Maida Vale Police Meeting

There was a great turnout on Monday evening for the police meeting that we asked the Council to organise. Representatives from the Maida Vale Safer Neighbourhoods Team, Civicwatch and the Maida Vale Estate Office were all present, along with around 50 local residents. We're really grateful that local residents gave up their Monday evenings to come and discuss their concerns regarding crime and anti-social behaviour, and there was some real progress made.

The Police/Civicwatch teams, led by Ian Russell and Aleks Pogroszewski, began by highlighting some welcome successes in Maida Vale in recent months:

• Dibdin House: anti-social behaviour has been severely cut in Dibdin House, after local residents and councillors brought the problems to the attention of the police in the middle of last year. The planning proposals about to be laid before Westminster's planning committee may, in our opinion, also contribute to further 'designing out' the potential for misbehaviour.
• Glasgow House: anti-social behaviour in Glasgow House appears to have been successfully disrupted in recent weeks, and the police are keeping a close eye on the situation. A review of security arrangements has taken place, including changes to the concierge service. Areas of the property where misbehaviour was occurring have now been padlocked.

We then went straight into questions and comments from the floor, last for over an hour. Local residents and police officers discussed, among other things, Oak Tree House, the rest of the Scottish Towers, graffiti, lighting around Carlton Vale, Paddington Rec and begging in Elgin Avenue. We also discussed wider issues of provision for activities for younger people and the perception of crime in our local area. Police and Civicwatch officers have agreed to go away and look at each individual case to feed into their long-term problem solving.

Residents were urged to make sure that they report patterns of non-emergency anti-social behaviour to the Westminster hotline - 7 641 3000. Community intelligence helps the police build up a picture of any emerging problems - and the police rely on residents to provide that intelligence.

If you'd like to get in touch with your local police team, details can be found here.

Thanks again to all who came.

Alastair, Jan and Lee