Councillors Matt Noble, Aicha Less and Aziz Toki
Councillors Matt Noble, Aicha Less and Aziz Toki

News from your Church Street Labour Councillors Aicha Less, Matt Noble and Aziz Toki

Dear Resident,

We are living in very difficult times and, along with Karen Buck MP, we are doing all we can to help the local community and individual residents and their families.

Below are some of the Church Street issues we have been taking up recently, many as a result of residents’ responses to our regular newsletters. Let us know if we can take up a local issue in your area.

Please let us know if we can be of any help or assistance.

Church Street

We have raised this issue with the Council’s Property Team:

“Two vacant shops on the North Terrace of Church Street are opening as Barbershops and Hairdressing salons. The result of these latest lettings means that on the North terrace, which for many years has been part of Church Street’s well-known antiques and art gallery offering, there will now be five hairdressing businesses, at numbers 26,28,46,48 and 50. The successful established reputation and pattern of antiques/art gallery businesses on this section of Church Street, so carefully run by their owners and supported by their own professional organisation, will consequently be negatively affected by the Council’s letting so many salons in this area.”

Lisson Grove

We have contacted the Council after residents raised the issue of continued drug dealing near Earl House on Lisson Grove. Alpha and Earl are next to a building site for the Regeneration Plan on Ashbridge Street. Alpha & Earl House Residents’ Association (AEHRA) have for a long time complained bitterly to the Housing Department at Greenside about rough sleepers and drugs.

Update from Church Street Policing Team 

We have received the following update from the Church Street Policing Team

  • Officers have been conducting a number of stop searches in recent weeks in crime hotspots and have been working closely with Westminster City Council to disrupt drug activity across the Ward. The police have altered their shift pattern in order to work night shifts with the aim of tackling ASB and disorder in the late evenings.
  • The local policing team continue to carry out weapon sweeps across the Ward to take knives and weapons out of circulation, including the seizure of five knives during a weapon sweep conducted in Broadley Gardens.
  • The police have been carrying out targeted patrols in plain clothes to combat issues surrounding aggressive begging along Edgware Road and Church Street Market. Officers have also been liaising with Westminster City Council to deal with this matter”

You can report any suspicious activity you may have witnessed taking place on the Ward. You can do so by contacting the local policing team via email – churchstreet.snt@met.police.uk. Alternatively, you can report anonymously via Crimestoppers by calling 0800 555 111 – no personal details are taken.

North Paddington Foodbank

If you can help the foodbank or are in need of emergency support please see the information here: https://www.npfoodbank.org.uk/

Eat Out to Help Out

The Government’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme government ended on 31 August. However, some Westminster restaurants, cafes and bars have opted to extend it throughout September. The scheme offers diners the chance to get up to 50% off their food and non-alcoholic drinks up to a total value of £10 per person, when they eat or drink in on specific days during the week.

You can see a full list of restaurants and venues that have opted to extend the scheme here https://westminster.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=a50c8b0dd980669ef713b4cca&id=37f33b5340&e=49e8db8b98

Bus and Tube fares

We have started a petition to call for the reinstatement of free travel for under 18s https://action.labour.org.uk/page/s/keep-free-travel

Transport for London Travel App

Transport for London has launched a new travel app, TfL Go, to help everyone get around London. The app is now available to download for Apple devices and can help you to plan your journeys and follow the safer travel guidance. An Android version will be released in Autumn 2020 and TfL continue sharing data with other travel apps.

For every station TfL is sharing real-time train times, plus peak travel times for the busiest stations, to help you travel during quieter times. As well as the fastest public transport routes, the app offers alternative routes to give you more travel options and provides walking and cycling routes to consider for all or part of your journey.

TfL Go features the latest service status for all Tube, Tram, London Overground and TfL Rail lines. Real time bus arrivals will also be added later. With step free mode you can customise the map to show step free access to train and platform, and plan journeys accordingly. New information on toilet availability, platform access and lift status will also be added in the coming months.

If you have an Apple device, you can download the app from the Apple App store.  If you need larger type, use your phone in landscape mode, or make use of iOS’s VoiceOver capability. You can send your feedback about the app to tflappfeedback@tfl.gov.uk

What is the future for Westminster?

We believe the current economic situation has placed the West End in a very precarious position which, if decisive action is not taken urgently, could threaten its survival as an economic engine for London and the rest of the UK, as well as create serious problems for the local economy.

We have set out a series of Emergency Actions that we believe need to be taken by the City Council in order to attract more families to the West End to replace the missing office workers and overseas tourists. We have also set out a series of Actions for the City Council, the Mayor and Government to take.

Finally, our document also looks at issues which the City Council should consider if office workers, tourists and shoppers do not return to the West End in the numbers necessary to sustain the area’s economy in its current form.

There is a need for wide debate and we have organised a ‘virtual conference’ on 30th September to discuss these issues. If you would like to attend please let us know at pdimoldenberg@hotmail.co.uk

You can read our paper here https://www.westminsterlabour.org.uk/westminster-news/2020/08/21/what-is-the-future-for-westminster/

Voting by post

Voting by post is an easy and convenient way of voting. You can use this form to apply to vote

https://www.westminster.gov.uk/sites/default/files/postal-vote-application-form.pdf

You can email your completed form to electoralservices@westminster.gov.uk    or post it to Electoral Services, Westminster City Council, 14th Floor City Hall, 64 Victoria Street, London, SW1E 6QP.

‘Westminster Extra’

You can now read the ‘Westminster Extra’ online

https://edition.pagesuite.com/html5/reader/production/default.aspx?pubname=&pubid=09649383-4dbb-4a3d-b164-9d26398578f3

Refuse collection and Recycling collection times 

Recycling bags can be ordered from https://webforms.westminster.gov.uk/order-recycling-bags/

Bags will be delivered within approximately 48 hours of order.

You can check when refuse and recycling is collected from your street here http://transact.westminster.gov.uk/env/streetsearch.aspx

The doorstep recycling service concentrates on the recyclable materials most commonly produced by houses so that these can be easily separated into the different material types.  The link below summarises what can be put in recycling bags

https://www.westminster.gov.uk/what-can-i-recycle-home#can-recycle

Lots of other materials can be recycled but not through the doorstep collection service. The A-Z list below gives details of what and where items can be recycled or re-used:

https://www.westminster.gov.uk/a-z-recycling

Also, here are details of 9 companies that reward you for donating unwanted things, from H&M to M&S https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/worklife/g15049323/brands-reward-throwing-things-away/

Report It

The new Report It service has been unveiled. https://www.westminster.gov.uk/report-it

You can register here https://www.fixmystreet.com/alert for alerts of everything reported in your area (just use your post code and it will offer you options).

Coronavirus (Covid-19) UPDATE

Volunteer to help find the vaccine for COVID-19

You can be part of the fightback against the virus by volunteering to be contacted by researchers to take part in COVID-19 vaccine research. There are a number of vaccines being identified and safety-tested at the moment, but only large-scale studies can give researchers the information needed about how effective they are.

The NIHR is working with the NHS and aims to recruit half a million people onto the registry by October, which will allow people to be put in touch with the vaccine studies in the coming months. Researchers are looking for people from all backgrounds, ages and parts of the UK – including both people with or without existing health conditions – to take part in vaccine studies, to make sure that any vaccines developed will work for everyone.

The service is available to anyone aged 18 or over, living in the UK. There is no obligation to join in any study, if you are contacted. But by taking part, you could help researchers find vaccines to protect us all more quickly – which in turn could help the NHS and save lives. You can sign up herehttps://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/research/coronavirus-vaccine-research/

Health advice
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/coronavirus-covid-19-list-of-guidance
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

Westminster Council’s advice and response website:
https://www.westminster.gov.uk/coronavirus-advice-and-information

Westminster Connects COVID-19 phone line– 020 7641 1222

https://www.westminsterlabour.org.uk/westminster-news/2020/03/26/westminster-connects-covid-19-phone-line-020-7641-1222/

Beware the Coronavirus scammers

https://www.westminsterlabour.org.uk/westminster-news/2020/03/27/beware-the-coronavirus-scammers/

Please let us know if we can be of help or assistance on any local issues.

Keep well, take care and look after yourself and your neighbours in these difficult times.

Regards

Councillors Aicha Less, Matt Noble and Aziz Toki

Your Church Street Labour Councillors

aless@westminster.gov.uk

mnoble@westminster.gov.uk

atoki@westminster.gov.uk

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