Conservation areas..

Very good piece by Ian Jack in the Guardian yesterday on the pressures on conservation areas in London. Very pertinent to our situation in Swiss Cottage and indeed across Camden. I am still dismayed by the decision on Thursday on the Douglas and Olive Waite houses application.

Meanwhile, major works today by National Grid at Swiss Cottage with some lanes closed. I'm trying to find out whether this was emergency or planned work. As a councillor, I hadn't been given any notice - Thames Water, to be fair, have a decent system for informing local councillors and residents about planned works. I'm not sure in National Grid is quite as organised. There was however some good temporary signage to keep traffic moving around Swiss Cottage.

Andrew Marshall

English Heritage study shows Swiss Cottage conservation area at risk

English Heritage has just conducted its first national study of the country's 9,000 or so conservation area, and it's found that one in seven is "at risk" due to loss of features such as loss of front gardens, plastic doors, loss of period detail etc.

In Camden, three conservation areas are identified as at risk - King's Cross, Denmark Street, and, sadly, Swiss Cottage. As Executive member for Planning, I will be sitting down with senior officers who I know will be concerned and indeed the Council does have plans to seek to reverse these pressures.

In Swiss Cottage, the consultation on Article Four Directions in the autumn will be critical - removing some "permitted development" rights in order to better protect the area. Beyond that, the Conservation Area statement will finally be updated next year, which will enhance its weight in planning terms.

The timing of this news happens of course to coincide with the critical Douglas and Olive Waite houses planning application going to DC Committee this Thursday.

Finchley Road graffiti sorted

I'm delighted that this graffiti on Finchley Road has now been removed. The Council doesn't have in-house resources to handle graffiti on upper floors of a building, but we hired contractors whom I believe are handling a fair number of problem hot spots. We as ward councillors had called for some action, and it's definitely good for the attractiveness of Finchley Road. Graffiti can definitely encourage other anti-social behaviour. Let's hope that combined efforts by the Council, the police and active citizens and shopkeepers will help ensure we don't get this back.

Map of the Swiss Cottage Conservation Area

Given the controversial planning applications in Swiss Cottage coming up, as well as the briefing on the Article Four directions consultation coming up, I thought it would be useful to post a map outlining the Swiss Cottage Conservation Area boundary. It's the coloured area outlined, and while the boundaries are generally with non-conservation area territory, in the south-west it runs into the Priory Road CA.

I've also now got the Conservation Area statement from 1995 available as a PDF - just let me know if you need one. Hopefully next year we will get a full updating of this statement, which will enhance its weight in planning terms.

Olive and Douglas Waite Houses planning application being decided this Thursday

The controversial planning application by Octavia to redevelop Olive and Douglas Waite Houses on Priory Road at Woodchurch Road is going to Camden's Development Control Committee this Thursday. The officers' report recommending approval can be found here. Well done to CRASH and other residents for organising such effective and reasoned opposition so far. Cllr Don Williams and I will be opposing the scheme and I'll be using my rights as a ward councillor to speak on Thursday. Although I am now a member of the committee, as I had already publicly stated my opposition, I wouldn't have been allowed to vote on this in any event. Cllr Roger Freeman as chair of the committee cannot state his views until the meeting - given the quasi-judicial nature of the committee - and must consider the application on planning policy grounds. If anyone wants to know more before the meeting, give me a call or drop me a line.

Dog Owners Get Smart Day at Maygrove Peace Park

Camden's holding another Dog Owners Get Smart Day this Saturday (20th) to encourage responsible pet ownership. It's from 12 noon until 3pm at Maygrove Peace Park, West Hampstead and I'm going to try and look in.

Camden Council’s Dog Owners Get Smart Days (D.O.G.S.) give residents the chance to find out more about how to be the best possible dog owners. There will also be advice available to anybody who has ever experienced problems with dogs.

An important aim of these events is help make sure dog owners and their neighbours fully understand the Council’s dog control orders. The orders expect residents to pick up their dog’s mess and put and keep dogs on a lead when asked to. They also require dogs not to be taken onto land where they are not permitted – such as children’s play areas – which are all clearly marked.

Staff from the Council’s street environment team and the police local safer neighbourhood teams will be on hand to answer questions on the orders. At the event dog owners can also take advantage of:

* Free dog handling training sessions with professional dog handlers
* Free micro-chipping from the Mayhew Animal Hospital
* Advice from a Camden vet
* Free rosettes and certificates for participants
* Stalls offering information about dog legislation and regulations in Camden

Community payback scheme underway

Offenders have been cleaning up graffiti along Lithos Passage (known as the Black Path) in West Hampstead, as we expand what is known as Community Payback by offenders in Camden.

The site was chosen by residents, after they were given a choice of five areas across Camden to be cleaned up by offenders. This is part of the national Justice Seen Justice Done programme. Offenders are sentenced by the courts to do Community Payback work, as a sentence for less serious crimes and incidents of antisocial behaviour. The scheme ensures offenders pay something back to the community whilst helping to improve local areas and contributing to reduced re-offending.

Around 15,000 hours of Community Payback were carried out across the borough in the last year - I'm not sure this is as widely known as it should be. This year the Community Safety Partnership, which brings together the Council and the Police, has agreed with London Probation for around 5000 extra hours of work to take place in Camden.

Fairfax Road pedestrian crossing?

There seems to be some prospect on a new controlled crossing at the top of Fairfax Road featuring in an imminently appearing TfL paper on Finchley Road improvements. Finchley Road and its immediate environs is of course run by TfL, not Camden Council, which is responsible for the great bulk of roads in Camden.

We have long recognised that this crossing is really dangerous, so if there is some movements and some budget to do this from TfL, that will be great news. We'll keep you posted.

New outdoor gym at Swiss Cottage

Great to see the installation of the new, free outdoor gym is under way outside the sports centre at Swiss Cottage. It's part of a programme of about ten outdoor gyms at sites around Camden, and it should be open by the end of June.

Camden Euro election results

A very encouraging result for Camden Conservatives this evening - across the borough we've come second on 22%, just behind Labour, with the LibDems in third place. In the seven Hampstead wards, including Swiss Cottage, we're comfortably ahead of the LibDems.

The election of BNP MEPs is a very sad night for democracy however and poses serious questions for politicians of all democratic parties. In Camden the BNP didn't do very well, though 1,300 votes and 2.76% of the vote is still too many, and shows that the mainstream parties need to engage more with those, often disadvantaged people who have been swayed by the fascist BNP.

New housing development proposed in Loudoun Road

Origin Housing - a housing association or RSL - is about to submit a planning application to redevelop the Haines Plant Hire site on the corner of Loudoun Road and Alexandra Road.

The proposal is for 42 housing units, of which nine would be social rented and the others intermediate/key worker housing for teachers, health workers etc. The building would vary from four to seven storeys in height.

Origin is holding a public exhibition on Wednesday 10th June at Swiss Cottage Library from 4-8pm to show local people its plan. As a ward councillor I'll be looking in before going on to a nearby residents association AGM. We'll highlight the actual application details to residents when it comes in.

Two strong bidders to deliver the Building Schools for the Future programme

Two strong companies - BAM and Bouygues have been shortlisted as bidders to deliver the council's Building Schools for the Future programme, which includes building the new UCL Academy at Swiss Cottage, and major investment in all of the borough's other secondaries (except the newly rebuilt Haverstock).

Planning enforcement - a small example from Canfield Gardens

Planning Enforcement is one of the areas where many residents would like to see greater and more consistent activity by the council, and we've recently sorted out some staff resource issues. A recent local decision from the Planning Inspectorate does show how enforcement can work on the ground.

In Canfield Gardens the council took action, with support from residents, to enforce against a hardstanding in a front garden that had no planning permission, in the Swiss Cottage conservation area. There was an appeal to the Inspectorate saying that nine months rather than just two months were needed to remove the hardstanding (in order to make use of summer weather). The Inspectorate has ruled that the hardstanding needs to be removed and replaced with grass or loose gravel within five months - a compromise but one that will help maintain the conservation area. The consultation on Article Four directions this autumn (to be discussed at the CRASH AGM next Monday) will give a further opportunity to understand the range of enforcement measures needed in a conservation area.