There were problems with the Legacy Club on the Sunday night of the last bank holiday, so as ward councillors we've pushed successfully to ensure that licensing enforcement officers will be working on Sunday evening and monitoring the situation at the Legacy, paying particular attention to their hours of opening against the hours of the licence.
We've also asked for parking officers to focus on potential parking on double reds linked to the Club over the weekend.
Friday, 30 April 2010
Friday, 23 April 2010
West End Lane roadworks - what's going to be happening
We've been asking transport officers for a full update on how the various
planned works will fit together. It's vital that the Council seeks as far as
it can to coordinate these works to minimise disruption to residents,
businesses and local traffic.
The three key projects are:
National Grid and EDF are undertaking major utility works on West End Lane
from April 2010 to June 2010.
West Hampstead Thameslink Station Upgrade - In December 2009, the Council
gave planning approval to Network Rail to construct a new station building
and public space on Iverson Road. The works are beginning on site now and
are expected to continue until October 2010.
West Hampstead Interchange Streetscape Project - this council-led project
seeks to improve the on-street interchange as well as making West End Lane
and Iverson Road safer and more attractive. The project has now been
designed in more detail and the project is ready to implement. But because
of the interaction with both the utility works, the Council's project will
be undertaken once these have been completed. The current plan is to begin
works on West End Lane in July 2010 (following the utility works) and on
Iverson Road in November 2010.
We can provide anyone interested with more detail on the station upgrade and
the streetscape project (there's a lot of detail), but for now please find
below some background on the utility works:
Major utility works
West End Lane has been the subject of a number of major works programmes
carried out by two Statutory Undertakers, Thames Water and National Grid,
over the past two years. Individually, both utilities identified the need to
carry out works to ameliorate the condition and performance of their network
to maintain an effective service provision to their customers. The works
have caused, and continue to cause a degree of disruption to the users of
the public highway.
However, the works in West End Lane are not complete. National Grid now need
to lay a new gas main across the 3 railway bridges on West End Lane (Tube,
Overground and Thameslink). In addition, EDF Energy wish to upgrade their
current supply on West End Lane between Blackburn Road and Lymington Road
(also including the section of the 3 stations).
Council officers have led discussions with both utility companies and have
taken an active role in ensuring that these works are now fully coordinated.
The contractors will therefore be using the same excavation and traffic
management which will significantly reduce disruption. The works are
expected to take place from 19th April 2010 to mid-August 2010.
Close coordination with bus networks, the Metropolitan Police and other key
stakeholders has been identified as a priority. The project group has agreed
detailed traffic management plans and these will be implemented, and
coordinated with other works which are taking place in and around the
Iverson Road junction. The project group is also meeting on a regular basis
to discuss issues/problems etc that are either identified by stakeholders or
members of the public who make their comments known to us. However, because
of the nature and the scale of these works, there is likely to be a certain
amount of unavoidable disruption. The Council is doing all it can to
minimise this disruption and to ensure that the work is carried out in a
timely manner and to this end the works are also being managed in the light
of the current demands for rail replacement services on both the North
London Line and the Jubilee Line works.
As councillors, please let us know if things are happening on West End Lane
that appear unnecessarily disruptive or daft, such as roadworks with no work
going on!
planned works will fit together. It's vital that the Council seeks as far as
it can to coordinate these works to minimise disruption to residents,
businesses and local traffic.
The three key projects are:
National Grid and EDF are undertaking major utility works on West End Lane
from April 2010 to June 2010.
West Hampstead Thameslink Station Upgrade - In December 2009, the Council
gave planning approval to Network Rail to construct a new station building
and public space on Iverson Road. The works are beginning on site now and
are expected to continue until October 2010.
West Hampstead Interchange Streetscape Project - this council-led project
seeks to improve the on-street interchange as well as making West End Lane
and Iverson Road safer and more attractive. The project has now been
designed in more detail and the project is ready to implement. But because
of the interaction with both the utility works, the Council's project will
be undertaken once these have been completed. The current plan is to begin
works on West End Lane in July 2010 (following the utility works) and on
Iverson Road in November 2010.
We can provide anyone interested with more detail on the station upgrade and
the streetscape project (there's a lot of detail), but for now please find
below some background on the utility works:
Major utility works
West End Lane has been the subject of a number of major works programmes
carried out by two Statutory Undertakers, Thames Water and National Grid,
over the past two years. Individually, both utilities identified the need to
carry out works to ameliorate the condition and performance of their network
to maintain an effective service provision to their customers. The works
have caused, and continue to cause a degree of disruption to the users of
the public highway.
However, the works in West End Lane are not complete. National Grid now need
to lay a new gas main across the 3 railway bridges on West End Lane (Tube,
Overground and Thameslink). In addition, EDF Energy wish to upgrade their
current supply on West End Lane between Blackburn Road and Lymington Road
(also including the section of the 3 stations).
Council officers have led discussions with both utility companies and have
taken an active role in ensuring that these works are now fully coordinated.
The contractors will therefore be using the same excavation and traffic
management which will significantly reduce disruption. The works are
expected to take place from 19th April 2010 to mid-August 2010.
Close coordination with bus networks, the Metropolitan Police and other key
stakeholders has been identified as a priority. The project group has agreed
detailed traffic management plans and these will be implemented, and
coordinated with other works which are taking place in and around the
Iverson Road junction. The project group is also meeting on a regular basis
to discuss issues/problems etc that are either identified by stakeholders or
members of the public who make their comments known to us. However, because
of the nature and the scale of these works, there is likely to be a certain
amount of unavoidable disruption. The Council is doing all it can to
minimise this disruption and to ensure that the work is carried out in a
timely manner and to this end the works are also being managed in the light
of the current demands for rail replacement services on both the North
London Line and the Jubilee Line works.
As councillors, please let us know if things are happening on West End Lane
that appear unnecessarily disruptive or daft, such as roadworks with no work
going on!
Wednesday, 21 April 2010
Chris Philp for Hampstead & Kilburn
I'm mainly involved in local, as opposed to national politics, but I am proud to endorse our colleague Cllr Chris Philp as an outstanding candidate for Hampstead & Kilburn's next MP. Chris has lived here for a long time and already shown the ability to fight effectively for this community. He'd be an excellent constituency MP, and I'd like to publish below the personal appeal he's made to local people:
Do you want an MP who cares for our community and actually delivers results?
As you may know, I’m running to be our next MP. National politics aside, I have a local record of caring for our local community. I also have a track record of actually getting things done for our community as well. And we’ve all had enough of career politicians who are all talk and no action! Isn’t it time for a new kind of local MP?
Part of the reason I’m so passionate about our community is that I’ve lived here for ten years, and I have a real commitment to both our neighbourhood and to everyone who lives here.
Here are just a few examples of some of the campaigns I’ve led or championed:
• Keeping Hampstead Police station open, and keeping the 999 Police based in West Hampstead and Kilburn Police Station (on Salusbury Road in Queen’s Park)
• Set up the Kilburn Dragon’s Den, to encourage 16-17 years from Kilburn and Harlesden to think about getting into business
• Helped the local homeless as part of Mitzvah Day
• Successfully lobbied the council to funding the 10 O Clock Club, a drop-in group for toddlers, averting threatened closure
• As a local councillor, voted to freeze our council tax and supported a new Academy school at Swiss Cottage – which will open next year
• Persuaded TfL not to close the Northern Line at the weekend for signal upgrades – instead the work will take place overnight
• Lobbied TfL to finish the Jubilee Line work faster (which has sadly not been so successful – it still isn’t finished)
• Stood up for local business and traders by lobbying for lower business rates for small businesses (sadly, the current Government recently put them up)
• Successfully opposed planning applications which will spoil the character of our area, and successfully campaigned to restore the protection of the views from Parliament Hill and Primrose Hill
• Improved council house repairs, so the most vulnerable in society have a decent home to live in
Some more details about local campaigns are at http://www.chrisphilp.com/blog and http://www.chrisphilp.com/campaigns
Unlike many people seeking your vote at this election, I am not a lifelong career politician. I’ve run my own businesses for the last ten years – starting the first business by driving the delivery van myself when I was 23 years old. There’s a bit more about my background at: http://www.chrisphilp.com/about/about-chris
So whatever you may think about national politics, if you want a local MP who has demonstrated that over a period of years that he cares for our community and has delivered results – before even being elected – then please consider supporting me on May 6th.
Do please drop me a line at this email address if you’d like to get in touch.
With best wishes,
Chris Philp
Conservative Candidate to be our next MP
Kemplay Road NW3
www.chrisphilp.com
Do you want an MP who cares for our community and actually delivers results?
As you may know, I’m running to be our next MP. National politics aside, I have a local record of caring for our local community. I also have a track record of actually getting things done for our community as well. And we’ve all had enough of career politicians who are all talk and no action! Isn’t it time for a new kind of local MP?
Part of the reason I’m so passionate about our community is that I’ve lived here for ten years, and I have a real commitment to both our neighbourhood and to everyone who lives here.
Here are just a few examples of some of the campaigns I’ve led or championed:
• Keeping Hampstead Police station open, and keeping the 999 Police based in West Hampstead and Kilburn Police Station (on Salusbury Road in Queen’s Park)
• Set up the Kilburn Dragon’s Den, to encourage 16-17 years from Kilburn and Harlesden to think about getting into business
• Helped the local homeless as part of Mitzvah Day
• Successfully lobbied the council to funding the 10 O Clock Club, a drop-in group for toddlers, averting threatened closure
• As a local councillor, voted to freeze our council tax and supported a new Academy school at Swiss Cottage – which will open next year
• Persuaded TfL not to close the Northern Line at the weekend for signal upgrades – instead the work will take place overnight
• Lobbied TfL to finish the Jubilee Line work faster (which has sadly not been so successful – it still isn’t finished)
• Stood up for local business and traders by lobbying for lower business rates for small businesses (sadly, the current Government recently put them up)
• Successfully opposed planning applications which will spoil the character of our area, and successfully campaigned to restore the protection of the views from Parliament Hill and Primrose Hill
• Improved council house repairs, so the most vulnerable in society have a decent home to live in
Some more details about local campaigns are at http://www.chrisphilp.com/blog and http://www.chrisphilp.com/campaigns
Unlike many people seeking your vote at this election, I am not a lifelong career politician. I’ve run my own businesses for the last ten years – starting the first business by driving the delivery van myself when I was 23 years old. There’s a bit more about my background at: http://www.chrisphilp.com/about/about-chris
So whatever you may think about national politics, if you want a local MP who has demonstrated that over a period of years that he cares for our community and has delivered results – before even being elected – then please consider supporting me on May 6th.
Do please drop me a line at this email address if you’d like to get in touch.
With best wishes,
Chris Philp
Conservative Candidate to be our next MP
Kemplay Road NW3
www.chrisphilp.com
Monday, 19 April 2010
New High Speed Tunnel Plan – local opposition mounting..
LABOUR GOVERNMENT – BACKED BY LIBDEMS - PLANS TO BUILD NEW HIGH SPEED RAIL TUNNEL UNDER PRIMROSE HILL/SWISS COTTAGE/BELSIZE/KILBURN/QUEENS PARK
Conservatives only party to oppose this route
Last month the Labour Government put forward a white paper for the new High Speed 2 line from London Euston to Birmingham. It’s a complex plan, but there are three key points people need to understand:
This would mean a new deep tunnel being dug from Willesden to Primrose Hill – under the streets of Swiss Cottage, Belsize, Kilburn and Queens Park – with unknown effects on vibration and massive construction impact. Particularly worrying are emergency shafts for use servicing the huge cutterhead at Hawtrey Rd, NW3 and Alpha Place, NW6.
The Conservatives national policy does NOT support this route – we favour a route to Heathrow. Locally the Conservative team is standing up for residents opposed to this tunnel proposal, and calling for much better consultation to listen to local people.
The LibDems HAVE backed this route – On 11th March, Norman Baker MP, the Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Transport said in the House of Commons: “I congratulate HS2 on producing a route that, I think, minimises environmental damage while maximising the usefulness of the line.”
Affected roads and areas include: Primrose Hill, Adelaide Rd, Kings Henrys Rd, Avenue Rd, Finchley Rd, Hilgrove Rd, Alexandra Rd,Rowley Way, Mortimer Crescent, Cambridge Rd, Kilburn Park, Brondesbury Villas, Salusbury Rd. You can find out more about the tunnel route here:
Map:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/pi/highspeedrail/hs2ltd/route/map01.pdf
Engineering report on this section of the route:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/pi/highspeedrail/hs2ltd/routeengineering/pdf/Chapter5.pdf
Both now and after the elections, we will work with local people to fight this route and get the full information we need. And remember – this is the route supported by Labour and LibDems, and the route opposed by the Conservatives.
Sunday, 18 April 2010
Bank Holiday Single Yellow Lines Parking Enforcement mixup now being fixed
Camden Council got it wrong in terms of enforcing single yellow lines on Easter bank holidays. Parking staff changed the Council's prior practice and enforced single yellows, contrary to its prior practice on bank holidays of only enforcing double yellow lines, and vehicles parked obstructively or dangerously, and specialist bays such as doctors and disabled bays.
Our traffic management orders do allow the Council to enforce on bank holidays, and therefore none are unlawful, but this was not in line with our practice. There's no need to change it, and it certainly shouldn't have been changed without consultation.
The Council issued 1,119 PCNs on the two bank holiday days to vehicles parked on single yellow lines - all of these have now rightly been cancelled. Around 240 payments have been received, the great bulk by credit/debit card which can be refunded easily. Only the 13 paid by cash/cheques will be more difficult to cancel in that contact details will be needed but this work is now under way.
Camden Council will now communicate clearly in the run-up to the next bank holiday that we are NOT enforcing single yellow lines.
Our communications will however point out that some central London authorities do enforce single yellow lines on bank holidays, and that drivers do need to check on authority websites.
Longer term we will work with other central London authorities to try and ensure a single approach across central London, which would be much clearer for all concerned (though there is a tension always with "localism").
It's obviously a regrettable incident and lessons will be learned, but council managers have taken responsibility and are now getting this sorted.
Our traffic management orders do allow the Council to enforce on bank holidays, and therefore none are unlawful, but this was not in line with our practice. There's no need to change it, and it certainly shouldn't have been changed without consultation.
The Council issued 1,119 PCNs on the two bank holiday days to vehicles parked on single yellow lines - all of these have now rightly been cancelled. Around 240 payments have been received, the great bulk by credit/debit card which can be refunded easily. Only the 13 paid by cash/cheques will be more difficult to cancel in that contact details will be needed but this work is now under way.
Camden Council will now communicate clearly in the run-up to the next bank holiday that we are NOT enforcing single yellow lines.
Our communications will however point out that some central London authorities do enforce single yellow lines on bank holidays, and that drivers do need to check on authority websites.
Longer term we will work with other central London authorities to try and ensure a single approach across central London, which would be much clearer for all concerned (though there is a tension always with "localism").
It's obviously a regrettable incident and lessons will be learned, but council managers have taken responsibility and are now getting this sorted.
Wednesday, 14 April 2010
Basements and PPG14 - Heath & Hampstead Soc meeting with senior planners is very welcome
There is intense local worry about the long term consequences of recent deep basement developments, and one of the biggest challenges we've faced on the Council is getting the complex national and local planning regime to react quickly enough to these new style basements.
The new Local Development Framework which I led through the Council significantly strengthens our policies against inappropriate basements. In addition, the Conservative council group supports the efforts of the Heath & Hampstead Society to get Camden to give better protection to neighbours at the planning approval stage against serious damage from deep basements proposed close to their properties.
We understand that the planning system requires a local authority to do this under well established national planning guidance known as PPG 14. So far however, under existing procedures, Camden’s Development Control procedures has not been requiring developers to prove through proper on site geotechnical evidence that a proposed basement will not destabilise neighbours' land and structurally damage his or her house, before planning permission can be given.
In future, we will make sure that planners receive the necessary geological and structural engineering advice to apply this guidance as it should be applied across the Borough, where there is widespread risk that deep excavation will destabilise the ground and cause structural damage, especially in Hampstead and Highgate. This should also include a better understanding of flooding risks.
Another national planning statement PPS 25 requires Camden to have developers show that a proposed basement will not cause neighbourhood flooding, before they are given the go ahead. In the north of the Borough this can only be done through ground water flow modelling, which also calls for specialist advice.
There is some legal debate (as always in planning!) around the exact position on this, which is why we welcome the meeting council officers are having shortly with the Heath & Hampstead Society and an outside senior expert legal to get this moving forward.
The new Local Development Framework which I led through the Council significantly strengthens our policies against inappropriate basements. In addition, the Conservative council group supports the efforts of the Heath & Hampstead Society to get Camden to give better protection to neighbours at the planning approval stage against serious damage from deep basements proposed close to their properties.
We understand that the planning system requires a local authority to do this under well established national planning guidance known as PPG 14. So far however, under existing procedures, Camden’s Development Control procedures has not been requiring developers to prove through proper on site geotechnical evidence that a proposed basement will not destabilise neighbours' land and structurally damage his or her house, before planning permission can be given.
In future, we will make sure that planners receive the necessary geological and structural engineering advice to apply this guidance as it should be applied across the Borough, where there is widespread risk that deep excavation will destabilise the ground and cause structural damage, especially in Hampstead and Highgate. This should also include a better understanding of flooding risks.
Another national planning statement PPS 25 requires Camden to have developers show that a proposed basement will not cause neighbourhood flooding, before they are given the go ahead. In the north of the Borough this can only be done through ground water flow modelling, which also calls for specialist advice.
There is some legal debate (as always in planning!) around the exact position on this, which is why we welcome the meeting council officers are having shortly with the Heath & Hampstead Society and an outside senior expert legal to get this moving forward.
Tuesday, 13 April 2010
Poor GP opening hours in Swiss Cottage and across Camden: Conservative manifesto commitment will be very welcome
The national Conservative manifesto has an excellent commitment on health which states:
"Make sure you have access to a GP in your area from 8am to 8pm seven days a week"
This will go down very well in Camden where only a tiny proportion of our GP surgeries are open in the evenings or the weekends, and links with the commitment we made in our local Camden manifesto, also out today, to work with the local NHS to improve opening times.
Residents in Swiss Cottage have raised concerns with us about the limited opening hours at Swiss Cottage surgery, echoed by some comments by users on the NHS website.
Neither Swiss Cottage surgery, nor Abbey Medical Centre or Belsize Priory surgery have any evening or weekend surgery times. This really is not good enough and the commitment in the Conservative manifesto to change this is great news and will be important in our campaign in Camden.
"Make sure you have access to a GP in your area from 8am to 8pm seven days a week"
This will go down very well in Camden where only a tiny proportion of our GP surgeries are open in the evenings or the weekends, and links with the commitment we made in our local Camden manifesto, also out today, to work with the local NHS to improve opening times.
Residents in Swiss Cottage have raised concerns with us about the limited opening hours at Swiss Cottage surgery, echoed by some comments by users on the NHS website.
Neither Swiss Cottage surgery, nor Abbey Medical Centre or Belsize Priory surgery have any evening or weekend surgery times. This really is not good enough and the commitment in the Conservative manifesto to change this is great news and will be important in our campaign in Camden.
Saturday, 10 April 2010
The resurfacing of Aberdare Gardens seems to have gone ok over the last week (at least no-one has complained yet) and the new road surface looks great. Camden's engineers are about to carry out, via an external consultant, a road condition survey across the borough, which will produce an overall condition score for each road. This will be made public after the elections.
This survey was postponed from January/February due to the snow and to make sure we got the best quality data. The resulting maintenance programme will then take place over the summer.
Council Highway engineers are however responding to ongoing critical issues arising from on-going spot safety inspections. As a result they are carrying out resurfacing works in Spaniards Gardens (Hampstead) and Ryland Road (Kentish Town), as well as Aberdare.
We know a concern is that the survey will just confirm that we have a multiyear backlog of resurfacing needed, with no ability to do all the work that residents expect. That's why the Conservative manifesto we are just issuing includes £5m in capital resources for a pothole fund in order to make some real progress on doing all the roads that need work.
Monday, 5 April 2010
Impact of High Speed 2 scheme in Primrose Hill/Swiss Cottage
We’ve been looking carefully at the implications of the Government’s High Speed 2 scheme for our patch. The proposal involves cutting a new tunnel from Old Oak Common in Willesden to Primrose Hill. As the map shows, in our patch it will run between Adelaide Rd and King Henry’s Rd, then underneath Swiss Cottage special school, under St John’s Wood Park, Finchley Rd and the Hilgrove estate before continuing under the Rowley Way estate. We would urge those concerned to look in particular at the chapter on the route engineering report covering the Euston to Old Oak Common section of the route:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/pi/highspeedrail/hs2ltd/routeengineering/pdf/Chapter5.pdf
We understand the grave concerns that residents along the route will have about the implications of the scheme. Clearly this is a very long term proposal, at this stage we’d just like to make a couple of disparate points:
From Primrose Hill the new tunnel will broadly follow the corridor of the West Coast Main Line and London Overground tunnels, running underneath these tunnels. So it will be a deep tunnel, but what this means for vibration etc, we just don’t know.
One particular concern is that an intermediate shaft is planned in the Hawtrey Rd /Marriott Hotel area. The engineering report states that: “cutterhead refurbishment being carried out at the intermediate shafts”. So we will have to find out exactly what this means in terms of construction activity.
The Conservative Party nationally does not favour this scheme as it believes a terminus at Heathrow with a link to Crossrail would work much better. Of course it is very uncertain whether High Speed Two will go ahead and in what form, given the huge financing and timescales involved.
Naturally, we are concerned about the lack of detailed consultation so far, and after the local elections are out of the way, Camden Council needs to take up the issue and fight for local people affected by the proposals (the fact that Camden, for better or worse, will not be taking the ultimate planning decision, should make this easier to do).
We have heard that surveyors are already marketing their services to potentially affected properties. We’d urge people to be careful before handing over money to advisers in what is a very uncertain situation. Clearly some houses may be affected by blight, and we as local councillors will be responding to the consultation by the Government on the voluntary Exceptional Hardship Scheme, which should then kick in in the summer.
Below is the link to the Department of Transport consultation page, and the email address to send comments:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/consultations/open/2010-18/
EHSconsultation@hs2.gsi.gov.uk
Thursday, 1 April 2010
Swiss Cottage dispersal zone public meeting next month
The usual public meeting with residents to check on how a dispersal zone is working will take place on 11th May 2010 18:30-20:00 in Room 4, Swiss Cottage Community Centre. This will be with the ward safer neighbourhoods police team and Council community safety staff, as well as us as ward councillors. If anyone wants to feed in views via us as ward councillors, drop us a line in advance.
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