Maida Vale Fun Day

On Saturday, we were very pleased to attend the 3rd annual Maida Vale fun day, held on 40 Tree Green, next to Thurso House.

The day, which is organised and run by the Maida Vale Estate Office (with fantastic support from local residents) was another great success, not least for all the local children who came along and were able to enjoy the attractions. The steel band were also top-notch.

Jan, as Deputy Lord Mayor, was on hand to open the event. It was also attended by Joanne, our parliamentary candidate, her husband and dog!

Thanks to everyone who helped to organise and we hoped everyone had as much fun as we did.

Alastair

Karen Buck: An apology

Dear Karen,

We hope you are well.

As a rule, we try to avoid using this website to go in for a running critique of you, as our local MP. To be honest it's a bit boring and we only tend to see you once or twice a year anyway up here in Maida Vale. Instead, we prefer to concentrate on actually helping local residents to solve their problems and issues.

A few days ago, however, you really got us. It was only a few weeks ago that you were pledging whole-hearted support for our local Post Office on Formosa Street, and you accepted a huge 2,000 signature petition organised by our mutual friends at Paddington Waterways.

And then on 19 March you had the chance to suspend the current programme of closures, including the one in Formosa Street. You could have voted in the Commons for just such a motion. And you failed. Totally and utterly. Not only that, but you voted against suspending the closure programme.

And we've been waiting until now for the reason why. And we've waited and waited and waited. Last week we saw a mumble from you in the local press which muttered something about it being a "Conservative motion". And since then, nothing.

So, Karen: an apology. At one time we thought you might have some principles. Sadly, we were wrong. In fact, it seems that you have completely forgotten about why you were elected in the first place.

Not good enough.

Alastair, Jan and Lee

Save Formosa Street Post Office!

Last month, the Post Office announced the latest round of proposed cuts to Post Offices around the country. In our local area, four post offices have been earmarked for closure including, sadly, our local one in Formosa Street, Little Venice.

As local councillors, we despair at the short-sightedness of this move by the Post Office and the government. Whilst we recognise that the Post Office’s business model is broken, the solution to this issue is reduce its network coverage so that large swathes of urban London no longer have access to a local branch. After so many years of taxing, spending and failing it really isn’t good enough that suddenly the government is seeking to penalise some of the most vulnerable members of our local community by closing Formosa Street.

Note to Karen: this is your government closing these Post Offices. For once in your life leave the politics aside; don’t grandstand and try to do something.

Lee

Torridon House Street Surgery

Last weekend, we held another one of our regular street surgeries at Torridon House, Randolph Gardens.

Torridon House is a fantastic community with a real spirit and one of the most active TMOs in the area. It's always a pleasure to be invited into the block and to chat with local residents.

Most of the residents we called were very satisfied with Westminster Council and the services it provides for residents. We've taken away a number of housing queries which we'll take up with CityWest.

We also took the opportunity to introduce a number of local residents to our parliamentary candidate, Joanne Cash, who is increasingly being recognised as the real voice for local people in Westminster North.

Alastair and Lee

(Photo of Torridon House courtesy of CityWest Homes)

£10k Karen: Please Save My Seat!

Yesterday afternoon, our local Labour MP popped up in Parliament to vote for another waste of your taxpayers money. Karen joined a majority of the Labour Party in voting for an additional £10,000 communications allowance for all MPs every year (see here and here). Apparently this allowance - which will cost us all, in total, £6.5 million pounds per year - is to be spent on things like websites.

Well, the total cost of our website is about £20 a year. You'll forgive us, then, if we think that £10,000 is a bit much.

Not good enough, Karen.

Lee

Karen: Stop Messing About

We don't often cover our local MP. That's because she doesn't give much of an impression that she's bothered about Maida Vale or Maida Vale residents (before her silly complaints in the paper last week about Paddington Rec, the last time most people saw her in Maida Vale was about 9 months ago).

And it does seem that Karen is a bit more interested in playing petty politics at the moment than delivering for her constituents. Take an Early Day Motion which she sponsored last Friday, which had absolutely everything to do with the Blair-Brown debate in the Labour Party, and absolutely nothing to with delivering for her residents (see here).

And the cost to the hardworking taxpayer everytime an MP puts down an early day motion? About £250.

Not good enough, Karen.

Lee

Joanne Cash: our next MP

Last night local resident Joanne Cash was selected as the Conservative Parliamentary Spokesman for our constituency, Westminster North.

Joanne has lived in the Paddington area for many years and is dedicated to fighting on behalf of our community. She is very much looking forward to taking on Karen Buck and the discredited, failing government that she props up.

Lee