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Watford Borough Council, working closely with local councillors, local businesses, residents and Hertfordshire County Council, want to make improvements to St Albans Road. These include new street furniture, improved paving, tree planting, more cycle friendly routes and other changes to the look and feel of the area.

Watford Borough Council is investing £400,000 to revamp the ‘Callowland’ stretch of St Albans Road (from Brixton Road to Balmoral Road). It’s really important that we can get the views of local residents and users about how you think this stretch of St Albans Road can be made better.
Have your say on the consultation at www.stalbansroad.co.uk

The £400,000 investment will include:

Repairing pavements​

Consistent style for railings on pavements and on the road

More trees and greenery

More parking bays to ease the parking pressure

Exploring options for cycling along the route

Working with Hertfordshire County Council to resolve the water pooling

Watford Borough Council will use the information you provide in this survey to stay in touch with you, providing news, updates and marketing.

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Dear Watch Member,

Today the Watford and Hertsmere Safer Neighbourhood Teams were out in full force on the Meriden Estate in Watford. We are aware of some concerns from some members of the public regarding crime in the estate and it was our aim to get more information today. We were stationed at the main entrances and exit of the estate and speaking to as many people as possible, gathering more information regarding the concerns that people of the area have and at the same time disrupting any crime, being a presence and gathering intelligence.

Officers were in the area for 5 hours and stopped around 800 people, we received a great deal of information from many of those stopped and the team would like to thank everyone for their time and cooperation. If you didn’t see us today and would like to give us any information that you have, please do not hesitate to get in contact with us, either by replying to myself, calling us on 101 or visiting www.herts.police.uk/report and using our online reporting feature. Alternatively if you wish to remain anonymous you can contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or use their online reporting form at www.crimestoppers-uk.org.

Thank you very much for your time, I look forward to hearing any information you may have.

PCSO Ben James 6490 Watford Safer Neighbourhood Team.

Watford Borough Council has launched a new campaign to show how donations to homelessness charities can change lives.

The campaign aims to raise awareness to the potential problems surrounding homelessness and begging, and shows how your donations can change the lives of people who are homeless in Watford.

They have created two films that talk about why donating directly to local charities rather than people on the street can have a bigger impact. Click here to watch https://www.watford.gov.uk/sparechange

Donations to homelessness charities can help provide vital support to those who are homeless in our town. By helping to provide the basics, such as food, clean clothes and shelter, your donations will make a huge impact.

Crucially, they also help charities provide trained professionals to give those who are homeless tailored support throughout their entire journey.

You can donate to any of Watford’s homelessness charities using the links below

New Hope @ https://www.newhope.org.uk/

GROW @ http://growhostel.org.uk/

Herts Young Homeless @ https://www.hyh.org.uk/

OneYMCA Watford @ https://oneymca.org/

To help protect you in your home, Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service is committed to providing you with a free Safe and well visit, this incorporates fire safety information and, if necessary, a free smoke detector.

The visit is carried out at your convenience and is absolutely free of charge. During the visit, fire service personnel will be able to give you advice on how to stay safe in your home and will fit, free of charge, a smoke detector if it is required.

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The appointment lasts no more than an hour and we’ll give you the advice you need to keep your home safe.

They will cover topics such as:

Electrical Safety, Cooking Safety, Making an escape plan, What to do if there is a fire, Keeping Children safe, Bedtime routines, Keeping warm in the winter, Eating and drinking properly, Preventing falls and loneliness

All fire service personnel will be in uniform and show ID cards. If you would like a visit please contact your nearest Fire Station either by telephone or email:

Garston Fire Station call on 01923 672825 or email Garston.fire@hertfordshire.gov.uk

Watford Fire Station call on 01923 481900 or email Watford.fire@hertfordshire.gov.uk

If you would like more information regarding safe and well visits go to: www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/fire

Mencap is running a national survey of people with a learning disability in the UK!  This national survey will be a chance for people with a learning disability to tell them about their everyday lives and experiences.

People with learning disabilities are invited to complete this survey which will bring thoughts from across the UK together.

Click here https://email.mencap.org.uk/4P14-HAGR-30KM4E-CCPU4-1/c.aspx to go to the survey.

The results will help Mencap to provide better support and further improve the lives of people with a learning disability.

If you see someone sleeping rough in Watford, please let them know about SWEP+ (Severe Weather Emergency Protocol)

The winter night shelter, known as SWEP+, is running tonight and then EVERY night in February and March.

Severe weather emergency protocol (SWEP) aims to get rough sleepers off the streets during periods of below zero night-time temperatures, by providing emergency accommodation.

There are three ways to access this life-saving service;

Call New Hope’s 24/7 number 0300 012 0168.

Visit the Haven on Whippendell Road between 8.30am and 3.30pm.

Visit the police station (Shady Lane) between 8pm and 10pm.

SWEP+ is run in partnership with Watford Borough Council and local churches.

Hertfordshire County Council (HCC) has announced that funding will continue from April for the Meriden bus services currently being supported on a short-term basis.

The services to benefit from this longer-term funding are the W1, W2, W3 & W4 which have been run by Red Eagle since HCC stepped in to provide temporary emergency funding last October.

From April, Red Eagle will be providing part of this operation on a commercial basis, with support from HCC for the rest.

The Uno 635, which also runs through the Meriden, is run commercially without assistance from HCC. As far as we know, this service will also continue as Uno have not indicated otherwise.

Councillor Derrick Ashley, Executive Member for Growth, Infrastructure, Planning and the Economy, said: “We know that people depend on these services for access to work, education, shops, personal services and social events so we are pleased to be in a position to be able to reassure them that they will continue to operate. However, some commercial services across the county generate little or no real profit so we could be called on to support them at any time, putting more stress on budgets. The best advice we can give to secure the future of your local bus service is by using it whenever possible.”

The MRA is proud to announce that one of our Committee Members, Brenda Batchelor, was one of five winners of Watford Community Housing’s Hamper for Heroes scheme.

All the nominees were invited to attend an afternoon tea at Leavesden Green Community Centre where the winners were announced.

Brenda was recognised for all the great work she does in the local community.  Brenda is an active member of the Meriden Residents Association and runs regular coffee mornings on our behalf.  She recently volunteered to run the refreshments stand (single-handedly) for WCH’s Ladies’ Day event.

Well done to all the winners. You can read more about this at https://www.wcht.org.uk/…/honouring-unsung-heroes-in-the-l…/.

Everyone had a great time at our Children’s Christmas Party at the Meriden Community Centre on Saturday 8th December.

We would like to say a massive thank you to Mulalley for sponsoring the MRA party, which enabled us to put the event on completely free of charge. 

Committee members Brenda, Steve and Marion with Danny as he handed over the cheque from Mulalley.

The MRA are very grateful to all the companies that supported us by providing gifts for the adult raffle.  We had some fantastic prizes from our local shops/companies and a bit further afield.

 Don from our local Meriden Fish Bar gave us a voucher to be used in the raffle.

Thank you to our local Co-op for donating mince pies for our Children’s Christmas Party. Thanks Ash!  

Suren from Sweets for All was very generous in donating a jar of sweets for our competition and also a voucher and sweets.

Everyone Active donated the tickets we asked for to their pantomime Cinderella, and also gave us two extra raffle prizes of free membership to the gym, classes and swimming. 

The many prizes we had in our adult raffle looked amazing all laid out.

We would also like to thank all the volunteers (just over 30) that came along to help at our Children’s Christmas Party.  Everyone worked so hard beforehand, during and after the party, and we couldn’t have managed without you. 

Below is a selection of photos taken during the party.  In no particular order! Enjoy!

Big thanks also to Tasha at the Meriden Community Centre for letting us have both halls free of charge.  This enabled us to invite people along that did not have children, for a free cuppa and mince pie, it was great to see so many people from the community there.