Leaseholders and tenants deserve efficient service

My colleague Don Williams had an excellent letter in the CNJ this week on the need for more efficient service that ensures leaseholders are not being unfairly charged.  Here's the letter:

http://www.camdennewjournal.com/letters/2013/may/leaseholders-and-tenants-deserve-efficient-service

Loudoun Rd situation update

Very frustrating that the Network Rail road closure is still there.  The first target deadline was end March, then due to bad weather Network Rail pushed it back to end April.  But as of today the road is still closed.  We're going to ask Camden council officers to get an update from Network Rail as to completion date.

The site has somewhat improved in our view although still not at all ideal for residents and cyclists on a relatively narrow walkway - and we need to ensure cyclists are careful.  More news when we hear back.

Crime figures down in Swiss Cottage

Roger Freeman attended Tuesday May 14 the Swiss Cottage Public Safer Neighbourhood Team meeting.

We were given the crime figures for the period from Feb 12th to May 14th and they all showed an excellent reduction from the previous period. Motor vehicle crime fell from 37 to 26; residential burglaries from 30 to 23; non residential burglaries from 10 to 7 and most strikingly of all robberies from 20 to 3.

The meeting congratulated Sgt Collins and his team; the motor vehicle crimes would have fallen more if people took care to lock their car doors and put valuables out of site.

The new manning structure of the Safer Neighbourhood Team will take effect June 24; the current team for Swiss Cottage Ward is 6; this will be 2 in the new structure. They will be supported by a group of  5 teams of 5 officers-one of which will be led by Sgt Collins - who will provide focused support in Swiss Cottage Ward..

Car thieves - lock your vehicle!

We're passing on a warning from our local Swiss Cottage Safer Neighbourhoods police team:


"We have recently had a couple of thefts of cash and items from cars parked and left unlocked. There may be an opportunistic thief around Swiss Cottage trying vehicle doors. Please make sure you lock your car/van!"

Dates for next Area Action Group and Safer Neighbourhoods public meetings

Swiss Cottage Area Action Group – meeting with council officers and ward councillors

7.00pm - 8.30pm

Wednesday 22^nd May 2013

Crossfield Centre, 8 Fairhazel Gardens

Agenda:

6.30 Meet ward councillors informally

7.00 Start of meeting and introductions

Street environment: street cleansing, wheelie bins and recycling

The Winchester Project

Discuss what your local priorities are for Swiss Cottage

8.30 End of meeting

The next Police Safer Neighbourhoods public meeting will be on 14^th May at 7pm at the Crossfield Centre.

80 Canfield Gardens planning application - new consultation period

Planning officers have just confirmed due to a computer error the planning application 2012/5616/P  for 80 Canfield was not notified correctly. A letter notifying the application should have been sent on the 5^th March however this was not the case. The Council has now renotified the application today, with an additional 21 days will be made available for comment on the application. The renotification will consist of a new site notice, letters, and a press notice.

This is as most residents know a retrospective application for illegal works; we called some time ago for council planning enforcement action which is going through his phases.

Recycling and wheelie bin update

 Feedback from the survey last autumn and from community groups has been used to clarify which properties are to receive wheelie bins when the new recycling service starts.  This month, another letter will be sent out to the same properties with the following updates:

• Residents who responded to the survey will receive a letter to confirm that they will receive a 140 litre bin or 240 litre bin in line with their response


• Those residents who live in flats will also get an update on the number of wheelie bins for their building


• Residents who contacted the Council to say that they do not want a wheelie bin will receive a letter to confirm that they will not receive a bin.


• If a resident who does not want a wheelie bin lives in a flat their response has been taken into account, but their building may still receive a wheelie bin based on the responses of others in the same building.


• Those who did not respond to the survey will receive a letter letting them know that they will be receiving a bin/their building will be receiving bins


• The majority of residents asked for a green wheelie bin or did not mind which colour they received. All residents will therefore receive a green wheelie bin. This also takes into account requests from community groups that all wheelie bins be the same colour.

Wheelie bins will be delivered in the summer and residents who want a wheelie bin will be contacted again with a delivery date closer to the time. Community groups are also being contacted with an update on the changes and another opportunity to request that a Council officer attend one of their meetings to discuss these changes.

 October’s survey received 8000 responses, with people saying that the biggest single barrier to recycling is that they currently did not have a big enough box or container. In Camden we currently recycle 32% of what we could. Our target is to recycle at least 40% of our waste by 2020 - since 70% of what the average household throws away can be recycled.  camden.gov.uk/recyclingchanges.

 

We've had a few complaints about people getting the wrong letter when they said they didn't want a wheelie bin, which we're helping deal with.