Contact points

Emergencies and general enquiries

Telephone and minicom

Telephone: Waltham Forest Direct on 020 8496 3000

Minicom: 020 8496 3010 - a 24 hour minicom service is available.

Waltham Forest Direct provides a vital control and co-ordination link with the community and the Council's emergency resources at all times outside normal working hours.

Services provided

General enquiries

A range of services are used and specified by client departments. These services centre around communication systems between Council officers and users of Council services such as Housing Department tenants and other residents. The service effectively acts as an intermediary between the parties involved in an emergency incident which may be anything from a broken window to a major disaster. Information is received by telephone and forwarded to the appropriate agency whether that is a Council Duty Officer, a housing contractor, a social worker, a highways and sewer crew operative, or one of the emergency services (police, fire, etc.)

Information can be forwarded in a variety of ways - duty officers and operatives can be contacted by either telephone or radio, who will then react to the incident personally. Alternatively, information concerning non-urgent housing repairs can be directly entered into the Housing computer system which will generate a command for remedial work to be carried out the next working day.

General information and enquiries from the public are also dealt with by the service outside normal working hours.

Environmental Health emergencies

There is an Environmental Health Officer on call 24hrs, 365 days a year, to assist emergency services in dealing with environmental problems involving serious events, fatalities, imminent risks to health or acute pollution of the environment. Please contact Waltham Forest Direct on 020 8496 3000

Street Services emergencies

A Street Services Supervisor is available 24hrs, 365 days a year to deal with emergencies on the public highway such as clearing of debris or dangerous spillages following road traffic accidents. Please contact Waltham Forest Direct on 020 8496 3000

Lifts, controlled entry doors and roof alarms

The service also provides a 24 hour, 365 day a year, contact point and call-out service for incidents involving controlled entry doors, lifts, and Council buildings using the Scancom (integrated alarm system). Fire and intruder alarm signals and defects to controlled entry doors and lifts are passed to the service who then instigate the most appropriate remedial action. Information is also held on, premises keyholders, caretakers etc.

CCTV central monitoring

Contact point (daytime only): Waltham Forest Direct on 020 8496 3000

The Council designed the CCTV scheme in consultation with the Police and local businesses using their knowledge of the borough and local crime patterns to decide the most appropriate locations for the cameras.

The main aims of the scheme are to make the borough a safe and secure environment for residents and visitors alike.

The Central Control Room for the CCTV cameras are monitored and controlled by operators 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

All the Control Room monitoring staff have been trained by the Security Industries Training Organisation (SITO) and in observation techniques by the Police working under a strict Code of Practice.

Pictures from all the cameras are recorded on videotape which may be used as evidence in court in the event of a crime taking place. If the film is not required for evidence it is destroyed.

Details of the policies can be found on the CCTV page. There is also information on the CCTV - Housing page, and feedback on CCTV from a Scrutiny Panel:

Flooding

Environment Agency Floodline

Main pipelines

Further information on pipelines can be found on the Highway Records page.

Radiation

Further information on radiation issues can be found on the following websites:

Further information

For more information on Emergency Response and Planning, please go back to our Emergency Planning information.

For queries concerning the information shown on this page, please contact Waltham Forest Direct on 020 8496 3000. or  email wfdirect@walthamforest.gov.uk.

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