Jan's Surgery This Saturday

Jan will be holding her surgery this Saturday, 2 June, between 10am and 11am in the Pavilion, Paddington Rec.

If you have any problems or issues we can help you with, please do come along.

Jan

Randolph Avenue: New Proposals

Last year we undertook a wide-ranging survey of Randolph Avenue residents regarding the problem of double parking on their street. We had a huge response - around half of the households on the street sent back their thoughts - and they were overwhelmingly in favour of getting something done. Most local residents wanted a solution which combined echelon parking with the existing 2-way traffic in the street. So, we asked Council officers to put together a proposal, which is now ready for residents to examine and comment.

Traffic officers will be bringing the proposals for Randolph Avenue to the next Maida Vale Area Forum, which will be held at the Amadeus Centre, 50 Shirland Road on Tuesday 26 June from 7pm onwards. Alternatively, we are also very happy to send out the proposal by e-mail (or post) to any resident who would like a copy. Please let us know (maidavale@maidavaleconservatives.com) if you would like to see the proposal.

Alastair, Jan and Lee

CityWest Proposals

Several months ago we reported how CityWest Homes were preparing to do further works to some villages in Maida Vale (see here). CityWest have now come back with their first proposal.

The aim of the work is to bring all properties up to the CityWest Technical Standard, with properties in Carlton Vale, Elgin Avenue, Randolph Avenue and Randolph Gardens being in the first wave of works.

We've asked for specific information on what is proposed for each individual street and property. We'll let you know when we receive further information.

Lee

(Photo of Torridon House courtesy of CityWest Homes)

Thanks!

Maida Vale Conservatives: Best Local Government Blog 2007

We'd just like to thank everyone who has voted for us in the ConservativeHome Blog Awards over the last few weeks. On Wednesday evening we were awarded the "Best Local Government Blog" award at an event near City Hall hosted by Nadine Dorries MP.

Thanks also to Sam and Tim of ConservativeHome for all of the support they give to all of us who are blogging.

You can find out more here.

Alastair, Jan and Lee

Maida Vale Area Forum Report

The latest Maida Vale Area Forum newsletter has been uploaded onto the Westminster Council website. You can download it here.

Lee

Thames Works Update

Thames continue to progress down Delaware Road, and are now beginning to free up more spaces at the top of the road (close to Elgin Avenue). Currently most of the spaces from the BBC down to Sutherland Avenue are suspended. The signs state that this stage of the work should be completed by 31 May. We'll see.

Thames are also entering Castellain Road today (temporarily for the moment) as part of their works on Sutherland Avenue.

Lee

The incredible disappearing hole

Another Thames triumph:

We don't know why this hole appeared, nor why it remained for over a month, nor why it suddenly disappeared a week ago ... but I suppose we should be grateful that it's gone. It would be nice though, if Thames had told us what the problem was (and why it was left untouched for weeks on end). It was only after we got in touch with Thames several weeks ago and told them to fill it in that they acted (and they weren't terribly quick to do that).

Apparently Thames are coming back to us with an answer. We'll believe that when we see it ...

Lee

Going Green in Maida Vale

As local Councillors, we're very keen to promote recycling as much as we can. That's why, when Wymering Road Residents Association approached us about starting a garden waste collection, we were delighted to help. We put them in touch with Council officers and the first collection from Wymering was last Wednesday. We're now talking with Essendine Mansions about doing the same.

Please do contact us if you'd like to discuss possible garden waste collections. It's the little things like these that really do make the difference.

Lee

St. George's watch Mayor Making

Last night was the annual Council meeting, where all Councillors come together to elect Westminster's Lord Mayor for the coming year.

Along with being delighted to see our colleague, Carolyn Keen, elected to become the Lord Mayor for the next year, we also welcomed two visitors from St. George's School, who came along to watch the meeting. Loic, the Citizenship teacher at St. George's, and Ashish, a Year 9 pupil, came along to see the ceremony at Westminster City Hall and to the reception afterwards. They had good chats with Simon Milton, the Leader of Westminster Council, several senior officers, Mark Field MP and a number of our colleagues.

Thanks to Loic and Ashish for coming along.

Alastair

Civicwatch Meeting

Last Friday afternoon I had the opportunity to sit in on a crime and anti-social behaviour planning meeting for Maida Vale.

These regular meetings, coordinated by the Council's Civicwatch team, bring together the local police, the Council, CityWest Homes, the City of Westminster College and others to discuss ways to reduce anti-social behaviour in our area.

Last Friday, discussions centred around (and/or I raised) the continuing problems with graffiti, the need to reduce problems in and around the Rec (which a number of residents continue to write to us about), the overspill problems from the College around Elgin Avenue and the usual minor issues with school kids from St. Augustine's and St. George's.

Work continues on the graffiti issue and the people involved have been identified - but it is difficult to prosecute until they have been caught in the act. One individual has already been caught on Morshead Road. There is also a lot of work going on to hammer home the message that College students need to stop treating Elgin Avenue and the Rec as a doss-house. The College does seem to be slowly engaging on this.

Please do let us know if you have any thoughts, comments or experiences.

Lee

PS The picture above was taken last year (just to clarify!) and we got the graffiti removed immediately.

Alastair's Surgery This Evening

Alastair will be holding his surgery this Tuesday, 15 May, between 7pm and 8pm at the Maida Centre, Lanark Road.

If you have any problems or issues we can help you with, please do come along.

Alastair

Dibdin House Meeting

On Friday, Lee and I met with representatives of Pathmeads, the managing agent for Dibdin House, to discuss the practical implications of the recent planning application (see here).

We spent an hour and a half discussing the steps that Pathmeads are taking to ensure any minimise inconvenience during the imminent works period. We also spent a good deal of time working through outstanding concerns from a number of residents which have been raised in recent weeks.

Although Pathmeads are by no means perfect (and we've had major issues with them in the past), they do seem to be making an effort with the Dibdin works. We are pleased to see that they have responded to residents concerns about the lack of agent representatives on site, the ability for residents to seek property transfers and, of course, the willingness to attempt to reduce anti-social behaviour in the property with the proposed design changes. Since the meeting, Pathmeads have also agreed to raise their game with regards to communications with residents.

If any Dibdin residents would like to discuss the forthcoming works, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Jan and Lee

Delaware Road: Thames update

The waterworks in Delaware Road seem to be progressing at a steady pace and, to date, we have not had the same general level of ineptitude from Thames experienced on the other side of Elgin Avenue over the last few months.

Thames seem to be making progress down the road, and signs are now up ready to suspend the remainder of the parking moving towards Sunderland Avenue. The good news, though, is that some of the parking spaces near the Elgin Avenue junction have started to come back on line.

Please do let us know if you are having problems in Delaware with Thames and we will be very happy to take them up.

Lee

Carlton Vale: Wall Repaired

We're still not massively sure why half a wall disappeared on Carlton Vale the other week but, having noticed that it wasn't being repaired, we contacted CityWest Homes. The work has now been completed.

Lee

Cleaning up

And the white goods award for this week goes to two roads (sadly) -

We have arranged to be cleared a fridge freezer from the junction of Carlton Vale and Randolph Avenue, and a second fridge freezer from the junction of Widley Road and Essendine Road.

Dumping - in all forms - is very anti-social, particularly when Westminster Council will pick up two bulky items for free. Westminster will pursue legal action against offenders.

Lee

PS We've also arranged the removal of a random wooden pallet from Grantully Road and the obligatory shopping trolley which has appeared on Lanark Road.

Full Council

Just a quick update on the council meeting that happened last week -

Both Alastair and I had the opportunity to raise points during Question Time. I asked a question about Westminster's 24-hour Noise Team and recent disturbances on Kilburn High Road and Lanark Road - the Cabinet Member for Community Protection agreed to look into both issues.

Alastair asked another question about the Thames Water issues to the Cabinet Member for Street Environment, who continues to monitor the situation.

Alastair was also due to make a speech on planning but, sadly, the debate ran out of time - maybe next time!

Lee

Randolph Avenue:Erasing the Pen Marks

A couple of weeks ago, some highly irritating individual vandalised the pavement at the entrance to Paddington Rec in Randolph Avenue. Not big or clever.

As it happens, we'd agreed with Westminster Council the replacement of the paving slabs beforehand, so the artwork wasn't around for very long. That said, we are well aware that some people do seem to be getting quite excited with their felt tips at the moment around Maida Vale. One such person has been caught so far (on Morshead Road). We're working closely with police to catch the rest.

If you know of any graffiti in Maida Vale, please do let us know and we'll get it removed.

Lee

Safer Neighbourhoods Team Update

The most recent news update from the Safer Neighbourhoods Team is now available. Please click on the picture above to download (and also to spot the deliberate mistake).

Lee

Water Supply in Elgin Avenue / Shirland Road

Thames have now provided more information regarding the supply problems in some roads in Maida Vale yesterday:

"Following routine maintenance and cleaning of a water main in SutherlandAvenue, W9, last night, higher than normal levels of chlorine were detected in the local supply. The cause was established as two unsealed valves within the pipe system. Once identified, the valves were sealed and the pipes were flushed to remove any residual traces."

Although we have been advised by public health bodies that the levels during this event posed no significant risk to public health, we recognise that they were beyond acceptable limits for our customers. Customers who reported a strong taste or smell of chlorine were advised as a precautionary measure not to use the water for drinking, cooking or washingand alternative supplies were delivered to the affected areas.

Sampling and flushing of the network continued until 4am, when customers were notified that the water was safe to drink and use. Thames Water notified all relevant authorities, including the Health Protection Agency, Westminster City Council and the Drinking Water Inspectorate."

If any resident still has a problem with their water supply, please call Thames Water on 0845 9200 800.

And please do let us know if we can be of help in any way on this matter.

Jan

(All roads that may have been affected by this problem: Elgin Ave, Lanhill Rd, Walterton Rd, Chippenham Rd, Oakington Rd, Shirland Rd, Surrendale Pl, Sutherland Av, Chippenham Rd, Marylands Rd, Saltram Cres, Second Ave, Great Western Rd, Warlock Rd, Fermoy Rd, Portnall Rd, Grand Union Cl, Fernhead Rd, Bravington Rd, Edbrooke Rd, Sevington St, Harrow Rd, Walterton Rd, Goldney Rd, Fordingley Rd, Woodfield Rd, Hormea Rd, Grittleton Rd, Denholme Rd).

Water Supply Problem in Elgin Avenue / Shirland Road

Thames Water have reported a problem with the water supply serving Elgin Avenue and Shirland Road (and a number of other roads outside the ward). As a result, some disruption to the supply may have been noted by residents in the last few hours.

We'll let you know when we have more information.

Lee

Jan's Surgery This Saturday

Jan is holding her usual surgery this Saturday (5th May), between 10 and 11am at the Pavilion in Paddington Rec.

If you have any problems that we can help you with, please do come along.

Jan