North Street and the A12

​Improvements to ease congestion and reduce accidents at the A12 junction with North Street were completed last month, making the junction safer and easier to use for motorists and pedestrians.

​The project included widening the road and adding an extra lane, adding new crossing points including islands, in works which spanned approximately eight weeks.

After the junction improvements were completed, an area of green land at the site was transformed, providing a bright new environment to attract wildlife.

This work has brought a splash of colour to the green which now includes new trees, wild flowers and shrubs which will provide colour in the winter and spring.

The £300,000 scheme was funded by Transport for London.

Tube Strike map

http://www.stationmasterapp.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/StrikeMap.jpg

A very helpful map to to what is running in London today

Cash free bus travel

TfL confirms introduction of cash free bus travel from Sunday 6 July

£130m savings to 2022/23 will be reinvested in improving transport

Transport for London (TfL) has announced that cash fares will no longer be accepted on London buses from Sunday 6 July.

The decision to move to cash free bus travel follows a considerable drop in the number of people paying their bus fare in cash. 

In 2000 around 25 per cent of journeys were paid for with a cash fare, today that figure stands at around one per cent. 

With extensive use of Oyster and over 11 million journeys now made using contactless payment cards, cash usage is expected to fall even further as more customers take advantage of the convenience and cheaper fares these provide.

This change will not affect 99 per cent of bus passengers who already pay for their journeys using Oyster, prepaid tickets, contactless payment cards or concessionary tickets.

The latter group represents a third of all customers and includes children and young people, older and disabled people and the unemployed. 

TfL research shows this change is also unlikely to affect tourists as the vast majority use Oyster or a prepaid ticket to get around the capital.

Removing cash fares will also speed up boarding times, leading to faster journeys and will also ensure customers benefit from the best value fare for each journey they make. 

As TfL moves to a cash free bus service a number of initiatives are well under way to ensure there is a smooth and trouble free transition for customers. 

These include:

•

A new 'one more journey' feature on Oyster that will allow passengers who do not have sufficient credit for a bus fare, but who have a positive balance on their card, to make one more bus journey

•

The Oyster Ticket Stop network has been subject to a review and additional locations added - particularly in outer London

•

Refreshed guidance on vulnerable passengers will be provided to all 24,500 London bus drivers

•

A major public information campaign will launch in May to provide passengers with advice on the changes

Leon Daniels, Managing Director for TfL Surface Transport said: `As Londoners and visitors change the way they pay for goods and services in the capital I am proud that we at the forefront of that change. 

`Customers will not only benefit from a quicker, cheaper and more convenient method of paying their bus fare; it will also enable us to save millions of pounds each year - which will be reinvested in further improvements to the capital's transport network.

`We have listened to the views expressed in response to the public consultation and have delivered a range of measures to ensure a smooth transition for our passengers. 

`These include the 'one more journey' feature on Oyster, more Oyster Ticket Stops in outer London and we are also providing our 24,500 bus drivers with refreshed guidance for dealing with vulnerable customers, which has been developed with the help of key stakeholders.'

House Martins return to St George's hospital

I have been advised that the House Martins have now returned to St. Georges Hospital in numbers.

Birds are on site and will either use there old mud nests or build new ones, please note that as part of the Wildlife Laws, these

nests, as they are now becoming occupied cannot be removed.

Furthermore House Martins are known for 2 brooding and this will very like run to August.

Rock bands at Fairkytes

Don't miss the chance to see the last band standing at Fairkytes

​The Young Bloods - will this be the Last Band Standing?

Residents of all ages will next week get the chance to see some of the borough's most musically talented youngsters rock-out in a battle to be the 'Last Band Standing'.

The highly-anticipated music event is the first of its kind for young people in Havering, and will see six bands compete against each other and showcase their eclectic talents to be crowned the winner at Fairkytes Arts Centre​ on Friday 2 May.

 

The event, from 7pm to 10pm, will see young people between the ages of 13 and 18 years old in bands perform two songs each.

 

The bands include The Broken Strings - who's influences include My Chemical Romance and Green Day, The Walking Method - who describe their music as fast-paced rock and roll, The Young Bloods - with members who have performed at the Molly Fest festival, Uprising - with upbeat punk tunes, Anonymous - who prefer gentle, slow rock, and GP5 - who will display their version of alternative pop rock tunes.

 

The winners of the competition will be given three days in a local recording studio at myplace community centre to further enhance their talents and give them the opportunity to record their own material.

 

Tickets are selling fast and cost £5 or £4.50 concessions. They can be bought from Fairkytes or by calling 01708 456308. 

St George's Day

Don’t miss St George’s Day celebrations this weekend in Romford’s historic market

Monday 14 April 2014

There’ll be a whole host of family fun at this year’s St George’s Day celebrations in Romford Market on Saturday 19 April.

​The celebrations, in honour of England’s patron saint, promise great fanfare through the famous and historic street market all day from 9am to 5pm.

 

Shoppers will be treated to entertainment including performances from the Royal British Legion Band and the Hornchurch Drum and Trumpet Band​.

 

Children will be able to enjoy circus acts, free face painting, an inflatable ride, a climbing wall and bucking bronco rides all day.

 

There will also be a range of hot food stalls offering various delicacies all day.

Romford’s Town Crier will also be around and in full voice encouraging everyone to get in the spirit.

 

The festivities will see the market clad in red and white bunting on Saturday 19 April, and also on Wednesday 23 April, which is the day that St George’s Day falls on this year.

 

A breakdown of the day:

 

Town Crier: 10.30am to 3.30pm
Royal British Legion Band and Corps of Drums Romford: 11.30am to 12.30pm
Hornchurch Drum and Trumpet Corps Band: 2pm to 3pm
Circus acts: 11.30am to 3.30pm
Free children's face painting: 11.30am to 3.30pm
Inflatable ride: All day
Climbing wall – All day
Bucking bronco – All day

Raphael Park kiosk

New Raphael Park kiosk opens

​The new kiosk at Raphael Park is now officially open. The kiosk, Milli’s Coffee House, is a family-run business on the far side of the park, and is part of the £1.87million Heritage Lottery Fund restoration of the park.

The park will also soon have a fully-operational Café overlooking the lake near to the entrance of the park off the Main Road, which has been built and awaits an operator.

 

More than 18,000 trees, shrubs, herbaceous plants, ferns, hedging plants and bulbs were recently planted to add a burst of colour to the park.

 

The above image shows Cllr Curtin with the Friends of Raphael Park with the operators of the kiosk and Frankie the Lion from the St Francis Hospice charity, which the kiosk is supporting.

National AAA Screening

I am attending the launch event of the North East London (NEL) AAA Screening Programme in Havering, Barking & Dagenham on Monday.

The National AAA ( Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm) screening program started in 2009 and has been rolled out in NEL since 2013. The program involves all 65 year old males to have a single Ultrasound scan. Depending on if the aorta measures greater than 3cm, the patient is kept under surveillance until a threshold of 5.5cm is reached. At that size surgical intervention is considered.

Havering has largest cohort of 65 year old males, and our screening in this area finished in December 2013. Barking & Dagenham was completed in November and our uptake for the CCGS were 84% and 74% respectively but we would like to improve this by engaging the local stakeholders as the next cohort for screening eligible men will commence from April 2014.

Drink and drug enforcement

Measures to improve the enforcement of drink and drug driving offences

 

The Government is introducing a range of measures (detailed below) to improve the enforcement of drink and drug driving offences.  These measures are included in the Deregulation Bill, which was introduced into Parliament on 23rd January 2014. The Bill had its second reading debate on 3 February 2014, and a committee debate on 11 March 2014.  The Report stage: House of Commons, is still to be announced.

In addition to these measures, portable evidential breath testing devices are expected to be available in late 2014 and will offer significant time savings in enforcing the drink driving offence.

 

Removal of the ‘statutory option’

The statutory option entitles a suspected drink driver to have their specimen of breath replaced by a specimen of either blood or urine.  This entitlement is available if the lower of the two breath specimens contains no more than 50 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.  

There is evidence to suggest that convictions are being lost as suspected drink drivers seek to exploit this loophole.  Delays occur in obtaining an evidential specimen when the suspected drink driver exercises this entitlement, allowing them to ‘sober up’ and evade conviction.

The statutory option was originally introduced owing to concerns over the reliability of evidential breath testing devices.  Advances in evidential breath testing technology mean that the reliability is no longer a concern and the statutory option is no longer necessary.

 

Removal of the requirement for a preliminary breath test before a roadside evidential breath test

A preliminary breath test is a pre-requisite to taking evidential breath specimens at places other than a police station or a hospital.  For example, a preliminary breath test would be required if evidential breath specimens were to be taken at the roadside.

The removal of this requirement will avoid delays in taking evidential breath specimens, and will avoid an extra test in what can be difficult operational scenarios for the police.  This measure will have no effect until portable evidential breath testing devices have been type approved.  These devices are currently being type approved by the Home Office are expected to become available in late 2014.

 

Extension of the role of registered health care professionals to take evidential blood specimens in hospitals

Currently, both medical practitioners and registered health care professionals can take evidential blood specimens in police stations for drink and drug driving investigations.  However, only medical practitioners can take blood specimens in hospitals.

Allowing registered health care professionals to take evidential blood specimens in hospitals for drink and drug driving investigations will be consistent with other police investigations and other medical contexts.  In practice this extension of the role of registered health care professionals will apply to nurses and paramedics.

 

Extension of the role of registered health care professionals to advise whether a person has a condition that might be due to a drug

A medical practitioner’s opinion on whether a person has ‘a condition which might be due to a drug’ is a pre-requisite to requiring a blood specimen from that person, if that person is suspected of a drug driving offence.  

Allowing registered health care professionals to form the opinion whether a person has ‘a condition which might be due to a drug’ will save police time and costs as a medical practitioner is not always readily available to provide advice.  This will reduce delays in obtaining an evidential specimen from a person suspected of drug driving.  Appropriate training for registered health care professionals in forming this opinion will be ensured through the inclusion of a set of competencies in NHS England’s commissioning standards.

Cycling and Safety

Cycle Safety and the Cycling Stakeholder Forum

 

A total of 118 pedal cyclists were killed in Great Britain in 2012. This was a 10% increase from 107 in 2011 but is still 9% lower than the 2005-09 average.

 

The number of pedal cyclists who were seriously injured in 2012 rose by 4% to 3,222 compared to 2011. This marks the eighth consecutive annual rise in pedal cyclist serious injuries.

 

 

 

Currently a major barrier to more cycling is feeling confident about cycling on the roads. 65% of non-cyclists and 48% of cyclists agreed that it was too dangerous for them to cycle on the roads and 66% of females and 53% of males agreed that it was too dangerous for them to cycle on the roads.

 

Cycle safety has been in the spotlight since The Times’s “Cities Fit For Cycling” campaign begun in February 2012, following an incident where one of their journalists, Mary Bowers, was knocked down by an HGV in November 2011.

 

In April 2013 the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group launched their “Get Britain Cycling” report. The government responded to the report on 28 August 2013:https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-responds-to-cycling-report  The “Get Britain Cycling” report was debated in the House of Commons main chamber on 2 September.

 

British Cycling launched its “Time to #ChooseCycling” report in February 2014: http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/media_centre/article/cam20140207-British-Cycling-launches-10-point-plan-to-transform-Britain-into-a-true-cycling-nation-0

 

The Cycling Stakeholder Forum was set up by Norman Baker MP in 2011 to gather stakeholders to collectively consider how to generate more and safer cycling. The Forum has set up a number of sub-groups including one on safety. The safety sub-group includes the AA, ACPO, Bike Right, British Cycling, CPRE (Campaign for Protection of rural England), CTC, Cyclenation, Freight Transport Association, IAM (Institute of Advanced Motorists), London Cycling Campaign, Mineral Products Association, PACTS (Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety), Road Haulage Association, Sustrans and TfL.

 

Representatives from the sub-group provided advice on the allocation of up to £20M of DfT funds to improve the design of junctions and routes to make them safer for cyclists. 81 schemes were successful.

 

The Safety sub-group has set up a Justice sub-group to look at how the justice system works for vulnerable road users. There are representatives from: ACPO, Home Office, CPS, MOJ and Sentencing Council as well as representatives from British Cycling, Road Peace and the CTC.

 

In August 2013, the Prime Minister announced his vision for a ‘cycling revolution’ to bring Britain on a par with other European countries such as the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany, where cycling levels are currently much higher. The key points from the announcement were:

•

£94M Cycling Ambition Grants for 8 cities and 4 National Parks

•

New trunk road investment that impacts cyclists, such as junction improvements or road-widening, will be ‘cycle-proofed’ (so they can be navigated confidently by the average cyclist)

•

£5M will be invested initially and a further £15M in 2015 to 2016 to help cyclists at 14 locations on the HA’s trunk road network.

•

Extending our commitment to Bikeability funding to 2015/16

•

Working with stakeholders to assemble a Cycling (and Walking) Delivery Plan in 2014.

•

A Cycle Proofing sub-group of the Cycling Stakeholder Forum (the sub-group includes TfL, Highways Agency and Sustrans).

 

In September 2013 we announced a taskforce with TfL to raise awareness of safety among HGV drivers and to take targeted enforcement action against the small minority of potentially dangerous operators, drivers and vehicles.

 

Technical provisions for improvement to the driver’s view around their HGV have been agreed, but still require implementation in the European Union. The changes will apply to new vehicle types from 30 June 2014 once agreement has been reached in the EU.

 

From 29 October 2014, all new goods vehicles will have to comply with revised European rules on sideguards, which permit fewer exemptions than the current domestic legislation.

Reported road casualties in Great Britain

 

In 2012 (the latest available full-year of statistics) there were 195,723 casualties of all severities, 4 per cent lower than in 2011. Fatalities fell by 8 per cent to a new record low of 1,754. Traffic levels were broadly unchanged over the same period.

 

Detailed tables and articles on the 2012 statistics can be found in the annual report published in September 2013:

 

" www.gov.uk/government/publications/reported-road-casualties-great-britain-annual-report-2012

A further article was added to the Annual Report in February, on self-reported drink and drug driving, from the ONS Crime Survey for England and Wales.

 

Quarterly provisional casualty estimates for 2013 have been published in August (q1), November (q2) and February (q3).

 

The overall picture from the latest quarter (q3) is a continued decrease in the number casualties, for the year ending September 2013. Comparing the year ending September 2013 with the previous year:

 

•

fatalities fell by 2 per cent to 1,730

•

killed or seriously injured (KSI) casualties fell by 6 per cent, to 23,380

•

for comparison, motor traffic levels rose by roughly 1 per cent over the same period.

 

Comparing the specific quarters July-Sept 2012 with July-Sept 2013, there were increases in the number of pedal cyclist (8 per cent) and motorcyclist (1 per cent) casualties. As in previous publications, it is likely that the weather influenced the quarter-on-quarter increase in these casualty types. Summer 2012 was exceptionally wet whereas the same quarter in 2013 had rainfall well below the long-term average, which may have encouraged an increase in cycling and thus increased exposure.

 

Full-year Reported Road Casualty figures for 2013 will be published in June 2014.

 

2012 was the second wettest year on record in the UK, behind 2000, which is likely to have had affected the number of vulnerable road user casualties (pedestrians, pedal cyclists, motorcyclists). This is discussed further in the Main Results 2012 publication:

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reported-road-casualties-in-great-britain-main-results-2012

 

Provisional results for three quarters of 2013 were published in August (quarter 1):

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reported-road-casualties-great-britain-provisional-estimates-q1-2013 

 

November (quarter 2):

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reported-road-casualties-great-britain-provisional-estimates-q2-2013

 

and February (quarter 3):

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reported-road-casualties-in-great-britain-provisional-estimates-jul-to-sep-q3-2013

 

In the year ending September 2013, 1,730 people were killed, a 2 per cent drop from 1,761 in the year ending September 2012.  The number of killed or seriously injured casualties fell to 23,380, a 6 per cent decrease compared with the previous year.

 

KSI casualties for the vulnerable road user groups – pedestrians, pedal cyclists and motorcyclists – showed overall decreases of 10, 2 and 6 per cent respectively, for the same period.

 

Between July and September 2013, there were decreases in the number of car user and pedestrian casualties, of 6 and 4 per cent respectively, with similar falls in the numbers of KSI casualties – 4 per cent for car users and 10 per cent for pedestrians.

 

However, there were increases in the number of motorcyclist (1 per cent) and pedal cyclist (8 per cent) casualties, with a 1 per cent increase in the number of motorcyclist KSI casualties and a 2 per cent increase in pedal cyclist KSI casualties.

 

It is likely that these increases were at least partly due to the different weather conditions in the third quarters of 2012 and 20131. The overall UK mean rainfall between July and September 2012 was high compared with the long term average for this period – 21 per cent higher than the long term average for this period. In comparison, the mean rainfall between July and September 2013 was 38 per cent lower, and was 28 per cent below the long term average.

 

The markedly drier weather in 2013 would have likely increased the number of vulnerable road users (particularly motorcyclists and pedal cyclists) on the road, relative to the same period in 2012, thus increasing their relative exposure to accidents.

 

Future Publications:

 

Main results for the year 2013 will be published in June.

 

 

Driving safely around horses in Havering

BUS DRIVERS IN HAVERING LEARN ABOUT HORSES

There are as many as twelve riding schools and livery yards in the London Borough of Havering and it is estimated that there are over 400 horses looked after at these establishments.
Last month, one rider was exercising her horse in the Country Park Estate, Hornchurch, when it took fright due to the sound of the air brakes on an approaching bus, and was in collision with a car.
Following this incident, the rider wrote to Transport for London, the British Horse Society and the local bus garage at Rainham, calling for bus drivers to be made aware of the need to look out for horses and to approach them with caution.
Safety officers at the bus garage responded positively to this call and produced a poster to educate drivers about the need for special care when overtaking horses on the roads, and today, Friday 11th April, James Parker from the British Horse Society and Councillor Wendy Brice-Thompson, who represents Havering Council on the London Road Safety Council attended an open forum at Rainham Bus Garage to talk to drivers about how to pass horses safely, and gave out copies of the GEM Motoring Assist leaflet ‘Horse Sense’.
Councillor Brice-Thompson said “It is estimated that every day in the UK there are 8 horse related accidents on the roads. Although we are a London borough, horses being exercised on the road are not an unusual sight. I urge riders to wear hi-viz so that drivers can see them from some way away and this allows drivers to slow down, and pass wide and quietly.”
“I also applaud the positive response of the staff at Rainham Bus Garage to this incident. Road Safety is everyone’s responsibility and here we see it being taken very seriously.” — with James Parker.

Current air quality

Air quality in Havering is generally good compared to elsewhere in London.

However the recent sand from the Sahara has had an impact on air quality which can cause problems  for people with breathing difficulties.

Havering Council is part of the airTEXT service which provides daily updates on air quality across London.

Download the free airTEXT smart phone app giving forecasts for today and tomorrow of pollution, UV, grass pollen and temperature forecasts.

The airTEXT service sends alerts direct to your mobile phone, email address and/or Twitter account.

You can sign up for this free service here.

You can also use our Report It Online service to request air quality information.

Queen's and King George's hospitals

Special Measures: Improvement Plan update

The finalised Improvement Plan will be presented to the Trust Board at its meeting on the Wednesday, 3rd April. 

The plan has been set out into five key workstreams:

Workforce; recruiting, retaining and developing and deploying the right number of permanent staff we need to provide high quality care 24/7.

Patient flow and emergency pathway; making sure our patients are assessed and treated promptly and are supported to return home as soon as they are medically fit to leave hospital.  Also to ensure that patients are cared for in the right place with the right follow up care.

Patient care and clinical governance; supporting all of our care with effective management of patient notes and information, a systems which alert us quickly to any problems.

Outpatients; to ensure effective management of our outpatient services so appointments run on time, every time.

Leadership and organisation; putting the right systems, structures, check and balances in place to ensure our Trust is properly managed from Board to ward.

Once agreed by the Trust Board, it will be reviewed by the NTDA in conjunction with the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The improvement plan will then be published on NHS Choice and the Trust website.  Updates will be published monthly to show progress against the plan.