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In a planned operation by Barking and Dagenham Council’s Trading Standards team, officers raided several businesses in the borough and seized over 12,000 illicit cigarettes.



The team were participating in the first day of Operation CeCe, a London Wide Tobacco project funded by HMRC (in full). The initiative supports the council’s boroughwide Tobacco Control Strategy, which aims to disrupt the supply of underage and illegal tobacco.

Earlier this year, Barking and Dagenham Council held an online Women’s Safety Survey, so that women could highlight areas in the borough where they felt unsafe.



The survey was conducted following the tragic death of Sarah Everard in March and women were able to either drop pins on locations across the borough where they the feel unsafe, complete an anonymous form highlighting areas where they don’t feel safe and share ideas on how women could feel more safer in the borough.

Create London in partnership with Barking and Dagenham Council unveiled special celebratory plaques across the 100-year-old Becontree Estate on Thursday 7 October. 

Funded by the council, Create London commissioned artist Leonor Antunes to design and produce these commemorative plaques, as part of the council’s Becontree Forever programme celebrating the estate’s centenary. The plaques celebrate famous former residents from Becontree’s history as well as the important contribution of current residents to be sited on houses and public buildings across the estate.

Barking and Dagenham is fast becoming the go-to destination for film and video production, and a recently launched advertising campaign for Expo 2020 Dubai starring Hollywood A-lister Chris Hemsworth demonstrates the exciting production facilities on offer in the east London borough.



The location of the production within Dagenham was secured and managed by Film lbbd, the borough’s film service, which attracts and facilitates filming productions across the area and has cultivated a booming film industry across Barking and Dagenham.

A new immersive anti-knife crime centre opened in Barking and Dagenham last night in memory of a murdered 16-year-old schoolboy.



The Ben Kinsella Exhibition will use actors to deliver hard-hitting examples of the consequences of knife crime, for the victim and offender.



The interactive workshops will tell the tragic story of Ben Kinsella, who was killed in a knife attack in Islington, north London in 2008, as well as sharing stories from local parents who have tragically lost their children in recent years.

Local charities and community groups in Barking and Dagenham are being invited to apply for funding from the council’s Equality and Diversity Community Fund to help deliver events for the community.

The events will need to promote social inclusion, celebrate diversity, and support equality.

The Women’s Empowerment Awards 2021 ceremony, in its sixth year is recognising and celebrating the outstanding achievements and hard work of women from across the borough.

The finalists were chosen by a panel of judges who also had the hard task of choosing ultimate winners for the eight categories. The women were celebrated on Thursday (30 September) at a ceremony at The Broadway Theatre, Barking.

Nigeria marked 61 years of Independence on Friday 1 October, an event that was celebrated in Barking and Dagenham with the Nigerian flag raised at Barking Town Hall.

The Leader, Councillor Darren Rodwell who attended with a number of residents and members of the community had a message for everyone celebrating the event in the borough and said: “I am delighted we’re marking and celebrating Nigeria’s 61st Independence Day, and I’d like to join the residents of Barking and Dagenham in wishing all Nigerians a happy Independence Day.

A three-year extension banning anti-social behaviour around Dagenham Heathway has been granted to Barking and Dagenham Council after receiving the support of residents.



The council’s Public Space Protection Order (PSPO), which was originally introduced in the area in 2018, allows fixed penalty notices of £100 to be issued on the spot for unsociable activities such as spitting, harassment, drinking alcohol in the street or begging. Offenders can also be taken to court and given fines of up to £1,000.

At an awards ceremony held on Thursday 23 September, Her Worshipful the Mayor, Cllr Edna Fergus awarded three very special people with the Freedom of the Borough - the highest award that can be bestowed in Barking and Dagenham to people who have made an outstanding contribution to the borough.

I am absolutely delighted to see Paul, Dora and Trevor receiving the Freedom of the Borough, and I can’t think of three more deserving people.