It was cheers all around for the education sector in Barking and Dagenham last week as two teachers were named Teachers of the Year at an annual awards ceremony.

Taking place at the Mayfair headquarters of the Royal Aeronautical Society last Friday, Ann Armstrong of All Saints Catholic School was named Well-being Champion of the Year for both London as a whole and the combined district of Barking and Dagenham and Greenwich. 

Barking and Dagenham Council has become the first council in the capital to back the GMB Union’s domestic abuse charter. 

 

Launched last year, the charter calls on organisations across the country to support employees affected by domestic abuse by making sure they are not disadvantaged in the workplace and by providing staff with the appropriate training.

 

The decision to support the agreement was made at the council’s Cabinet meeting, which was held this evening (Tuesday 18 June) at the Town Hall.

 

A landlord who illegally converted a Barking home into two flats without planning permission has been given a prison sentence after failing to pay almost £130,000. 

Mr Akram Hussain, of Bedford Road, Walthamstow, has been jailed for 280 days for failing to settle the confiscation order, which was originally issued to the 58-year-old in 2017. 

Children from Grafton Primary School added a few years to their age as they spent the day at Keble College, Oxford University.

On arrival, the 40 Year 5 children were split into three groups and taken on a tour of the university including the main college building, dining hall, library and student accommodation. 

During the visit, the children spoke to several university students who reassured them that it is possible for them to study there if they aimed high enough and applied themselves in the correct way.

A woman has been fined after council officers witnessed a cigarette being thrown out of a car in Wood Lane, Dagenham on Friday 14 September 2018.

The Council served a notice on Debra Ager, the registered owner of the vehicle, to identify who was driving the car at the time of the offence. After failing to comply with the notice to provide information about the driver, Ms Ager was summoned to court. 

A Dagenham jewellers has been fined a total of £1,385 for failing to provide records that showed how it disposed of its waste. 

During a routine trade waste inspection in July 2017, council officers visited a jewellers at 2a Lodge Avenue in Dagenham. 

Mr Nsubidi Batuba, the shop owner, tried to hide a bag of waste and told officers that he had previously been fined £1,433 for failing to produce Waste Transfer Notes. 

Thousands of Barking and Dagenham residents have until 30 June to bag a competitive 24-month fixed tariff with the council’s energy provider Beam Energy.

The exclusive offer will give residents the peace of mind they need over their energy bills for the next two years. Compared to the Big Six energy companies, residents could see themselves saving a whopping £177*.

Working with the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC), Barking and Dagenham Council has commissioned five local community organisations to deliver positive activities to children and young people who are at risk of becoming involved in, or coerced into crime. 

A memorial parade to mark 75 years since the invasion of Normandy will take place on Thursday, 6 June.

His worshipful, the Mayor of Barking and Dagenham, Councillor Peter Chand, will lead a procession featuring representatives from the Royal Naval Association and Royal British Legion, as well as councillors and faith leaders, from St Margaret’s Church in Barking at 5.20pm.

At 5.30pm the parade will arrive outside Barking Town Hall, where the Mayor, the Bishop of Barking, Trevor Mwamba, and the Leader of the Council, Councillor Darren Rodwell, will mark the anniversary.

Residents of Barking and Dagenham and surrounding areas who are experiencing or are affected by domestic violence can now get free, independent and confidential legal advice.

The ground-breaking initiative – DV FLAG East, the first of its kind in the country, has been set up with a grant from the council’s internal Legal Service and is run by Citizens Advice in Barking and Dagenham. The Council’s Legal Service will work jointly with the CAB.