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Last week the government’s roadmap started to see lockdown restrictions begin to ease, with more restrictions expected to be lifted in the coming weeks. As the national situation begins to de-escalate, Barking and Dagenham Council is following suit by gradually returning to a more normal way of running its services.

Barking and Dagenham Council has told another local store that it must shut its doors for trading after it continued to ignore the regulations in place to stop coronavirus from spreading.



Barking Fish of Station Parade, Barking had been warned several times by council enforcement officers around its behaviour and response to the pandemic, but it failed to engage and comply with the advice provided.

Barking and Dagenham took the lead urging Councillors from across London in a call for the government to reconsider a decision to calculate school funding for the next financial year based on the number of pupils classed as ‘disadvantaged’ in October 2021.

The census date for Pupil Premium funding, designed by the government to help disadvantaged pupils with their learning, was changed from January 2021 back to October 2020, which affects the funding available to support the most disadvantaged pupils in the borough.

Last night, Wednesday 10 March, Barking and Dagenham Council launched its Domestic Abuse Commission Report. The Commission, which is a UK first, has brought together a panel of national experts and, chaired by Polly Neate CBE, CEO of Shelter, has been looking at attitudes to domestic abuse in the local community. The report, which is a culmination of 17 months of work, is intended to act as blueprint for others to follow in tackling this national issue, which has only been exacerbated by a year of lockdown caused by COVID-19. 

Some great news for Barking and Dagenham residents planning a spring clean; from 5 April 2021 they will be able to recycle more items at home. 

Currently, residents can recycle the following items in their brown bin:

• paper and thin card
• plastic bottles, cans and tins, and thick cardboard

From 5 April, residents will also be able to recycle the following items in their brown bin:

Barking and Dagenham Council are celebrating after being awarded the prestigious Investors in People Gold accreditation, making it one of the best employers to work for in the UK.

The standard is only achieved by around 17% of organisations assessed, and demonstrates the council’s commitment to support and develop its staff, and reflects how everyone, from the Chief Executive to apprentices, take ownership for making the borough a better place for residents. 

Councillors in Barking and Dagenham have agreed the budget for the next financial year – pledging extra money for the most vulnerable residents and protecting key services in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

The decision was made at a full council meeting, held online, last night (Wednesday 3 March) where there will be no cuts to council services. 

Barking and Dagenham Council plans to spend £174million across all its services including schools, housing, highways and bin collections.

Barking and Dagenham Council have been shortlisted to apply for funding for a Football Foundation programme called ‘Active Through Football’. The funding will support increased physical activity and wellbeing for people aged 16 and over - and a consultation exercise is underway to gather ideas.

Over three-quarters of young people in Barking and Dagenham will attend their first preference secondary school from September this year.

Figures show that out of 3,372 applications, 2684 (79.60 per cent) of 10 and 11-year-olds have been offered their first preference, far exceeding the capital’s average of 66.63 per cent. 

Councillor Evelyn Carpenter, Cabinet Member for Educational Attainment and School Improvement said: “I am delighted to see that such a large proportion of our young people will attend their preferred secondary school in September.

Today, the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham announces ‘Becontree Forever’ - a programme of art, architecture and new infrastructure to mark 100 years of the Becontree Estate.

The Becontree Estate is the biggest council estate in the UK and the most ambitious of the country’s interwar housing estates. The first of 27,000 houses for returning war heroes and working families were built on the four square-mile estate in November 1921, with the ‘Garden City’ houses and iconic ‘Banjo’ closes recognised across the world.