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Saturday, February 06, 2010

Paddington Sports Club: Planning Application

A number of local residents have been in touch with us over the last week or so regarding the recent planning application made by Paddington Sports Club.

The club is proposing the erection of a metal and canvass structure over two of its tennis courts (closest to the entrance of the club on Castellain Road) which will allow tennis to be played in all weathers/seasons and until 10pm in the evening (as opposed to 8pm now). We understand that the structure might be up to 10m high (at its highest point).

As local Councillors, we would very much like to hear from any local residents who has a view on this issue. We have circulated a letter to residents on Delaware, Castellain and part of Elgin today to highlight that the application has been submitted and seeking comments (and encouraging comments to be provided to Council officers in the usual way).

If you are a local resident and would like to discuss the application, please get in touch (maidavale@maidavaleconservatives.com). We'd be delighted to hear from you.

Alastair

PS And if you want to make comments to officers to be considered at the planning committee (when the application will be decided - and currently scheduled for towards the end of February), you should e-mail those to northplanningteam@westminster.gov.uk, marking it for the attention of the case officer, Robert Winkley. The reference is 09/10162/FULL.

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posted by Lee Rowley at Saturday, February 06, 2010 1 comments

Friday, February 05, 2010

Visit to the Yoga Centre

Last Saturday, all three of us had the privilege of being able to visit (and take part in a class) at one of the many small businesses in our area, the Iyengar Yoga Institute on Randolph Avenue.

The Institute is well known throughout the area for its yoga classes which it puts on throughout the week for local residents in Maida Vale, St. John's Wood, Kilburn and beyond.

Personally, having never taken part in a yoga class before, I was a little apprehensive at first - however, it was much fun and it was great to see so many people taking part in the class (and quite early in the morning!)

All three of us would like to thank the Institute for the invitation and for the warm welcome we received.

Lee

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posted by Lee Rowley at Friday, February 05, 2010 0 comments

Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Kilburn Park Road: Westminster committee

Last week all three of us, along with many local residents, attended the Westminster Planning Committee considering the Kilburn Park Road roundabout application.


Although the committee had no formal powers, it was asked to consider the application as it stood and provide comments - comments which would be conveyed to Brent Council when they actually formally consider and decide on the application.


Alastair spoke on behalf of us, outlining our views on why the application as it currently stands should be re-considered. We talked, amongst other things, about the issues regarding light, overlooking, design, transportation, air pollution, noise, loss of the greenspace, the lack of an environmental assessment and parking.

We are very pleased that, following our representations, all four member of the committee agreed that Westminster Council should object to the application and recommend to Brent that it should not go ahead in its current form. In fact, the lanning committee were so concerned by the proposal that they specifically asked that Westminster's comments were toughened up to make it clear to Brent that they had real concerns about the roposs about the proposal - with the chairman commenting that had Westminster been asked to decide the application it would have been refused in its current state.

We are very glad that the committee agreed with us and it strengthens the case of local residents who believe that this proposal is inapropriate for Kilburn Park Road.

The next milestone will be the Brent Council meeting - due to be held in late February. We'll let you know when we have a date.

Alastair, Jan and Lee

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posted by Lee Rowley at Wednesday, February 03, 2010 0 comments

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Kilburn Park Road: Thursday night committee

Just a quick note to remind everyone who is interested - Westminster Council will be holding a planning meeting tomorrow evening at City Hall to consider the recent plans by Brent to build on the roundabout.



This will be a meeting where Westminster Council will consider the application on its merits and then will recommend what comments it will make (as an official, neighbouring borough) to Brent on the application. These comments will then go to the Brent planning committee which will actually make the decision next month.



We'll be attending as local Councillors and will be asking our colleagues at Westminster to agree that Brent's proposal is inappropriate for the area. If any local residents wish to turn up too, they would be more than welcome.



Jan, Alastair and Lee

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posted by Lee Rowley at Wednesday, January 27, 2010 0 comments

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Essendine Road: Undipping the dip ....

Success! A number of local residents in Essendine Road have often been concerned about resemblance of the pavement near Wymering Road to a lake after bouts of heavy rain.

After long discussions with the Council we have been successful in getting the paving stones re-laid to reduce the problem in the future. Work started this week!

If you have any concerns about the pavements near where you live, please do get in touch - maidavale@maidavaleconservatives.com

Alastair

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posted by Lee Rowley at Sunday, January 24, 2010 0 comments

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Tollgate Gardens: Meet the Architects

CityWest Homes have been in touch to say that they have organised a meeting for local Tollgate residents with the architects chosen to work with them over the next fews on the potential redevelopment.

JM Architects have been appointed (from a committee made up of residents and CityWest) to identify potential opportunities to improve Tollgate. They will work closely with local residents to draw up potential plans and see what can be done.

If you are a resident of Tollgate and want to find out more, please do go along. The meeting will be held on Saturday 6th February between 1pm and 3pm at Tollgate Hall.

Jan

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posted by Lee Rowley at Saturday, January 23, 2010 0 comments

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Community Fund Update: New Police Car

We're very pleased to say that the latest part of our community fund has been allocated to the joint purchase of a police car with Little Venice ward.

Over the last year and a half, many local residents have told us that, whilst they recognise that Maida Vale is already a very low crime area, that they would like to see more to be done to make it even safer. Last year, we used the community fund to bring in two additional City Guardians dedicated to Maida Vale ward, to reduce anti-social behaviour and make our streets cleaner and safer.

We've also been working for a number of months now with the police to identify how best we could use the fund to help them. They agreed that an additional car would be very useful for them throughout the area.

We'll let you know when the car hits the street!

Jan

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posted by Lee Rowley at Thursday, January 21, 2010 0 comments

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Gritting situation

We don't normally print part of Council press releases verbatim, but we thought this one was important:

"A national salt rationing scheme was imposed by the Government last Friday restricting supplies to individual councils, who have been ordered to cut gritting by 25%. Today that was extended to cuts ranging from 40 - 50%. The activation of the emergency national system of salt allocation means that normal gritting will not be possible due to dwindling stocks of salt.

Westminster, due to its central location with 1.1million daily visitors and 600,000 car journeys, normally aims to grit all its roads and pavements. It is therefore hit particularly hard by the restrictions which means its gritters are only able to spread around one sixth of the salt they normally do during the severe weather."

Before the introduction of the restrictions we were in touch with council officers regularly and did manage to get really icy patches in the ward (including a part of Maida Vale near a bus stop outside Dibdin House) re-salted when residents reported them to us.

Jan, Alastair and Lee

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posted by Lee Rowley at Tuesday, January 12, 2010 0 comments

Saturday, January 09, 2010

Kilburn Park Road: Next Steps

Later today we will be distributing a short letter to all residents of Kilburn Park Road and Carlton Vale with further information on the planning application for the roundabout at the junction of their roads.

The next steps in this process are likely to be the following:

Make your views known in writing to Brent Council by 18th January
Residents who wish to make comments have just over a week to send them to Brent. You can either send your letter by e-mail (ben.martin@brent.gov.uk) or by post to Ben Martin, Planning Department, Brent Town Hall, Forty Lane, Wembley, HA9 9HD. Residents should quote reference 09/2500 in their correspondence with the Council. All letters should be received by Brent by 18th January.

Come along to a discuss at Westminster Council on the issue on 28th January
We are pleased to say that we have been able to convince Westminster Council to also hold a preliminary planning meeting on 28th January to discuss the issue. As a neighbouring body, the Council will also formally submit comments to Brent on the application (as well as all local residents). These comments will be from the planning officers in Westminster and based on the views that they have heard from local residents. All local residents are welcome to attend this meeting at 6.30pm on 28th January at City Hall, 64 Victoria Street, SW1P.

This meeting will make no decisions - it will simply be an opportunity for Westminster Council to discuss the issue formally and, then, from those discussions, the Council (as a corporate body) will make representations to Brent.

Next Steps
Once Brent have received all of the comments, they will convene a planning meeting which will formally make a decision on the proposal. We understand that this is expected to be 24th February, although Brent are still to confirm this. We'll let you know as soon as we know.

Alastair, Jan and Lee

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posted by Lee Rowley at Saturday, January 09, 2010 0 comments

Friday, January 08, 2010

Kilburn Park Road: Consultation Letter

Here is the text of the planning application sent out by Brent just before Christmas regarding the Kilburn Park Road Roundabout planning application:

"PLANNING APPLICATION - THIS MAY AFFECT YOU

South Kilburn Partnership has recently made a planning application to the Council.: The application relates to:-
South Kilburn Regeneration Roundabout Site, Carlton Vale, London, NW6

The application proposes:-
Demolition of garages adjacent to Bronte House and erection of 2 part three-, five- and seven-storey blocks to provide 133 dwellings (comprising flats & maisonettes, including 75 affordable units) with associated landscaping and amenity space on roundabout adjoining Kilburn Park Road and Carlton Vale, NW6, including removal of pedestrian footbridge and stopping-up of western side of existing roundabout

The Council now has to make a decision on whether or not to allow the proposal to go ahead. Your views on the matter are important and the attached leaflet explains how you can now get involved in the decision-making process.

If intending to view the documents on our website, the images should be available to view by 14 December, 2009 (or by the next working day if that date is a public holiday). Use the link "Comment on this planning application" to submit your comments online. Note that if you provide us with a mobile number and email address, we will send you standard text updates and notification letters by email regarding this application.

If you wish to comment on this application, your views will be taken into account, provided they are received, in writing by letter, email or online, within 35 days of the date of this letter. Please be advised that under Section 69 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, all applications are available to view via a public register or electronically on line and may be viewed in either format at our offices. Should you comment on this application we undertake to keep you fully informed of progress. We shall endeavour to acknowledge any comments received within 5 working days of receipt and subsequently advise you of the decision.

If you are unsure of anything, please telephone the planning officer whose name and direct-line telephone number appear at the top right-hand corner of this letter. Or you can now text your query to 07781 482464. We are here to help."

The explanation of the proposal is interesting for the omission of any reference to the removal of the roundabout, the loss of the trees and the changing of the traffic flows - key issues, as Brent know, for the local residents who have made their views known to date.

We will be distributing a letter to residents tomorrow from ourselves which provides further context and information for local residents who wish to comment.

If you are a resident of Kilburn Park Road and wish to discuss this, please do get in touch at maidavale@maidavaleconservatives.com.

Alastair, Jan and Lee

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posted by Lee Rowley at Friday, January 08, 2010 0 comments