place