Rents: breathtakingly high

Living in London is an expensive pleasure. Overall, the UK has high housing costs. The national average is £1246 per month. All East London boroughs are above this average, with Havering being the cheapest at £1338. In Barking and Dagenham, you’ll have to fork out £1404. If you move to the sought-after Tower Hamlets, on the other hand, you will have to pay £2185 per month. This is according to the Office for National Statistics.

Shredding unit for bulky cardboard boxes

England’s first public shredder for cardboard boxes has been installed in the Barking Riverside development area. 2,000 new flats have been built in the area, with 8,000 more to follow. Many of the furniture and appliances required for this are delivered in cardboard boxes. The public shredding plant is not just about shredding the cardboard, the system also includes a pipe system through which the shreds are extracted for recycling.

28 parks and green spaces

Our twin city is one of the greenest boroughs in London: 28 parks and green spaces with a total area of 463 hectares are available. That’s as much as 1000 soccer pitches. Now the city is asking all citizens which parks they use and how they like them. And above all, it is asking for suggestions on what can be improved, what should be done for safety and whether accessibility can be improved. The survey will run until March 31, when it will be the turn of the administration and planners to put the suggestions into action.

Nowhere so many children

Barking and Dagenham Borough Council has now announced the latest official population figures. According to the figures, the Borough now has almost 200,000 inhabitants, namely 219,992. And: nowhere in England and Wales is there a place with such a large proportion of young people, 57,144 are under 16. The proportion of the “non-white British” population, 69.1%, is not a record for London, however, only 10th place. But the average price of buying a house is the lowest in London at £380,000.

“We have to build”

Darren Rodwell, Leader of the Council, has spoken out under this headline. One in 23 children is homeless in our twin city. He is taking the generation that built the Becontree district after the First World War as his role model. At that time, an entire district was created for war returnees and for the many Ford employees. Rodwell addresses the government. Instead of spending £60 million a week on housing the homeless in London, the money should be spent on creating affordable housing.

Inclusive digital zones

At Barking Learning Center and Dagenham Library, the twin town has set up “inclusive digital zones.” There, computers are available that are specially adapted to the needs of disabled people. These include speech recognition and magnification, for example, as well as special keyboards. The associated furniture is adjustable and can be adapted to the respective needs. Also important for success: there are professionally trained instructors to help with the handling of the equipment.