November 2025

Redbridge Council’s new street trading policy has caused controversy in Wanstead, but aims to boost local enterprise, improve standards and keep the High Street vibrant, says Councillor Khayer Chowdhury

Street trading offers vital opportunities for local entrepreneurs to grow their businesses, reach new customers and test new business ideas in the local market. It also plays an important role in attracting footfall to high streets, strengthening local economies and fostering community vibrancy. The popular monthly market in Wanstead is a great example of how street trading can benefit an area.

For many years, street trading in Redbridge has operated without a formal policy. Instead, licence applications were handled under the London Local Authorities Act 1990. To bring greater structure and transparency to the process, the council undertook a borough-wide consultation in 2024 to develop a new street trading policy with updated criteria for licence applications.

The consultation ran from 22 July to 31 October 2024 (extended from its original end date) and was promoted widely through the council’s website and digital channels. The consultation received 80 responses and several thousand online views. Following careful analysis of the feedback, and after going through committee scrutiny, the new policy was formally adopted unanimously at full council. In line with statutory requirements, notices were then published in the Yellow Advertiser to invite interest in potential trading pitches. These notices form part of the legal process and were separate from the initial consultation on the policy itself.

The new policy establishes a clear framework for assessing street trading applications. It does not automatically grant licences. Instead, it sets out the criteria and application process that potential traders must meet to operate within the borough. Under the policy, successful applicants will receive one-year licences, which the council may revoke if conditions are not met. All stalls must be temporary and dismantled at the end of each trading day. The policy introduces robust new standards to ensure high-quality, well-designed stalls that enhance the existing High Street offerings. Key criteria include preventing public nuisance, including issues related to noise, waste, odours or vermin.

These measures aim to raise standards and promote a more strategic, better-managed approach to street trading across Redbridge. While the number of traders is not expected to increase significantly, the focus will be on quality, compliance and supporting thriving local high streets, alongside healthy competition and choice for residents. The new policy is more than a set of rules, it’s an investment in our high streets. By encouraging high-quality trading, the council is helping to nurture small businesses, bring fresh ideas to our local economy, create jobs and create high streets that are lively, diverse and welcoming.

Councillor Chowdhury is Cabinet Member for Enforcement and Community Safety. For more information on the street trading proposals, visit wnstd.com/marketstalls

Following a public meeting in September to discuss the matter of market stalls on Wanstead High Street, very little has happened other than growing frustration amongst us residents, says Colin Cronin

Several weeks have passed and we have yet to hear a peep from the Leader of Redbridge Council, Councillor Kam Rai. You may recall that Councillor Rai was unable to attend September’s public meeting with Councillor Blackman, citing diary issues. It transpires the leader was more interested in attending the Labour Party conference than listening to the concerns of the residents and businesses in Wanstead he is paid to represent.

During the meeting, we were assured by the councillors who did attend that matters would be raised with council officers and further details would be fed back to residents. At the time of writing in late October, no such feedback has been received. Indeed, the silence from this council has been deafening. Business owners are left fearful for their livelihoods and residents concerned for our High Street. Dealing with these issues is a serious business. Serving the community is what local politics is about. It is not a stepping-stone to becoming an MP.

To describe the handling of these proposals as shambolic would be an understatement. The much-vaunted but ‘never knowingly shared’ consultation is complete fiction. A freedom of information request asked council officers for the report that showed how they determined the suitability of these pitches and how they mitigated numerous concerns, including parking, road safety, hygiene and impact on shops. The response? “There were no formal written reports produced.” We should be thankful we at least got a response, coupled with some unvarnished honesty.

The level of apathy this council shows towards the Wanstead community is breathtaking. Messages to the council leader go unanswered, emails remain ignored and this Labour administration cower behind the closed doors of Ilford Town Hall, having eroded the ability for taxpayers to scrutinise them. Abolished were Area Committees under their watch. Launched with much fanfare came the replacement Area Forums: now discontinued too. In the absence of such scrutiny, another meeting will be convened to continue to discuss this issue; it is certainly not something that will go away if ignored.

The actions of Redbridge Council leave our local councillors in a very difficult position. It is for them to decide if they flow with the tide of the administration in supporting these proposals or if they defy the party whip and represent the wishes of the Wanstead community who elected them. The Wansteadium blog summed it up perfectly: “Hard to figure out why the ruling Labour group seems prepared to throw its three faithful councillors under the bus.” Perhaps the Leader can tell us whenever he emerges from behind the oak doors of Ilford Town Hall. For now, the doors remain solidly shut as the frustration of the Wanstead community grows.

For more information on the street trading proposals, visit wnstd.com/marketstalls

Local artists will be adding colour to Wanstead Library’s entrance display case this month with an exhibition entitled ‘Colour Me Happy’.

“From 3 November, the display will illustrate how an individual’s favourite hues and chosen subjects can lift the spirits, whether used in artwork or on home features. Enjoy the display and try to recognise your own happy palette,” said Donna Mizzi.

Images from the exhibition will also be on sale during the festive Sparkle Fair in the library’s hall from 11am to 4pm on 8 November (free entry).

Visit wnstd.com/art

Snaresbrook is among 17 London Underground stations that will be assessed for step-free access upgrades.

The shortlisted stations will now undergo detailed feasibility studies, although any future work will be subject to TfL’s finances. “While TfL will fund these additional studies, the subsequent development and delivery of schemes will be dependent on TfL’s future funding position, with deliverable schemes prioritised where there is significant third-party funding available,” said a spokesperson.

This month’s Remembrance Sunday service in Wanstead will be more inclusive.

“I’m delighted this year’s service will broaden to include the United Reformed Church, Quakers and Humanists, alongside both the Catholic and Anglican representations,” said Colin Cronin, who has been organising the event for 10 years. “There can be no more fitting tribute to the fallen than those of different faiths and none joining together in harmony.”

The service will take place at the Wanstead War Memorial on 9 November from 12.30pm.

Aldersbrook’s very own dancing queen, Grace Sparks, celebrates her 100th birthday – still smiling, still graceful and surrounded by friends and fond memories. Here, a neighbour shares her story

It’s Saturday evening in Aldersbrook Bowls Club and just one couple is dancing on the main hall floor. But that couple is Grace and Bill Sparks, whose footwork and movement have won them several ballroom dancing awards. Their friends have learned that it’s a good time to “sit this one out” and be spectators while the Sparks do what they do best.

That dancing must have done Grace some good as she reached her 100th birthday last month and she still has that almost permanent smile on her face.

Grace was born just off City Road in Islington and lived there until she was five. The family then moved to Dagenham, where Grace lived until 1939, the year war broke out. Many of her relatives were evacuated to Horsham in Sussex, so Grace, with her mum and aunt, followed them there.

Grace never returned to school and first went to work, at the age of 15, in a tailor’s shop in Horsham, supplying military uniforms and men’s clothing. The war passed peacefully for Grace and, at the age of 18, she joined the Women’s Royal Naval Service and after training was stationed in Pwllheli in North Wales. The war ended in 1945 and she was demobbed a few months later. The family had relocated, this time to Stratford, and Grace returned there that year. She found work immediately as a clerk for a construction company and was based in Holborn.

Grace found something else as well – she met a bricklayer from Battersea. That meeting was with Bill, a man who’d served his country in the navy during the war. They married two years later and settled in Stratford, going on to have three children. In 1958, Grace made her final move when the family came to Aldersbrook. It was the start of long-standing, treasured friendships with lovely neighbours and members of the local community. Grace became an active member of Aldersbrook Women’s Club as well as the bowls club. In her later years, she became a guest in the local Contact the Elderly group, although she can no longer attend meetings as she’s become housebound under the care of her daughter, Jenny.

Grace lets it be known that she’s thoroughly enjoyed living in Aldersbrook for the past 67 years. She’s highlighted the community and neighbourly spirit the area has provided and has always appreciated that she has been privileged to live in and enjoy such a green area with a beautiful park and all that nature has to offer.

It’s no surprise that Grace has had many visitors and phone calls from her many, many friends, who now wish her a happy 100th birthday with the hope that there are many more to come.

Article submissions for local centenarians are welcome. Email editor@wnstd.com

After a year, Whipps Cross Interchange now has a proper W14 bus stop – with shelter and seating – at the start of its route outside the area’s main hospital.

Since the once-an-hour W14 was launched in September 2024, an unmarked stop was used to start journeys, which even TfL was unable to locate. Calvin Bailey MP, notified by residents, asked TfL to revisit the site and patients and staff can now arrive and leave using the same stop, marked ‘V’.

Campaigners, however, are still calling for the W14 to stop within the hospital grounds.

Redbridge Council will roll out a new weekly food waste collection service this month, with a number of roads in Wanstead to be included in the first phase of the scheme.

Households taking part will receive a kitchen food waste caddy and an outdoor food waste caddy in November. Food waste – including meat, fish, vegetables, bread, tea bags and plate scrapings – will be recycled into renewable energy and bio-fertiliser. “This service complies with the government’s Simpler Recycling reforms, which require all councils to collect food waste separately,” said a spokesperson. Food waste currently accounts for around 40% of all household rubbish in Redbridge.

A list of roads that will receive the new food waste collection service has been published on the council’s website. Visit wnstd.com/foodwaste