Friday 30 April 2010

Gondar Gardens latest and other local news updates

On 16th April residents living around the Gondar Gardens Reservoir received a letter from the new owners -Linden Homes - to say that for security reasons they intended to put hoarding around the site ( or part of it). They say: "A health and safety assessment has been carried out and there are potential risks to people accessing the site without permission. As a result we have taken to decision to hoard the site..." However they are including "vision holes" along the frontage to maintain a level of natural surveillance".



They also say "We are committed to community consultation and as plans for the site start to evolve, local residents, stakeholder groups, businesses and representatives will be fully consulted on the teams redevelopment proposals". They add they are aware of the sensitivities of the site and the SNCI designation, and "will be working hard to prepare options for redevelopment that respect these considerations".
Some local residents are not reassured by these statements and we shall all be keeping a very close eye on Linden Homes and their plans.


Note they have begun to erect the hoarding as you can see from the pictures which is neatly precisely the right height so as not to require planning permission! They plan to extend the hoarding right along the northern edge (parallel to the bottoms of the gardens of Gondar residents but not - at this stage along the backs of Agamemnon Rd nor Hillfield Road).










Meanwhile on another topic - Tescos has succeeded, despite objections from some local residents in obtaining its license to sell alcohol although only from 8.00 am and on Sundays they must stop alcohol sales at 10.30 pm. They assured the panel that the sale of alcohol in their stores is closely monitored and in fact only accounts for beween 7 and 8% of all sales!! Meanwhile the traffic and parking is still a problem but we have been assured that Camden offices will shortly propose a scheme for consultation to address the issue. (However - the West End Lane situation has been exacerbated by the roadworks in West End Lane. You do wonder why they can't all leave West Hampstead alone!!)

A new issue concening the Sager building shops has just arisen - 2 of the the three remaining "A1" retail units alongside Tescos have applied for planning permission to become one unit. If this goes ahead it could make the parking and traffic even more problematic. We will be asking Camen's traffic and planning officers to look at this carefully.

Meanwhile - just down the road, there is a plan to change the position of the recycling bins/bus shelter and access onto Fortune Green itself - this is intended to improve the "entrance" as part of the proposed works to the Green - planned for later this year. The Friends group showd plans for this at last year's Festival.
Congratulations to the Friends Group for another successful seed planting day by the way and a final point - Don't forget to put the Festival in your diary - July 3rd and 4th. More details - watch this space!

Tuesday 13 April 2010

Whats in a number?

Very interesting post on one of our favourite sites - completely independent and non party political which explains very clearly why Ed Fordham stands to win Hampstead and Kilburn and why the Conservatives are well behind!
visit http://www.northwest6.net/

Thursday 1 April 2010

West Hampstead Library - Good News


West Hampstead library is soon to have a facelift and a spring clean!It will close for a couple of weeks from 10 May to 24 May.

Our local library is very busy and poular. It is open six days a week with 2 regular Rhyme Time/Baby Bounce sessions a week, a once a month social club for older people and many other events.

Believe it or not, 93,000 people visited West Hampstead library in 2009 and borrowed 73,000 items! They also used 20,000 hours of computer time! These numbers continue to go up partly because since January last year the library has increased opening hours and 200 new members joined last year.

Well, now its time for a bit of sprucing up! Improvements to the library will include:
self service for you to check items in and out more quickly, which means staff will have more time to help people find what they want, answer questions etc

a freephone to contact the Council directly for council services

more space with an improved layout and signs inside and out

and thanks to the suggestions from residents at our local West Hampstead Area Forum, a community noticeboard, new pavement, bench and planters outsde the library

All in all , a new look!
PS Don't forget, the library will also be closed on Election Day 6th May for use as a polling station!