Paddington Rec: Bandstand

Just a short note to say that, following requests from residents, Angela, the manager of the Rec, has organised for a series of events to be held at Paddington Rec's bandstand every Sunday during August.

The first one starts this Sunday between 2pm and 4pm - come along, it should be great fun!

Jan

Glasgow House: TV Star

Glasgow House is to be on TV! See the article here.

Alastair

Meeting with PCHA Randolph Avenue tenants

On Monday night we attended the third regular meeting of PCHA with its tenants in Randolph Avenue at the Maida Centre.

The meeting, as usual for PCHA ones, was very lively and direct, with residents letting PCHA know what they thought in very clear tones. We were glad to see that PCHA were listening and that they have made progress since our last meeting in March - they have cleared the back garden, appear to be keeping a closer grip on cleaning schedules, have installed notice boards and are trying to get to grips with the fire alarm issue. Much still to do but we are pleased to see PCHA try to address their very battered reputation on Randolph Avenue after years of doing practically nothing.

PCHA have agreed to go away and do more work on postal boxes, anti-social behaviour and service charges.

We'll keep campaigning for a better deal for PCHA tenants on Randolph Avenue and look forward to the next tenant's meeting towards the end of the year.

Jan and Lee

Heavy Rain and Flooding in Maida Vale

A number of residents have been in touch over the last few weeks about problems they have experienced with flooding in Maida Vale, as a result of the heavy rains of the last few weeks.

There appears to be a problem, particularly on Shirland Road and Kilburn Park Road, of the drainage systems not being able to cope with the large amount of water in our area at short notice. Consequently, there was a number of basement flats on these two roads which were affected by flooding. This doesn't seem to have been as a much of a problem in other roads - although please let us know if you live on one of those roads and did experience difficulties.

The Council has raised this issue with Thames Water to see if there is any problems with drainage and will continue to do so. We understand that a resident's group is also being formed to campaign on this issue - further details shortly.

Do get in touch if you experienced flooding - the more people that tell us about it, the more we can emphasise the severity of the problem to Thames.

Jan

Tollgate Gardens

Last week residents of Tollgate Gardens would have received a letter from CityWest Homes with details of plans to investigate estate improvements over the next few years.

Here is the text of the letter:

"CityWest Homes is pleased to let you know that Westminster City Council has been successful in obtaining £2 million funding from the London Development Agency to develop outline improvement plans for Tollgate and three other. Estates. The aim of the plans will be to identify proposals on how these areas could be regenerated to improve the housing, community space, and the look and feel of the whole area.

This is an excellent and exciting opportunity to make a real difference to the quality of homes and neighbourhoods on estates such as yours,provide additional homes and improve the living environment for you the residents.

The funding will allow us to work with the City Council to carry out full consultation with residents. By talking to you, we will find out what you would like to see in your area, and how you feel housing and community space could be improved. We will also answer any queries you may have about this project..

We will be setting up local steering groups and consultation forums to discuss plans for renewal on your estate. . Ward councillors will also be invited to join the steering groups. We want you to be involved from the very beginning and to feel that you can have a real influence in the outcome.

Councillor Philippa Roe, Westminster’s Cabinet Member for Housing will be contacting key residents on your estate to seek their views on how best to get the local residents involved. She will let them know about the success in securing this funding and the Council’s initial thoughts on how residents could benefit.

CityWest Homes are holding a Great Communities Day on 1st August 2009 in Lisson Green Estate, Rossmore Rd NW8 and intend to have a stall there where you can come and speak to us on how you would like to be involved.

If you would like any more information please contact Loraine Ophelia on 020 7245 2308 or lophelia@cwh.org.uk."

We're very pleased that the Council has been able to secure this money and is looking at how improve Tollgate for the benefit of residents living there. As local Councillors, we'll be taking a full part in the discussion over the next few months - if you are a Tollgate resident, do get involved too!

We'll keep you informed.

Alastair, Jan and Lee

Torridon House: Your Steering Committee Needs You!

CityWest were in touch last week regarding the major works due to start on Torridon House to re-asphalt the communal walkways - they are looking for residents to join the steering group!

If you are a resident of Torridon, please do get in touch with CityWest. It's really important that a resident's committee is formed and can be consulted during the works - to ensure that your voice is properly represented during the process.

Contact details are on the letter than has been sent.

Alastair

Dog Fouling

A perennial issue that local residents raise with us is dog mess. Although not the biggest problem in the world, we know that it is one of those things where just a small group of people not cleaning up after their dogs can make a big impact on whether our streets are clean, tidy and pleasant.

Following requests from residents, we've asked our community protection department at the Council to run a campaign to crack down on dog fouling on the streets of Maida Vale. Over the next couple of months, council officers will make this a priority issue and will seek to warn (and, if necessary, fine) any dog owners who are not cleaning up after their dog.

If you think that your street needs particular attention, please do get in touch (maidavale@maidavaleconservatives.com).

Jan

£100,000 Your Way: Fighting Crime in Maida Vale

The next part of Maida Vale's Community budget has now been committed:

Another key priority identified by residents in our consultation was the need to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour. Although Maida Vale is an exceptionally safe place to live in general, we know that more can always be done and that residents want a visual reassurance that the Council and Police are taking their safety seriously.

As a result, two new City Guardians will be joining Maida Vale's police and anti-social behaviour force from the end of July. For six months the Guardians will be patrolling the streets of Maida Vale and helping out the local police and police support officer teams. Look out for them - they are there to help!

Alastair, Jan and Lee

St. George's: Problems with Lorries

A number of residents have alerted us to some serious concerns regarding the redevelopment works at St. George’s school which started two months ago.

Prior to the works beginning, we spent a significant amount of time negotiating with the building contractor to ensure the impact on local residents would be minimised as much as possible. We managed to get agreement on three important things to do this:

• a reduction in the size of the site compound;
• that the compound will be moved in mid-2010 away from Glasgow House upon completion of the major part of the works on the new sports hall;
• that the number of lorry movements would be limited to an average of 5 per day and would not occur before 9.15am without prior permission of the Estate Office.

Lanark and Glasgow residents have been in touch over the last couple of weeks to say that the builders have not adhered to the agreement on lorry movements. We immediately took this issue up with the builders and with the Council department coordinating the activity and raised again raised it at two meetings (last week and this).

The builders do appear to have allowed much larger number of lorries on to the site on numerous occasions since the end of May, apparently because of “unforeseen soil conditions” (whatever that is).

We have been very clear with the contractors that this is completely at odds with the agreements that they voluntarily signed up to only a few months ago. Furthermore, having publicly committed to being a considerate neighbour, to break those commitments within a few weeks is not an auspicious start for a project which will take several years to complete.

As a result, an unequivocal apology letter will shortly be distributed by the contractor to all affected residents.

The contractor has also committed in the letter to the following:

• that from 13th July, the number of lorries visiting the site will be limited to 6 per day (unless the Estate Office have been notified in advance);
• that they will write to their suppliers outlining that lorries should not arrive at the site before 9.15am not after 6pm (and should not all arrive at once causing traffic). In addition, a traffic marshall will be deployed outside of these times to try to stop lorries entering Lanark Road ;
• that no works will be carried out before 8am or after 6pm;
  that extra checks will be made on the generator to ensure it is switched off at night (and so not causing noise for nearby residents), and;
  that a new “Resident’s Hotline” (0800 083 5575) will be set up so residents can inform the contractor of any problems or issues they have.

As local Councillors, we are extremely disappointed by the contractors early failure to adhere to the agreements that we put in place – and we have told them, in no uncertain terms, our thoughts. The letter will not make up for the inconvenience that local residents have experienced over the last few weeks but we hope that the message has now got through to the contractor that they will have to consider local residents during the build.

Going forward, we’ll keep watching the contractor to ensure they are keeping their end of the bargain. Thanks to those residents who got in touch with us to report the problems with the lorries. We hope there won’t be but, if there are any further issues going forward, please do get in touch again – and we will take it up again.

Alastair, Jan and Lee

BBC Maida Vale studios: Broken Air Conditioning

Residents in Delaware Road may be aware of some additional plant which the BBC have installed over the weekend next to the Studios.

The BBC were in touch with us and the Council’s planning department on Friday to explain that they were experiencing a problem with a defective air conditioning unit in the Studios. The noise from this unit, which apparently is audible enough to be picked up by the recording equipment, was threatening the recording of a series of concerts by the BBC Symphony Orchestra due over the next couple of weeks.

The BBC asked our Planning Department if they could be granted emergency permission to install an external air conditioning unit which would allow the internal defective one to be switched off until repairs could be made. They indicated that the external equipment would need to be in front of the studios (and may need some parking suspended) and would be on site for up to 8 weeks.

As local Councillors, we are very concerned about the impact that the temporary air conditioning might have on local residents – from a noise, parking, amenity and general inconvenience perspective. We have spent much of the weekend in discussions with the BBC and with Council planners to find a solution which would allow the recordings to go ahead whilst not overly impacting the quality of life of residents.

We are pleased to report the following progress so far:

That the original proposal to site the equipment in front of the studios (taking up parking places) has now been scrapped and the unit will be placed on top of the studios itself, and;
That we have come to an agreement that the unit will only be used during periods of recording (although there is quite a busy schedule for the next week or so, up to 9.45pm on some evenings)

This morning I attended a site meeting with representatives from the BBC and the Planning Department where we talked through all of the issues. Despite the progress reported above, we know that semi-continuous noise can have a really big impact on quality of life for residents and we remain very concerned about this. In particular, the unit is very close to Rayne House, and we remain in constant contact with the warden, Anne, to see if/how residents are being affected. We are also yet to be convinced on the 8-week timeframe that the BBC are quoting to resolve this.

For today’s recording the Council have agreed that the will not enforce against the plant that has been installed and will allow the Symphony Orchestra recording to go ahead. We have requested (and the BBC have agreed) to immediately distribute a letter to all residents in Rayne House and Delaware Mansions to explain the situation and also explain what they should do if they are inconvenienced. Dependent upon the level of problems reported, the Council has reserved its right to re-visit this issue in the coming days and weeks and we too, as local Councillors, will also press for changes if the agreement proves unworkable.

If you are a Delaware resident and have any comments or views on this, please do get in touch. We are monitoring this issue on a day-to-day basis at the moment and would be very glad to hear of your thoughts on the situation.

Jan

Grantully & Morshead: Changes to waste collections

As local Councillors, one of the things we pride ourselves on is trying to solve the problems that local residents raise with us.

A month or so ago, residents of Grantully Road highlighted that the Council were not collecting the refuse from Grantully and Morshead Mansions at the same time, despite them being just yards from each other – meaning more noise for residents early in the morning.

We’re now pleased to report that, following discussions, the Council has agreed to slightly tweak the collection schedules in Maida Vale to ensure that both will be collected at the same time.

It’s the little things that count!

Lee

£100,000 Your Way: Greening Maida Vale

An update on Maida Vale's Community budget:

One of the priorities identified by local residents a few months ago was a desire to further green Maida Vale and to improve our local environment. We are pleased to report that the first part of the budget has now been allocated and will be supporting this aim.

From the end of July, hanging baskets will be appearing throughout Maida Vale to improve the look and feel of our streets and to improve biodiversity in our area. There will two plantings on a significant number of streets within Maida Vale. We've tried to space them out across the ward so all residents will be able to benefit.

The streets are: Carlton Vale (6 baskets), Elgin Avenue (33), Essendine Road (9), Kilburn Park Road, 27), Lanark Road (17), Randolph Avenue (20), Randolph Gardens (5) and Shirland Road (12).

Alastair, Jan and Lee