St. Augustine's Update

Back in February, we reported that St. Augustine's school had also been successfully in winning planning permission to re-develop and expand (see here).

Over the last couple of months, we have also been in discussions with Council officers to ensure that the plans for the school do not significantly affect local residents. And, after lots of discussion, we are pleased that it looks as though Maida Vale residents should not be overly affected by the changes.

As some local residents will already have seen, the hoardings have already begun to be put in place to build the new sports hall for St. Augustine's - on the site of the old, bombed church across Oxford Road (and technically across the border on land owned by Brent Council). The plan is that the sports hall will be built and available for the school to use by the end of the year.

Preparatory works on the main school site will get underway in the Summer, with works properly beginning in late Autumn/Winter. An 'infill' block will be created between the two existing buildings, along with full refurbishment of the existing accommodation. This is likely to last until the end of 2011, done in stages and whilst pupils remain on site.

We are pleased to report that the building contractors are planning for lorries to service both sites from Rudolph Road and not Oxford Road in the main, which should reduce the works impact on local residents. This will only change in 2011 when small lorries will be used as part of the refurbishment works and will use a small ramp to be built on Oxford Road (we have been assured the ramp will be too small for large lorries to use and that they will still access via Rudolph Road).

All site and compound areas will be situated near Rudolph Road, away from most local residents in Oxford Road and Tollgate Gardens.

The only time that works are expected to come anywhere near Tollgate is for a few weeks in 2011 when the playground and sports court at the back of St. Augustine's will be resurfaced. Otherwise, the main body of works will remain at the other side of the site, reducing its impact on local residents.

If you are a local resident and have any questions, comments or issues regarding the building works, don't hesitate to get in touch. We are here to help!

Jan

St. George's Update

Another success on St. George's!

One of the main issues we were concerned about for Lanark Road, Carlton Vale and other nearby residents, was the movement of lorries to service the St. George's redevelopment once it got underway. Lanark Road, in particular, is a relatively narrow road and we needed to be sure that deliveries to the site had been thought through so as not to really inconvenience local residents.

After a lot of negotiations, we are pleased to say that the building contractor has agreed to a number of conditions that will hopefully reduce the impact of the St. George's works for local residents. These conditions are:

• that lorries can only access the site from 9.15am unless they have informed the Estate Office in advance. The building contractor had asked to be able to access from 8am - which we thought was too early and was likely to coincide with the busy time of day for Lanark Road.
• that no more than 5 lorries should access the site on a daily basis - which will ensure that local residents aren't affected by continuous lorry movements all day, every day.

We know that the next year or so is going to be challenging - large scale building works so close to a residential area always are. We hope, though, that the conditions we have negotiated - on lorry movements, on the location of the compound and also on its size may help reduce the impact on local residents as much as is possible. We want to thank local residents near St. George's in advance for their patience and support for this important project.

And, of course, as your local Councillors we are here to help. We've delivered a letter containing all the conditions to nearby residents, so that they can check the contractor is fulfilling his side of the bargain. If local residents have any comments at all, please don't hesitate to get in touch with us.

Jan, Alastair and Lee

Kilburn Park Road: Paint Spillage Removed

At the March Area Forum meeting, a resident reported a paint spillage on Kilburn Park Road, near St. Augustine's church, which needed to be cleaned up.

We're pleased to report that the Council has now cleaned the pavement and removed as much of the paint as they can.

Jan

Atholl & Braemar: Major Works

Back in February (see here), we reported on the proposed major works to Atholl and Braemar Houses - needed, according to CityWest, to upgrade windows and doors in the properties.

All residents of both blocks should shortly be receiving an update newsletter giving further details on the proposed works. A steering group is to be set up - which all residents are welcome to join. The first meeting will be on Thursday 7th May in the ABC Coop Office (8 Braemar).

Cost estimates have been put together so that residents can see the work options available to them. These will be discussed at the meeting on the 7th - do go along if you would like to contribute!

Lee

Quality Hotel: Date for Licensing Hearing

Brent Council have now set a date for the licencing committee where the Quality Hotel application will be heard.

The meeting will be held next Thursday (23rd April) in Committee Room 3, 2nd Floor, Brent Town Hall, Forty Lane, Wembley, beginning 10am. Quality Hotel is item 1 on the agenda.

Any member of the public is entitled to attend.

Jan

Elgin Avenue: Resurfaced!

One thing that all three of us have been lobbying for over the past few years has been the resurfacing of the Elgin Avenue / Shirland Road junction - one of the busiest parts of Maida Vale for traffic.

The state of the road at the junction has been deteriorating for years, not least because of the large number of buses which use it each day. We know local residents have been affected by increased noise due to the poor road surface and a little while ago we managed to get some very temporary repairs to the worst part to alleviate the problem slightly.

Following our requests, we're very pleased to report that the Council resurfaced the junction (and part of Elgin Avenue north of it) during the first week in April. It was a few months later than we expected (we had initially been told last Autumn was the date) - but we got there in the end!

We're very pleased to be able to deliver on our promise to Elgin Avenue residents to get their road resurfaced.

Alastair, Jan and Lee

St.George's Update

Success! Good news for Glasgow House residents.

Further to our last update on the St. George's redevelopment works, we're very pleased to report that the school have now agreed to our request to re-locate the building compound after the construction of the new sports hall.

The compound, which is to be sited between Glasgow House and the school, was initially due to be in place from now and last until the end of the works in mid-2011. At our request - and following lengthy discussions with the school - it has now been agreed that the compound will be moved in the middle of 2010 (there are two options regarding where to place it - both on school land).

We are very grateful to the Diocese and the Governing body for being so helpful on this matter and being a good neighbour to Glasgow House.

The main outstanding issue with St. George's is now lorry movements on Lanark Road. We're continuing to discuss this issue and will come back with an update shortly.

Lee

Elgin Mews Street Surgery

Last Saturday and this evening, we held another of our regular street surgeries, this time in Elgin Mews North and Elgin Mews South.

Although there weren't very many people in, we managed to have a good chat with quite a few residents in both streets to discuss how they thought the Council was doing and if there was anything which could be improved in Maida Vale.

The two issues brought up in this surgery were parking and rubbish collection. We'll be taking both of the concerns back to officers and passing on the comments.

As your local Councillors, we hold regular street surgeries throughout the year to meet with local residents so you can let us know how you think we are doing. If you need us for any issue, please do get in touch (maidavale@maidavaleconservatives.com). We are here to help.

Lee

Maida Vale Police Team Update

An update from the Maida Vale Police team on their recent activity:

• Elgin Parade anti-social behaviour: The problems experienced last Autumn by a small group of kids appear now to have been fully eliminated. The police continue to monitor the area in case of any resurgence but, for now, all is thankfully peaceful.
• Beachcroft House Annex, Shirland Road: Will now be made a priority, both to improve safety and security in the area and also crack down on any associated anti-social behaviour
• Paddington Rec: The police team are very pleased to report that misbehaviour in the Rec has remained low over the past few months. More monitoring will take place as the Summer begins.

If you would like to speak to the police team on any non-emergency matter, they can be contacted on 8721 2410, 07920 233950 or maidavale.snt@met.police.uk.

Jan

The little things ...

Over the last couple of months, a few bits and bobs which we’ve done to keep Maida Vale clean and tidy:

• Lanark Road: we’ve had one of the partially-blocked gulleys close to the Boy’s Club and Glasgow House checked, cleaned and unblocked.
• Elgin Parade: we reported a failure to reinstate paving by EdF very close to the tube station and, after some bureaucratic wrangling, this has been sorted. We also have reported some graffiti on the sign across from Boomerang deli.
• Kilburn Park Road: we’re arranging for a paint spillage reported at the Area Forum to be cleaned in the first week of April.
• Elgin Avenue: we’ve asked for the now-unused plinths which used to hold the parking ticket machines to be removed in the next couple of months.
• Shirland Road: we’ve reported graffiti on the side of 123 Shirland Road and asked for it be removed.
• Kilburn High Road: additionally, we’ve reported graffiti on the side of a shop on Kilburn High Road and had removed some flyposting on the side of Dibdin House.
• Tollgate Gardens: we’ve had the Estate Office remove over 3 tonnes of fly-tipped concrete down near the garages, removed graffiti on the garages themselves, remove a dead tree stump near Godwin House and a load of dead branches at the back of Wingfield House.
• Forty Tree Green: we asked that the litter which had built up over the winter was removed (completed mid-February).
• Randolph Avenue: we’ve reported some graffiti close to Elgin Mews South.

If you have any issue which you would like us to tackle on your street, get in touch (maidavale@maidavaleconservatives.com).

Lee

Quality Hotel Licence Application

A couple of weeks ago, we wrote a note about the Quality Hotel on Kilburn High Road, which was applying for an extended drinks licence. We encouraged all local residents who thought they might be affected by the change to get in touch with the licensing authority (Brent Council - the hotel is just outside of Westminster).

As local Councillors, we also personally objected. Here is the main part of our objection:

"Dear Sir/Madam,

LICENCING APPLICATIONQUALITY HOTEL 53-59 KILBURN HIGH ROAD LONDON NW6REFERENCE 478217

I write on behalf of my colleagues Cllr Jan Prendergast and Cllr Lee Rowley. Together we represent Maida Vale Ward in the City of Westminster.

We have been asked to convey residents' concerns that this Licencing application, if approved, will have a detrimental effect on the quality of life of local residents in Tollgate Gardens Estate, which is located not more than around 20 metres from the application site (i.e. directly opposite on Kilburn Park Road).

Of particular concern to local residents is the fact that large numbers of guests might, as a result of this licence proposal, use the hotel late into the night and then disperse at around the same time. In our view, there would be an unacceptable risk of increased shouting and noise. The main residential block on the estate is Tollgate House, which has around fifty family-sized flats that have rooms that face directly on to Kilburn Park Road and the premises. It is unfortunate that this tower is aligned so that all flats are configured so that they are parallel to the road and the hotel. We understand that some bedrooms face on to this elevation, some of which may be occupied by children.

We are also concerened that there may be increased parking pressure on the area caused by an increase in visitors to the premises. As the road outside the premises is a red route, this will result in more parking in surrounding streets, such as Oxford Road, where parking is already at a critical level.

We think that this licence application is mis-placed - the hotel is on a busy road, but it is in a residential area. The hours proposed in this application are simply not suitable. We agree with our residents that public nuisance and an increase in crime and disorder would result if this application was granted.

We are aware that some other residents have written to you separately and that a petition has been submitted, objecting to the application.

Please acknowledge receipt of this representation and ensure that it is brought to the attention of the licencing committee that will deal with it."

Alastair