Community news

Want to book a library PC online?

Did you know that you can now book a library PC online? Simple - go to http://elibrary.bexley.gov.uk/rooms and book your slot. It's free to book and free to use!

List your events on the Council's website

It's never been easier to add details of your events to the Council's website at www.bexley.gov.uk

And listings featured on the site are also used to compile the 'what's on' pages inside every issue of the Bexley Magazine.

Just complete the form at https://mybexley.firmstep.com/firmstep/services/event-apply-event-be-added-website and we'll post the details online.

The service is free

Council Tax Reduction Scheme

Changes to legislation mean that from April 2013 it will be the Council's responsibility to adopt a Council Tax Reduction Scheme.

The new scheme replaces Council Tax Benefit. It will require all working age claimants to pay some of their Council Tax.

In Bexley, all working age claimants will eventually pay at least 15% of their Council Tax liability.

However, to make the scheme easier to manage, it will be phased in over three years.

During this period claimants will pay:

2013 - 5%
2014 - 10%
2015 - 15%

Under the new scheme there will be an amount of money set aside to help people facing exceptional circumstances or hardship. Any extra help granted will be at the discretion of the Council and will be used to help households meet their Council Tax liability.

The Council is holding a series of drop-in information surgeries from 9am to 4pm at Erith Town Hall for residents to find out more about the Council Tax Reduction Scheme.

The next surgery will take place on Wednesday 29 May.

Further information on benefit changes is available at www.bexley.gov.uk/benefitchanges

It's time for a clean

Bexleyheath town centre's landmark, the Coronation Clocktower, is having a wash and brush up in time for the annual civic parade and the official unveiling of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Sculpture on 9 June.

The tower will have scaffold up for around five weeks, while the delicate work of cleaning the brickwork on the Clocktower, using a non-abrasive and environmentally friendly method, takes place.

The Bexleyheath Coronation Memorial Clocktower, commemorating the coronation of King George V, was formally opened on Bexleyheath Gala Day on 17 July 1912. Designed by Walter Epps, the Clocktower was intended to stand ''as a memorial to the enterprise and loyalty of the inhabitants of Bexleyheath'' and it was thought at that time the Clocktower ''would be the beginnings of better things to come in Bexleyheath and that the clock would certainly be useful for passengers waiting at the tram terminus at the Market Place.''

The north and south niches are currently empty. To tie in with the Clocktower's 100th anniversary, last June's Diamond Jubilee Celebration was used to officially launch a fundraising campaign to commission a Diamond Jubilee Sculpture of Her Majesty the Queen, to fit into the empty south facing niche in the Clocktower.

The campaign is being managed by the Bexleyheath Business Improvement District Partnership (BID) and supported by the Council. The BID has funded the cleaning of the Clocktower and led the fundraising campaign.

The Clocktower itself was funded by local people and the Council back in 1912.

There is still time to donate to the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Sculpture for more information on the campaign contact Ian Payne, Bexleyheath Town Centre Manager on 020 8304 0775 or email ian.payne@bexleyheathbid.org

The Civic Parade will take place on 9 June starting at Civic Offices at 9.45am and ending at the Clocktower at 1pm.

Guide Dogs talk in Central Library, Bexleyheath and Central Library Bromley

Join Myriam Steadman (and Zeus) for her talk 'The story of a guide dog from puppy to working dog'
at Central Library, Townley Road, Bexleyheath DA6 7HJ on Wednesday 12 June at 10.30am.

Limited free tickets available from the library, call 020 8303 7777 to book your place.

And at Central Library, High Street, Bromley BR1 1EX on Wednesday 12 June at 2.30pm in the
Small Hall 4th Floor.

Limited free tickets available from the library on 020 8460 9955.

Bromley and Bexley are Pathfinder Champions for SEN and Disability reforms

Bromley and Bexley Councils have been selected as 'Pathfinder Champions' to share with other councils their successful joint work on the largest changes in over 30 years in the way in which services and support are delivered for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. Pathfinder Champion status is a huge recognition of the focused and detailed work everyone involved in Bromley and Bexley Pathfinder has achieved over the last 18 months in testing out these major new reforms.

The Pathfinder Champion status will support other local authorities in developing their policy and practice in delivering the new Children and Families Bill including steps that will enable implementation of the new Special educational needs and disability reforms which will become law subject to Parliamentary approval from September 2014. Bromley and Bexley Pathfinder is one of nine new national regional Champions across England promoting good practice and has been given overall responsibility for the London region.

The boroughs have been working together for nearly 2 years as part of the National Pathfinder programme, to test out many of the principles of the Government's Green Paper which has now been progressed through the Children and Families Bill. Funding has been made available to enable a small number of local authorities and their health partners to undertake this vital work to pilot, test and implement the proposed changes.

The new reforms will result in extending the special educational needs system from birth to 25, giving children, young people and their parents greater choice and control and is being seen as whole system change working in closer partnership with parents. Reforms also include:

• Health, Education and Care services being legally required to work together, promoting integration of services and support
• For children and young people with more complex needs, a new birth to 25 Education, Health and Care plan and single assessment process will be put in place, replacing current SEN statements
• Families with the new Education, Health and Care Plan will also have a right to a personal budget for some of their support
• Children's special education needs will be picked up earlier
• Parents will know through a new ' Local Offer' what they can reasonably expect their local school, local college, local authority and local services to provide for their child with special educational needs and disabilities

Bromley Council's Executive Member for Education, Cllr Stephen Wells said: "The fact that Bromley and Bexley have been asked by the Government to share their best practice with other local authorities ahead of the introduction of these important changes is a fine testament to the quality of our work. The team that has been implementing and rigorously testing assumptions and practices is to be commended for their continuous commitment to getting this right for our residents.

"This project is a natural progression of the borough's well established joined up approach to providing services for disabled children and young people. I and my councillor colleagues have always been focused on those with special educational needs and disabilities. We are committed to giving all children the chance to achieve to their full potential. By using the experience gained over many years in this field we have the chance, through the Pathfinder work, to shape the way these services are provided into the future both locally and nationally."

Cllr John Fuller, the London Borough of Bexley's Cabinet Member for Education said: "We are delighted to be a part of the Pathfinder project and to work in partnership with Bromley on such key changes for schools, students and families.

"We're proud of what we have achieved for Bexley's students with special educational needs and disabilities and we are keen to help others to do the same. This is an exciting opportunity to work with partners nationally and to build on good practice for the good of children and their families across the country."

Civic Service and Parade 2013

For those of you who were able to be at the 2012 Diamond Jubilee Civic Parade, you will remember that an appeal was launched by the Deputy Lieutenant of LB Bexley, Major David Hewer OBE TD DL to raise funds by public subscription for a specially commissioned sculpture of Her Majesty the Queen. It was hoped that, if successful, the sculpture would be placed in the presently unoccupied alcove on the Clocktower in Bexleyheath Broadway. The fund was successful and the sculpture will be unveiled as part of this year's Civic Parade celebrations.

This year's Annual Mayor's Civic Service and Parade is to be held on Sunday 9 June 2013, in the Broadway and at Christ Church, Bexleyheath, and you are invited to be part of this historical day for the Borough. This date has been chosen, as it falls on the weekend following the nation's official celebration of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, which took place on 2 June 1953. The service at the church, which will commence at 10.30am, will be preceded by a parade of service detachments, youth and other local organisations, that will march from the Albion Road car park to Christ Church in the Broadway. It is expected that up to 500 people may take part in this year's parade.

The service at Christ Church will welcome our new Mayor and celebrate the forthcoming municipal year, in addition to recognising the young people and organisations that add so much to Bexley's community. After the service, the parade will only return as far as the Broadway. At this point, the Mayor and dignitaries will receive the parade. They will stand on a dais, adjacent to the Clocktower.

The specially commissioned sculpture of HM The Queen will then be unveiled by the Borough's Deputy Lieutenant, Major David Hewer OBE TD DL. It is expected that between 1,000 and 2,000 people may gather at this point for the celebrations.

I would be grateful if you would confirm your attendance by completing the form below and sending it back to me, either in hard copy or by email dave.easton@bexley.gov.uk