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Local News
THE chairman of the trust which runs Whipps Cross University Hospital has quit.
Stephen Jacobs OBE today announced he has resigned as chairman of Whipps Cross University Hospital NHS Trust after holding the post for seven years
IAIN Duncan Smith has welcomed the decision to withdraw plans for a 50m bus lane on Chingford Mount road.
The Chingford and Woodford Green MP last week met with traders who were concerned the proposed bus lane would have an adverse effect on trade.
HATE CRIMES against Jewish people across the borough increased by 150 percent last year.
There were 20 recorded anti-Semitic incidents in Redbridge in 2009, compared to just 8 the previous year.
A report by the Community Safety Trust (CST), which monitors incidents against Jewish people and organisations nationwide, found that attacks against Jews had risen by 55 percent to 924 incidents across the UK.
A football star will be leading a demo tomorrow to return greyhound racing to Walthamstow Stadium, it has been announced. Retired England striker Teddy Sheringham will be supporting the Save Our Stow rally tomorrow in Chingford, as the plans for the redevelopment of the Stow go on display for the first time. Save Our Stow spokesman Ricky Holloway is urging residents to help make it the biggest SOS demo yet, and to reject plans by housing association London & Quadrant (L&Q) to turn the Stow into a housing development . Mr Holloway said: “Teddy Sheringham has always supported the Stow. He's a local lad and realises how vital it is for racing and local sports. He is also canvassing support to bring back local jobs.” The demo starts at 11am outside the Holiday Inn hotel in Walthamstow Avenue, Chingford, opposite the Stow. (Waltham Forest News)
A trainee driving instructor has hit out at residents on an affluent South Woodford estate who have complained about learner motorists. Stuart Verney, 40, who has lived on the Firs Estate for 14 years and is now almost qualified as a driving instructor with the AA, said: “I know it can be annoying, but if they're not doing it there, they'll be doing it somewhere else. “It's perfectly legal for them to be there.” Residents claim learners are a 'blight' on the estate but Mr Verney added that he believes crime levels have been reduced by the numbers of trainee drivers who use it. Mr Verney said: “They came pretty close to removing all the learner drivers from the estate about a decade ago. “An agreement was drawn up to retreat from the estate for a time but then the crime rate went up.” He said the presence of learner drivers kept the estate from appearing deserted and that this deterred criminals. (Redbridge News)
The council has been named as one of the top 100 gay-friendly organisations to work for in the country. The Workplace Equality Index is compiled annually by lesbian, gay and bisexual rights charity Stonewall, and Waltham Forest Council made it into the top 100 for the first time. The council is at number 82, up on last year's ranking of 109, and attributes this to its work with schools, its Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) steering group, equalities training and research into the opinions and experiences of the borough's LGBT community. Cllr Marie Pye, Waltham Forest’s cabinet member for communities and housing, said: “Waltham Forest wants to attract and retain the best talent regardless of background or sexual orientation, and it’s achievements like this that put us on the map as a prospective employer.” (Waltham Forest News)
A nurse is set to receive a special award for innovation from the Prime Minister for her work in helping to keep elderly people out of hospital. Mother-of-one Amanda Mayo helped set up non-profit making firm Urgent Care Ltd in 2007, in a bid to bring a different approach to patient care in London. The firm, which is based in Mill Lane, Woodford Green, now has 20 full-time and around 20 part-time staff and uses its profits to pay for medical practitioners to complete further training. It provides rapid response teams of specially trained nurses to NHS trusts across London who provide care for patients within the community to try and prevent the need for them to be admitted to hospital. The firm also provides its nurses to walk in 'Urgent Care Centres' across the capital. (Redbridge News)
Waltham Forest could lose out on the advantages of staging the 2012 Olympic Games, along with the four other ‘host’ boroughs. Fears have emerged that ambitious plans to change the face of some of the capital’s most deprived areas could be held back without huge effort and cooperation from the Government and Boris Johnson. Dee Doocey, chairman of the London Assembly’s economic development committee, said east Londoners risked being “left out” without securing cash to firm up the Games’ legacy in terms of “skills, jobs, housing and standard of living”. Areas where the host boroughs are falling behind the rest of London include unemployment, education and skills. The targets have been called hugely ambitious and concerns were raised over whether they could be met without the necessary funding being secured. (Waltham Forest News)
Got a query about your council tax? Wondering when that pothole outside your house is going to be fixed? Have a suggestion about how to improve council services? Well now is your chance to take your questions, concerns and views to the man in charge of Redbridge Council. Council leader Keith Prince is inviting residents to meet him at the Tesco store in High Road, Goodmayes next Monday (January 18). Cllr Prince is interested to hear anything and everything residents have on their minds about the borough of Redbridge. The meeting follows previous 'Have Your Say' sessions which were held in The Mall, Ilford, the Orchard Estate in Woodford Green, Barkingside Tesco, and Waitrose in High Road, South Woodford, over the last year. Cllr Prince will be at the store from 11am to 12:30pm and no appointments are necessary. The leader will also be holding session in Wanstead and Hainault in February. (Redbridge News)
National News
Richard Morse, the American manager of the iconic Hotel Oloffson which served as the inspiration for the Hotel Trianon in Graham Greene's The Comedians, said that the stench of death in Port-au-Prince was becoming unbearable and people were resorting to desperate measures. The Red Cross has estimated the numbers now dead are between 45,000 - 50,000 and warned of a shortage of body bags. Bereaved relatives have been burying their loved ones by the side of roads and the authorities are in the process of digging mass graves and transporting bodies to them on mechanical diggers. According to Haitian president Rene Preval, 7,000 bodies have already filled one site. But Mr Morse, who was delivering regular updates on the location of water supplies and people who were trapped via Twitter as RAMhaiti, said the numbers still out in the tropical heat remained one of the most pressing concerns. "What to do, what to do with all these bodies that are starting to decompose. People are starting to wear masks," he said in one update. (The Daily Telegraph)
About 900 jobs are to be axed in Wales as German engineering firm Bosch prepares to shut a car-parts factory next year. The privately-owned company blamed its decision to pull out of South Wales on the economic slump, which has hit the automotive industry hard. The Unite union described the news as a "terrible blow". Management told workers at the plant in Miskin near Cardiff yesterday, following a three-month consultation. The company considered shedding 300 jobs and carrying on with a smaller operation, or closing the plant completely in 2011. The division in charge of the plant will now recommend to the Bosch board that production should be phased out. The consultation is being extended until February as unions and staff try to thrash out redundancy terms, before the Bosch board makes a final decision. The factory, which makes alternators for leading German carmakers including BMW and Daimler's Mercedes-Benz, is set to shut in the summer of next year. Production will be transferred to Hungary. Plant director Adam Wilmott said labour costs there are only 65% of those in Cardiff. The move is a serious blow to the region where traditional industries such as coal and steel are in decline. The other major employer in the area is steel-maker Corus, which is cutting more than 1,000 jobs along the M4 at Port Talbot. (The Guardian)
A mother-of-three has been run over and killed in front of her partner and her partner's son as she tried to stop a thug from stealing her sports car. Lynda Hankey, 42, was de-icing her yellow sports car on her driveway yesterday afternoon when she popped back into her house leaving the engine running. When she came out moments later a yob was in the driver's seat preparing to speed off. Ms Hankey rushed to the front of the £3,000 ZR sports car to head off the thief but he drove straight at her, flinging her on to the bonnet. He then sped off causing her to tumble into the road cracking her head on the ground. She was taken to hospital but died later of her injuries. Lynda's partner, full time mother Jamie Hudson, 40, is being comforted at the family's home in a quiet cul-de-sac in Wigan, Greater Manchester.Jamie and Ms Hudson's five-year-old son witnessed the incident. Assistant Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said: 'My understanding is that Lynda left the car momentarily with the engine running and went to collect Jamie and Jamie's son. (The Daily Mail)