New Surgery for local residents

We are very pleased to announce that we will be inaugurating our fourth monthly surgery this month, allowing residents another opportunity to get in touch and discuss any problems or issues they might have.

From this month onwards, one of us will hold a one-hour surgery at the Maida Vale Children's Centre on Kilburn Park Road between 10.30am and 11.30am one Wednesday per month.

We'll be present on the following Wednesdays: 8th July, 9th September, 14th October, 11th November and 9th December. No appointment is needed - just drop by.

We'll also be continuing our usual 1st Saturday in the month surgeries in the Cafe of Paddington Rec (10am - 11am) and the Old Office, Dibdin House (1200 - 1pm). On the middle (ish) Tuesday of the month we will be in the Maida Centre, Lanark Road between 7pm and 8pm.

Full details of our next surgery can always be found on this website.

Jan

St. Augustine's Update

Back in February, we reported that St. Augustine's school had also been successfully in winning planning permission to re-develop and expand (see here).

Over the last couple of months, we have also been in discussions with Council officers to ensure that the plans for the school do not significantly affect local residents. And, after lots of discussion, we are pleased that it looks as though Maida Vale residents should not be overly affected by the changes.

As some local residents will already have seen, the hoardings have already begun to be put in place to build the new sports hall for St. Augustine's - on the site of the old, bombed church across Oxford Road (and technically across the border on land owned by Brent Council). The plan is that the sports hall will be built and available for the school to use by the end of the year.

Preparatory works on the main school site will get underway in the Summer, with works properly beginning in late Autumn/Winter. An 'infill' block will be created between the two existing buildings, along with full refurbishment of the existing accommodation. This is likely to last until the end of 2011, done in stages and whilst pupils remain on site.

We are pleased to report that the building contractors are planning for lorries to service both sites from Rudolph Road and not Oxford Road in the main, which should reduce the works impact on local residents. This will only change in 2011 when small lorries will be used as part of the refurbishment works and will use a small ramp to be built on Oxford Road (we have been assured the ramp will be too small for large lorries to use and that they will still access via Rudolph Road).

All site and compound areas will be situated near Rudolph Road, away from most local residents in Oxford Road and Tollgate Gardens.

The only time that works are expected to come anywhere near Tollgate is for a few weeks in 2011 when the playground and sports court at the back of St. Augustine's will be resurfaced. Otherwise, the main body of works will remain at the other side of the site, reducing its impact on local residents.

If you are a local resident and have any questions, comments or issues regarding the building works, don't hesitate to get in touch. We are here to help!

Jan

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. Augustine's School: Driver Jonas Business Challenge

Earlier this month, I was invited to take part in the 6th annual Driver Jonas Business Challenge, a two-day event which offers GCSE pupils from London schools a greater understanding of the urban environment and a chance to find out about careers in the property industry.

St. Augustine's had been lucky enough to be chosen to take part in this event and 25 pupils spent the first day visiting a number of London landmarks including the Tate Modern, the Tate Britain and the London Docklands. The culmination of the event was a presentation on site about the regeneration of East London and the Lea Valley in time for the Olympics.

I joined the pupils on the second day when they were divided into teams and set the challenge of redeveloping the St. Augustine's school site and a 9-acre area of Kilburn. The pupils spent a long time working out how best thise part of Maida Vale and Kilburn could be improved - and particularly enjoyed proposing to knock down some buildings!

Thanks to Driver Jonas for their continued commitment to supporting education and local schools throughout London.

Alastair

Update from Maida Vale Police Team

The Maida Vale Safer Neighbourhoods Team have provided another update on their current activities:

• Motor Vehicle Crime: operation was conducted at the end of 2007 where a decoy car was placed in strategic areas under surveillance. Officers continue to be proactive in crime prevention advice, placing advice cards on windscreens and seeking out the names and addresses of people who leave obvious valuables on display within their vehicles.
• Paddington Rec: A welcome and noticeable reduction in direct low-level anti-social behaviour has been noted in recent months. Police wait to see whether this is seasonal or a permanent improvement. Impact statements continue to be gathered from the public in the meantime.
• Westminster College: Police attended an open day at the college to discuss behaviour with students - but the college remains relatively quiet and there have been no incidents of note since the beginning of the new academic year.
• St. Augustine's Car Boot fair: Police are currently undertaking an operation to address some illegal trading in the streets and to prevent any illegal activities taking place. Warnings have been issued and incidents are being photographed and filmed.

Lee

Carlton Vale: Pedestrian Crossing

One of the issues I have been working on almost since I first became a Councillor thirteen years ago has been improving safety around Carlton Vale.

Our part of Carlton Vale can be a particularly busy stretch of road, acting as a short-cut through from Kilburn/Queen's Park/Brent to Edgware Road and then onwards to the Finchley Road and St. John's Wood. The road does not, however, have an adequate crossing at any point between Dibdin House and the junction with Kilburn Park Road - a real problem for the large number of elderly residents and young families living nearby and the school children walking to St. Augustines.

We've been working closely with local residents from Carlton Vale, Thurso House and Torridon House for a number of years to lobby the Council's Transportation Department to install a crossing. And, hopefully, we are finally close to being successful!

The council is currently consulting on plans to provide a zebra crossing over Carlton Vale at the Carlton Vale-Randolph Avenue crossing. If you would like to see the plans or comment, please do get in touch and we can arrange for them to be sent. The consultation period ends on 11 January.

Jan

Building Schools for the Future: St. George's and St. Augustine's

There will be a further opportunity to learn about the changes to St. George's and St. Augustine's Schools at meetings this Thursday, 6 December. Please do come along if you interested in finding out how our local schools will be improved for the benefit of all local residents.

Details of the events are -

• St. George's School: between 3.30pm and 7pm on site
• St. Augustine's School: between 3.30pm and 7pm on site

Jan

Investing in St. George's and St. Augustine's

As part of the national Building Schools for the Future programme, Westminster City Council will shortly begin a major series of refurbishment to both St. George's and St. Augustine's Schools.

Public consultations will be held on both projects:

• St. George's: Thursday 11 October between 3.30pm and 7pm
• St. Augustine's: Thursday 11 October between 3.30pm and 7pm

Please do go along if you would like to find out more!

Alastair

Graffiti removed

We've reported a number of instances of graffiti around Maida Vale recently. So far, the anti-graffiti unit at Westminster Council have removed graffiti from the following roads:

• the garage on Lanark Road, close the rear of Hamilton Court
• the parking meters close to Dundee House on Lanark Road
• the electricity box close to the Sutherland Avenue junction with Lanark Road
• the entrance to Paddington Sports Club in Castellain Road
• the gate to the City of Westminster College on Morshead Road
• the postbox on Morshead Road, close to Elgin Avenue
• the telephone kiosk closer to Strome House on Carlton Vale
• the electricity box on Delaware Road
• the gate to St. Augustine's School on Oxford Road

If you spot any graffiti in our area, please let us know and we'll make sure it is removed.

Lee

Civicwatch Meeting

Last Friday afternoon I had the opportunity to sit in on a crime and anti-social behaviour planning meeting for Maida Vale.

These regular meetings, coordinated by the Council's Civicwatch team, bring together the local police, the Council, CityWest Homes, the City of Westminster College and others to discuss ways to reduce anti-social behaviour in our area.

Last Friday, discussions centred around (and/or I raised) the continuing problems with graffiti, the need to reduce problems in and around the Rec (which a number of residents continue to write to us about), the overspill problems from the College around Elgin Avenue and the usual minor issues with school kids from St. Augustine's and St. George's.

Work continues on the graffiti issue and the people involved have been identified - but it is difficult to prosecute until they have been caught in the act. One individual has already been caught on Morshead Road. There is also a lot of work going on to hammer home the message that College students need to stop treating Elgin Avenue and the Rec as a doss-house. The College does seem to be slowly engaging on this.

Please do let us know if you have any thoughts, comments or experiences.

Lee

PS The picture above was taken last year (just to clarify!) and we got the graffiti removed immediately.

Paddington Police Meeting

Attended the Paddington/Marylebone Police Community Consultative Group last night, which brings together senior officers and residents to discuss the challenges of policing Westminster.

The latest crime figures for Paddington (April - August) showed a welcome reduction in some offences over the same period last year; 21 less instances of theft of property, 120 less robberies against people, 59 less cycle thefts and 86 less crime against cars. There has, however, been a slight increase in burglaries and criminal damage - both of which the police are working to sort out.

The new Maida Vale Safer Neighbourhoods Team, which has been in place since April, also reported back. The team has highlighted four major areas to work upon to reduce anti-social behaviour in Maida Vale:
(1) Paddington Rec
(2) Dibdin House
(3) St. Augustine's School
(4) Lanark Road

Please do let us know what you think of the above priorities. And don't hesitate to get in touch with us if you are experiencing issues in your building, street or anywhere in our area.

Lee

PS For anti-social behaviour not serious enough to call 999, residents should use Westminster Council's Anti-Social Behaviour Line on 7641 3000. Police and CivicWatch can only address low-level crime if we all provide the information everytime the problem occurs.