Christmas Tree Recycling

Go green when you take the tinsel off!

Westminster Council is again offering residents the opportunity to recycle their Christmas trees, between Wednesday 2nd January and Tuesday 15th January.

Drop-off points in our local area are:

• Grantully Road: at the junction with Ashworth Road, next to the existing recycling bins
• Paddington Rec
• Warwick Avenue: on the pavement in the middle of the road, near the tube station

Alastair

Carlton Vale: Pedestrian Crossing

One of the issues I have been working on almost since I first became a Councillor thirteen years ago has been improving safety around Carlton Vale.

Our part of Carlton Vale can be a particularly busy stretch of road, acting as a short-cut through from Kilburn/Queen's Park/Brent to Edgware Road and then onwards to the Finchley Road and St. John's Wood. The road does not, however, have an adequate crossing at any point between Dibdin House and the junction with Kilburn Park Road - a real problem for the large number of elderly residents and young families living nearby and the school children walking to St. Augustines.

We've been working closely with local residents from Carlton Vale, Thurso House and Torridon House for a number of years to lobby the Council's Transportation Department to install a crossing. And, hopefully, we are finally close to being successful!

The council is currently consulting on plans to provide a zebra crossing over Carlton Vale at the Carlton Vale-Randolph Avenue crossing. If you would like to see the plans or comment, please do get in touch and we can arrange for them to be sent. The consultation period ends on 11 January.

Jan

Happy Christmas

Season's greetings from all three of us. Hope you have a good one!

Alastair, Jan and Lee

Motor Vehicle Crime: Update

When the Maida Vale Safer Neighbourhoods police team asked local residents last year for their major priorities to tackle crime, it was theft and vandalism against cars which came the highest on their list. It is something which we both hear about and see the consequences of (smashed glass on the pavement) too often.

The police team have provided us with an update on their latest efforts to tackle the problem:

• intelligence continues to be gathered against 13 identified regular offenders who are responsible for a disproportionate amount of crime in our local area (with a majority of these currently in prison/on remand)
• issues continued to be regularly discussed at the local Civicwatch briefing sessions, bringing together the police team, the council, City of Westminster College, CityWest Homes and others
• decoy operations have been run in our streets, resulting in one arrest

The majority of crimes against vehicles are speculative, often because criminals think they can get lucky. The best way to reduce the chances of damage is to remove all valuable from sight and to remove the tell-tale signs of any valuables (such as the marks left on the windowscreen from TomTom holders).

Our local Safer Neighbourhoods team are based in Harrow Road. Contact details can be found to the right.

Please do get in touch if you would like to discuss this any further. We've been working closely, for example, with residents in Delaware Road to reduce car crime in the last month or so, and we'd be very happy to help in any way we can.

Alastair

Kilburn State: Update

Earlier in the year we highlighted a petition to save the Kilburn State which, although a little bit out of our area, is a really important part of our local heritage and history.

Although no final decision has been made, local campaigners are highlighting how the previous sale (which intended to convert the building into flats) fell through in the Autumn. Rank-Mecca, the owner of the old bingo hall, are now looking for alternative buyers.

Lee

Alastair's Surgery This Tuesday

Alastair will be holding another of his surgeries this Tuesday, 11 December, between 7pm and 8pm in the Maida Centre, Lanark Road.

Please do come along if you have any issues you would like to discuss.

Alastair

Carlton Vale: 10th Anniversary Party

Last Tuesday Carlton Vale TMO held a party celebrating the 10th anniversary of the creation of their Tenant Management Organisation.

The event was well attended and we also went along to share in their celebration. It was my predecessor, Ronnie, who opened the TMO in 1997 - and the pictures are still proudly on the wall!

Many thanks for our invite to Mary and, particularly to Kay, who do so much to ensure the success of Carlton Vale's exceptionally successful TMO (and more). We had a great time.

Lee

Building Schools for the Future: St. George's and St. Augustine's

There will be a further opportunity to learn about the changes to St. George's and St. Augustine's Schools at meetings this Thursday, 6 December. Please do come along if you interested in finding out how our local schools will be improved for the benefit of all local residents.

Details of the events are -

• St. George's School: between 3.30pm and 7pm on site
• St. Augustine's School: between 3.30pm and 7pm on site

Jan

Westminster Older People's Tea Dance: This Sunday

A very special event is happening this Sunday, where Westminster Council will be holding its first Tea Dance for older residents. The event, organised by our wonderful older people's champion, Cllr Christabel Flight, will be held at Grosvenor House Hotel between 2 and 4.30pm and is free for all older residents who live in Maida Vale and Westminster. There are 1,000 places and they are going fast!

If you would like to attend you can e-mail Christabel on cllrflight21@btinternet.com.

More information can be found here.

Lee