Barking and Dagenham Council’s ambition to be the ‘green capital of the Capital’ took another step as the council’s parking service took delivery of new electric cars as part of its commitment to reduce vehicle emissions in the borough.

Last year, the council introduced charges to encourage motorists to ditch gas guzzling vehicles and move to more environmentally friendly means of transport. 

The Legal Practice at Barking and Dagenham Council have been selected as a finalist for the Legal Team of the Year in the Lawyers in Local Government (LLG) Awards 2020.

The Prosecution and Litigation Team had an unprecedented success in a court victory against B&M Retail in May 2019. The prosecution was conducted in partnership with Redbridge Council, and relates to three offences of the sale of underage knives, where B&M staff had sold knives to teenagers as young as 14.

A Barking supermarket has been ordered to pay costs totalling £1,112 after being caught out on two separate occasions, selling a trolley full of watermelons on the highway directly outside the shop by council enforcement officers.

Falcon Supermarket of 32 London Road, operating as Express Food & Wine was caught street trading without a license, outside their shop in Barking.

On further investigation, officers discovered that the business did not hold a valid Street Trading Licence for the sale or display of goods.

A young 18-year old mother (who was 17 at the time) has been able to get her life on back on track with a place at college and an early years provision for her young child and has stayed out of debt thanks to help from a council service.

This positive outcome has been achieved thanks to a close partnership between the council run nursery – Abbey Nursery and the local college.

The nursery’s innovative approach to being proactive and building a good relationship with parents also played a pivotal role in this success.

Barking and Dagenham Council has been awarded £5m by the Government’s Heat Network Investment Project (HNIP) to co-fund the creation of a landmark low carbon UK district heating scheme in Barking Town Centre.

The project has been classified as strategically significant by the GLA and builds on the borough’s ambitions to become the green capital of London. It involves a modification of the existing energy centre on the Gascoigne East Estate, Weavers Quarter, and the construction of a new large-scale energy centre.

Barking and Dagenham has joined the likes of Toronto, New York City and Paris to be recognised as a ‘tree city of the world’.

The international programme celebrates cities across all continents that meet core standards for the care and planning of urban trees and forests.

Although not a city, Barking and Dagenham received the backing of the scheme’s organisers, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), along with the Arbor Day Foundation, to earn the prestigious accolade.

A Multi-national company has been fined a total of £800,000 and ordered to pay costs of £25,000 for failure to operate its site in accordance with the health and safety policies following an accident on its site.

The company, Kuehne + Nagel Drinks Logistics Limited of Choats Road, Dagenham pleaded guilty at Barkingside Magistrates’ Court on 21 June 2019 and was sentenced on 4 February 2020.

A Barking taxi driver has been ordered to pay more than £700 after he failed to reveal who was behind the wheel when a cigarette was tossed out of the car window. 

Emanuele Campagna, of Movers Lane, was found to be the registered keeper of a silver Vauxhall Zafira, which Barking and Dagenham Council enforcement officers saw littering. 

Campagna was issued a Notice under Section 17 of the Greater London Council General Powers Act 1972, requiring him to provide details of who was driving at the time of the offence.

The driver of a Range Rover has been caught out by council enforcement officers for illegally using a Blue Badge meant for residents with disabilities - worse still the badge belonged to a young child who has since unfortunately passed away. 

On Thursday 30 January, enforcement officers from the council were investigating a vehicle parked in the Town Centre with a Blue Badge in a permit bay on Clockhouse Avenue, Barking. 

A dodgy clothes dealer has been fined by Barking and Dagenham Council for selling counterfeit designer clothes in Dagenham Market.

Mr Timothy Hallam of Crocus Fields, Saffron Walden, pleaded guilty at Barking Magistrates, on Friday 31 January 2020, for trying to flog fake goods at the east London market. 

Mr Hallam was caught selling the counterfeit goods by council enforcement officers on 17 June 2018 and pleaded guilty despite saying he believed his stock was genuine.