Citizen Advice

The Queens Platinum Jubilee Weekend— I need your help.

We have a wonderful weekend ahead of us where hopefully we can do what we do best and get together as a community and celebrate. I would love to have a celebration section of the June issue of North Weald Village Life. I would welcome any suggestions. I am considering things such as:1. Children’s competition—designing the front cover? 2. Photos of past jubilee celebrations in the local area. I would love to receive suggestions from you? I also been asked my many readers if I know what is happening to celebrate locally. I wonder if it would be best to have a committee of local interested people to see what can be organised. I would be happy to lead and co-ordinate this. If you have suggestions or comments, can you please let me have them by end of March initially and then we can work on them some more in time for the weekend.

After the last few years, come on lets work together and get our community back to celebrating and have something good to think off.

Citizens Advice: Help with Council Tax

It is about this time of year that council tax bills arrive. They will be showing an increase over last year, like all the other increases in the cost of living.

administered by Epping Forest District Council but that Council spends only about 10% of the money raised. The rest goes in what are called “precepts” to other authorities. The biggest chunk by far is for Essex County Council, and its biggest areas of spend are education and adult social care. Next comes the Police, Crime and Fire Commissioner, then the District Council. They have all been hit by inflation and the County Council and the Police precepts are going up by between 4% and 5%. The parish council’s precept, which is the smallest, will go up by 3%. All houses and flats are in one of eight bands for council tax. Houses and flats in the lowest bands – A to D – will get a one-off rebate of £150 to bring their bill down. Here are some other ideas for cutting the bill. The first thing to consider is whether the house or flat might be exempt from council tax. This will typically be if it is unoccupied, because the resident is in hospital or a care home, or has gone to live elsewhere in order to be cared for, for instance by a daughter or son, or has died and the property is to be sold. If a disabled person lives at the house or flat, and it needs to be bigger because of the person’s disability, the District Council can reduce your tax by putting the house or flat in the next council tax band down. Then it is worth considering whether you are entitled to a discount. Council tax is based on the assumption that there are at least two adults living in the property as their sole or main residence. If there are fewer than two adults a discount will apply. Some adults are treated as if they don't live there – most commonly, students. The discount will be 25% if there is only one adult counted as living in the property and 50% if everyone in the property is disregarded. There is a long list of exemptions and of disregarded occupants, some of them quite obscure. If you are on a low income or benefits you may be entitled to local council tax support (sometimes called council tax reduction). If you are over pension age this can be a 100% reduction. If you are below pension age you will always have to pay at least 25% of the tax, no matter how low your income is. If you get housing benefit the Council will calculate this but if you are on Universal Credit you will have to apply for it. The District Council has an exceptional hardship fund to help people who are struggling. You can apply to it online. Households on low incomes but not eligible for the £150 rebate may be able to get help from some extra funds that the government will be providing to councils. You can always come to us at Citizens Advice if you want advice on how much council tax you should be paying or any other financial problems you may have. You can contact us on 0808 278 7855 between 9.30 and 2.30, Tuesday to Thursday. Calls are free. We are also in person at the Hub at the Civic Offices in Epping every Thursday between 9.30 and 2.30 if you want to talk to someone face-to-face.

Popular St Clare Hospice 10k Race set to take place this April

St Clare Hospice is once again staging its popular 10k road race, now in its 28th year, starting and finishing from the Hospice in Hastingwood, Harlow on Sunday 10th April.

The fundraising event for the local charity is open to all abilities. It is ideal for regular running club members looking to boost their training, as well as those who are new to running but looking for a challenge. Wheelchair racers are also welcome and have become an integral part of the event. The race is UK Athletics affiliated and chiptimed – so it offers the perfect opportunity to get a new PB for the 2022 race season. There are also trophies up for grabs in the following categories: male, female, seniors, juniors and wheelchair athletes and every participant will get a medal. Last year, the St Clare 10k saw around 400 participants raise more than £11,000 for the Hospice – a target which St Clare is hoping to beat this year. Event Organiser, St Clare Challenges and Events Fundraiser Dani De’ath said, “The atmosphere at this race is always great, and that’s because people know that every kilometre they cover, they are raising money for our nurses, doctors and care teams to put life into days of people living with a terminal illness. Entry is £13 for an affiliated racer and £15 for a nonaffiliated racer, and many people go that extra mile and raise sponsorship on top. Just £100 could pay for two patients to receive a 90 minute Hospice at Home visit from our nursing assistants.” Sign up for the St Clare Hospice 10k here https://stclarehospice.org.uk/ event/st-clare-10k-april-2022/ and for more information please contact Challenges and Events Fundraiser Dani De’ath. Call on 01279 773738 or 0 7 7 1 8 2 5 7 7 0 4 o r e m a i l d a ni@stclarehospice.org.uk

Darker Nights home security campaign

Essex Police has launched a winter Darker Nights campaign giving advice on making your home more secure. The Darker Nights campaign means you may see more police patrolling in your neighbourhood, particularly in the early evening. Here are 5 suggested steps to make your home more secure:-

1. Lock all windows and doors Close and lock all windows and doors every time you leave the house or go to bed. Make sure that the door is locked properly i.e. lift the handle, turn the key and then remove the key. Keep it somewhere safe and easy to access for you but out of sight from prying eyes. 2. Use your alarm If you have a burglar alarm switch it on even if just popping out for a moment, or zone off areas before going to bed. 3. Light it up Leave lights on timers or radios on in the rooms you use the most. Try using external lighting which are activated by a dawn to dusk sensor. If burglars see your house has security lighting, they are less likely to approach for fear of being seen.

4. Secure your garden Secure your boundaries and ensure access to your back garden is not easily obtained and lock gates. Keep sheds, your garage and other outbuildings locked securely, as they may contain valuable items or tools that may be used to break into your house. 5.Mark your property Use forensic marking or other property marking methods to identify your property and display any product signage / labels. Keep a list of your property including serial numbers and photographs. This can be done in a paper version or on an online asset recording product. Make sure you include details such as identifying marks, value, and purchase date. For more information, visit the Essex Police page—www.essex.police.uk/cp/crimeJust because someone knows your personal information doesn’t mean they’re genuine. Scammers are targeting people by pretending to be from your Bank, advising you that your account has been compromised. You are then told you need to transfer your money to a new account that has been set up whilst they investigate. Don’t assume that a phone call, email or text is authentic. Ask yourself if it could be a scam. It’s ok to say no and contact the organisation through a route you know to be genuine. For more information and advice about fraud visit www.essex.police.uk/fraud

EPPING ONGAR RAILWAY AN EXCITING PROGRAMME FOR 2022

During March we shall be completing our essential maintenance activity and putting the finishing touches to our exciting operating programme for 2022, visit www.eorailway.co.uk for the latest details, including our Easter Egg Hunt and other children’s events. We celebrate the 10th anniversary of the re-opening of our former London Underground line on 27 to 29th May. We expect this event to feature British Railways Standard 4 steam locomotive, 75069, making its first visit away from the Severn Valley Railway since 1994. Further visiting locomotives, including those from our home fleet will be announced in due course*.

BR Standard 4 locomotive courtesy of the Seven Valley Railway The event will also feature the launch of a new book ‘Epping Ongar Railway – The First Ten Years’, detailing the enormous amount of work carried out to establish the fully working heritage railway that we see today. In addition, the Penny Salon Gallery at Ongar Station will be displaying a photographic exhibition showcasing the Epping Ongar Railway entitled ‘10 Years of Progress’. On 23 to 24th April, we will be featuring our regular Spring Diesel Gala. This will include our home fleet of 03170, 20001, 31438, 37029 and 47635, together with Class 117/121 Diesel Multiple Unit. Visiting locomotives will be announced as soon as possible*. As usual we will be running a 3-train intensive service throughout the weekend with late running Real Ale Trains on the Saturday. All trains will be running in conjunction with our fleet of heritage buses, which will operate between Ongar, North Weald, Epping Underground and Shenfield National Rail stations. For those who would like to see the line from the unique vantage point of a loco cab, we will be offering our popular Cab rides; we also plan to offer Brake Van rides, an additional fare of £5 per trip applies to both activities. Cab rides and Brake Van trips will be offered on a first come first served basis. These can't be pre-booked, simply speak to the crew on the day to reserve your place. Why not come along and volunteer on the Railway to help us operate these events? We have opportunities available in all departments, including permanent way, buildings and infrastructure maintenance, steam and diesel locomotive operation and maintenance, carriage & wagon restoration, together with numerous customer facing roles on operating days. You can obtain further information by emailing: volunteering@eorailway.co.uk or if you are ready to join go to: www.eorailway.co.uk/membership/ where you will find the membership application form at the top of the page under ‘Join the Epping Ongar Railway Volunteer Society’. If you would like to receive a complimentary copy of our quarterly magazine Mixed Traffic please send your postal address to: mixedtraffic@eorailway.co.uk *All locomotives subject to availability.

Robert Good Epping Ongar Railway Volunteer Society

Man died in Harlow

Essex Police are now in a position to release the identity of a man who recently died in Harlow. They had been called to reports of a man injured inside an address in Ryecroft at around 2.20am on Saturday 12th February. Sadly, despite the best efforts of paramedics he later died. Essex Police is now in a position to name him as 57 year-old Paul Searing. A 51 year-old woman has been charged with Paul’s murder. Rebecca Searing, of Ryecroft, Harlow, is next due to appear at Chelmsford Crown Court on 8 April. Source: Essex Police LETTER Dear Editor, I would like to alert residents to the enormous risk of shopping at Epping Tesco and parking your car there. The risk I refer to is the company who own the car park and will send you a fine even if you have validated your parking ticket in the store. Of course the machines are not always working but you don’t get to find that out until you leave the store. I had a £70 fine for 25th January 2022. I had shopped 8 times at the store between 1st January—1st February. I validate my ticket every time, even if am only 30 minutes or less. The fine is more than what I spent that day and I could not have gone over the allowed parking time to spend £57. Also I went early and only went to the Tesco store and left as soon as possible— nicer places to be. As a pension, Tesco Epping has been useful to me but I will take my custom elsewhere now. Shame on the parking company. I am insulted. If they are going to do this to a lot of people, it’s easy money for them. There are a lot of complaints on Facebook. Sincerely Mrs Jones

Editor’s comment: I have read reports of a few people who have experienced similar fines. I have also heard that even if you have not kept your car park ticket issued at the time of shopping, if you go to customer services with proof of purchase ie., shopping receipt or bank statement, then the fine has been dealt with but I cannot confirm if this has happened only in a minority of cases. I use this store regularly too and as yet have not experienced such issue but thank Mrs Jones for the warning.