Bayswater Labour Councillor Maggie Carman has called on Westminster Council to cut back the overgrown greenery on the walls of Westbourne Park Passage following a recent mugging. Maggie has written to the Council’s Chief Executive:

“The overgrown greenery makes it easy for people to conceal themselves from view. It would increase safety in the Passage if this overhanging greenery could be cut back with the agreement of the residents whose gardens back onto the Passage.”

The recent mugging in Westbourne Park Passage involved four men in balaclavas who pushed an item into the victim’s back.  Thankfully, the police caught one of the perpetrators and arrested him with the victim’s bank card on him.

Residents say:

“The passage, which, some years ago, was known as Mugger’s Alley and which no local resident in their right mind would have dreamed of entering after dark, after new lighting was put in and the rubbish being cleared by our street cleaners became a much more healthy way of getting from Westbourne Park Villas to Westbourne Park Road, and vice versa, but this has now begun to slide back into its former rather sinister state. 

This is partly due to the amount of greenery which is climbing over the left-hand wall from the garden(s) on that side of the passage.  It makes visibility quite difficult and it also reduces path space without the growth whipping you in the face.  It really does not encourage anyone to set off along the passage with confidence, and consequently the more it is not used the more it becomes a sinister path to take, not to mention the added dimension of it being used as a local open-air lavatory and somewhere to leave unwanted food and drink packaging.”