Latest news, updates and action from your
Harrow Road Labour Action Team
Dear resident
We hope you’re coping with the changes in the weather as we transition into autumn. As your Labour Action Team, we have been working on issues raised by residents, and supporting all the work our Labour Westminster Council is doing to help improve your lives and make things fairer. We set out some of these in this Action Report.
Please do contact us if there’s anything in our area we can help with or that needs our attention. Just click the links below to email us.
GET IN TOUCH
- Councillor Concia Albert: calbert@westminster.gov.uk
- Councillor Regan Hook: rhook@westminster.gov.uk
- Rhys Thomas: rhysthomasharrowroad@gmail.com
- Phone: 020 7641 5377 – leave a message and we will get back to you.
We take part in two local drop-in surgeries where we support residents with local issues.
1) Maida Vale Library, corner of Shirland Road and Sutherland Ave, London W9 2QT on Saturdays between 11am-12noon (we no longer hold surgeries at the Stowe Centre). This is a joint surgery with Westbourne Councillors on a rota.
2) The Beethoven Centre, Third Avenue W10 4JL between 2pm-4pm on the first and third Monday of the month. This is a joint surgery with the Queen’s Park Councillors on a rota.
Georgia Gould MP
If you would like to contact our local MP, Georgia Gould, and/or arrange a visit to Parliament, here are her details:
- Email: georgia.gould.MP@parliament.uk
- Phone: 020 8968 7999
- Post: Georgia Gould MP, House of Commons, SW1A 0AA
Councillor Spotlight – Concia Albert
As well as casework and advocating for Harrow Road Ward, Councillors also serve on Council Committees and work in specialist areas. For example, Ruth promotes the Council’s interfaith activity, Regan champions animal welfare and Concia focuses on health. Rhys is also one of the team, as candidate in next May’s elections.
In each Newsletter, we will feature some of this work. This time, we put Councillor Concia Albert in the spotlight.
Concia chairs the “Inner West London Mental Health Services Reconfiguration Joint Health Overview Policy & Scrutiny Committee”, working jointly with the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea (RBKC). She sustained this throughout a pregnancy and after the birth of her son last year and recently steered the Committee to success in persuading the NHS to return 10 crisis and step-down mental health beds to Westminster after the Gordon Hospital was closed.
She describes it as a rewarding 18 months of sustained work. In the same period, she also led a successful campaign to keep mental health provision at St Charles’s Hospital, after closure had been decided. She and the Committee will continue to monitor the impact of these changes in both Westminster and RBKC to ensure residents get the care they deserve and they will hold Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust to account for the improvements agreed.
Report It
You can help to get problems sorted quickly via Report It Use it to report dumped rubbish, overflowing bins, broken street lights, wonky pavements, potholes, animal welfare concerns, anti-social behaviour, noise nuisance and much more.
We recently heard from a resident regarding the app. They said: “I wasn’t convinced anything would happen if I used Report It but my report didn’t disappear into a black hole! The rubbish I reported was removed really quickly!”
Met Engage
The Metropolitan Police has launched a new way for Londoners to hear about policing in their neighbourhood – you can learn more and sign up here: https://www.metengage.co.uk/ And click here for details of the Harrow Road Safer Neighbourhoods Team.
Fighting Anti-Social Behaviour
Labour-run Westminster Council has completed its consultation on new measures to tackle nuisance vehicles, pedicabs and on-street anti-social behaviour. Fines of up to £1,000 could be handed down to people who flout new regulations to keep the public safe. Click for more details.
Fighting Anti-Social Behaviour
Labour-run Westminster Council has completed its consultation on new measures to tackle nuisance vehicles, pedicabs and on-street anti-social behaviour. Fines of up to £1,000 could be handed down to people who flout new regulations to keep the public safe. Click for more details.
Policing & Crime
At the end of August Harrow Road Police assisted the Specialist Crime Unit with a Drugs Warrant. After this, they assisted Immigration Officers with an enforcement order in a notorious shop in Harrow Road. This comes hot on the heels of a closure order on a café on Harrow Road known as “hash cafe”. Other recent activity has included a closure order on an address in Elgin Avenue that was causing anti-social behaviour and was being used for drug use and sales. All of this will help to make Harrow Road Ward that bit safer! Congratulations and thanks, Harrow Road Police Officers!
Shirland Road & Kilburn Park Road
While it might be slightly outside Harrow Road Ward, we are delighted that after years of negotiation with TFL, Labour-run Westminster Council has finally secured a yellow box at the junction of Kilburn Park Road and Shirland Road. This should discourage drivers from blocking the junction, which often leads to traffic standing on the zebra crossing and will ensure smoother travel up Shirland Road, which is in our Ward.
The northbound bus stop has also been moved a few metres to create a new parking bay and double lines painted outside the shisha cafe. This will prevent people parking dangerously close to the pedestrian crossing.
Potholes & Pavements
With additional funding from the Labour Government, the Council has doubled the amount invested in repairing and managing roads and pavements and has been able to increase the number of local streets which can be repaired this year. Harrow Road will benefit from footway improvements in sections along Surrendale Place, Saltram Crescent, Lydford Road and Shirland Road.
Stub Roads and Cul-de-Sacs
Do you know of a stub road or cul-de-sac in Harrow Road that could look better? The Council has been running a consultation asking residents if they’d like greenery introduced into these dead-end streets.
This isn’t just to beautify the street and help clean the air – each planting would be above a drainage system (SUDS) to alleviate flood risk. It’s all part of Labour Westminster’s aim to continue greening the City, reducing our carbon impact and making life more pleasant and healthier for us all. More information here: https://stubroadsgreening.commonplace.is
WECH Summer Festival
It was great to see so many residents enjoy this fantastic annual event in Tamplin Mews Gardens. This year saw arts, crafts, food, a raffle, a climbing wall, creepy crawly displays and much more!
Queen’s Park Summer Festival
Your Harrow Road Councillors recommended partial Ward Budget funding to support the Queen’s Park Summer Festival – a much-loved annual event. Community stalls, workshops, a play area, a mini market, food and events all made for a happy day! Our Lord Mayor, Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg, attended the festival and was well received, Queen’s Park having been his previous Ward for many years before he was elected for Hyde Park!
Greening Westminster
Westminster Council approved no fewer than sixteen projects for a portion of the £500,000 Greening Fund. Locally, North Paddington Foodbank will now be able to launch its community food-growing space. Other projects include the Lydford Hall gardens and funding for WECH greening projects.
Additional Funding
Westminster Labour is delivering for residents across the City but here in North Paddington it’s the London Tigers Youth Club bid that got the results – a £25k revamp of the gym and music facilities, along with new DJ gear, sensory tools, laptops for homework and more! All paid for from Westminster’s Neighbourhood Community Infrastructure Fund.
Ward Budget – Funding Allocated By Local Ward Councillors
It’s been great to receive the report from Essendine School about the funding they received from Harrow Road and Maida Vale Ward Budgets. This included visits to a farm for years 3 and 4, school subscription to London Zoo, visits to Kew Gardens for years 1 & 2, forest school involvement, additional swimming lessons, and visits to the Florence Nightingale museum.
We’ve also provided Ward Budget funding for the Floating Classroom and for a Paddington Academy programme, and we look forward to hearing about these in due course.
Restoring CCTV Security to Westminster
Previously, we told you about the ways in which the Labour Council has overturned decisions made by the previous Conservative Council to cut CCTV across the Borough and how we are getting CCTV cameras back into the places where they are most needed to support safety.
One resident told us of persistent anti-social behaviour, drug-related crimes and fly-tipping. We took action to get CCTV – that is regularly monitored – installed at the Great Western Road end of Fermoy Road. Not only that, we ensured the yellow lines along the road were re-painted too!
These new cameras are in addition to those already installed in Maida Hill Market, by Ashmore and Portnall Roads, and on Walterton Road by the junctions of both Shirland Road and Warlock Road. To check the location of CCTV cameras, click here.
Maida Hill Market Update
The old underground toilets have now been capped off and new accessible toilet facilities will be installed. The works begin this autumn.
The market now operates from Thursday to Saturday, with occasional Sunday markets too. Events over recent months have been Zumba classes, music events, and the legendary Let’s Dance not Fight event by Paddington Arts!
Healthcare On Your Doorstep
Councillor Butler-Thalassis, the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, Public Health and Voluntary Sector was the driving force behind a new Westminster City Council initiative. We are delighted to see the launch of a new community outreach programme bringing healthcare and wellbeing support directly to local people who need it most. The focus of this work is in and around the Maida Hill Market area. This is provided at a weekly One Stop Shop at the WECH Community Centre on Elgin Avenue, alongside the popular community brunch which attracts some 40 residents each week.
In just the first week, more than a dozen people received practical support at the One Stop Shop, including housing advice, benefit assistance, GP registration, and healthcare referrals. All this and more is provided by professionals from multiple services working together – doctors, dentists, podiatrists, support workers and others – to reduce the high level of health inequalities in our Ward.
Maida Hill Neighbourhood Plan
The Maida Hill Neighbourhood Forum Committee has submitted its Plan to the Council. It includes policies on a range of planning matters, including commercial and mixed-use development, affordable housing, design and heritage, active and healthy travel, and the public realm and environment. If adopted, the Plan will be used alongside the Council’s own planning documents and the Mayor’s London Plan in determining planning applications in the Maida Hill Neighbourhood Area. www.maidahillforum.org.uk
The referendum will take place on Thursday, 16th October with polling stations open from 7am to 10pm. Don’t forget your photo ID!
If you can’t vote in person you can apply for a postal vote up to 5pm on 8 October 2025. It only takes a few minutes – have your national insurance number to hand. Register for a postal vote online
We, Ward Councillors, strongly support this Plan. A lot of work by local people has gone into producing it, and we hope you will vote for it on 16th October.
110 Shirland Road
Labour-run Westminster Council is taking enforcement action against this property for unauthorised change of use from a house in multiple occupation (HMO) to serviced apartments and the use of the apartments as short-term let accommodation.
Fallen Tree – Walterton Road
A tree fell on Walterton Road. We are pleased no one was hurt. However, a parked car was damaged. The tree was quickly removed, and the Council is in contact with the driver to assist with any insurance claim the resident may have with their insurers.
Councillors On The Case!
We had a big walk around the ward and reported a number of the things that annoy you or are harmful – including rubbish dumping, pavement trip hazards, hedges growing onto paths and more. We will be monitoring action over the coming days and weeks.
Get in touch if there’s something in your street or block that needs action!
Working For You On Housing Contracts
Westminster Labour has committed to scrapping under-performing ten-year contracts for repairs, major works and mechanical and electrical works to Council properties. They simply did not deliver to the standard you, our residents, deserve. If the Labour Council are elected a second term in office, we will move away from long-term contracts to ensure better contract management and will put residents at the heart of the service. This will also include a permanent in-house handy-person service to give the Council control over everyday repairs
Supporting LETRA And The Lydford Estate
We accompanied the Chair of LETRA (Lydford Estate Tenants & Residents Association), and residents of the Lydford Estate on their recent scheduled walkabout with Housing and ensured that the jobs were logged within the Council. Broken paving, railings and raised tree roots were amongst the jobs raised and we look forward to their completion. Lydford Community Hall plans are shaping up, and we hope to get the Hall refurbishments, which include a new kitchen, will be completed by early next year.
If you would like support in setting up your own Residents Association, start by gauging interest from neighbours, then form a committee, adopt a constitution, and hold an initial meeting. Visit this page and contact Westminster City Council’s Resident Engagement Team for support, including potential funding, templates, and advice: residentengagement@westminster.gov.uk
The Exchange
Westminster Council’s Community Hub, based at Ernest Harriss House, 61 Elgin Avenue, W9 2DB.
- Opening times are Mon–Fri: 8am–8pm | Sat: 8am–4pm | Sun: Private bookings only.
Community Hubs act as a single ‘front door’ where residents can get advice on housing, finances, employment, benefits, IT literacy and community health classes. You can get a bite to eat and a good cup of coffee, too!
Sign up for emails from The Exchange here or follow on Facebook for details of upcoming events.
We hope you found this newsletter useful.
Do get in touch with any issues you want us to take up!
Concia, Ruth, Regan and Rhys