Delaware Road: Street Surgery

Last Saturday, we held another of our regular Street Surgeries in Delaware Road, calling on residents and checking that they were happy with the Council and the services it provides.

We were also grateful to be joined by Kit Malthouse, the Conservative candidate for our area in May's Greater London Assembly. Kit spent the morning calling on residents in our area who look set to give him a great big thumbs up in a few weeks time. Kit will be a fantastic representative for Maida Vale and, working with Mayor Boris, he will be just the fresh start that London needs after so many years of failure.

Almost everyone we spoke to on Saturday was very happy with the services provided by Westminster. There was some concern about car crime in Delaware Road - which we know the police are working on - and we will certainly feedback the concerns.

Lee

Jan's Surgery This Saturday

Jan will be holding her usual surgery this Saturday, 1 March, in the cafe of Paddington Rec, between 10am and 11am.

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

Jan

Maida Vale Tube: More delays

Delays, delays, delays.

Transport for London have, yet again, pushed back the expected completion date for the Maida Vale tube works - this time from February to early July. This is (by our count) the fourth time they have extended the works time and will mean finishing almost a year after they were originally intended to. This is really unacceptable.

Maida Vale tube currently looks a mess. And it has done for the best part of a year. The continued presence of the scaffolding not only makes Elgin Parade look like a building site, but it is also does nothing to promote community safety or help the businesses next door.

What is particularly disappointing is the attitude of TfL over this issue - a kind of blase "we'll finish when we are ready, it's all the fault of Metronet anyway" approach. Funny that, because when we asked last year (after the original delay) if this had anything to do with Metronet, we were assured this wasn't the case. TfL can't even get their story straight on the excuse for the delays.

Thanks, Ken. Maida Vale is being let down again.

Lee

Grimebusters: 19 February

In the last couple of weeks we have reported:

• Shirland Road: graffiti on the wall in front of Oak Tree House and on the phone and post boxes close to the Elgin Avenue junction
• Lauderdale Road: graffiti on the side of the wall of the old "Star Racing" premises
• Carlton Vale: graffiti on the wall of two houses close to Lanark Road and on the telephone box at the Randolph Avenue junction
• Randolph Gardens: graffiti on the telephone box at the junction with Kilburn Park Road
• Lanark Road: graffiti on the wall in front of the off-road car park opposite Dundee House
• Elgin Avenue: graffiti on the telephone box close to the junction with Biddulph Road

If you spot any graffiti or dumped rubbish please let us know and we will get it sorted.

Lee

Play Project: Meeting with Parents

Earlier this week we attended a meeting at the Maida Vale Play Project where local parents had the opportunity to question Council officers from Westminster's Children's Services department.

The Play Project is a much-loved centre which supports local mums and dads to work safe in the knowledge that their children are being looked after once school has finished. The Play Project is due to move from its present location (behind the cafe) to a newly refurbished Pavilion later in the year. Council officers have, however, begun a consultation about its future, because of lower than hoped attendance figures and the fact that there are three local facilities for children within a few hundred metres of each other.

The turnout for the meeting was very high and parents clearly stated their opposition to closure. Before the meeting we had asked Cllr Sarah Richardson, who will take the eventual decision on the future of the Play Project, to come along. She agreed to attend and assured parents that she had heard the message and would look again at the closure proposal. She asked for a couple of weeks to go through the proposal again and then would come back to parents.

We also spoke on behalf of parents to outline our opposition to closure. We are very happy to listen to all the proposals that the Council puts forward and we intend to be a constructive support in this debate. We also know that the Council has a balance to strike. However, we don't believe the interests of parents would be served by closure and we will support local parents all the way in their campaign to save the Play Project.

Alastair, Jan and Lee

Tescos: Licensing Appeal

Back in November, we joined a number of Maida Vale residents in objecting to proposals from Tescos to sell alcohol from their Lanark Road convenience store.

At the time, we felt it an inappopriate location to sell alcohol which could encourage street drinking and further increase traffic in the area. We also agreed with local residents that Maida Vale/Little Venice was sufficiently well served with licensed premises not to need another one.

After several months of deliberations, the court decision was delivered last well and Tescos has been permitted to sell alcohol during normal hours from the store. Although this is a disappointment, we are glad that, in her decision, the judge expressed sympathy with local residents about the potential problems this might cause. She also imposed a number of conditions on sale, which we all must make sure Tescos adhere to. They include:

• no increase in the number of deliveries to the store;
• the presence of a member of staff in the car park between 2.30pm and 5pm to supervise traffic and ensure the safety of local school children;
• the installation of a CCTV camera;
• no special offers or alcoholic promotions, and;
• no sale of 'super strength' alcohol.

The judge also specifically stated that any increase in street drinking in the local area would be grounds for a review of the licence.

Lee

Maida Vale Play Project

Last week letters went out from the Council's Children Services department to begin a consultation on the future of the Maida Vale Play Project, based in Paddington Rec.

The Play Project is a much-loved amenity for local mums and dads, supporting them in their childcare needs and allowing many to return to work. In recent years the number of children using the Project has declined, meaning the service is significantly under-capacity. As a result, the Children Services department have begun to speak to parents about the possible closure of the Project and the transfer to nearby services at Essendine and St. Augustine's Schools, with the intention of spending more money to develop a play wardens scheme in the Rec.

We have been working very closely with local parents since the department first announced the consultation. As local Councillors, we are committed to ensuring a first class childcare service for Maida Vale residents, and it is important that the Council takes parents with children at the centre along with them in any decision made. Unlike some, we are not interested on grandstanding on this issue. But what we will do - and we will do very loudly if necessary - is make sure that the needs and wishes of local parents are taken into account during the decision.

Already we have made a difference for local parents. Amidst concern that the consultation period was not long enough and that not all parents had received full information, we successfully lobbied the Department to begin another round of consultation letters and to extend the deadline by a further fortnight. Local parents must have confidence that they are being listened to.

We are here to help. If you use the Play Project and are concerned about its future, please do get in touch. It is important that all voices are heard now, during the consultation before any decision is made.

Alastair, Jan and Lee

Shirland Road: Street Surgery

Last week, we carried out another one of our regular street surgeries in Shirland Road.

It's really important that we make sure the Council is serving all the residents of Maida Vale - that's why we knock on doors so often! Most of the residents we spoke to were very happy with the services they receive from the Council and thought that we offered excellent value for money. We're taking away a couple of issues regarding housing (hello PCHA, as usual) which hopefully we can work through to improve.

If you have any issues where you think we may be able to help, please get in touch.

Lee

Carlton Vale: Crossing Approved!

We've just heard from the Transportation Department that the crossing on Carlton Vale has been approved and will be installed shortly.

This is great news! We have worked with local residents for years to convince the Council that a crossing was needed and we're very glad that one will shortly be provided.

Jan