Ferndale Area Residents Association (FARA)

FARA is part of a community campaign to protect the Pastures Centre and surrounding sites from inappropriate redevelopment.

The Pastures Youth Centre, Good Shepherd Building, and their grounds have been identified by Waltham Forest Council as a site for redevelopment. We believe the buildings and site have long suffered from under-investment and lacked promotion to potential community users. With more effective and targeted promotion of the facilities and services available, the buildings and site could be regenerated to enrich and serve the local community, and could once again become a vibrant hub to engage and inspire young people. The site also has a rich ecology, including mature trees and threatened wildlife.

More information on the campaign Facebook page

All households in the new CPZ area should have received a letter through the door today. It explains the arrangements for applying for parking permits and/or visitor permits. In case you haven’t received the letter, we’ve put a scan of it here! CPZ Letter 12.01.17

It seems we can apply for permits from Monday 23rd January onwards. Although several dates are given in the letter for when enforcement will start, it’s safest to go by the earliest date, “10th February 2017“. Don’t be caught out!

A Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) consultation is currently happening in the Ferndale area (except Davies Lane which is already in a CPZ).

We heard some residents haven’t received their forms so we asked the Council what’s happening. They are going to print more forms and re-deliver them to the streets where they’ve received complaints about non-delivery. In the meantime, if you haven’t received your form, please email cpz.schemes@walthamforest.gov.uk, they will send you a form by email.

The deadline for return of forms is Friday 30th September – please note you need to post your form back before that date to ensure it arrives on time!

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One of the issues raised at our AGM in May was the difficulty in finding parking spaces and increased congestion in Ferndale Road, Malvern Road and the upper end of Montague Road.

FARA remains neutral on the introduction of a CPZ scheme as we are aware that residents’ views are divided on parking controls. We are carrying out this survey to gather opinions in our area. If the majority of residents are now in favour of a CPZ scheme we will ask the Council to carry out a formal consultation. You can find more information on Waltham Forest CPZ schemes at: http://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/parking-permits

Please complete the short survey (links below to choice of PDF or Word files) and return to: 53 Ferndale Road, 69 Malvern Road or 143 Montague Road before 11^th October, or else email your answers to info@fara-leytonstone.org.uk. FARA will also deliver hard copies of the survey to residents.

One response per household only please!

FARA CPZ SURVEY (PDF version)

FARA CPZ SURVEY (Word version)

You are welcome to leave any comments in the box below but please note these won’t be counted towards the survey results.

The Wren Conservation Group  is leading a walk for FARA on Sunday 18th October 2015 around Wanstead Park.  Meet at the Wanstead flats end of Ferndale Road at 1.45pm.  The plan is to walk from the tea hut by Heronry Lake and do a circuit around Heronry, Shoulder of Mutton pond, Perch Pond.  It will be a gentle pace and will take about two hours. here will be a lot of waterbirds around, including some newly arrived from the continent and there should also be fungi to look at.  All are welcome!

It’s not too late to enter the Leytonstone Festival Photography Competition. You have until 26th July 2015. The theme is Leytonstone! Full details can be found on the Festival web site.

Waltham Forest Council has started publishing a newsletter (link below) to keep nearby residents informed on the redevelopment of the tower blocks in Montague Road. Printed copies will be delivered to households in the FARA area by the end of next week.

News In Brief edition 1

Thanks to those FARA members who have been in touch about the state of Davies Lane’s pavements and road caused by the building work. This has been reported to local councillors and they have arranged for the Highways Department to come and assess it. The building developers who have been / are still working in the area are obliged to repair the damage.  Let’s hope we see an improvement soon…

At the AGM in May 2015, we were asked about the trees at Davies Lane School.

Just to let you know that the Committee has liaised with local councillors and the Council Officers responsible for tree preservation and we can report that:

• Soft landscaping is yet to be fully completed.
• Some of the newly planted trees are going to be relocated to more suitable positions, as some are too close to mature trees.
• Several trees including the majority of the Holly and a Scots Pine are nearly dead and will have to be replaced.
• There are two more large standard trees, one Hawthorn and one Cherry, also six feathered 2m high Silver Birch, to go in to the rear of Ferndale Road on the southern rear side of the school pond.

Hopefully, this will go some way to restoring the trees that were cut down during the school redevelopment.

For a detailed explanation of what’s happening with the school trees you can download this document: Davies Lane Tree Strategy

Grow Wild is a lottery funded initiative, based at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. It aims to inspire local communities to come together to transform their environment by sowing and growing native wild flowers.

FARA has been accepted to participate in the wildflower growing scheme and get free seeds for residents. The plan is to create ‘bee friendly streets’ by growing a variety of wild flowers in beds or containers. We’ll let residents know when the seed kits arrive around the end of March. More information at www.growwilduk.com

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