Major Works in Torridon House and the Scottish Towers

CityWest Homes have been in touch to say that they are about to distribute a couple of newsletters in Torridon, Atholl and Braemar Houses giving details on the major works programmed for these blocks during 2009.

The communal walkways and flat balconies of Torridon will be asphalted because a number of residents have reported water leaks into their properties. A steering group for local residents is currently being set up, with the first meeting to be held shortly. If you are interested in joining the Group, contact Lissa in the office.

For Atholl and Braemar, the kitchen windows of flats are to be upgraded from single to double glazing, the windows in communal areas are to be replaced, flat front doors will be renewed along with additional general repairs, including the roof. A steering group is also being set-up, with the first meeting having been scheduled for the Maida Centre on Monday 2nd March at 6.30pm. Contact Sue in the office if you would like to join or just turn up.

We'll keep you informed.

Lee

Further meeting on BSF

On Tuesday evening, we held a second meeting with the Building Schools for the Future team at City Hall to talk through the plans for St. George's and St. Augustine's.

Following the granting of planning permission for the works to go ahead last Tuesday, it is now crucial that the team take into account the impact on local residents around both schools. We all know that major building works will inevitably affect the local community and residents living particularly closely to the sites will be affected. The important thing is to ensure that Maida Vale and those residents are affected as little as is humanely possible.

The majority of our meeting on Tuesday was taken up discussing St. George's, where the local community on Carlton Vale, in Dibdin House and particularly on Lanark Road will be quite severely affected during the works. We spent a long time going through all of the works plans in detail and challenging many of the assumptions that had been made to ensure they were water-tight.

The plans envisage a site being constructed to the south of St. George's, close to Glasgow House. Thankfully, officers at the Council have already reduced the proposed size of the building site and tried to mitigate the effects on Glasgow House residents by moving the temporary office block out of sight from their balconies.

We remain concerned about the size of the office block and the length of time the site compound will be close to Glasgow House (March 2009 - early 2011). We have asked the BSF team to look again and they have agreed to do so. In particular, we are very concerned about the proposed traffic movements and want confirmation that the planning has been done on this. Around 10 parking spaces will have to be temporarily suspended for the duration of the works to allow the delivery lorries to turn into the site. We want confidence that the lorries can fit down Lanark Road (so no more parking spaces are taken off) and also that they are limited in the times when they can deliver (to avoid gridlock and lots of children being about).

The BSF team have agreed to come back to us on each of these points.

Jan

St. Augustine's Redevelopment Plans Approved

Also last Tuesday, we were there to see Westminster's Planning Committee approve the redevelopment plans for St. Augustine's School.

The plans will see an extension to the existing buildings and the redevelopment of their facades to increase the number of pupils from around 700 to around 900. In addition, a planning application has also been submitted to build a sports hall on the disused land across the road (formerly a church that was bombed in World War II!)

After the extension is built between the two existing buildings (creating a new assembly/dining areas and several classrooms), the whole schools will be given a make-over, with new white rendering which should reduce the current stark 1970s style building style. Significant changes to the surrounding area, including a new multi-use sports area to the rear and landscaping to the front (bordering on Oxford Road) should also make St. Augustine's as good as new.

As local Councillors, we provided written comments to the commitee prior to their decision supporting the redevelopment. As the changes will also mean a reduction on on-site parking spaces for teaches, we also queried this issue. We were glad to hear a representative from the Transportation Department at the commitee say that they would accept the changes but that the school must be aware that they couldn't apply for on-road parking in the future if there were problems - it is important that local residents aren't inconvenienced.

We'll be keeping an eye on the plans and works as they progress - particularly to ensure that they don't overly inconvenience residents of Tollgate Gardens bordering the north of St. Augustine's.

Congratulations to Alex, the headteacher and all the pupils and staff of St. Augustine's. We look forward to having a wonderful school once it has been redeveloped.

Lee

PS If you live nearby and have any comments or issues on the St. Augustine's redevelopment plans, please do not hesitate to get in touch (maidavale@maidavaleconservatives.com).

St. George's Redevelopment Plans Approved

Last Tuesday, Westminster Council's Planning Committee gave its approval to the redevelopment proposals for St. George's School on Maida Vale.

Starting later in the Spring, St. George's will be comprehensively redeveloped to add space for one more form (with numbers increased from 600 to 750 pupils). A new three storey extension will be added to the school comprising a new sports hall, changing facilities and teaching areas. There will also be a roof-based outdoor play area.

As Councillors, we have always recognised the importance of improving the facilities of schools against the needs of local residents. For St. George's this was very important, given its close proximity to properties in Lanark Road, Dibdin House and Glasgow House. In particular, the plans included the increasing of the St. George's boundaries by several metres to incorporate some of the new facilities, using some of the park area to the north of Glasgow House and the current school caretaker's house. We have made sure that local residents in Glasgow House have been kept fully up-to-date by the redevelopment team and residents seem content that the changes are for good reason. There were no letters of objections to the planning committee last Tuesday.

We did provide written comments to the committee on the redevelopment plans. We emphasised the need for the redevelopment team to continue to work closely with Glasgow House residents to improve their facilities as a condition for the loss of some of their gardens and, in the short-term, because some of the temporary works facilities will be situated in their car park. In addition, we highlighted that we thought the design left something to be desired, particularly on the Carlton Vale side. We are pleased that the committee agreed with us on this and the design of the building facing Dibdin House will be looked at again.

We'll keep a close eye on the plans and works and keep you informed as they progress.

Congratulations to Martin, the head, and all the pupils and staff of St. George's. We look forward to an even better school once the redevelopment has been completed.

If you are a resident affected by any of these changes and would like to discuss them, please don't hesitate to get in touch (maidavale@maidavaleconservatives.com).

Lee

Tollgate Gardens: Digital TV works

The installation of digital TV will shortly begin in Tollgate Gardens and CityWest Homes has organised a 'Meet the Contractor' evening.

If you are a resident of Tollgate, Godwin or Wingfield Houses and want to find out more about the proposed works, do go along to the meeting. It will be held next Wednesday (18th February) in the Resident Meeting Room, Tollgate House between 6pm and 7.30pm.

Lee

(Picture of Tollgate Gardens courtesy of CityWest Homes)

Kilburn Park Road: Proposed Night Bus Changes

TfL has announced proposals to change the nightbuses running down Kilburn Park Road:

The proposed change involves the ending of the current N28 nightbus service which runs between Camden and Wandsworth, which runs once per hour during the week and half hourly at the weekends. The bus snakes down from Camden through Belsize Road and enters Kilburn Park Road near Kilburn Park tube, before taking a left into Shirland Road and then right towards the Harrow Road at the Shirland Road-Elgin Avenue junction.

At present, the N28 shares service with the N31 which follows an identical route from Camden until it gets to Kensington (the N28 goes to Wandsworth, the N31 to Clapham Junction).

TfL propose to retain the N28 bus service down Kilburn Park Road, but alter the route of the map of the N31 so that it no longer goes down Kilburn Park Road and instead serves Kensal Rise.

If you have strong opinions on this issue, please contact TfL by e-mail (stengagement@tfl.gov.uk). You'll need to register your opinions before 13th March 2009 - if given the go ahead, the changes will come into force later in the Spring.

Alastair

Widley Road: Street Surgery

Last Saturday, we held one of our regular street surgeries in Southwold and Cleveland Mansions, Widley Road.

We spent a couple of hours knocking on doors and speaking to local residents to make sure that they were happy with the services that Westminster Council is providing for Widley and within Maida Vale.

On the whole, residents are very happy with the Council (although weren't afraid to tell us where we were going wrong - as you should!) We've taken away a few issues, particularly with regards to one unoccupied property, which we will take up with the relevant officers at the Council.

If you have anything which you would like to raise with us, please don't hesitate to get in touch (maidavale@maidavaleconservatives.com). We are here to help!

Alastair