Paddington Rec: Bowling Green

There's still time to get your thoughts to us on the future of the Paddington Rec Bowling Green - please let us know what you think by the end of Thursday.

Already we've had a great response from local residents, by e-mail (maidavale@maidavaleconservatives.com) and telephone - many thanks to everyone who has sent in their comments. And don't forget that local residents have also put together an online survey (click here) - so do let us know what you think.

Lee

Holding Response from Thames on water burst

Just a short note to say that we've received a holding response from Thames following our request for a full explanation on the Kilburn Park/Tollgate Gardens burst last week. We also asked them to justify the regular pattern of water bursts in our area (Dibdin House, Maida Vale/Edgware Road, Elgin Avenue) in the last year or so.

Apparently, the water main has now been taken to the rather-grandly named "Research & Development Laboratory" and further information will be passed to us once tests have been run.

We'll keep you updated.

Jan

Working for our social housing

Last Monday, all three of us took the new Cabinet Member for Housing, Cllr Philippa Roe, around Maida Vale to introduce her to all of our social housing properties and to discuss key issues that we believe need attention.

The tour began outside the Maida Centre, Lanark Road and took in the Scottish Towers, Carlton Vale, Randolph Gardens, Tollgate Gardens, Kilburn Park Road and Shirland Road. We concentrated particularly on a number of areas:

• Large Scottish Towers: the need to provide more support for the Scottish Towers TMO and for Glasgow House;
• Tollgate Gardens: the need to improve the look and feel of Tollgate for the benefit of all residents;
• Oak Tree House/Beechcroft House: the need to improve security and lighting in both of these properties, and;
• showing Philippa the success stories - like ABC Co-op, Torridon House and Carlton Vale RMO - which serve local residents so well.

During our visit we also picked up a number of issues which we have asked to be dealt with

• graffiti in and dumping outside Beechcroft House;
• lighting on Oak Tree House;
• lighting on Lanark Road, and;
• graffiti and weeds in Tollgate Gardens.

Jan, Alastair and Lee

Tollgate Gardens: Water Burst

As all affected residents are aware, there was another water mains burst in Maida Vale on Thursday morning, affecting a number of residential properties, shops and closing the main Edgware Road near Tollgate Gardens.

A water mains burst just over the border in Brent at approximately 5.30am on Saturday morning, creating a local flood in Oxford Road (affecting Tollgate) and Kilburn Park. Westminster officers were on site quickly and helped with the road diversion, whilst officers from Brent managed the area of the leak. The Estate Manager, Montserrat, spent most of the day in or around Tollgate dealing with the issues that arose.

Water was cut off from some properties for a number of hours during Thursday, although Thames assured us that most residents had supply restored (at a slightly lower pressure) by early afternoon on Thursday. Thames were also on site distributing bottled water, particularly in Tollgate House, where water was slower to return.

As councillors, we've asked Thames for an explanation for the water burst and we will let you know as soon as we receive a reply.

Jan

Survey on Paddington Rec Bowling Green

Further our article yesterday, a local resident has set up a very quick survey about the Bowling Green on Paddington Rec.

If you would like to register your view, please do so between now and Thursday 25th September. You can access the survey by clicking here.

And please do send us your full comments to maidavale@maidavaleconservatives.com - the more views from residents we have (positive, negative or neither) the more we can ensure you are heard when the decision is taken on what to do with the Green in the future.

Lee

Paddington Rec - Bowling Green

Back in the early Summer, we asked officers from the Council's Parks & Leisure Department to hold an open day in Paddington Rec, which included a display of new plans to bring the disused bowling green, bordering Biddulph Road, Grantully Road, Elgin Avenue and Randolph Avenue back into use. A number of local residents attended and provided their comments.

The current proposal from the Council is to replace the bowling green and hut - which have not been regularly used for over 5 years - with three full-sized tennis courts and three short practice short courts. Council officers believe that there is a real demand for additional courts within Westminster, and so are keen to offer further facilities from the Rec.

The proposals have now been on the table for a few months, and the Cabinet Member for Parks and Leisure is moving towards making a decision on the proposal. As local Councillors, we have always believed that the Council's needs to balance the need to provide fantastic sports and community facilities for all of Westminster (as it does) with the rights of local residents. As a result, we are yet to be convinced that tennis courts are the best use of an area of land bordered on three sides by residential properties.

We will be holding a meeting with the Cabinet Member and officers later this month to talk through the current proposal, to discuss the timeframe and to provide comments. We want to hear from you - what do you think is the best way to bring the Bowling Green back into use? And if you aren't keen on tennis courts, what do you think should be done with the land instead?

Please do let us know (maidavale@maidavaleconservatives.com) by 25 September - and we'll make sure we pass your thoughts on at our meeting.

Alastair, Jan and Lee

Consultation on the Congestion Charge Western Extension

As promised during his recent election campaign, Mayor Boris has launched a consultation on the future of the Western Extension of the Congestion Charge.

We have spoken to many people on the doorsteps over the last few years and opinions on the congestion charge in Maida Vale have been mixed. Some support as a method to reduce congestion. Others - particularly local businesses and less mobile members of our community - many have told us how they have opposed the congestion charge because it splits our local community in Westminster. Maida Vale residents have no access, for example, on weekdays with their cars to places like Whiteleys in Bayswater.

If you would like to send your comments - positive or negative - to Boris, you need to do so by Sunday 5th October. You can provide comments at www.tfl.gov.uk/westernextension.

Lee

Police Ward Panel

Last night all three of us attended an open meeting of the Maida Vale police ward panel in the Maida Centre.

The police panel is made up of our local Safer Neighbourhoods Team and ten local residents (including Jan) - and is one of the ways our local community monitors the success of the police and helps to set priorities for the next few months.

We had a fair turnout with residents from Randolph Avenue, Lanark Road, Elgin Avenue, Grantully Road and Carlton Vale coming along to discuss their priorities. The police highlighted their recent successes in Paddington Rec (which has been very quiet all summer) and Tollgate Gardens (where youths from Brent had taken up occasional residence in the stairwells).

A vote was taken at the end on priorities for the police team in the next few months. An emerging issue which looks set to be tackled is anti-social behaviour in and around Elgin Parade and Lanark Road - which the police are already aware of.

If you would like to discuss police priorities in Maida Vale, don't hesitate to get in touch (maidavale@maidavaleconservatives.com).

Alastair, Jan and Lee

Edinburgh House update

The water is back ...

Having visited on Wednesday afternoon to test water pressure (and then claim there was no problem), Thames Water do seem to have made some changes which allowed the water tanks to start re-filling about 7pm on Wednesday evening.

If any resident of Edinburgh House is still having issues with the water please don't hesitate to get in contact.

Jan

Our new surgery begins tomorrow ...

Tomorrow sees the launch of another regular surgery for local residents. The first Saturday of every month will now see us hold two surgeries -

• Cafe in Paddington Rec: between 10am and 11am
• The Old Office in Dibdin House: between noon and 1pm

Please do come along if you would like to discuss any issue or problem - we are here to help!

Alastair, Jan and Lee

Edinburgh House: Water Issues

A number of residents have got in touch with us in the past couple of days to report water problems in Edinburgh House.

We understand that the problems began on Sunday, with interruptions to water supply to the bathrooms of some properties - which caused the out-of-hours Link Office to call in the engineers. Further problems continued into Monday (which we helped to alert the Estate Office to), resulting in the engineers being called out again - and no problems have been found in CityWest's pumps, pipes and equipment.

As a result, CityWest believe that there may be a potential leak with Thames Water's mains pipes - and they have been asked to investigate. We have offered to mediate between CityWest and Thames and also to put pressure on Thames if they are stalling.

Jan