Letter to Links Estate residents, September 2022

 

                                                           Rob McAuliffe – incoming Chair

Dear Resident,

On behalf of the Links Estate Residents’ Association (LERA), I am writing to reconnect with existing members and long-standing residents, and introduce myself to any new neighbours.

For those unfamiliar with LERA, we have been in operation for more than 30 years, representing the approximately 600 households on the estate. Our ongoing work and activities include:

·       Acting as a focal point for issues affecting both the estate and the immediate locality

·    Maintaining regular contact with councillors and officers within the London Borough of Bromley, dealing with matters such as estate cleanliness, removal of unsightly graffiti, nuisance parking, and planning and road safety issues

·    Seeking to maintain neighbourhood security as active members of the Plaistow & Sundridge Community Advisory Panel and Neighbourhood Watch, and through our good working relationships with our local police officers and Community Support Team.

More information about our activities, including archived minutes from past Annual General Meetings (AGMs), can be found on our website: www.leralink.blogspot.com.

The past two and a half years have presented unprecedented challenges for us all. LERA has not been immune to the impacts of the pandemic, and our work has regrettably been restricted as a result. The committee has also been operating at reduced capacity, something we sought to address in a recent recruitment drive – we are pleased to report that we received a fantastic response to this and have recently welcomed several new members to the committee. This means that we are ready to resume normal operations.

A critical part of renewing our activities is re-establishing communication with members of LERA, and we would also like to welcome any new members that would like to join. LERA members – who are asked to pay an annual subscription fee of £2 per household, to cover our admin costs – benefit from:

·       Gaining access to the members-only Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/lerabromley/

·       Receiving a regular newsletter – this was put on hold as a result of the pandemic and resourcing issues, but we plan to revive it and publish several times a year

·       Being invited to attend our AGM, usually held in April or May.

Before collecting any subscription fees for 2022-23, we would like to request some contact information from both existing and prospective members, to help us build a basic database of our membership. Please be assured that your details will only be used for the purpose of contacting you regarding your LERA subscription and LERA matters, and will not be passed on to any third party or used for any other purpose. To provide us with the requested information, please complete our online form, at bit.ly/leramembership or via the QR code below:

        

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

Rob McAuliffe – incoming Chair

LERA Newsletter February 2020

Dear Links Estate Resident

We are sure the majority of you will have received and read our Booklet celebrating 30 years of our Residents Association. This hopefully gave you an interesting read and gave you some idea of the type of things the Association have been involved in.

Those of you who have been members for many years will already be aware of these activities and some of our success stories. Although we have not been so visible over the recent months the committee has continued to meet via ZOOM and more recently in St Andrews Church Hall.

We are hoping to be able to be more active this year and look at some activities that will bring the community together. In the past some residents took part in a Garden Competition which is one thing we are looking at doing again this year.

We have waived the annual £2 subscription fees for the time being but will announce when that will resume and your Street Rep will pop the form through your door.

We are looking to recruit new volunteers to join the committee and share their skills, knowledge and ideas. Particularly if you are a good communicator, or have experience of attending /chairing meetings, or are good with figures and have computer skills. None of the roles are majorly time consuming and if anyone is interested in finding out how we work and maybe offering a bit of time you would be welcome to join us at the next quarterly meeting on the 9th of February, 7.30pm at St Andrews Church Hall and chat to existing committee members about the roles we are particularly looking to fill.

Please email us if you are thinking of attending so we can gauge numbers for seating: lerabromley26@gmail.com

You can also use our email address to report any concerns or raise issues you think the community should know about. We will respond.

Many of you make good use of our Facebook page, sharing information/concerns and offering things for sale etc. We also put any information on there, such at the Waste Collection Schedule and messages from Trading Standards. As long as you are signed up to be a member of the Residents Association and given details about where you live, you will be invited to join the Facebook Group.

Wishing you well and hope to see a few new faces at the next meeting

Kind regards

LERA Links Estate Residents Association Committee

BADA production of Peter Pan December 2021

Andy's Pop In is back agaiin in St Andrew's Church Hall Every Tuesday

COVID 19 rules from 12th April 2021

How the rules will change on 12 April

 

Some of the rules on what you can and cannot do will change on 12 April. You can read the ‘COVID-19 Response - Spring 2021’ (the roadmap out of lockdown) for more information on how COVID-19 restrictions will be eased in England. You can also read the law that underpins these changes and the ongoing restrictions.

From 12 April:

·         non-essential retail will be able to reopen

·         personal care premises such as hairdressers and nail salons will be able to reopen

·         public buildings such as libraries and community centres will be able to reopen

·         outdoor hospitality venues will be able to reopen, with table service only

·         most outdoor attractions including zoos, theme parks, and drive-in performances (such as cinemas and concerts) will be able to reopen

·         some smaller outdoor events such as fetes, literary fairs, and fairgrounds will be able to take place

·         indoor leisure and sports facilities will be able to reopen for individual exercise, or exercise with your household or support bubble

·         all childcare and supervised activities will be allowed indoors (as well as outdoors) for all children. Parent and child groups can take place indoors (as well as outdoors) for up to 15 people (children under 5 will not be counted in this number)

·         weddings, civil partnership ceremonies, wakes and other commemorative events will be able to take place for up to 15 people (anyone working is not included in this limit), including in indoor venues that are permitted to open or where an exemption applies. Wedding receptions can also take place for up to 15 people, but must take place outdoors, not including private gardens

·         self-contained accommodation will be able to open for overnight stays in England with your household or support bubble

·         you should continue to minimise the amount that you travel where possible

·         care home residents will be able to nominate two named individuals for regular indoor visits (following a rapid lateral flow test)

 

Keeping yourself and others safe

You should stay 2 metres apart from anyone who is not in your household or support bubble where possible, or 1 metre with extra precautions in place (such as wearing face coverings) if you cannot stay 2 metres apart.

You should follow the guidance on how to stop the spread of coronavirus at all times, including if you have been vaccinated against COVID-19.

 

You should follow this guidance in full to limit the transmission of COVID-19. It is underpinned by law.

Face coverings

You must wear a face covering in many indoor settings, such as shops and places of worship, and on public transport, unless you are exempt. This is the law. Read guidance on face coverings.

 

If you are clinically extremely vulnerable

If you are clinically extremely vulnerable, you could be at higher risk of severe illness from coronavirus. 

 

If you are clinically extremely vulnerable, you are no longer advised to shield. However, you should continue to follow the guidance for people who are clinically extremely vulnerable and are advised to take additional precautions to protect yourself. It is important that you continue to keep the number of social interactions that you have low and try to limit the amount of time you spend in settings where you are unable to maintain social distancing.

 

 If you have been vaccinated against COVID-19

To help protect yourself and your friends, family, and community you should continue to 

follow all of the guidance on this page even if you’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19.

The vaccines have been shown to reduce the likelihood of severe illness in most people. Like all medicines, no vaccine is completely effective, so those who have received the vaccine should continue to take recommended precautions to avoid infection.

We do not know by how much the vaccine stops COVID-19 from spreading. Even if you have been vaccinated, you could still spread COVID-19 to others.

Meeting family and friends indoors

You must not meet indoors with anybody you do not live with, unless they are part of your support bubble (if you are eligible), or another legal exemption applies.

 

Meeting friends and family outdoors (rule of 6)

You can meet up outdoors with friends and family you do not live with, either:

·         in a group of up to 6 from any number of households (children of all ages count towards the limit of 6)

·         in a group of any size from up to two households (each household can include an existing support bubble, if eligible)

If you’re in a support bubble

If you are eligible to form a support bubble, you and your support bubble count as one household towards the limit of 2 households when meeting others outdoors. This means, for example, that you and your support bubble can meet with another household, even if the group is more than 6 people.

 

Where you can meet

You can meet in a group of 6 or a larger group of any size from up to 2 households (including their support bubbles) outdoors. This includes private outdoor spaces, such as gardens, and other outdoor public places and venues that remain open. These include the following:

·         parks, beaches, countryside accessible to the public, forests

·         public and botanical gardens

·         the grounds of a heritage site

·         outdoor sculpture parks

·         allotments

·         public playgrounds

·         outdoor sports venues and facilities

If you need to enter through a house to get to a garden or other outside space and there is no alternative access, you should wear a face covering, wash or sanitise your hands when entering, and then go straight to the outside space. If you need to use the bathroom, wash your hands thoroughly and go back outside immediately. You should maintain social distancing from anyone who is not in your household or support bubble.

When you can meet with more people or meet indoors

Gatherings above the limit of 6 people or 2 households, or gatherings indoors, can only take place if they are permitted by an exception. These exceptions are listed on this page.

Where a group includes someone covered by an exception (for example, someone who is working or volunteering), they are not generally counted as part of the gatherings limit. This means, for example, a tradesperson can go into a household without breaking the limit if they are there for work, and the officiant at a wedding would not count towards the limit.

Plaistow and Sundridge Safer Neighbourhood Team Meeting

Safer Neighbourhood Team - Meeting on Thursday March 11th

A few key points from last night’s meeting.

It was agreed that the police team should target thefts from vehicles, as their top priority

Neighbourhood patrols currently end at 12:00 midnight, these will be extended until 03:00

Most vehicle thefts are used to fund drug purchases, so this activity will also be addressed as a priority

In the majority of cases, there is no sign of forced entry, so residents are reminded to make sure that their vehicles are locked at all times

More patrols will be conducted in ‘plain clothes’, so as to apprehend rather than scare off the perpetrators

Work on the ZPods will commence on Monday March 15th

No further information is currently available with regard to the impact on policing levels, of the ward boundary changes

I hope this is useful

Regards.

Roy on behalf of LERA

For more information about the safer neighbourhood team click on the following link

Safer Neighbourhood team

London Borough of Bromley Spring Update Newsletter

Click on the link below to view the full newsletter

London Borough of Bromley Spring Newsletter

Bromley Trading Standards Update

Today’s Alert! concerns the Green Homes Grant cold calling scam.  There is also advice on how to apply for the Grant and how to select a reputable trader when you need one.

 

 

We encourage you to circulate the Alert! around your network of family, friends, neighbours, colleagues, clients and members of groups or organisations you’re a part of. 

 

You may be in touch with Bromley residents who could be susceptible to scams – sharing some information about scams may prevent them from becoming a scam victim.

 

If you know anyone who would like to receive the Alert! please ask them to email us at trading.standards@bromley.gov.uk

 

 

Kind regards

 

Bromley’s Trading Standards team

 

 

 

 

Update Newsletter - Winter Waste Collections

Not displaying properly? View in browser.        Register for a MyBromley Account  |   MyBromley Login  |   Forgotten Password  |   Bromley.gov.uk    Winter Waste Collections Dear Resident, The coldest winter weather in around a decade severely impacted recycling and waste collections throughout the week and in light of this, I wanted to contact you and outline what we are doing about this. Whilst an around- the-clock gritting operation largely successfully kept priority routes clear of ice and snow, the icy pavements in particular posed a significant issue and prevented recycling and waste collections taking place and a revised collection programme is in place for next week only. We had originally hoped that work would be ‘caught up’ but as approximately 80,000 recycling or waste collections are made each day, as the impact of the severe weather continued, it became apparent this was not going to be feasible. All residents with scheduled collection days of Monday through to Thursday will receive a food waste collection and a non-recyclable refuse collection only, with recycling and paper collections resuming as usual from the following week. In recognition that residents in the earlier part of the week did not receive a collection, we are undertaking that all residents next week will receive a food waste collection and a non-recyclable refuse collection, with residents being asked to store recycling and paper collections for their next scheduled collections as per their usual pattern. Whilst this is not ideal, we only have a finite number of vehicles and collection staff and all will be engaged with this work, hence asking residents to store their recycling. Full details about these temporary changes are published on the Council’s website www.bromley.gov.uk/wastenews if you want to refer to them, but I wanted to draw this to your attention and thank you for your anticipated support and understanding.  The problems we faced earlier in the week have only been faced once or twice in the last decade, with particularly low ongoing daytime temperatures and consequently icy pavement surfaces. This had a severe impact as ice poses difficulties from a manual handling perspective as we are not just asking collection crews to walk on the ice but lift heavy containers and twist etc. The safety of residents and our collection crews is of upmost importance and, therefore, we ceased our collection service until the conditions were safe to deliver services.  You can read more about our around-the-clock gritting operations on our website, which both includes gritting roads and pavements in high footfall locations and I want to thank the staff involved in this. I particularly want to thank our Snow Friend volunteer residents who cleared snow away or spread grit from supplies we provided in their residential street as you did make a difference for all of us.  Thank you, too, to everyone who has checked up on more vulnerable neighbours from a social distance, of course, and thank you for your support at this time. Kind regards,    Councillor William Huntington-Thresher Executive Councillor for Environment & Community Services Wintry Weather Update - For waste and recycling collection updates during the wintry weather and to check your collection day visit our Waste News page. Waste and recycling collections We are asking residents to store their recycling or paper until their next scheduled collection, with collections resuming their normal pattern from week commencing Monday 22 February. Further details are available at www.bromley.gov.uk/wastenews Gritting our roads Borough-wide snow which started last weekend, including overnight, has meant that gritting and snow clearance crews have salted all 280 miles of main routes, with this work continuing through much of the week.  Salt is routinely used to prevent ice or frost forming on priority routes. To ensure that this is effective, in periods of more extreme wintry weather, salting needs to take place on a frequent basis.  The Council’s purpose-built gritting vehicles, equipped with GPS tracking software, focus salting operations on the main priority routes.   Local residential side streets are not part of the Council’s gritting or snow clearance operation, and with thanks to volunteer resident Snow Friends who have cleared snow in their road.  See also Snow Friends help in clearance operation. GO PAPERLESS If you already have a MyBromley Account to view your Council Tax, simply login to your account and choose Paperless Billing. If you don't have a MyBromley Account, why not register for one today at MyBromley Account. It's quick, easy and secure. LOG IN OR REGISTER TODAY AT MyBromley Account bromley.gov.uk This email was sent to you by Bromley Council © 2020 Registered Address: Bromley Council, Civic Centre, Stockwell Close, Bromley, BR1 3UH   Manage your subscriptions here

Bromley Neighbourhood Watch Association ​ News

Our Newsletters keep you abreast of news and events from sources such as local Police, Bromley Council, Action Fraud and the Met’s Cyber Crime Unit. Please forward them to your Watch members, friends and family.

COVID-19 VACCINATION SCAM ALERT

We’ve been asked by the Met Police Cyber Crime Unit to warn you people are receiving fraudulent calls and text messages offering a COVID-19 vaccination. In some cases, people are asked to press a number on their keypad or send a text message to confirm they wish to receive the vaccine. Doing so is likely to result in a charge being applied to your phone bill.

In other cases, callers are offering the vaccine for a fee or asking for bank details.

THESE ARE SCAMS!

The vaccine is only available from the NHS and the NHS will contact you when it is your turn. At present, actual appointments are only being offered to members of the public over 80 years old.

Like all scams, the same rules apply; 

• Don’t click on links or attachments in unexpected texts, emails or messages.
• Challenge every request for your personal details.
• It doesn’t matter what they say or what they know about you, don’t respond to
  unexpected phone calls, hang up, take five then verify the claim via a trusted method. (such as the usual website or official phone number).

The NHS will:

• NEVER ask you to press a button on your keypad or send a text asking you to confirm you want the vaccine. 
• NEVER ask for payment for the vaccine or for your bank details.

If you believe you have been the victim of fraud or identity theft, you should report this directly to Action Fraud either online; https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/ or via phone 0300 123 2040.

Where the victim is vulnerable, report it to the MPS online or call 101. 

Further details of this scam can be found on the Which? Website via this link:
https://conversation.which.co.uk/scams/scam-nhs-covid-vaccine-text-message/ 

 

Kind regards,

 Bromley Neighbourhood Watch Association ​

 

Find us on the Web at: www.bnwa.co.uk

Bromley Open Space Consultation by Bromley

Bromley has published a document intended to allow residents to view and comment on the proposals. 

There is a survey form to complete by 6th January 2021

Click on the link below to view the draft document and to submit your responses

https://coperscope.wordpress.com/2020/12/29/bromley-council-open-space-strategy-have-your-say-by-7-jan-2021/

Update of revised rules for tier 4

COVID-19 UPDATE: REVISED RULES EFFECTIVE FROM   

      SUNDAY 20 DECEMBER 

With effect from today, Sunday 20 December, Bromley (along with other London boroughs and other parts of the country) is placed in Tier 4 (Stay at home).  As a result, revised rules will apply immediately and over the Christmas holiday.  This may well affect your holiday plans.  

Please check how the new rules affect you and your family by clicking on the following links –

 Tier 4: Stay at home       

 Christmas holiday

 An important point to note is that you must not leave or be outside of your home except for where you have a specific purpose, or a ‘reasonable excuse’ as listed in the guidance. Also, you cannot make a Christmas bubble in Tier 4.

 

COVID-19 UPDATE - CHANGE OF STATUS TO TIER 3

Dear LERA colleagues 

From 12.01am on Wednesday 16 December Bromley (along with the rest of Greater London and certain areas in neighbouring counties) will be placed in Tier 3 (Very High alert).  For further information on how the new restrictions will apply, click on this link

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/tier-3-very-high-alert

 

Also, please see the link below the latest Update from Bromley Council. 

We are also publicising this information via LERA’s digital channels. 

Regards

 

Pat

Covid-19 Special Reminder Newsletter

Covid-19 Special Reminder Newsletter