The Express - November 2011 Index:

Non Emergency Police number has changed
Beware – Burglaries to steal car keys
Beware - Virus phone scam from India
Ward Boundary proposed change
75th Anniversary Celebrations on Beckenham Green
Council faces tough choices - Have Your Say
Localism Bill Update
Neighbourhood Watch
A bastion of our Association celebrates 90
Bromley introduces food waste collections from all flats across the Borough
ZIZZI’s has a Bowie makeover
Age Concern Bromley is now trading as Age UK Bromley

Below are a selection of articles from the latest Newsletter

Non Emergency Police number has changed

For situations where you do not require an immediate response (to report a crime that has already happened or seek crime prevention) you can dial 101 for the Metropolitan Police Service.
Calls to 101 from landlines and mobiles cost 15 pence per call, no matter what time of day you call or how long your call lasts.
A text phone is also available on 18001 101 for those who are deaf, deafened, hard of hearing or have a speech impairment.

Beware – Burglaries to steal car keys

Please be aware that there have been some burglaries around the borough mainly overnight, to take car keys, and then stealing the cars off the drives.

This is NOT a crime wave, but something which has happened on and off for some time now, and has been happening recently again.

The message is remind residents NOT to leave their car keys in their hall, or handbags in view of the front door, to put these things away, and to ensure that UPVC doors are double locked, as they can be opened by putting an implement through the letterbox and lowering the door handle.

Please report suspicious noises or people immediately to the police.

Beware - Virus phone scam from India

Virus phone scam being run from call centres in India. The scam always starts the same way: the phone rings at someone's home, and the caller – usually with an Indian accent – asks for the householder, quoting their name and address before saying "I'm calling for Microsoft. We've had a report from your internet service provider of serious virus problems from your computer."

Dire forecasts are made that, if the problem is not solved, the computer will become unusable.

The puzzled owner is then directed to their computer, and asked to open a program called "Windows Event Viewer". Its contents are, to the average user, worrying: they look like a long list of errors, some labelled "critical". "Yes, that's it," says the caller. "Now let me guide you through the steps to fixing it."

The computer owner is directed to a website and told to download a program that hands over remote control of the computer, and the caller "installs" various "fixes" for the problem. And then it's time to pay a fee:

£185 for a "subscription" to the "preventative service".

The only catch: there was never anything wrong with the computer, the caller is not working for Microsoft or the internet service provider, and the owner has given a complete stranger access to every piece of data on their machine.

Ward Boundary proposed change

Have your say before 5th December 2011

Register your views online:

http://consultation.boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk/

The proposals to change the shape of the Beckenham Parliamentary constituency, on which the Boundary Commission is now seeking public comment, mainly restore it to the shape it had before the last set of changes – a shape that gave the Conservative Col. Bob Stewart well over half the total vote.

The proposals would restore to Beckenham the wards of Clock House, Penge & Cator, and Crystal Palace, and take away leafy Keston & Hayes, Coney Hall and Bromley Common, which would become part of Bromley & Chislehurst constituency.

Copers Cope ward, Kelsey & Eden Park, West Wickham and Shortlands remain part of the Beckenham seat as before, and constitute about 58% of its total electorate. Overall, the constituency will be more as it was when held by the previous M.P. Jacquie Lait.

It is, perhaps, the classic middle class constituency as shown by the 2001 Census figures: the population of 81,653 then was 93% white, 81% owner-occupier, 74% Christian, and 52% female and among its 16 to 74 year olds, only 19% had no qualifications compared with 25% graduates.

Some of those figures will, of course, have changed in the past decade, and the proposed constituency will be less homogeneous, but it is doubtful that the proposals will give Col. Stewart any sleepless nights.

If you have any comments, they can be e-mailed to London@BcommEngland.x.gsi.gov.uk or posted to the Boundary Commission for England, 38 Great Smith Street, London SW1P 3BQ.

75th Anniversary Celebrations on Beckenham Green

On Sunday 11 September, the Copers Cope Area Residents’ Association celebrated 75 years by hosting a Fun Day for the Beckenham townsfolk. As well as a mini-funfair there were also a number of very interesting and entertaining acts on the open-air stage.

This included an energetic and varied Boxing demonstration and Boot Camp training routine performed by Bodyfit, a dance theme performed by infants and juniors titled “Under the Sea” (hugely engaging) followed by senior dancers from the same Indelible Studios based at Citygate and run by Melanie Berry, a very talented dancer in her own right. Last, but by no means least, a medley of songs from the musical “Secrets”, performed by newly qualified graduates of KSA Performing Arts, who base themselves at Beckenham Halls, and truly excelled in the versatility of their song and dance. All of this was interspersed with big band and other period music of the 1930’s.

Despite the uncertain weather forecast the bad weather held off until the early evening, fortunately after most of the clearing up had been completed. The event was jointly organised by CCARA and Beckenham Town Centre Manager Nicola Musto.

We thank all of those who visited us at our stall. It was a great opportunity to talk to our existing members and to welcome new members.

Council faces tough choices - Have Your Say

With over £30 million to save in the next three years due to cuts in government funding, we are making tough choices about our Council and our borough.

Join us at a public meeting so we can hear your views as we make these tough decisions.

In November Bromley Council will be holding their annual public meetings entitled ‘Tough choices – we want your views’ where Councillors and senior council officers will talk and listen to local residents and businesses about the difficult decisions that need to be made as we set the budget for 2012-13.

We encourage our members to go along and tell the Council their views.

7pm to 9pm, Monday 28th November 2011, Citygate Church, 22 Rectory Road, Beckenham.

Localism Bill Update

By Peter Dow

Linking the Localism Bill and the Draft National Planning Policy Framework

Far-reaching and significant changes have been introduced in the town and country planning process by virtue of the combined effect of the Localism Bill and the Draft National Planning Policy Framework document. Whilst the initial period for public consultation in both cases has expired, continuing developments and consultations are expected.

As an example, the Department of Communities and Local Government recently published a consultation related to the Framework on possible Neighbourhood Planning Regulations, closing on 5 January 2012.

The Localism Bill is a massive piece of proposed legislation dealing with five principal areas of interlinked policy themes, only one of which is planning - the others being local government, housing, community empowerment and the special position of London. The Third Reading of the Bill in the House of Lords was scheduled to take place on 31 October 2011.

The proposed Planning Framework was not available for inspection until after the Localism Bill had passed House of Commons scrutiny, which led to the provisions in the Bill being passed to the Lords surviving practically unscathed.

The Lords deliberations and proposals have reflected some of the public disquiet caused by the publication of the Draft Framework document and when the amended document is passed back to the Commons it will be within a very different political climate where further amendments linking the two packages of planning legislation and planning policy will doubtless be implemented.

It is expected that the process leading to enactment of the Bill will now be extended beyond the timescale originally allocated, as discussion continues between the two Chambers until a final version is agreed for Royal Assent and implementation.

The clear policy objective of Government embodied in both documents to shift the balance of power away from central government to local authorities and to local communities, to give the people more say in what goes on in their community and reduce delays and bureaucracy within the planning process remains undiluted but the proposed changes are complex and the provisions are difficult for local communities to navigate, let alone completely understand. Once the associated Regulations are added to the Localism Act the complexity is likely to increase.

It is to be hoped, therefore, that the forthcoming Residents’ Association Planning Seminar organised by the Town Planning Department of the Borough of Bromley to be held on 12 November 2012 (to be attended by CCARA representatives) will give greater insight into the extent to which top-down planning is to be abandoned and what mechanisms empowering local interest groups such as our own will be introduced within the new planning regime locally.

Neighbourhood Watch

www.bnwa.co.uk

Do you know about your local Neighbourhood Watch?

Would you like to become a NeighbourhoodWatch Coordinator?

Find out more on the re-vamped Bromley Neighbourhood Watch Association website.

The website is run by members of Bromley Neighbourhood Watch Association. On the website you will be able to find information about the BNWA, advice, information and links to other organisations and websites that will help you and your neighbours.

A bastion of our Association celebrates 90

Local residents who have recently joined the CCARA may be unaware that Colin Watts, a former Chairman and long-standing member of the Executive, celebrated his 90th year. During a short break in Fun Day entertainment, our Chairman, David Vevers, took to the stage with a short address in recognition of the hours and hours of his time that Colin has in the past given to the community. These were David’s words:

“We are delighted to see you here to join in our Fun Day. May I now ask you please to welcome our Guest of Honour, the CCARA’s President, Colin Watts.

The CCARA was founded in 1936 and today we are celebrating the Association’s 75th Birthday. Colin has been a member for many decades and is here now for our special anniversary. In a few days time Colin will have his own special day –he will be celebrating his 90th Birthday. So we would like to take this opportunity to give him a small gift in recognition of his many years of dedication to the CCARA and its objectives.

I would ask you please to join me in wishing him a very Happy Birthday.”

Then we all sang Happy Birthday to You.

Bromley introduces food waste collections from all flats across the Borough

Some while ago Bromley Council started to collect food waste for recycling but at first only from individual houses. Since the spring of this year maisonettes have had this opportunity also and, with the final phase running from 17th October, the scheme is now rolled out to every household in the borough.

We were informed that the process had been “trialled extensively” but attempts to find out the specific locations suggest that the claim refers only to the trials prior to initial collections from houses not from flats.

Seemingly very little thought had been given to methodology for applying the system where up to 200 households may be living within one estate! We should congratulate the Waste Manager who devised a programme to deliver thousands upon thousands of caddies and a huge number of brown wheelie bins within a period of less than two weeks. However, it is a pity that the two letters and a leaflet sent out to advise flat dwellers of this new service did not give consistent information and that general advice on the LBB website gives little idea as to how this may relate to blocks, particularly large blocks, of flats.

Firstly, a word of warning on Caddies. Some open plan flat dwellers may not be happy to keep food waste in their kitchens until the compostable liner bag has been filled and they have been known to re-site the caddy to the landing outside their front door. This is probably not a good idea; reasons of health and safety, and sometimes also the lease to the flat, usually preclude the storage of “objects” in communal areas.

Next come Brown Wheelie Bins. The “Collecting Your Kitchen Waste” Step 3 in the leaflet tells us to put the compostable bag in the food waste wheelie bin. What we are not told here is that the brown wheelies must be kept in the same place or very near to collection points for plastic bottles, cans and glass and for the paper and cardboard.

The reason for this is that the same contractors who collect these items for recycling on alternate weeks will be the same as those who now collect food waste from the same site on a weekly basis. This may be fine where existing recycling storage units still have space for additional bins. But on the introduction of recycling collections several years ago some estates built housings in dimensions that accorded with advice from LBB waste collection management as to the maximum number of Eurobins they must be able to accommodate and assurances that food waste collections would never be introduced for flats in Bromley.

So that does now leave some in a bit of a quandary!

The next problem is cleaning the brown wheelies: the type delivered to blocks of flats is not the same as those provided to individual householders - these lids cannot be opened by residents. Environmental Services seem to be of a view that there will be no seepage from compostable bags and therefore bins will not need to be washed out – after just two weeks some of us would beg to differ!

Thirdly, there is serious lack of clarity over Low Grade Plastics. These include yoghurt pots, spread containers, ice cream tubs and food trays that are not recyclable but can be sent for incineration and turned into electricity.

The two letters sent to flat dwellers to announce the introduction of food waste recycling stated that all plastics can now be put into greenlidded wheelie bins. We have elsewhere been assured that individual householders who have a green box collection can recycle these items because the contents of green boxes are sorted However it is very unclear that this sorting arrangement will definitely apply also to blocks of flats provided with 660 or 1100 Eurobins to collect recyclable glass, paper, etc.

The Council’s green leaflet advises that you can choose to put low grade plastics in the landfill waste bins. So unless you are able to get a pretty cast-iron guarantee from the LBB that your glass and plastics Eurobins will be emptied when they contain all grades of plastic recycling, you may find it advisable to put low grade plastics in refusebins and not in recycling bins.

The reason is that non recyclable items placed in these recycling Eurobins are classified as contaminated waste, bins that are “contaminated” will not be emptied by the recycling contractors and some flat dwellers have had to pay their own contractor to remove all contents.

Should LBB recycling contractors deem your recycling bins to be contaminated, you are strongly advised to seek agreement with the Council that these bins will then be emptied by the (landfill waste) refuse collectors and you should not be charged. Waste collection is an element in council tax; do you really want to pay twice?

Most of us are keen to be environmentally friendly and at the same time we have no wish for large amounts of our Council Tax to be wasted on landfill tax for so-called refuse that could be recycled.

However, the impact of widening an existing scheme to cover a wide range of different circumstances needed some thought and plain common sense seems to have got lost in the rush to implement necessary budget cuts.

ZIZZI’s has a Bowie makeover

You may recall that the CCARA reinstated the David Bowie plaque on the wall of Zizzi's restaurant in Beckenham High Street back in October 2010.

This inspired a restyle of Zizzi’s. The restaurant has received a vibrant Bowie-esque make over.

Age Concern Bromley is now trading as Age UK Bromley

The London Borough of Bromley is home to more than 50,000 older people who make up over 16% of the total population.

Getting older can bring with it new challenges. We recognise this and remain committed to enabling all older people to maximize their choices and maintain their quality of life through the provision of services, activities and support which include:

• Information and Advice on a range of issues including housing and benefits, assistance with home and garden maintenance and safety.

• Healthy lifestyles including gentle chair-based exercise classes and 12-week Fit for Life courses.

• Housing related support aimed at maintaining independent living and a hospital aftercare service, helping people regain their independence and confidence.

• Clip it – a toe nail cutting service that takes place in clinics across the borough or in the home.

• Day Care and Chislehurst Active Age Centre where older people can go to meet friends, take part in social and educational activities and enjoy a meal or snack.

• The Garden Room Dementia Cafe at Chislehurst Active Age on Tuesday afternoons which provides support and advice for dementia suffers and their carers.

You can also discover a whole new world with Age UK Bromley’s IT courses! We offer courses to cater for all abilities (including Beginners) and interests as well as free taster courses!

For more information on our IT courses and all our other services please contact:

Age UK Bromley, Community House, South Street, Bromley BR11RH

Telephone number: 020 8315 1850

Email: info@ageukbromley.org.uk

Website: www.ageukbromley.org.uk

Registered Charity Number 1060861

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