Christmas Lights
The Bayswater and Lancaster Gate councillors have once again approved funding for Christmas lights this year. They will be turned on by the Lord Mayor at an event taking place at 18:30 on November 28th on the northern end of Queensway. It would be great to see as many local residents there as possible!
Westminster Tea Dance
The Sir Simon Milton Foundation is inviting 1,000 older residents in Westminster to join them at their annual Tea Dance on Sunday 10th December at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane for an unforgettable afternoon of entertainment, live music, afternoon tea and great company. You can apply for a maximum of two tickets. If you are applying for a friend or carer, please include their name and address so that we can send their ticket directly to them. The best place to apply is online at sirsimonmiltonfoundation.com/tea-dance.
After Dark – Shaping Our Evening and Night-time Plan
Westminster plays a key role in London’s nightlife, supporting good jobs and a world leading array of cultural, entertainment, and culinary attractions. However, as a Council, we recognise the challenges that come with so much night-time activity, including crime and disorder, anti-social behaviour, and noise disturbances, which often adversely impact our residents.
Residents can begin sharing their perspectives on Westminster’s evening and night-time environment through our dedicated engagement portal.
Defibrillator
We are happy to be helping Inge and the Clean Air Bayswater team, who have secured a funded defibrillator. After Max made an introduction to the team managing the Colonnades at Columbia Threadneedle, a potential site has been agreed for the defibrillator, near the service yard gate on Porchester Road. Inge says:
Access to a Heart defibrillator saves lives- My father saved a man’s life on Kensington High street some years ago, so I cannot highlight how big a difference it can make. It really can save lives but it needs to be accessible 24/7.
We are working with Inge and Clean Air Bayswater on the installation and if further funding is needed for the electrical installation, we will support with applying for those funds.
Swanleys, Westbourne Park Road
Maggie and James recently met with representatives of leaseholders living in Swanleys to hear their concerns regarding the way repairs are being carried out in the block, among much else. We are in the process of setting up a meeting with the relevant cabinet members and council officers to address these concerns.
Shrewsbury Mews
We received a request for a gate to be installed on the bit of Shrewsbury Mews adjacent to Westbourne Park Road to deal with issues relating to anti-social behaviour. We have advised the residents to make an application for neighbourhood Community Infrastructure Levy. You can learn more about the type of projects that CIL can fund here.
Porchester Leisure & Library
We received the following update from the Council’s Corporate Property team on 12th October. We will continue to follow up for progress on these repairs to hold the council officers and contractors to account on the timeline:
Approval has been received to enter into a contract with Standage Ltd for works to the Library basement and Leisure basement studio at Porchester. The target start on site date is 30 October 2023 and the contract will be for a period of 32 weeks. We will update you at key milestones.
Bus stop – Porchester Road Royal Oak (Stop J)
This bus stop will be changed to try and address issues with accessibility – a Highways officer has provided the below summary. Position 1 is the planned lamp post column where the stop will be moved to (it has been here in the past). Position 2 is the current position. Position 3 was considered as an alternative but would not have used existing street furniture.
This location has been an issue for some time with the position of the stop needing to be balanced against bus passenger accessibility, residential concerns, and existing street furniture.
Initial Bus Stop Position 1 with the flag on the lamp column, there was a request to change the position of the flag because persons waiting at the flag would need to walk up Porchester whenever a bus arrived at the stop. The problem was the bus needed to align properly with the ‘stop’ and an incident occurred when an elderly lady tripped and fell trying to get to the buses’ front door. Following this we proposed to relocate the bus flag to Bus Stop Position 2.
Bus Stop Position 2 generated complaints from residents of Peters Court who raised concerns about bus users waiting in the residential entrance and potential ‘tail gating’ into their building. People sitting in the entrance causing an obstruction and leaving rubbish.
WCC officers when considering the potential solutions sought to utilise existing street furniture in positioning the flag. We have also undertaken efforts to allow unobstructed access onto the bus stop by extending the bus cage and relocating the Taxi Bay to the front of the Bus Stop.
We did look at a completely alternative location but did not find a suitable location and relocating to the north would be a disbenefit to those less able bus patrons using local shopping facilities.
New Housing Support Officer
We’re pleased to report that following Bayswater ward councillors raising concerns from local residents about resource to address housing issues, an additional housing support office is in the process of being onboarded to support social housing tenants and council leaseholders in Bayswater. We await an update on their start date.
Westbourne Park Villas – Single Glazing
On 22nd August we wrote to the housing association L&Q to ask about what plans they have for installing double or secondary glazing following this resident enquiry. We received the following response:
The flats where i am are very tough to heat in winter and the boiler inspector recently laughed at the idea of a carbon monoxide alarm in my flat, given how drafty my windows are (nice in summer, less so in December). We have scaffolding up (still) and they could have done some window replacements at the same time (they did Flat 9 as a large piece fell out onto someone so they were worried about claims) but given the windows on the front are all the same age, as every they’re saving money when it’ll cost them more in the long run.
On 12th October we received this response:
I can confirm that the Major Works team are responsible for cyclical works to our properties. Having spoken to them about the window replacement for Westbourne Park Villas I have been advised that the target is to bring our homes that we have a maintenance responsibility for by 2030. I have asked if this date can be revised and am waiting to receive an update.
I can also confirm that the scaffolding has been erected by our Direct Maintenance team to address some maintenance issues and we have not been provided with a date that this will be taken down. I am currently liaising with the Direct Maintenance team to see when this job will be completed.
Northumberland Place Play Street
We have received the following update from officers after chasing for updates on this scheme. We will continue to chase officers on this programme. It will be on two options, a ‘do minimum’ (very similar to the scheme which was previously in place on a temporary basis) and a ‘do maximum’ which makes traffic one way, and introduces some other complementary and greening measures.
The provisional dates are week commencing 13th to 26th November 2023, subject to getting consultation platforms and support measures in place to promote accordingly.
In conjunction with the consultation being delivered through Commonplace (https://westminster.commonplace.is/), there will be the following supportive measures in place.
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Questionnaire – to be hosted on the Commonplace platform.
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Postcards – to be delivered through the doors of residents within a 25m radius of the proposed scheme.
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Lamp column wraps – will include the Commonplace weblink and QR code to the consultation and then placed at either end of Northumberland Street.
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In-person drop-in session – Provisional date 14th November 2023 – this will be confirmed in line with local venue availability and consultation platforms and support measures being ready.
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Once finalised, the date of the in-person drop-in session, postcards and lamp column wraps can all be confirmed and a further update provided.
Gloucester Gardens
A resident of Gloucester Gardens wrote:
We are a group of leasehold tenants at ** Gloucester Gardens and we thought we should write to you in the hope you may be able to help us. We have been on the journey to purchase the freehold of the building for over a year now (this is attempt 2, we’re actually 10 years into this nightmare in total…). However it is clear that the council are happy to move at snail’s pace, taking almost 6 months now to produce a draft lease agreement which we understand should be, by and large, a template format (we still await despite weekly chasers) Do you have any suggestions as to how we can put pressure on the Council to speed things up? Your views would be very welcome.
After contacting council officers we were able to tell the residents that the relevant documents had been forwarded and that completion of the freehold sale should follow very shortly. The resident said:
Thanks Maggie, they seemed to have started running after you nudged them. Let’s hope they keep that momentum going now.
A sincere Thank You from from everyone at number** . This has given a glimmer of hope and some much needed respite from the growing frustration.
Gloucester Terrace
A resident wrote:
You’ve been a great help to me in the past in resolving some difficulties I’ve had with repairs to my home, a Notting Hill Genesis flat. I’m wondering if you can help me now with another matter that is and has been causing me great distress.
You might recall that I have some serious disabilities on top of which I suffered two strokes in the summer of 2021. Eight years ago Westminster Adult Services arranged and funded work to be done in my bathroom by Able 2. Among other things a shower, shower rail and shower curtains were fitted.
On 27th May I had a fall, falling backwards from my bathtub, crashing onto the floor, bringing the specially fitted shower rail and curtains down with me. These essential fittings were damaged beyond repair and I have not been able to shower – I cannot bathe – since. On 30th May my partner called Westminster Adult Social Services reporting what had happened. We were told that someone would get back to us that day but no one did. After a week I called again and was told the same, but no one contacted me. This happened another four times, the last three of which I was promised a manager would also call me to discuss the difficulties I was having with their system. No one to this day has contacted me. It’s been over four months now since I reported this to Westminster and Notting Hill Genesis have been involved for the last three months. I am beside myself with frustration. I am chronically disabled and have not been able to properly wash for over four months.
After we asked Adult Social Care to resolve this unacceptable situation we received the following:
I have looked into this case and the reablement team are in contact with Mr *** to resolve his issues with the shower.
I will copy in the manager of the service to ensure that they make sure this is dealt with as quickly as possible
The Colonnades
A resident wrote:
This morning we’ve been woken up yet again by the noise of the homeless drunks opposite our home, in the area of the Colonnades – outside the entrance of Waitrose on Porchester Walk.
We have an ongoing issue in this area, as the covered space understandably makes it a great shelter. But it’s not a shelter and the noise, mess and drug use there, is not okfor the residents who live in the area.
I know Porchester Walk is a right-of way, but is there anything that could be done – perhaps longer term – to gate it at night, or have patrols from the Colonnades to move people along?
We received the following response from the ASB Team:
I am sorry to hear about the troubling behaviours that residents are suffering at this location. I will certainly start to make some enquiries with relevant teams and see what actions can be taken. I will also make contact with the building management team and Waitrose to see what possible longer term solutions could be considered.