On Saturday 16 May, our local MP Meg Hillier, and London Assembly Member Jennette Arnold came to Kings Park to hear residents views about local buses. We held a joint meeting to discuss what can be done to improve the 242 service through Clapton Park and whether there's support to extend the 308, which would give residents direct access to Stratford.

Residents expressed their concern that the 242 often stops early, leaving passengers living on Clapton Park to struggle back home with bags and buggies. Residents also shared frustrations, that with just one bus route covering the whole of Clapton Park, it simply couldn't cope during rush hour, with buses often simply bypassing Clapton Park as they were full before even turning onto the estate.

Both Jennette and Meg agreed that action was needed and have committed to campaign on the issue. As your local councillors we'll be working with residents, alongside Meg and Jeanette, over the coming months to show Transport for London (TfL) the strength of feeling. In the meantime, every time there's a problem with the service please make sure you report it, either on the TfL website or by emailing us at kingspark@hackney-labour.org.uk.

Improvements start on the Kingsmead Estate

As a result of residents' hard work, Sanctuary Housing have started to make changes to services on the Kingsmead Estate. 

Following the residents’ meeting with Sanctuary Housing last year:

• Sanctuary have employed a dedicated repairs team for the estate, based in the office on Kingsmead Way. You can now report your repairs in person in the Kingsmead Office, as well as via the usual phone number – 03001233561 – or email kingsmead.residents@sanctuary-housing.co.uk.

• The Sanctuary repairs team are also holding twice-weekly surgeries in the estate office between 5pm-7pm on Tuesdays and between 1pm-5pm on Thursdays so that residents can discuss any issues about repairs. There's no need to book an appointment, just turn up.

• A maintenance team will begin repairs and renovations of all blocks on in early February, including work to fix blocked drains, leaking roofs and flooding balconies. Sanctuary plan to complete the work by end of March.
• A new cleaning rota, started on 2 February, which Sanctuary say will increase cleaning on the estate. From this date there will also be a weekend cleaning service to make sure the estate is kept clean. 
  
• Work to ensure entry doors are more secure has started and will be completed by the end of February 2015. Over 400 bulbs have been replaced in the communal lighting and Sanctuary are currently assessing the work needed to fix lifts.
• Sanctuary are carrying out a "stock condition survey" of all properties to find out which properties need work to address issues, including  damp. Savills have been commissioned to carry out this survey and have written to all residents with further details. 

Hopefully you will have seen the new Sanctuary newsletter? You can now contact the local Kingsmead team, Natasha Pin, Stephen Wells, Nyomi Alexander and Samson Sunmonu at kingsmead.resident@sanctuary-housing.co.uk or by telephone to 0800 1313348 or 0300 1233511 to discuss issues relating to Sanctuary.  

As your ward councillors, we are very aware that there is much more that Sanctuary need to do to improve the estate, but we hope that these improvements are a start. We want to see them sustained and to ensure that support for residents is improved. We are of course still here to support you - you can raise any issue with us. 

There will be a meeting in March with Simon Clark, the managing director of Sanctuary Housing to discuss progress on the estate. We'll circulate details as soon as a date for the meeting is fixed. We hope to see you there. 

In the meantime, we'd love to hear from you about how changes are progressing. Have you noticed anything different on the estate?  Please get in touch at: kingspark@hackney-labour.org.uk.

Clapton Park AGM

Hopefully you will have had a letter through your door and seen the posters, we just wanted to remind Clapton Park Estate residents that the Annual General Meeting of the Tenant Management Organisation is at 4pm on Saturday 7 February. 

The meeting is resident's opportunity to elect the group of residents who will oversee the organisation that is responsible for running the estate. It's responsible for cleaning, repairs, tackling anti-social behaviour, management of the parks and gardens and day to day life on the estate. 

The meeting will be held in the Vi Forester Hall on Gilpin Road. 

We think that it is really important that people turn up and take part in choosing which residents are members of the Board and so we hope to see lots of people there. If you are a resident of the Clapton Park Estate, you might also want to consider putting yourself forward for nomination to the Board.  You should have received a nomination form with your letter telling you about the meeting. You'll need to return them to the estate office by 21 February. 

Any questions then get in touch with the officers at the TMO office or we're happy to help out if we can. 

See you on the 7th.