THH ASB team

Tower Hamlets Homes now have an ASB team patrolling their estates, including Parkview.

Twitter handle is @Parkguard_TT and there is also @THH_ASBTEAM.

ASB reporting via the normal channels though, see details on our ASB page.

Leaf blowers

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

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Leaf blowers are fatal to insects and should not be used unless absolutely necessary, the German government has told citizens, days after a disturbing new report warned than an ongoing “insect armageddon” threatens all life on Earth.

Photo by Avelino Calvar Martinez on Pexels.com

A report from a top UK ecologist, published last week, warned bugs are dying out eight times faster than larger animals, with 40 per cent of the roughly one million known insect species facing extinction as a result.

“If insect declines are not halted, terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems will collapse, with profound consequences for human wellbeing,” Professor Dave Goulson’s report for the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust concluded.

The dangers posed by leaf blowers hinted at a larger trend that could be harming insect populations, according to Dr Edward Turner, a lecturer at the University of Cambridge’s zoology department and curator of insects at the university’s zoology museum.

“I think that leaf blowers fall into the category of being ‘too tidy’ and this can be very bad for insects,” Dr Turner told The Independent.

“Really importantly … We should limit our use of herbicides and insecticides to an absolute minimum, especially in our urban green spaces and gardens.

“Basically, I think we just need to be a little less tidy and a little more tolerant of ‘weeds’ and I think insects and therefore lots of other species would benefit.”

Source article MSN

private balconies

Chillie, sweet peppers and Squash plants, to grow on our balconies

Again we are being asked to clear all our belongings from our private balconies because the landlord wants to paint the railings yet again. They have recently been painted and I could not find a fault with the work.

Yet, letters have gone around Rosebery House to clear all the balconies. How are we supposed to establish a planting regime on our private balconies to take part in Tower Hamlets in Bloom if we have to clear our balconies every two years? One competition category is best balcony! It can take a couple of seasons for plants to establish and they often need to be undisturbed to develop at their best.

It’s more than unreasonable and flies in the face of our green agenda, whereby we want to establish bee and bug friendly planting? The BBC Springwatch and Autumnwatch programs encouraged us to create bug friendly environments and feed birds.

Tower Hamlets even hosted the London in Bloom Awards 2019.

I completely accept that our balconies need to be clean and free of combustible and other clutter, especially if they are community balconies but personal balconies are a personal space to relax in and grow personal produce.

I shall be raising the issue with the Councillor.

Doctors protest

The GPs’ Newby Place Surgery demo at 2pm on November 21 is demanding that “the NHS is not up for sale”, organised by the Unite Health Service Union.

If people can support this demo it would help us, as a community a lot.

I personally noticed how appointments at my GP practise have changed. There is no longer an option to ring in and get an appointment a few weeks in advance if there is nothing available immediately.

I now have to juggle between ringing the surgery, looking up on Patient Access, ringing 111 or going to the surgery to get any appointment.

Digital technology is ‘hoovering up’ patients.

“This is draining NHS resources to the private sector,” the union’s Tower Hamlets chair Dr Jackie Applebee said in an interview with the East London Advertiser. “It reduces GPs funding for the chronically ill and the elderly because it is ‘cherry picking’ the young and the rich.”

Also doctors have demanded that home visits are no longer part of their work load. Yet, my life was once saved by a GP home visit who came to see me after the A&E had sent me home when I went there previously.

We really need to be aware that our local health services are changing and ensure we do not have a detrimental loss of services.

Whilst television programs urge people not to visit A&E in the first instance because of the already long waiting times, I found it impossible to get an emergency appointment from my surgery quickly too.

 

 

Liveable streets Bethnal Green

Tower Hamlets Council Liveable Streets program currently consults on Bethnal Green. Plans include traffic stopping measures for Old Bethnal Green Road and Columbia Street Market.

Visit the consultation website for interactive content.

Please fill in the online survey and come speak with us at one of our drop-in events:

When:
•Saturday 9 November, 10am to 12noon
•Thursday 14 November, 5pm to 7pm

Venue: Professional Development Centre
229 Bethnal Green Road, London E2 6AB

You can also email us at: liveablestreets@towerhamlets.gov.uk