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Friday 19 February 2021 (Update #183)
 Havering Council has had some hard years in the past but our sound financial planning and additional support from the Government has meant we have continued to provide the services residents want.
Earlier this week my Cabinet agreed proposals for our 2021/22 budget. Despite the pandemic, that budget plan includes investment in our roads, parks, public safety and communities.
I am determined that Havering Council will still deliver the services that you tell us matter most to you like weekly rubbish collections, excellent leisure facilities and green spaces.
Throughout the pandemic we have supported our most vulnerable in a number of ways from providing grants to pay for heating bills and white goods, to offering school meals funding during holidays.
However, we still need to balance the books and, despite a current shortfall of £17 million in savings, the budget sets out how we will do this.
We will have to consider a rise in Council Tax of 1.5 per cent with an additional 3 per cent Government precept to support social care for the most vulnerable in our society.
On Monday lunchtime I will be live on Time FM answering your questions on the work of Havering Council just before the Prime Minister lays out his roadmap for the next steps regarding plans to fight the coronavirus pandemic. Until we know what that plan is, please stay safe and continue to follow the rules, wear your face covering, keep your distance, and stay at home as much as you can.
If you want to contact me directly, you can email me. However, please be patient as there may be a delay of a day or two in getting back to you due to the volume of messages I am receiving.
Cllr Damian White
Leader, Havering Council
A new million pound package in grant support is being rolled out to help early years providers in Havering.
The new £1.03 million discretionary grant is due to open to nurseries, playgroups and childminders, many of which have remained open to support children of critical workers through the pandemic.
Early years providers, will need to check if they are eligible for the funding when applications open next week.
The announcement is part of an ongoing package of support that the Council has available to early years providers.
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This week the NHS extended the list of people who are considered vulnerable enough to need to shield.
This follows a COVID-19 population risk assessment that the NHS conducted with Oxford University. The list now includes many people who may not have been asked to stay at home previously.
The main purpose of extending the list is to ensure that people with conditions that are now considered to make people vulnerable to COVID-19 are prioritised for vaccination. If you have been added to the Cinically Extremely Vulnerable (CEV) list you should shield at at home until 31 March.
If you receive a letter from the NHS please read it carefully, as it contains lots of useful sources of support and will give you instructions about how to register for priority shopping deliveries, support with prescriptions and help with money if you are unable to go to work. There is more information on our website.
Havering Council is here to help you if you have any emergency needs, but we are not able to make any decisions about appeals against being included on this list.
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Havering Council's public protection officers were joined by our Council-funded S92 police officers this week on COVID-19 compliance visits.
They issued two fixed penalty notices totalling £200 to a business in Romford, where staff were found not be wearing face coverings in the premises when they should have been.
This partnership working is to help encourage compliance with COVID-19 regulations and to help everyone play their part in reducing the spread of the virus.
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 If you have any doubts about taking a COVID-19 vaccine when it is offered to you, or you know that a friend or relative has concerns, see this video.
Aged 16-64 with an underlying health condition
If you or someone in your family is aged between 16 and 64 years old and have an underlying health condition, you are now eligible for a vaccination. You must wait to be invited by the NHS for your vaccination before you can book via the national NHS booking system.
Over 70 or clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV)
If you or someone in your family is 70 or over, or defined as clinically extremely vulnerable, and you have not yet had, or been booked, for your first COVID-19 vaccination, you should take action now. Contact your GP for an appointment, or book your first vaccination online at one of east London's large-scale vaccination centres (including ExCel and Westfield), or call 119 to book.
If you have received a letter but not booked an appointment you may get a phone call from the NHS Immunisation Management Service. This call will be from the number 0300 561 0240. This will be a reminder to book your COVID-19 vaccination appointments. The person you speak to will see if you need any help and support.
If you have recently been defined as CEV, the NHS will be writing to you explaining why you should shield until at least 31 March, whether you have had the first dose of the vaccine or not. You can read about the help available to you if you are CEV on our website.
Personal Assistants
If you are a Personal Assistant working in front line social care you are eligible for vaccination in national priority group two if you are caring for someone who is clinically extremely vulnerable to COVID-19, or is a person who has a defined underlying health condition leading to greater risk of disease or death from COVID-19, or is over 85 years old.
If this could be you, read more on our website.
Avoid scams
Please remember that contact from the NHS for COVID-19 vaccination may come by phone call, letter or text but there will be no request for any form of payment as COVID-19 vaccination is free.
Havering Council is to introduce a new virtual parking permit system across the borough.
The new virtual permits are electronic and can be identified by officers using a registration number plate scanner.
This will stop fines being issued when permits fall to the floor of the car or when owners forget to display them.
It means that residents will no longer need to order and display paper permits and that permits will be active from the moment they are paid for.
Havering residents will also be able to activate visitor permits via an app, online or over the phone. There will still be an option to have paper permits for visitors, but residents will be able to activate visitor permits using the new system and customers will no longer have to wait for their permits or visitor vouchers in the post.
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At a meeting earlier this week Havering Council’s Cabinet agreed a budget proposal for the new financial year beginning in April.
The budget proposals include continued investment in the borough’s roads, plus more investment in community safety and enforcement, parks and leisure.
An additional £10million of capital expenditure has been agreed to make sure the road and pavement improvement programme continues over the next two years. So far 60 miles of the worst roads and pavements have been improved since 2019, and this money makes sure that more residents will benefit from this work.
Public order and enforcement will see an extra £5m for new CCTV cameras across the borough to replace the currently aging system.
Funding of £300,000 per annum will continue for six dedicated police officers to continue to respond to Havering specific issues.
Following Cabinet agreement this set of budget proposals will go to the annual Council Tax Council meeting in March for final agreement by councillors.
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Havering Council is currently consulting on a new Housing Allocation Scheme.
The new policy contains a range of measures that will help the Council best meet the housing needs of local people.
The proposals increase the amount of time applicants must have lived within the borough, from six years to 10 years.
The consultation is open until 4 April 2021. Have your say.
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If you, or someone you know, has concerns around care, urgent issues with their health and wellbeing or lack of access to supplies, including food, please call our free to use helpline: 0800 368 5201.
It is open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm, and between 11am and 4pm on Saturdays and Sundays for emergencies only.
You can also email us if you, or someone you know, needs help.
See a short video recorded by a member of our hotline team.
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One in three people with COVID-19 have no symptoms, and can pass it on to others without realising.
If you cannot work from home please test twice weekly at one of Havering's five lateral flow testing centres.
These centres are open from 7am to 7pm on weekdays and 10am to 7pm on weekends. The Government has also now introduced a postcode checker that you can use to find your nearest rapid testing site.
See our short video that explains the simple process.
Have symptoms?
Of course, it also remains vitally important to book a test if you have COVID-19 symptoms. Click for details of booking procedures, and opening hours for all our local testing locations.
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This weekend many parks in Havering are likely to be very busy.
If you’re visiting any of them for your permitted daily exercise, please remember that it should only be with members of your own household or social bubble - or with just one person from another household if really necessary.
If you can, please avoid busy times and follow social distancing guidelines when walking or jogging on pathways, and use bins for any masks, gloves or empty sanitiser bottles. Littering not only spoils the experience of our parks for others but is damaging to the environment and wildlife.
If you purchase food or drink from any of the takeaway kiosks or cafes in our parks, please maintain social distancing while queueing, and walk away to continue your exercise as soon as possible.
Children should use hand sanitiser after touching any play equipment or climbing frames.
A number of tents have been found in our parks recently. Havering Council's park byelaws forbid any camping in parks. The lighting of fires in parks is also not allowed. Anyone found in breach of these byelaws could face a Fixed Penalty Notice.
COVID Marshals will be regularly patrolling our parks over the weekend to make sure that coronavirus lockdown rules and park byelaws are followed.
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Havering Council believes that any loving person or couple can make wonderful foster parents.
Many people still believe that their sexuality will be a barrier for them to become foster parents, but this could not be further from the truth.
That's why Havering Council is marking LGBT+ Fostering and Adoption Week 2021, which is organised by New Family Social the UK network for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) adoptive and foster families.
Whether you have been thinking of fostering, or are new to the idea, join the special LGBT+ fostering information event on Wednesday 3 March at 11am.
It wil be an opportunity to find out more about fostering, ask questions, and hear first-hand what it's like to be foster parents from Marc and Theo.
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The census is coming on Sunday 21 March.
By filling in your census, you will help shape Havering for the next 10 years.
Every household will soon receive a postcard, explaining what a census is, and in early March letters will arrive in the post inviting people to take part.
A paper copy of the census will be available if you need it.
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National Grid are carrying out environmental improvement work at their former gasworks site on Crow Lane in Romford.
Work began in November to remove materials associated with the site’s former use as a gasworks and replacing the soil over parts of the site. Alongside this, two cottages on the eastern side of the site will be demolished.
Unfortunately this work can be loud so Havering Council and National Grid have agreed that noisy activity will not start before 10am, with two 30-minute breaks during the day at midday and 3pm.
Working hours on the site are from 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday.
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HM Revenue and Customs is holding a series of webinars to help anyone who imports from, or exports to the EU, or moves goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The new main export processes including customs declarartions, using an intermediary, and what licences, certificates and authorisations you may need will be covered.
There is an 11 step process you can follow if you are importing goods to the UK on the Government's website. New import controls are being introduced in stages up to 1 July 2021 to allow traders and hauliers time to adjust to new processes.
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The Land of the Fanns Landscape Partnership Scheme is running a model making competition all about celebrating the great buildings and beautiful natural spaces in the area covered by the Scheme, which includes Havering.
The models can be built from anything found at home including toy building blocks, paper, crafts or recycling materials and can be of a favourite building (like Upminster Windmill, pictured), special landscape or hidden gem in the local area.
You don't need to submit the model, just send a photograph of it by Monday 14 March. The models will be judged in two categories: adults and young people aged 12 and over, and children aged 11 or younger.
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Rosewood Avenue in Elm Park (between Coronation Drive to Ambleside Avenue and Aldingham Gardens to Wood Lane) will be resurfaced over three days starting on Tuesday, 23 February. To facilitate these works, Rosewood Avenue will be closed to through traffic between 9.30am and 3pm from 23 to 25 February.
The stretch of Abbs Cross Lane in Hornchurch between Bruce Avenue and Suttons Avenue will be resurfaced between 25 February and 3 March. During this work Abbs cross Lane will be closed to through traffic. Later, on 16 and 17 March, high friction surfacing will be applied to the Zebra crossing approaches in Abbs Cross Lane by The Avenue.
Resurfacing work in Avelon Road, Romford will begin on Friday 26 February. Work will continue daily until 1 March between 9.30am and 3pm. During these times, Avelon Road will be closed to traffic with diversions in place.
On Friday 5 March the red surfacing at the entrance to Beulah Road in Hornchurch, where it meets Suttons Avenue, will be replaced.
Carriageway resurfacing work is scheduled to take place in South End Road in South Hornchurch (between Coronation Drive and Airfield Way) early in March, and is also planned for Orange Tree Hill in Havering-atte-Bower running in two phases between 8 and 12 March and also on 25 and 26 March.
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On Sunday ( 21 February), TfL Trains will operate a reduced service between Liverpool Street and Shenfield. Trains will run every 15 minutes.
District line underground trains will not run between Tower Hill and West Ham this weekend (20 and 21 February). Replacement buses will operate between Tower Hill and Barking.
Due to Network Rail undertaking engineering work in connection with the Barking Riverside Project, c2c trains will not be running on the Rainham line this weekend. Rail replacement buses will run between Upminster and Grays via Rainham.
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