Double blessing, or double edged sword?

4:40pm Monday 23rd June 2008

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A few years ago, I was lucky to receive funding to set up my own business. I came to realise that the reason I got the support depended on where I lived – not just which area, but which side of the street!

There’s an unusual reason for this; my road is right on the edge of two different zones. On the evenly numbered side of the road, the houses are in Leytonstone Ward and are represented by Clyde Loakes and the Labour party. Whereas on the "odd" side, is Cann Hall Ward, represented by Keith Rayner and the Lib Dems.

So we have a situation where my neighbours on the even side of the street live in Leytonstone, a fairly prosperous and up-coming area, while I live in Cann Hall, an area of social deprivation. But hang on - it's the same street! Yet this classification of “social deprivation” was one of the factors in securing funding for my business.

I am reminded of the comedy sketch featuring John Cleese and the two Ronnies – “I look up to him as he is upper class, but I look down on him as he is lower class” and wonder whether it’s still relevant. Do people care about class anymore? Would my house be worth more on the other side of the road? Do people “look down” on me?

Our street doesn’t just have two sets of councillors - we also have two sets of police neighbourhood teams walking the beat. This sounds like a benefit, but it can be confusing. If we see a problem on the other side of the street, who we gonna call? Our Sergeant, or theirs?

It's also hard to be co-ordinated while on the border. My neighbours go to one Police Ward Panel meeting, and we go to another. The same thing happens with Community Council. Now, at both of these meetings, priorities are set by the residents for the council to focus on, and for the police to tackle. On the one hand this sounds like the best of both worlds - getting to have our say twice – but in reality we are on the cusp of both areas, so what concerns us might not be relevant to other people who are more central in either zone, and we may end up with less attention for our issues rather than more.

Luckily, while the old ward borders are respected for some issues, common sense prevails in others. We only have one visit from the bin men, and that's just as well in a cul-de-sac!

At the end of the day, how much does it matter where we live?

I love Leytonstone, and as long as everyone embraces the whole area and works together, surely that’s all that matters.