Shirland Road: traffic lights

Another periodic invasion by a utility into Maida Vale ...

Earlier this week, several holes were dug by persons unknown in Shirland Road, causing the reduction of the road to one-lane traffic and the removal of half a dozen parking spaces.

We've reported the problem and asked for an explanation - and officers at the Council are looking into the matter. It looks as thought the works are just about to finish, but it really isn't good enough that local residents weren't informed in advance.

Alastair

World's Smallest Cinema

Last weekend, the Rec hosted one of the more unusual visitors it has had recently ... the World's Smallest Cinema.

Over Saturday and Sunday, local residents and visitors to the Rec had the opportunity to see a series of short films by Swedish artist, Annika Ericksson, including one about Westminster residents.

Alastair

Tollgate Gardens: Digital Television Meeting

CityWest will be holding a meeting on Thursday 30th November at 6pm in Tollgate Hall to discuss the digital TV aerial installation for Tollgate House, Godwin House and Wingfield House.

If you live in Tollgate Gardens, please come along if you have any questions.

Jan

Update from Local Police Team

The Maida Vale Safer Neighbourhood Team has published an update on its latest activities -

(1) Lanark Road junction with Elgin Avenue

The major priority of the team is to tackle the increase in low-level anti-social behaviour in and around Elgin Parade. Most of the group has been identified and information has been shared with appropriate teams around the City (the group are also believed to be responsible for some bad behaviour in Abbey Road ward). As a consequence, some members of the group have been arrested for robberies, burglaries and assaults. Work continues.

(2) Lanark Road Eviction

Due to intelligence gathered by the Safer Neighbourhood Team and CivicWatch, CityWest has won an injunction against a prominent problem household in Lanark Road - believed to be responsible for anti-social behaviour themselves and also encouraging the group around Elgin Parade. This household will soon be evicted.

(3) Paddington Rec

Paddington Rec has remained a priority given the historical uptick in low-level bad behaviour during the Summer months. The SNT have taken a number of pre-emptive steps - including having patrols from mounted branch, banning known troublemakers and offering more diversionary activities - which have been very successful, with only one incident occurring in the last period. This summer has been the most trouble free for at least three years.

(4) New recruit

PC Paly-Vera joined the team on 8th October. Welcome!

(5) Cover for Spanish & Portguese and Saatchi synagogues during High Holy Days

The SNT covered both synagogues in the wards during holy days in October.

Lee

Maida Vale MyWestminster Forum

The next Maida Vale MyWestminster Forum has now been confirmed for Tuesday 4th November at Paddington Academy, Marylands Road between 6.30pm and 8.30pm.

MyWestminster Forums are an opportunity for Maida Vale residents to meet with Council officers to discuss any issues or problems, find out more information about what's happening in our area and contribute to shaping future council policy. Discussions will be held to gain your thoughts on:

• Waste, Recycling and Street Cleansing: Your Priorities
• Planning: Residential amenity and promoting economic growth in north Westminster
• Central London cycle hire scheme
• CCTV cameras: where they're located and why they're there

We'll also be feeding back to you about the £100,000 our community has to spend.

Hope to see you there.

Alastair, Jan and Lee

Tollgate Gardens: Water Burst Update

We've now received a further response from Thames Water on the water burst in Oxford Road on 18 September.

Here it is in full:

(1) Why the main is repeatedly collapsing in the same area?
Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee the integrity of our Trunk Mains. This24" cast iron main has burst twice in the last two years. The bursts have been in fairly close proximity to each other. Whilst the main is fairly old, it has been visually examined and still seems to be in good conditionfor its age. We are currently testing the broken section of main removed from site and this should give us a better view of the "failure mode". Until these tests are completed it is difficult to comment on why it hashad two failures.

(2) What is being done to ensure that residents are not disturbed bythis problem in the future?
Firstly, we have a full contingency plan in place for any burst on this main. The contingency ensures a speedy response from Thames Water to minimise any damage or disruption. The plan was used for this event and the main was isolated, repaired and back in service within 15 hours.Secondly, we are investing in technology to help us identify bursts before they occur. This technology looks for small leaks that may turn into larger leaks/ bursts. These smaller leaks are then repaired before they cause a burst.

Not the fullest or most satisfactory answer we've ever seen, but it's a start. We'll keep working to get answers.

Alastair

Hamilton Court Visit

As local Councillors, we are always keen to make ourselves available to all local residents associations - it is the most important part of our job to make sure that the local community is happy with what the Council is doing and, also, is happy with how things are going in Maida Vale. From this, I was very happy to visit and have the privilege of speaking with the Board of Management of Hamilton Court yesterday.

We had a good and varied discussion about a number of topics including:

• how to encourage more recycling within our mansion blocks in Maida Vale;
• the small uptick in anti-social behaviour in/around Elgin Parade, which the police are now starting to address, and;
• the occasional problems with rubbish dumping around the mini recycling site in Elgin Avenue.

I've taken away a couple of actions on behalf of the Board of Management as a result.

Lee

Paddington Rec Bowling Green: Update

Last week we held a meeting regarding the early-stage proposal from Council Officers to replace the current Bowling Green in the Rec with additional tennis court facilities.

The meeting was very productive and we were grateful to the Cabinet Member for Parks (who will eventually take the decision regarding the Bowling Green) for being willing to listen and consider our views. We staked out a clear argument against the changes mooted by the Officers and highlighted several deficiencies within their plans which we believed did not offer justification for the change. We are pleased to report that the Cabinet Member agreed with us that she could not make a decision based on the current information available. As a result, officers have been asked to go away and re-consider their plans, provide more information and a clearer justification for their proposals.

As with all things in local government, these decisions are taken slowly. Even when officers come back with new plans, we will continue to oppose the changes, based upon the clear view of local residents and the need to maintain a balance set of facilities for residents and visitors of all ages.

In the meantime, please do continue to let us know your views on the proposal. Further, the survey run by several local residents on the future of the Rec remains open and can be accessed here.

The plans for the Rec are at an early stage and we will continue to keep you updated. Now is the time to gather your views on the future of the Bowling Green in readiness for closer to when the actual decision is going to be made. Don't hesitate to get in touch.

Alastair, Jan and Lee

Cleaning up after the builders

Many thanks to whichever builder has decided that the car park of Beechcroft House was a good place to dump all of their waste. What a good idea that was.

As a result, we arranged for the removal of quite a lot of waste materials that had been left in the car park last week (see above picture). Dumped building waste is an occasional problem in Maida Vale and we've asked the local estate office to keep an eye on the area.

If you spot any dumped items in Maida Vale, Westminster Council will remove them for free - and will also try to prosecute anyone who it can prove has been dumping. Builders beware. Contact the Environment Action Line on 7641 2000 to report.

Lee