Forget Crimewatch - Barking and Dagenham residents can now help catch offenders and clean up the borough as the council’s enforcement team clamp down on fly-tipping across the borough.

The Young People’s Laureate for London Tour 2018 is coming to Barking this month, offering residents aged 13 to 25 the opportunity to develop their creative talents and poetry skills.

Street Tag is back and it’s bigger and better than before, with several new parks now included in the game that turns the pavement into a giant competition.

There will be the chance to learn how to be a coffee barista, become a photographer or try your luck at yoga with the latest round of free events from Every One Every Day.

Early figures show 65 per cent of pupils met the standard for reading, writing and maths –the national average for England of 64 per cent.

Barking and Dagenham Council will be parading a float for the first time as they celebrate this year’s Pride in London Parade.

Barking and Dagenham’s historic Future Youth Zone has taken another big step towards completion as the internal features are now being fitted ahead of the official unveiling.

The iconic development in Parsloes Park is starting to catch the eye of a number of residents and excitement is now growing as the building starts to take shape.

The venue, being developed by the national charity OnSide, is currently being fitted with stairs, walls and floors ahead of the big opening in Spring 2019.

central park Dagenham illegal encampment

An illegal traveller encampment was moved within two hours of appearing in one of the borough’s parks, in the latest example of Barking and Dagenham Council putting its powers to use.

Seven caravans and vehicles appeared in Dagenham’s Central Park in the early hours of Friday morning (8 June).

The offenders were issued with an enforcement notice ordering them to vacate the site or risk being arrested – within two hours they had left.

It was a day to remember as Barking and Dagenham paid tribute to the 50th anniversary of the Dagenham Ford Sewing Machinists strike.

The strike by 187 women workers back in 1968 was one of the major triggers that paved the way for the introduction of the Equal Pay Act of 1970 that made it illegal to pay men and women differently for the same job.

We have launched our biggest recruitment drive for several years in a bid to fill vacancies in the waste collection service.