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Barking and Dagenham council’s housing company, Reside, now has a new board and recently appointed a Managing Director to take forward the ambitious plans to provide even more affordable homes for local people.

Since its launch in 2012, Reside is now a significant landlord in the borough with almost 900 properties, with over 70 shared ownership properties on its books. Over the next five years there is an opportunity to increase the number of homes by a further 3,000.

Barking and Dagenham Council has become the first local authority in the capital to throw its weight behind Unite union’s pioneering Construction Charter.

Construction firms planning to work on Barking and Dagenham building projects will now need to meet the standards laid down in the charter.

The charter commits to working with Unite in order to achieve the highest standards in respect of direct employment status, health and safety, standards of work, apprenticeship training and the implementation of nationally agreed terms and conditions of employment.

All local community and voluntary sector groups are being invited to a funding workshop on the 26 July at Barking Learning Centre.

Over 120 children from across Barking and Dagenham have taken part in a national campaign to celebrate the wonderful world of science.

Hosted by Eastbrook Primary School, The Great Science Share for Schools saw 13 schools from all over the borough come together to share their work with special guest Robert Ratford, the Sci Guy, and ask questions, such as:

1. How does your body digest food?

2. Is plastic really destroying the earth?

3. Why do cat’s glow at night?

4. When is the best time to catch my shadow?

Did you know that if you are looking after someone else’s child for a prolonged period of time, you need to let the council know as this is called private fostering?

Next week, (8 -12 July) is Private Fostering Week which aims to raise awareness around the number of young people that are living in other people’s care as well highlighting the importance of letting the council know.

Figures show that approximately 20,000 children up and down the country live away from home in private fostering arrangements, but less than 50 per cent of these arrangements are registered.

A new support offer to help strengthen the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector (VCSE) in Barking and Dagenham is set to launch today.

Thousands of pupils from schools across the borough have been learning invaluable life skills as part of the annual Junior Citizen scheme.

The three-week initiative, run in partnership by Barking and Dagenham Council and the Metropolitan Police, gives children who are about to start secondary school advice on a range of subjects in a fun and entertaining way.

Learning from the River Roding was an exhibition at Barking Town Hall between 3 and 6 June.

 

The exhibition is continuing at The Cass School of Art, Architecture and Design in Whitechapel from 19 June to 30 June and is part of the London Festival of Architecture. The exhibits include a 1:1000 model by students of Cass Unit 14, of the River Roding which forms the western boundary of Barking and Dagenham. 

 

The Windrush flag was flown over Barking Town Hall at 12pm on Monday 24 June to mark this year’s Windrush Day.

Cllr Saima Ashraf, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Community Leadership and Engagement said: “The Windrush generation have made a massive contribution to our borough in particular and the whole country, and their descendants have continued to enrich the social, economic, political and religious life of our communities.

JOIN us, along with Martina Cole and other celebrity writers and publishers, in celebrating local people who are making themselves heard across the UK and further afield…

Write On! is a new, quarterly magazine published by Pen to Print, a project borne in Barking and Dagenham. Funded by Barking and Dagenham Council and the Arts Council, it links local writing communities into the publishing industry by showcasing the work of emerging writers.