The London Borough of Havering

| Rise Park Infant School will be closed on Tuesday 6 January
Rise Park Infant School in Annan Way, Romford will be closed on Tuesday 6 January due to a breakdown of the school's heating system. The Council is doing all it can to repair the heating system as soon as possible. As soon as there is further news on whether the school will be open on Wednesday 7 January it will be posted on this website. Rise Park Junior School, also in Annan Way, is not affected and will re-open for the Spring term tomorrow (Tuesday 6 January).

| Vote to give Havering parks a £400,000 makeover
Two Havering parks, Harrow Lodge Park in Hornchurch and Central Park in Harold Hill, are in line to win a £400,000 makeover if Havering residents give them their votes in the Mayor of London's 'Help a London Park' scheme.

| Christmas and New Year refuse collection dates
Refuse collection dates over the Christmas and New Year period will be subject to change. This link gives full details together with information on the wheeled bin garden waste service and opening times of Gerpins Lane reuse and recycling centre.

| Public Advice Service Centre to stay put
Havering Council's Public Advice Service Centre (PASC) will be staying at its current location in The Liberty, under proposals to be considered by Cabinet tomorrow (Wednesday December 17).

| Langtons House and Hall are closed for refurbishment
Langtons House and Hall in Billet Lane, Hornchurch are currently closed for a major £600,000 refurbishment programme.

| Helping Havering residents deal with the credit crunch and recession
Living, the Council's newspaper for local people, has recently featured a series of articles with useful information to help you, your family or your business through the recession, including support if you're finding it difficult to pay the bills or to cope with debt.

| Pay your council tax by Direct Debit and you could win up to £1,500
Direct Debit is the easy way of paying your council tax. Once you've set it up, your council tax will be paid correctly every month without you having to do anything. And our new free-to-enter competition gives anyone who pays council tax by Direct Debit the chance to win up to £1,500. The deadline for entries has now been extended to 30 April 2009.

| Havering Council introduces mortgage relief package
Home owners in Havering will be among the first in the country to benefit from a new mortgage rescue package that has been fast tracked to start this week.

| Living issue 96 is out now
The pre-Christmas issue of Living, our newspaper for Havering's residents and businesses, is out now. Our main story is that the votes of almost 2,000 Havering residents helped a Rush Green regeneration project win £50,000 of funding on the People's Millions ITV show. We also report that two Havering parks could be in line for a £400,000 makeover if they get enough votes in the Mayor of London's Help a London Park scheme. Our special wraparound guide to NHS local services can be downloaded by following this link.

| Romford Central Library is closed for refurbishment
Romford Central Library has closed for a multi-million pound refurbishment programme. Services provided at the library will operate from temporary premises until the library reopens with a spacious new look in 2010.

| Advance works on the M25 between junctions 27 and 29
Starting on Monday 8 December, the Highways Agency will be carrying out works in the verges beside the M25 in preparation for widening works between junctions 27 and 29 scheduled for summer 2009.

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| DID YOU KNOW you can report a problem with unclean streets...
...graffiti, flyposting, tree cutting & similar online as well as by phone?..

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