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

Street Properties Works

Letters will be going out shortly to CityWest tenants in a number of street properties around Maida Vale, announcing the beginning of repairs and further improvement works.

The works will be primarily to the external face of the properties - repairs to windows, roofs, walls, rendering and brickwork. Communal areas will also be spruced up.

The properties affected are in Shirland Road, Elgin Avenue, Carlton Vale, Randolph Avenue and Randolph Gardens.

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

Community Build Task Group

A few days ago, Jan and Alastair both sat on the Community Build Task Group, created by Westminster Council as part of our commitment to build more homes in the borough.

As part of the recently launched Housing Strategy, Westminster has committed itself to looking at opportunities for building new homes in the borough. One of the top priorities local residents speak about on the doorsteps is the need to build more homes in Westminster. One of the less good parts of our job as Councillors is to hear the terrible stories of people living in over-crowded conditions because of the shortage of properties in our local areas. A number of boroughs have had great success in finding innovative ways to build more housing for the benefit of residents and those in need, and as a Council, we're trying to learn from these examples.

The plans for 'Community Build' are still in the very early stages. We're glad to have been part of the debate which will now begin on this very important issue. We'll let you know how it goes.

Jan and Alastair

CityWest Proposals

Several months ago we reported how CityWest Homes were preparing to do further works to some villages in Maida Vale (see here). CityWest have now come back with their first proposal.

The aim of the work is to bring all properties up to the CityWest Technical Standard, with properties in Carlton Vale, Elgin Avenue, Randolph Avenue and Randolph Gardens being in the first wave of works.

We've asked for specific information on what is proposed for each individual street and property. We'll let you know when we receive further information.

Lee

(Photo of Torridon House courtesy of CityWest Homes)

Eighteen Ways to Improve Westminster

In last week's Council Meeting, Sir Simon Milton, the leader of Westminster Council, outlined the plans for the second year of our One City programme, which seeks to improve the lives of Westminster residents. He outlined 18 separate initiatives which the Council will work on over the next year:

• improving secondary school attainment
• a new learning and achievement strategy for Westminster's schools
• improving opportunities for older residents through the Every Older Person Matters programme
• launching a new temporary-to-permanent housing scheme to boost home ownership
• launching a Local Employment Initiative
• bidding for a new Construction Training Centre to be based at Paddington Green
• making Westminster an exemplar green authority through our Go Green initiative
• exempting all green vehicles (not just electric) from resident's permit charges
• continued spending on local high streets
• receiving and actioning the planning application from the proposed Victoria Interchange
• developing Westminster's first ever noise strategy
• supporting a Family Drug and Alcohol Court to support early intervention
• targeting crime and disorder around the Prince of Wales junction on the Harrow Road
• improving parking and the range of parking services available online
• launching a Wireless Innovation Competition
• strengthening the role of ward councillors at neighbourhood level
• recruiting 4,700 additional volunteers by March 2009
• launching further engagement programmes with local residents

Further details can be found here.

Westminster Conservatives are committed to putting forward a positive, pragmatic vision for Westminster for the next four years and beyond. We would welcome your support in achieving these aims.

Please do get in touch if you have any comments on the proposed initiatives launched last week.

Alastair, Jan and 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)

Westminster Housing Conference

On Friday, I attended a conference organised by Westminster Council to discuss the report of the Housing Commission (see here) and to debate how the Council should develop policy for the future.

It was great to see so many people in one room passionate about improving urban housing. The leader of Westminster Council, Simon, and the Cabinet Member for Housing, Angela, both spoke at the beginning, along with representatives from housing providers and the Housing Corporation.

Later, we split into five groups to discuss particular aspects of housing policy, and I attended a group which debated how to make neighbourhoods ‘work’, led by the Deputy Director of PCHA (much in our thoughts this year after Genesis’s acquisition of Dibdin House). The debate was well led, with many great suggestions from people on the ground, in Harrow Road, Maida Vale, Church Street and Queen’s Park.

The conference was the second opportunity this week for us (along with the Scrutiny Committee) to highlight how we believe housing can be improved in Maida Vale. Westminster’s new housing strategy will be published early next year.

Lee

Committee Report: Health and Community Services

On Monday, Jan and I sat on the Health and Community Services Overview & Scrutiny Committee, which analyses and comments upon Westminster's policies and decisions in housing, health and social services.

The committee looked at the following:

(i) received update reports from the Cabinet Members for Customer Services, Housing and Adult Services
(ii) commented upon the new "Older People: Housing and Care" report which sets out the framework for developing our housing stock to better serve older residents (local residents and organisations will shortly be asked to comment also)
(iii) watched a presentation on the recent Westminster Housing Commission report (for more information see here)
(iv) questioned the Chief Executive of CityWest on how the company intends to improve going forward

Lee

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)

Working to reduce homelessness

Last week, Jan and I were privileged to attend a major fundraiser for one of Westminster's leading charities, The Passage, based in Victoria.

The Passage runs London's largest day centre for homeless people, along with an emergency night shelter and transition centre to help people come off the streets. Westminster Council is exceptionally proud to support The Passage and the tremendous work it is doing to addressing the root causes of homeless, as well as providing real, practical and crucial help for homeless people.

The fundraiser was an excellent opportunity to raise the profile of the fantastic work going on in this area, and to support the hardwork and dedication shown by Sister Ellen and The Passage.

To find out more about the work of The Passage, click here.

Jan and Lee

CityWest Homes Meeting

CityWest's North Area Board met last Thursday evening, bringing together tenants, residents, independent members and councillors to discuss current issues and monitor housing performance for all of CityWest's estates north of Bayswater.

At the beginning of the meeting we questioned a representative of the Housing Benefits team from the Council, who reported that the team had made up lost ground after difficulties last year and that the average time taken for claims to be processed continues to decrease. He was subject to a number of fairly rigorous questions about future plans for improvement and about the difficulties of processing complex cases.

We also discussed the current performance of CityWest, which continues to hold steady in most target areas. The Board highlighted a number of areas where it hoped additional work would be done to improve performance in the next three months.

Finally, the board also received a presentation from the lift department at CityWest. In recent months, CityWest have made real attempts to address the lift problems within Maida Vale and have partially upgraded machinery in Atholl, Braemar and Dundee. This should improve performance in the next quarter. The refurbishment of Falkirk House's lift continues to be a top priority for CityWest.

Lee

Queen's Park Tower Meeting

Brent Council held a meeting on the proposed Queen's Park Tower last Thursday evening in Brondesbury Park.

Around 100 people turned up to listen to the changes that the new Conservative-LibDem Brent Council are proposing to make, following the creation of a stakeholder group to discuss the project. 2 representatives on the group are from Westminster, to ensure that our input is heard.

The new brief is still at the consultation stage, but Brent have committed to a development of no more than 12 storeys. Although the design is yet to be determined (probably via some kind of competition), we were shown pictures of likely impact from Carlton Vale, which shows a much less imposing building that before.

The changes to the Planning Brief are to be approved by the leadership of Brent Council on 13 November, with a consultation period afterwards (20 November - 11 January). A revised plan will be then drawn up in January, with the final version submitted once again to the leadership next February.

Although we remain concerned about the likely impact upon local services and the community, we recognise that the new Council have made a very bold step in reducing the height of the tower. We'll now await to see what comes from the consultation.

Lee

Dibdin House Meeting - Thursday 19 October

Pathmeads are holding a meeting for Dibdin House residents tomorrow, Thursday 19 October, at 6.30pm in the Community Hall to discuss estate improvements.

Representatives from CivicWatch, the local safer neighbourhoods team and the youth offending team will also be present to discuss the continuing anti-social behaviour within Dibdin House and Andover Place. CivicWatch have confirmed that additional resources have been allocated for Dibdin to try to stamp out the low-level youth offending of recent months.

If you are a resident of Dibdin or Andover Place, please do go along and have your say.

Lee

Progress for Tollgate Gardens

Attended quite a lively gathering yesterday night at Tollgate Gardens, where residents were holding their bi-monthly ‘Sounding Board’ meeting to discuss estate issues. It was great to see residents really engaging in discussion and trying to address a number of difficult topics.

Fantastic news that funding has been successfully secured to create a new playground on the estate - a lack of children's play facilities has been a long-standing problem. CityWest are hopeful that, once resident consultation had been completed, the playground could be opened in time for next summer. Fingers crossed!

A good discussion was also had regarding anti-social behaviour on the estate, gate security and the upcoming refurbishment of the hall (September). Although residents have reported the lifts have got slightly more reliable in recent months, we will continue to push very hard for an upgrade.

Noticed how smart Tollgate is looking now the refurbishment works have been completed by CityWest and Westminster Council.

Lee

(Photo courtesy of CityWest Homes)