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

New Chief Executive of CityWest visit

Last Monday, we were pleased to welcome Mark Hoyland, the new Chief Executive of CityWest Homes, to Maida Vale.

We invited Mark because we wanted to show him all of the estates within Maida Vale and talk through all the current issues faced by local residents and the Estate Office. We spent a couple of hours showing Mark around Tollgate, Carlton Vale, Thurso, Torridon, the Scottish Towers, Oak Tree House and some of the street-based properties around the ward.

Mark was particularly complimentary about all of our estates - saying that they were some of the best looking and well run within Westminster - a testament to the TMOs and others who administer them so well. We spent a good deal of time talking through issues around customer service, maintenance, leaseholder charges and general responsiveness - all of which local residents have discussed with us and which we, as local Councillors, have noted over the last few months. Our primary message - serve residents first!

Mark has agreed to take our comments and issues back to CityWest HQ and to come back to us with responses on a number of issues.

Alastair, Jan and Lee

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

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

St. George's Update

An update on the issues associated with the redevelopment plans for St. George’s, which we’ve been working through over the past few weeks:

As you’ll remember St. George’s was granted permission for the building of a new block, close to Glasgow House, which would allow the school to expand to take more pupils from our local community. This redevelopment is expected to take two years to complete and, when concluded, will see an almost totally refurbished school able to support the great work that the new headmaster, Martin Tissot is doing.

As local Councillors, it is our job to make sure that these works do not cause unnecessary inconvenience and problems for the local community. Residents of Glasgow House, Lanark Road, parts of Dibdin House, Andover Place and Carlton Vale are all going to have to live next to a building site for some/all of the next two years and it is crucial that their interests are considered.

At our last meeting with residents, three major issues were identified – (i) the position of the building site compound, (ii) the encroachment of that compound into Lanark Road and (iii) the lorry movements that will be associated with the building works.

Here’s the progress on each:

• Position of the building site compound: We asked the team coordinating the redevelopment to look at alternatives to the compound being next to Glasgow House for the entirety of the building programme. Glasgow House residents (and those close by on Lanark Road) will endure a disproportionate amount of inconvenience and hassle due to these works and, by the middle of 2010, the majority of the work being undertaken close to Glasgow will have been concluded (the project then moves to the refurbishment of the existing school buildings near Carlton Vale). We’ve asked the school if they might consider moving some/all of the compound onto the land they use over the road to give Glasgow House residents a respite (and to say thankyou for putting up with the works). We’re currently in discussions and will let you know the outcome.
• Encroachment of building compound into Lanark Road: We’re very pleased to say that we’ve had some success with this, following discussions with the builders. The original plans were for the compound wall to extend out several feet into the road – which we thought was unacceptable and could affect driving down the road. Now the builders have agreed to pull the compound back off the road – it will now only go up to the edge of the pavement. Every little helps!
• Lorry movements on Lanark Road: We were very concerned to see that the builders wished to operate lorry movements from quite early in the morning and all the way through the period when kids were coming and going to school. In addition, Lanark is a busy road with many people wanting to access the Maida Centre and the Boy’s Club. We’re continuing discussions with the builders about regulating and reducing lorry movements when Lanark is likely to be busy.

The builders have indicated that the works are likely to start in the next few weeks, so we’ll continue to work on these issues and let you know the outcome. We have a meeting in the next couple of days, so we’ll report back then.

Lee

Maida Vale Community Compact Meetings

CityWest Homes have been in touch to say they will be holding two sessions for local residents on the 'Community Compact' which is being drawn up for Maida Vale for the next year.

The compact is a set of aims which CityWest will promise to try to deliver over the coming year, and is drawn up directly from the thoughts and views of local residents. If you want to change our community for the better - do go along and give your ideas.

The sessions are:

• Mon 16th Mar between 7pm and 8pm
• Thurs 19th Mar between 1200 and 3pm

Both will be held in the Maida Centre. You can drop in at any point during the times.

Alastair

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

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

Falkirk House difficulties

We were alerted over the weekend to an incident in Falkirk House which has caused a number of problems to local residents.

A fire on the 10th floor on Friday evening was quickly contained and put out by firefighters. However, during the extinguishing process, a malfunction in the water system meant that water leaked into the lift and a number of properties near the top of the building, which knocked-out some of the electricity circuits in addition.

CityWest engineers were successful in returning the lift to service on the Saturday afternoon and have been working with local residents to minimise inconvenience.

Please get in touch if you live in Falkirk and would like to discuss. We'll be working keeping closely in touch with the Estate Office to work through any issues associated with the fire and its aftermath.

Alastair

CityWest Improvements to Edinburgh, Falkirk and Glasgow Houses

CityWest Homes have been in touch to inform us that, starting today, they will begin the boiler replacement programme at Edinburgh, Falkirk and Glasgow Houses.

Scaffolding will be erected at each of the towers to undertake the boiler replacement works. CityWest anticipate the works being completed by the end of June.

If there are any issues or problems please do get in touch or contact the contractor (RG Francis) on 01245 459805.

Lee

CityWest Homes: Maida Vale Update

CityWest have been in touch to let us know about work being undertaken around the Maida Vale estate:

• Rayne House: Works to refurbish the communal areas are due to start shortly. Additionally, CityWest also intend to spend six weeks upgrading the lift over the summer and will shortly be speaking with residents about how to minimise any inconvenience.
• Edinburgh, Falkirk and Glasgow Towers: the gas boilers are currently being renewed, causing scaffolding to be erected outside all three. All affected residents should have received a letter giving them further information.

If you are a resident and have any issues or comments on the above works, please get in touch.

Lee

Satellite TV Works

CityWest Homes have sent us the text of a letter which will be going out in the next few weeks and months to all tenants and leaseholders in Maida Vale. The letter gives introductory information about the switchover to digital TV, in readiness for the switching off of the current analogue signal in four years time.

The new system will allow residents to choose to purchase either Sky or Freeview, and will also offer access to Astra 2 and Hotbird satellites.

A programme of installation is being worked up in conjunction with the Estate Office to ensure that all tenants and leaseholders in Maida Vale have access to digital television before the 2012 switch-off.

At a CityWest area committee meeting a few months ago I asked for assurances that the new digital tv structures would ensure that unsightly satellite dishes could be progressively removed from Maida Vale estates. The Estate Office continues to try to enforce in blocks (such as Torridon House) where communal satellite facilities already exist.

If you'd like further information on the switch-over, or to discuss what these works mean for you, please don't hesitate to get in touch (maidavale@maidavaleconservatives.com)

Lee

CityWest Leaseholder Fair 2007

CityWest Homes will be holding their second 'leaseholder fair' on Monday 24 September at the Porchester Hall in Bayswater.

The event, which will run between 1 and 8pm, will include information and advice for all CityWest lessees in Maida Vale. This will include (according to the flyer) advice on service charges, repairs and ways to pay. Stalls present will provide information on (amongst other things) Service charges and billing, Key lessee scheme, Online payments, Future plans for your estate, Community Safety, Energy Advice, Home Improvement Grants, Recycling, the Noise Team and Age Concern.

If you are intending to go along, you can phone 7 245 2106 for more information.

Alastair

Maida Vale Estate Fun Day

Yesterday afternoon, Alastair, Jan and I attended the Maida Vale Estate Fun Day held at 40 Tree Green.

The event, which was organised by the Maida Vale Estate Office, was supported by all the Tenant Management Organisations (TMOs) throughout the area. We met many local residents who were enjoying the bouncy castles, football, fire engine, police and many other stalls that was present.

It was great to see so many local residents and we hope they enjoyed the day as much as we did!

Thanks to Monserrat & Pat from the Estate Office and Kay, Ivy, Anne, Rose and everyone else from the TMOs who put so much work into making sure the day was a success.

Lee

Westminster Tenants' Day - Monday 26 March

Next Monday, the Westminster City Partnership/Housing Network will host the Westminster Tenants' Day. This event is open to all Westminster tenants - whether CityWest, Paddington Churches, Pathmeads or any other housing associations - to come along and ask questions and seek advice about housing (or any other subjects!)

Tenants can drop in at anytime between 1pm and 8pm, and will be held at the Porchester Hall, 45 Porchester Road, Bayswater.

For further information please contact the Council on 7641 2789.

Lee

(Photo of the Scottish Towers courtesy of CityWest Homes)

CityWest Councillor Meeting

CityWest Homes held another of their update meetings for Councillors last night, to highlight the progress of the last few months.

We received a presentation from MORI showing tenant and lessee satisfaction rates and discussed resident engagement. The good news is that satisfaction rates have risen over the last three years, which is all credit to CityWest and their engagement team led by Lorna Whitehorn. Tenants generally are more satisfied than lessees, and CityWest recognise that they have a way to go in improving their relationship with leaseholders in the city. CityWest are shortly to revamp their communications with village residents, so hopefully we shall see some further improvements over the next few months.

We also had a detailed discussion regarding the repairs system, which a number of Councillors thought was not working as well as it could. CityWest have streamlined the number of contractors they use and are shortly to implement a new system which increases the onus upon contractors to get repairs right first time. All Councillors present agreed that they would like to revisit this at the next meeting to see if any progress had been made.

Finally, we had a long debate regarding major works. CityWest accept that they also have a way to go in convincing residents that they are completing works in an appropriate manner, and also for the best price possible. CityWest agree that they need to engage with leaseholders more and to engage in more of a dialogue.

Equally as importantly, CityWest announced that they would begin to consult with residents and Councillors regarding the spending programme for the next five years. We are very keen to make sure all affected residents in Maida Vale have the opportunity to further contribute, and we'll let you know once we've received the initial proposals.

Lee

(Photo of Tollgate Gardens courtesy of CityWest Homes)

Maida Vale Police Meeting

There was a great turnout on Monday evening for the police meeting that we asked the Council to organise. Representatives from the Maida Vale Safer Neighbourhoods Team, Civicwatch and the Maida Vale Estate Office were all present, along with around 50 local residents. We're really grateful that local residents gave up their Monday evenings to come and discuss their concerns regarding crime and anti-social behaviour, and there was some real progress made.

The Police/Civicwatch teams, led by Ian Russell and Aleks Pogroszewski, began by highlighting some welcome successes in Maida Vale in recent months:

• Dibdin House: anti-social behaviour has been severely cut in Dibdin House, after local residents and councillors brought the problems to the attention of the police in the middle of last year. The planning proposals about to be laid before Westminster's planning committee may, in our opinion, also contribute to further 'designing out' the potential for misbehaviour.
• Glasgow House: anti-social behaviour in Glasgow House appears to have been successfully disrupted in recent weeks, and the police are keeping a close eye on the situation. A review of security arrangements has taken place, including changes to the concierge service. Areas of the property where misbehaviour was occurring have now been padlocked.

We then went straight into questions and comments from the floor, last for over an hour. Local residents and police officers discussed, among other things, Oak Tree House, the rest of the Scottish Towers, graffiti, lighting around Carlton Vale, Paddington Rec and begging in Elgin Avenue. We also discussed wider issues of provision for activities for younger people and the perception of crime in our local area. Police and Civicwatch officers have agreed to go away and look at each individual case to feed into their long-term problem solving.

Residents were urged to make sure that they report patterns of non-emergency anti-social behaviour to the Westminster hotline - 7 641 3000. Community intelligence helps the police build up a picture of any emerging problems - and the police rely on residents to provide that intelligence.

If you'd like to get in touch with your local police team, details can be found here.

Thanks again to all who came.

Alastair, Jan and Lee

Full Council Meeting

Wednesday evening was the first full council meeting of 2007.

During question time, I asked the Cabinet Member for Street Environment to impress upon Thames Water the need to consider local residents during their pipe replacement works. I also stressed that Thames were failing to release roads they had finished with back into use (Randolph Avenue/Morshead Road last week). The Cabinet Member, Cllr Bradley, agreed to bring up the problems again with Thames.

In the housing debate, I also made a speech about the importance of involving local residents in decisions about their local areas. I highlighted the success of the TMOs in Maida Vale - the Scottish Towers, ABC, Thurso Dundee, Carlton Vale and Torridon - and lobbied for more powers and support to be given to these fantastically-run management organisations.

Alastair made a speech on Westminster's new planning guidance which passed unanimously on Wednesday evening.

Jan was Deputy Chair of the Council meeting for the evening.

Lee

CityWest Homes: One Westminster Many Voices

CityWest Homes have announced that they will shortly been launching a new scheme to increase resident involvement in village communities in North Paddington and North Marylebone.

CityWest is keen to ensure the greatest possible community involvement amongst residents, including offering training courses for local residents who want to make a difference on the ground.

If you are interested in finding out more, please go along to one of the events CityWest are holding over the next couple of weeks:

Sat 13 Jan - Greenside Community Centre, 24 Lilestone Street, NW8 (10 - 11.30am)

Sat 13 Jan - Fisherton Street Community Hall, NW8 (12.30 - 2pm)

Sat 20 Jan - Derry House Hall, Church Street/Penfold Street, NW8 (10 - 11.30am)

Sat 20 Jan - Lydford Hall, 74 Fernhead Road, W9 (1 - 2.30pm)

Sat 3 Feb - Millennium Centre, Amberley Estate, W9 (1.30 - 3pm)

If you need further information please call 7245 2350 or e-mail involvingresidents@cwh.org.uk.

Lee

(Photo of Thurso House courtesy of CityWest Homes)

Another five years for 3* CityWest

A month after achieving the maximum 3* rating in an Audit Commission review, Westminster Council announced yesterday that CityWest Homes will continue to manage its housing stock for a further five years.

CityWest, which was formed almost five years ago and was one of the first arms-length management organisations in the country, manages 22,000 houses in our borough on behalf of the Council. This includes over 1,000 properties in Maida Vale.

By the end of the year, all CityWest properties will have been brought up to the government's Decent Homes standard, 3 years ahead of schedule.

Lee

(Photo of Thurso House courtesy of CityWest Homes)