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.