Snow update - Sunday

Sunday morning's weather update from the council is below.
The main message seems to be to check out Camden's winter web pages.
As you will see if you follow the links below, the roads that the council is concentrating on are the bus routes. I'm afraid if you're not on one of the priority footpaths (and virtually no-one in Fortune Green is) it might be some time before the Council can get round to clearing your pavement. But remember - its an urban myth that you will get sued if someone falls over on a bit of pavement you have cleared!

"Despite the heaviest snowfall in London for more than 40 years, all priority roads in Camden are up and running this morning.

We will continue to ensure priority routes are gritted today and will attempt to grit side roads where we can. You can see a list of priority gritting routes on our web site.

Street cleansing services remain suspended as staff will be removing snow and ice from priority pavement areas. You can see a list of priority footpaths on our web site.

Refuse services are running today but there are potential problems with safe access because pavements and some roads remain hazardous so disruption is likely.

The temperature today is not predicted to get above freezing and will drop to -7 tonight with a possibility of more snow showers.

We will be up updating our winter web pages throughout the day, so please refer to this for the latest news. I will only send another email update today if there is a significant change in the weather."

Snow and the council

The councillors were sent this update on Friday about the council's plans for dealing with the snow this weekend...

Dear Councillors

I am sure you will have seen the weather forecast predicting more bad weather over the weekend. The unpredicted snow earlier today has already caused problems on our roads and pavements. We have suspended our cleansing services and have directed staff to gritting and clearing pavements. Our gritting lorries were out this morning ensuring main roads were kept running and following this they have moved on to side roads. However, many side roads and pavements are hazardous as the temperatures are so low.

The weather forecast for the next few days is very uncertain but the current update for London is that we could see some snow showers running in from the west by the end of the night before more persistent snow develops and moves across during the day. Most of London is predicted to get accumulations of between 5-10cm but there is a risk of 20 cm by the end of Saturday. There is a smaller risk of snow on Sunday and into Monday.

You will see from our winter web pages that some services have been affected today and we will continue to update the web site over the weekend so please refer to this for the latest information. If there is a significant affect on our services I will email you tomorrow.

I would also like to confirm that we have plans in place to ensure that you and the web site are kept up to date if bad weather should come over the Christmas holiday period.

Spotlight on Cricklewood

The Cricklewood Improvement Group are organising a get-together of the three police Safer Neighbourhood Teams that cover Cricklewood: Fortune Green, Mapesbury and Child's Hill.
As I often lament, Cricklewood is not only split between 3 wards, but also between three boroughs.
It will be interesting to see what issues are raised at the meeting and how the teams work together.
Details below if you're able to come along...

---

COMMUNITY MEETING

to discuss future plans for

Cricklewood Broadway

Tuesday 7 December 2010 at 7 pm

at CHC, 60 Ashford Road, NW2

All residents invited - this is an opportunity to have your say!

Agenda:

1.    Discussion and agreement on future direction of integrated policing across the three wards surrounding Cricklewood Broadway i.e. Mapesbury, Childs Hill and Fortune Green.

2.    Update on Cricklewood Improvement Project community plan (a local citizen led Cricklewood regeneration project) including Vision, priorities, volunteer sign up etc etc

3.    AOB:

·       Ward Working funding application – Information

·       Domain name competition – Information

·       Christmas carols – Information

·       Parish council – information

·       Jubilee People’s Millions

West Hampstead and Fortune Green Area Forum Monday 29 November

Some of you have been asking what's happened to the West Hampstead/Fortune Green area forums that you found so helpful. The answer is that the Council is changing the way it involves local people in decision-making by launching “area action groups” across Camden this autumn.

The good news is that one of the options under the area action groups model is essentially to continue with area forums much as before, which gave you an opportunity to discuss important local issues with your councillors and neighbours, and speakers for relevant outside organisations, and to influence decisions about the West Hampstead area’s future.

As the area forum model was very popular in our two wards, your Fortune Green and West Hampstead councillors have decided to continue with this, while also looking at other ways of involving local residents, such as the use of social media - which we're using to advertise this meeting. The first meeting will be tomorrow on Monday, 29 November, and those of you who regularly attended area forums will already have been notified about it.

Sadly, individual wards will no longer have a pot of money to spend, and the cost of meetings is to be reduced by streamlining publicity and the way meetings are organised. So there will unfortunately no longer be a budget for full refreshments, but Chez Chantal on West End Lane are providing tea and coffee. Thank you!

The agenda for the meeting on 29 November is as follows:

· 7 - 7.30pm: an opportunity to meet ward councillors informally over tea/coffee
· 7.30pm: start of meeting
- introduction to area action groups
- update on new Thameslink station on Iverson Road and associated highway improvements
- councillors’ work on West End Lane and Mill Lane shops
- impact of the Comprehensive Spending Review on council budget and our area
· 9.30pm: end of meeting

We look forward to seeing lots of you on 29 November, despite the tube strike and possible snow!

Congratulations Lord Palmer

Congratulations are in order for one of our neighbouring councillors, Monroe Palmer, is being made a Life Peer.  Monroe represents the Child's Hill ward of Barnet.

The Ham and High have the story here.

Monroe is a popular, hard working councillor who has achieved a lot for his area over the years, despite the political wind on the council rarely being behind his back.

In understand  he is looking forward to contributing to debates in the Lords, but also voting to make the second  chamber democratic under Nick Clegg's plans to bring democracy to the mother of parliaments!

Very many congratulations, Monroe! It's a boon that your friendly and warm manner will now be put to use influencing their Lordships to more liberal and democratic ways.

Car club bays

Car clubs are great things.  I'm a member of Streetcar and although I've only used them a few times, their service can be very useful.  Especially as in addition to having cars you can hire by the hour, Streetcar also have a number of vans dotted around North West London.
Nancy, Flick and myself have just been contacted by the Camden streets team who are proposing some new locations for car club bays.  These are often controversial as they appear to be a loss of residents parking.  (Its a natural concern - but when a car club bay is introduced often a number of households on the street decide to give up their car - so the number of parked cars is more likely to go down.)
Happily on this occasion the two locations proposed won't affect residents bays as they are being put on roadside that is currently single yellow lines. The proposed locations are marked in red below.
The streets team are looking for comments though, if you have any, let us know either by commenting here or by emailing FortuneGreen@HampsteadAndKilburn.org.uk

St Cuthbert's Road

Fortune Green Road

Good news from Friends of Fortune Green

Mark Stonebanks has just sent out the following message to people on the Friends of Fortune Green mailing list.  Well done all involved!

• "In the last newsletter we told you about making a funding application to the Veolia Environmental Trust.  We have just heard that we were successful in our application.  We were awarded £16,440, which isn't the full amount applied for as it is a difficult funding environment.  However, together with the £49,500 from Changing Spaces, £20,000 of Sager section 106 money and funding from Camden, 'stage 1' of our project is now fully funded.  Stage 2, which is mainly to improve the drainage was always going to be later, because of timing of work on the playcentre (more on that later)."

Spotlight 153 now available

Click to download the latest Spotlight (pdf)

West Hampstead Christmas Community Market

Flick has asked me to cross-post this item:

With support from Camden Council, we can now confirm that a Christmas Community Market will be held on Saturday 11th December from 11am - 3.30pm on West End Green, West Hampstead. The aim of the event is to provide a festive focus in the West Hampstead community as well as providing support for local shops and crafts people to sell their wares. . Local shops on West End Lane and Mill Lane will also be encouraged to support the Market, either by having a stall or by providing special festive promotions on the day.

The event is being organised by a small group of local businesses and enthusiasts who would welcome other volunteers to help with the organisation and promotion of the event. This would provide an excellent opportunity for people to gain skills in event organising and who wanted to work in marketing or public relations.

To register your interest, either as a stall holder or volunteer organiser, please email westhampsteadxmasmarket@gmail.com.

BOOK THE DATE IN YOUR DIARY NOW AND SUPPORT OUR LOCAL BUSINESSES AND COMMUNITY!

Remembrance at Hampstead Cemetery

Father Andrew and pupils from St Mary's Primary School, Kilburn at the Remembrance service 11th November 2010

Camden's Deputy Mayor joined a dignified crowd of people at Hampstead Cemetery's war memorial at 11:00am on 11th November.  The short ceremony has been growing over recent years and Rev Alistair Tresidder of St Lukes was again joined by Father Andrew Cain (St Mary's Kilburn) and Father Jonathan Kester (Emmanuel, West Hampstead).

Our numbers were swelled further by the presence of pupils from St Mary's school (pictured above) and representatives from University College School.

We also laid flowers at the memorial of some of the local civilian war dead - situated in the south end of the cemetery.

Rev Alistair Tresidder (back left), Deupty Mayor Abdul Quadir (Centre) and Father Jonathan Kester (right) join local people at the Hampstead Cemetery Remembrance Service, 11th November 2010.

Photos courtesy of Bradley Brown.

More on Gondar Gardens

Better reproductions of the exhibition boards used by Linden Homes and Wates Developments in Emmanuel school recently are available on their website - www.formerreservoirgondargardens.co.uk.
Its certainly an interesting proposal - but doubts abound as to whether it is the right use of the site. We also have our doubts about who would pay the rumoured £1.5 million per house to live below ground. Teletubbies perhaps?!
If you want to find out more about what the GARA residents think or for details of their special meeting - email them at info.gara@gmail.com
We will keep you informed about any further developments.

Gondar Gardens plans unveiled

Linden Homes and Wates Developments held an exhibition on Saturday of their proposals as they are at the moment for the Gondar Gardens resevoir site.  I too a few snaps on my phone of their display boards.  The quality isn't great - but you get an idea. (You can also get a bigger version of these snaps by clicking on them)

The developers were very keen to emphasise the low rise nature of the development - the artists impression below shows that just a few feet of the tops of the houses will appear above the level of the ground already there.

The next (rather poor) photo is of the inside of the existing structure.  The Victorian vaulting takes up most of the front of the site that appears to be a flat area of grass from on top.

By sitting the development in the bottom of the resevoir that already exists they are keen to demonstrate that the development will do little to interupt the impressive views that existing residents of Gonday Gardens enjoy.  These photos of their model don't really show it very well - but, once its built, their presentation suggests that it will be fairly hard for most existing residents to notice much impact from the development.

That said, the impact on the biodiversity of the site is still likely to be considerable.  The whole site enjoys special protection under Camden's planning regulations - and no matter how low-rise the development is, that is likely to be interupted by a massive disruption to the site as it is at present. There just aren't that many spaces in Camden that add to the biodiversity of the area.
Also whilst there is no mention of  any contribution to social housing.  Our part of London needs family sized homes - but it especially needs family-sized social housing.  This week's surgery was typical in presenting some very difficult overcrowding cases to us as local councillors - and if developments like this do nothing to alleviate the situation we'll never get on top of the problem.
We don't know how much the plans will change between now and submitting a full planning application to the council - but we will keep the blog updated of any news as it comes along.

The delayed West Hampstead Thameslink station

It seems that its not just trains that are subject to delays on our railways.  In West Hampstead its the station itself which is being delayed.
Planning permission was given to a new Thameslink station some time ago - and considerable works were done on the new bridge which will allow disabled access.
However, a revised planning application was submitted by Network Rail over the summer - and this has now been approved and the councillors have now been invited to talk through the implications.  Watch this space!

Thames Water works on Finchley Road

Flick's asked me to cross-post this item I've just put on our West Hampstead blog:

I've just heard that Thames Water will be doing work this weekend (Friday 8 October to Sunday 10 October) on Finchley Road by Burrard Road. The works are to repair a water main.

Here's what it will involve:

· Finchley Road will be reduced from three lanes to one lane southbound, between Weech Road and Croft Way

· No right turn into Finchley Road from Burrard Road

· No right turn from Finchley Road into Burrard Road

· The pedestrian crossing will be closed

Apparently the works will be going on 24/24 to get everything completed on time.

Gondar Gardens plans to be revealed

Linden Homes and Wates Developments have been in touch about a public exhibition they are holding about their plans for Gondar Gardens Reservoir site.


There's no extra details at the moment, apart from  the subject of their email-  "New Zero Carbon Family Homes in West Hampstead".


It seems that they are trying to sugar the pill of building over a site of nature and scientific interest; trading  biodiversity off against carbon emissions (and Camden's age-old need for family sized accommodation).  I'm not sure this is a winning strategy for them but they are clearly determined to give it a go.


The exhibition will be open to all and is at Emmanuel School, 101 Mill Lane, West Hampstead, NW6 1NA on Saturday 9^th October 2010, between  10.30am and 3.30pm.  If you are interested in what their proposals might be, come along and see how their plans are shaping up.

On the Street where you live

Just received a comment from an anonymous reader of this blog asking whether we could put "Narcissus Road" on the heading to the blog along with all the other roads. The reason its not on the heading is -it's been carefully worked out - this "Spotlight" blog covers Fortune Green ward (with occasional cross posting with West Hampstead's Spotlight blog) but the roads at the top of this one are all in Fortune Green, whereas Narcissus Road is with all the other "West Hampstead ward" roads at the top of the West Hampstead blog?

Confused? Not surprisingly as the ward boundaries change from time to time but as far as Spotlight is concerned they are often irrelevant - for example Mill Lane is the official dividing line between the wards but matters concerned with Mill Lane are of interest to both wards. West End Lane is largely within West Hampstead ward, but anything going on there is naturally of huge interest to anyone living up the road in Fortune Green - though less so if you live near Cricklewood Broadway(in Fortune Green ward) or near the 02 Centre (in West Hampstead Ward!)

Still confused? Never mind - just remember that across West Hampstead and Fortune Green you have two teams of three Lib Dem "Spotlight" councillors all dedicated to the interests of local residents - that means YOU - whether you live in Narcissus Road or anywhere else in West Hampstead!

PS Just to prove we are the ones who keep in touch all year round - look out for next printed Spotlight coming to you sometime soon!

Exercise 24/7?

The new Gym which is part of the Sager building has applied to change the planning condition which restricts its opening hours. It wants to be allowed to be open all day AND all night!! Apparently its to cater for the early morning trade -the 5.0 or 6.0 am fitness freaks who want a work out before going to their day job. Well, fine - I'm all for healthy lifestyles (as long as no-one expects me to participate - particularly at ungodly hours) and can just about see a reason for early morning opening but all night? Would love to hear views fom others - if you want to you can post a comment here or email me at flick.rea@camden.gov.uk

West Hampstead - short-changed - again?

Just when we thought that plans were all falling into place to improve access to West Hampstead Thameslink and to make it safer for pedestrians around Iverson Road it seems that the plans, if not derailed, are most certainly being downgraded!

West Hampstead Thameslink Station Upgrade
Network Rail's planned improvements included platform lengthening to fit 12-carriage trains, a new pedestrian bridge with step free access linking to a new station building on Iverson Road and a new "public space" between West End Lane and the station building. In December 2009,the Council gave Prior Approval (a form of planning permission) toNetwork Rail for the station building and public space. The shops along from the corner were demolishd as part of this process (see blog post July 13th) but things have slowed down.

Network Rail recently decided to review the detailed design of their proposals to make “efficiency savings”. They say they don’t plan to makefundamental changes but have “identified ways to reduce cost through adapting the design and construction methods to best suit operational requirements.” In real terms that means they are still doing it but it won’t look as good!

Network Rail will resubmit a "Prior Approval application" shortly after which the public will have 3 weeks to comment before a decision is made by Camden.

Meanwhile......
West Hampstead Interchange Streetscape Project

This was designed in some detail and is due to start as soon as the current utility works are completed in West End Lane (hopefullymid-October.) But the new “raised crossing” on Iverson Road will no longer be smartly carried out in granite paving slabs but done in asphalt (its apparently quicker and cheaper!) Any money saved may go to improving some poor paving north of Sumatra Road. Or it may not.....!

West Hampstead Spotlight Blog: John Ceconi

West Hampstead Spotlight Blog: John Ceconi: "Many West Hampstead residents will have been helped by John Ceconi, an extremely likeable and helpful Camden street environment officer. I'm..."

West Hampstead Spotlight Blog: Three Camden schools get go-ahead

West Hampstead Spotlight Blog: Three Camden schools get go-ahead: "Artist's impression of the new academy Great news for Camden parents and children today, both in the north and the south of the borough. ..."
This is the story posted by Keith Moffitt on our "sister" Spotlight blog" which contains the welcome news that local children will have the opportunity of going to a great new school in Swiss Cottage from - if all goes well - September 2011. The plans have received planning permission and contractors had already been appointed just waiting for the green light from the new coalition government. So - its all systems go!
Meanwhile plans for the rebuild of Fortune Green PlayCentre to include Sington nursery are still on course with a planning application due shortly. Money is tight but..... fingers crossed! Watch this spot!

Success for Maygrove Peace Park

Great news - we have just heard that our Peace Park has become the latest park in Camden to be awarded the much coveted "Green flag" award. Camden's press release says:

"The awards, which are run by environmental charities Keep Britain Tidy, BTCV and GreenSpace, have been announced during national Love Parks Week, during which people are encouraged to enjoy the nation’s parks and green spaces. The Green Flag judges reward excellent use of green space, well-maintained facilities, community involvement and a high standard of safety and security.

Camden’s parks are getting better every year with Maygrove Peace Park this year joining the seven parks who received the prestigious award in 2009. Bloomsbury Square, Brunswick Square, Russell Square, St Georges Gardens, St Martins Gardens, Talacre Gardens and Waterlow Park all maintained their Green Flag Awards from 2009.

Tracey Shackle, Chair of Maygrove Peace Park friends group, was thrilled with the award. She said: "We are really proud of the whole community who should see this as a reward for the hard work they’ve put in. We couldn’t have transformed this park into a community-friendly space without the dedication of the parks department so I’d like to say a big thank you to them especially."

Our congratulations as well!

Great News for Fortune Green... oh wait...

Transport for London have got in touch with some 'good news' for bus users.
After a lot of promises they are finally ready to roll out the new electronic bus stop announcements.  The idea being that the new system would use sattelite technolocy to trace where the buses actually were - rather than the current system which is based on a fair amount of guesswork.More details can be found on the TfL website. It boasts that:

"From 2011, we will be introducing a new, improved Countdown that will show bus arrival predictions for every one of London's 19,000 bus stops"

However that might be a bit of hype - as later on it says:

"New Countdown signs will be installed at stops where they will provide the most benefit to the greatest number of passengers. Factors that will be taken into account when assessing stops will be:

• How many passengers use the stop
• How close is the stop to centres of population
• Distance to transport interchanges
• Distance to key local services
• Number of low frequency or night routes serving the stop"

 Which doesn't sound like "everyone of London's 19,000 stops" at all!

It gets worse - Camden is being asked where it wants its sites - and I've been sent the link to Fortune Green's allocation - shown on the map below...

As you can see, the Fortune Green ward is going to 'benefit' from this scheme by having two existing signs removed and not replaced!
Its a little better in West Hampstead - where the West End Green stop will get a new sign - with the possibility of a few extra further down West End Lane.
However, getting decent information about when the C11 is actually going to show up was one of my big hopes for the scheme - and it appears we're going to be missed out entirely.
I will respond to the consultation (although they do say that they have already made their minds up on the red sites) but if anyone else has any thoughts - do let me know in the comments below.

Call for community volunteers

The Fortune Green councillors have been contacted by the Camden StreetSafe project looking for volunteers to help them monitor the area.

The StreetSafe team work across Camden with people engaged in rough sleeping, street drinking, begging, sex working and street based drugs activity.

They have a network of over 100 local 'Community Auditors'. Community Auditors can be businesses or residents and they send in regular reports about these kind of street activities so that the team can move in and address the issues facing the people involved in the problems.

More information on the StreetSafe team can be found here.

Some more volunteers around the Cricklewood end of Fortune Green would be particularly welcome.

If you think you might be able to help, get in touch with Russell and he will forward on your details.

russell.eagling@camden.gov.uk

Watch this (open) space!

Cllrs Eagling and Rea on the old covered reservoir backing Gondar gardens, Hillfield and Agamemnon Roads. The site, which has a protected

wildlife designation has been bought by a development company calld Linden Homes. Most local people largely want it left alone and to remain as "private open space" but it is pretty clear that Linden Homes has not bought it out of a philanthropic desire to save the local sloworms. They obviously want to build!

They held a local consultation day actually on the reservoir - (first time many people had even been on it) at which they asked what would local people like to see on the site! Fairly predictable what the majority of the answers would be! However they will no doubt use this consultation as a basis for dawing up their own plans which they will then submit as a planning application. We think there will be quite a long and cross-tempered process ahead of us all!

Welcome to another Spotlight blog!

West Hampstead Spotlight blog -
West Hampstead ward Lib Dem councillors - Gillian Risso-Gill, Keith Moffitt and John Bryant - have launched their blog on West Hampstead issues - They say they will every now and then pop in some other "big picture" posts as well as well as occasionally cross-post to this blog stories of interest to the whole West Hampstead area.

Of course we'll all still be sending out our "E-Spotlight" and the regular printed version - we really do try to keep in touch all year round - not just at election times!!

Maybe it'll be better when its finished!

This is what the corner of Iverson Road and West End Lane looked like at the weekend with the little shops half demolished. Yesterday they had gone completely! How many people remember "Jen's Pots" I wonder? And the fight back in the seventies to preserve that little parade?

Well - all gone now - let's hope its all for the greater good. At present it's even more hazardous than usual to squeeze along West End Lane between the scaffolding one one side and the roadworks on the other. And with no lights to cross Iverson Road you really do take your life in your hands!

Latest news is that even though we hope they will get on and finish the pavement widening, the "new station" for Thamelink has been delayed for at least another six months so there's still no lift access for people with disabilities, small children or heavy luggage! With the nearest bus stops out of action due to the everlasting roadworks and the heavy traffic queuing - West End Lane is, once again a nightmare.

A couple of other bits of news:

• West Hampstead's Conservation area could be extended or added to by the inclusion of the Greek Streets and the bottom of Parsifal Road if the consultation shows agreement. Watch out for the letter - it should be out in a few days and we have asked for a six week consultation to allow for the school holiday period.
• Friends of Fortune Green have won their funding bid so that they will be able to get on with their plans for refurbishing the Green which many people saw at the Festival
• Meanwhile the Local Area Forum funding (or some it) came through and you may have already seen the hanging baskets in Mill Lane - now Camden are following up another popular local suggestion and "tidying up" the area in front of West Hampstead library. Several people have told us how much they appreciated the Local Area Forum meetings and it seems a shame that the new Labour Council is distinctly lukewarm about keeping them on.
• The Kilburn Festival last weekend seemed very successful and all the new activities in Grange Park looked wonderful and more to the point, well used. There were loads of people using the outdoor gym eqipmentand the new "adventureplay" are amazing.

Jester Festival 2010

It was a glorious weekend - the sun shone and hardly a cloud in sight!

Nearly everyone we spoke to said how much they had enjoyed themselves and many said it was the best ever Festival - the music was great, the stalls were varied, there was plenty of different choices of food and dink and lots for young people to do. Overall people said there was a great community spirit. And the Lib Dem cakes/ jam and books stalls had one of their most successful years ever!

We 'd like to thank all the local businesses (and the Council) who helped and sponsored us, local police teams who got involved in all sorts of ways, the Fire Brigade and St John's Ambulance and above all the local residents who made it all happen. With especial thanks to Jodi, Lyn, Janet, Miles, Sally and the other members of the organising Committee!

See you in 2011 - possibly - if the work to renovate the playcentre and the Green manage to co-ordinate their efforts and are ready in time!

Let us know if you enjoyed it too!

(Pic shows Cllrs Russell Eagling and Gillian Risso Gill helping at the LibDem cake stall.)

Roses Roses all the way!

Whatever weather was thrown at us earlier this year, it has resulted in this being the most marvellous summer for roses. Spotted these on Saturday while doing councillors advice surgeries and visits on Templar House Estate (the "Pear Tree Garden" looked lovely too) and on Westcroft Close on Westbere Road (that's the red ones below)
I usually think West Hampstead's gardens look best in the Spring but this year the Summer is a winner!

The Monster Munch Machine and other news

This is the monster munch machine which has been chewing up (very noisily) all our cut-down poplars and turning them into woodchip - very sad!

Hopefully it will all be over soon. And clear off the Green before the weekend in good time for the Festival - hope the weather holds! And maybe not quite as hot as last weekend. It should be a great Festival this year - there's masses of activities fo all ages and the chance for our new police "dodgeball" enthusiasts to get lots more young people involved.

Also in the next couple of weeks NW6 should be getting the long promised "roll-out" of the new improved recycling service - most of us will have received info but not yet all our new boxes. Let's hope there aren't as many teething problems as there were in NW2! For more information you can go to Camden's website.

Updates

Promised yesterday to do a "catch-up" on matters which affect us - before that just to say they are still working to cut down the poplars in the cemetery and I woke up again to the noise of heavy machinery - this time the machine that grinds up the chunks of tree which annoyed several of my neighbours!
Where to start?
- first perhaps the "West Hampstead jigsaw" : planning permission was granted thee weeks ago for the rebuild of Emmanuel School at 160 Mill Lane - not without protest from the artist next door! Not sure yet when work will begin but hopefully in the autumn. The school newsletter says:" Over the coming weeks and months we shall be continuing our dialogue with neighbours and other stakeholders regarding our demolition and construction plans, the enrichment of the open space at 160 Mill Lane and other issues that may arise. We are fully committed to our on-going engagement with all stakeholders. The project is a very exciting opportunity for the children and young people of West Hampstead and Fortune Green who will be able to attend a fully equipped, 21st century local school. "

Meanwhile the work on the Community Hall in Broomsleigh Street was finished - temporary home to Sington Nursery on the ground floor while the new Community Assocation has moved in upstairs. It all looks very bright and clean and airy and will be a very useful resource. Finally we have to wait and see whether plans for Sington to move to a rebuilt Fortune Green will proceed and ensure these tie in with projected work to Fortune Green itself. If you visit the Festival (July3/4) you can look at these revised plans at the Friends of Fortune Green stall. Also visit the Gondar and Agamemnon Residents association stall fo nws of a potential nw fight against development of the reservoir land.

Speaking of the Festival - this year it will be bigger and brighter than ever with lots more activities for young people - including our splendid new local Dodgeball players (a new Safer neighbourhood Police initiative). 12- 6.0pm Sat and Sunday for all the fun of the Fair!

Last night the 2 local Safer Neighbourhood police teams joined together for a public meeting to talk about their activities and priorities. Sadly, not that many members of the public not already engaged with the police turned up, but it was the hottest day of the year so far! Questions were asked about crime at the 02 Centre on Finchley Road, street drinking on West End Green, the problems with urban foxes and stolen handbags on West End Lane. It wasn't such a large audience as used to come to the Area Forums, and one person asked if these would continue as they had been so successful. Unfortunately it seems the new Labour Council isn't in favour of them - maybe we shall have to try and set up our own!

Roadworks in West End Lane are driving everyone mad and the pace of work sems incredibly slow - should think the stop/go lights will be there till Xmas! Meanwhile work has been delayed to the new Thameslink station and assorted works although scaffolding has gone up around the Iverson Road corner, reducing the width of the pavement still further and making things even worse for pedestrians!

New West Hampstead Councillor, Gillian Risso-Gill has been talking to all the shopkepers on West End Lane - she's got about two-thirds of the way up - and talking about ways they can get together to keep West End Lane Special. One idea which could be revived is to have a Christmas market on West End Green. Sadly, several of the shops seem to be having a difficult time and Dizar - one of my favourites - is having a closing-down sale. The cafe Walnut suggested some time ago we should start a WestHampstead "loyalty card" like they have in Hampstead - sounds like a very good idea. Meanwhile, we are grateful to those local businesses who are supporting the Jester Festival in various ways.

Good news for Lyncroft Gardens residents who persuaded Camden NOT to introduce a "Car club bay" on their already overcrowded road!

Lots more bits of news - will keep till next time!

Goodbye to the poplars

I woke up yesterday to the sound of chain saws in the cemetery behind my house and later on went out and took this picture - if you look carefully you can see a man harnessed to the trunk of what had been a 70ft poplar in full stately maturity. (I say 70ft but I'm not good at measuring by eye but it was VERY tall!) There has been a group of poplars - almost an avenue- in the cemetery probably ever since it was built - I reckon they were at last 150 years old - maybe more if they predated the cemetery. I loved the one I could see best although I did sometimes wonder if there were a really high wind, if it fell - would it fall across my house?

But it seems they were diseased near the roots and getting dangerous so they had to go. However we are assured of their historical significance and promised that they will be replaced - by 8ft youngsters! Won't be very tall in my lifetime unless they grow really fast!
It's just another little bit of our neighbourhood gone for good and it makes me very sad.
In writing this, I am conscious we haven't been posting recently and there has been lots of news in the last few weeks. Will do an update on next posting.

Local Election results

Just in case you missed it - the elections in West Hampstead have resulted in six Lib Dem Councillors - in Fortune Green these are Russell Eagling, Nancy Jirira and Flick Rea. We thank everyone for their support and look forward to working for you in the future as we have in the past. We will continue to produce our local Spotlight newsletter both on paper and email (please let us know if you would like to be added to our email list)and to provide occasional updates by posting on this blog.
Looking to the future - don't forget we have our local Festival on Fortune Green on July 3rd and 4th where we will be having our usual stall selling cakes and jams. So come and visit us!
Thanks again for placing your trust in us to represent you!

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!

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/

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!

Spring possibly

I have been really cheered up in the last few days by the wonderful daffodils on Fortune Green (planted last year by the Council with the help of the Friends of Fortune Green) In general the local front gardens are amazingly colourful which prompted me a few years ago to set up a West Hampstead Spring Front gardens competition. You certainly notice them as you go door-to- door at Election time (which is nearly always this time of year!)

However, the Spring feeling didn't last long as the day grew colder and wetter!

Weather apart though, people are still making plans and looking to the future. The evening saw the open meeting held at Emmanuel School to discuss the future layout of the Mill Lane Open Space (which will be shared between the new school and the community) and lots of bright ideas were floated to do with the pond, the "nature trail" and the play area. I attended the meeting with Councillor Keith Moffitt as well as the Heads of Emmanuel and Beckford School, members of the Mill Lane Open Space Group and other local residents and parents. The full planning application will go to Committee for decision in June and, if successful, demolition of the Mill Lane houses (at the front of the site) will start in late July. Meanwhile the rest of the site will remain available for community use.

Brian Coleman strikes again

An interesting piece no ITV London about yet another story that questions the judgement of Barnet and Camden's representative on the London Assembly, the Conservative Brian Coleman.

http://www.itv.com/london/fire-planning-authority47151/

Traffic snarl up

You may remember that about a month ago TfL closed the inbound lane of the Finchley Road and put all the trafic down Fortune Green Road/West End Lane. This was done at the same time that there were two sets of extra traffic lights on West End Lane as people were digging up various parts of it - and on a weekend of heavy tube and overground closures - with lots of extra rail replacement services.

The result was horrible!

I complained to them at the time - asking why they put all that traffic down into West Hampstead when they should have known it would cause massive congestion.

They have finally replied - see below for their response.

In summary - they say the works on the Finchley Road, but were responding to an emergency. I have to say - when I got up close it seemed the equipment they had looked like heavy tarmac laying equipment - rather than the kind of thing you'd expect to see for a burst water maine.

Can anyone else remember and maybe email me (russell.eagling@camden.gov.uk) or commet here?

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Dear Councillor Eagling,

Re.: Finchley Road (A41), NW3 - closures & diversions on weekend of February 20

Thank you for your e-mail of February 22, concerning the above. Please forgive the delay in responding to you on this occasion. Our engineers at TfL have investigated the queries you raised, and drawing upon their report, I should like to answer your particular questions in turn.

1) The work was due to burst water mains. It was not possible to put in contra-flows in what was an emergency situation.

2 & 3) The work was done on demand. There was no opportunity to re-schedule it as it was required immediately.

4) Signs that gave notice of road closures were in place. You may appreciate that TfL is not in a position of responsibility for the actions of individual drivers, and nor can we reasonably comment upon them.

5) Thames Water is the water provider in this area and as such organised an emergency traffic order to implement the emergency works required. To mitigate further disruption, Thames Water completed four further pieces of work in the southbound lanes while this closure was in place. By their nature, future emergency works cannot be co-ordinated any further in advance then when the situations arise, but we at TfL seek to put measures in place - and monitor their effectiveness - so as to minimise disruption.

Thank you for raising these issues with us. I shall be pleased to assist if you have any further queries.

Yours sincerely,

David Goudge
Customer Service Advisor

New beginnings!

Can it really be Spring? Wonderful bulbs coming up everywhere and spring blossom at last creeping out. West End Green had a lovely patch of purple crocuses and these on Fortune Green are a forerunner to the trenches of daffoldils that were planted last year by the Friends of Fortune Green, have poked up from underground and are just about to flower again this year!

Meanwhile today Cllr Keith Moffitt and I went to inspect the newly refurbished Broomsleigh St Community Hall. It looks amazing - so light and airy and clean!! Lots of white paint, new windows and the filth of ages cleaned off the tiled wooden floor have made all the difference. It has been cleverly adapted with full disabled access and facilities and is now ready to take the Sington Nursery downstairs and the new Community Association upstairs. The partitions on the ground floor for the nursery are able to be taken down again quite easily depending on how the new "CAWH" decides it wants to use the building. All in all, its a bit of a triumph!

Local event

Fortune Green & West Hampstead

Give & Take event

Saturday March 20^th

Emmanuel Church of England School
101 Mill Lane
West Hampstead
NW6 1NA

10:30am -11:30pm Bring items

12:00pm - 2:00pm Take away Items for free

Have you any household clutter gathering dust?  Bring items along to our

next event and make a pledge to recycle or reuse an electrical appliance.

Re-use is great for the environment because it uses less energy and resources and less waste is sent to landfill. 

We usually redistribute at least 2-3 tonnes of household items at each event and our events are growing in popularity.  And it means that Camden residents can find some treasure right at their front door.

take away for free:

ü      household items including bric-a-brac, toys, tools, sports equipment and books

ü      Small items of furniture* (easily carried by one person),

we accept:

ü       electrical items (Pat tested at the event)    

ü      household items that are clean, in good condition and ready to

     use

we do not accept:

û       broken items in need of repair

û       knives and sharp or dangerous objects

û       toiletries

û       food

û       upholstery that does not have fire safety tag

Also at this event:

Information Stalls TBC

For more information, please contact Jane Ryan on 0207 974-1720, or email

recycling@camden.gov.uk

Sunday afternoon at Swiss Cottage

Sorry - not Fortune Green but couldn't resist blogging this. Spent Sunday lunchtime outside the Swiss Cottage Library where Camden Parks and Libraries were putting on an event which involved giving away free trees (one of my favourite annual events) The trees are about 18inches high come with growing instructions and this year were all fruit- producing so they also came with recipes (crab apple jelly etc). There were also story telling sessions for younger children, someone to talk about recycling and give out shopping bags, and the highlight "Zoofari". They are an animal rescue and wildlife sanctuary from Hertfordshire and really lovely people. Some of the creatures are really lovely as well! The meerkat is called Alexander and is 10 months old and had been bottlefed having ben abandoned when only a day or so old! Everyone wanted to take him home. There was a skunk (not smelly) called Alfie, an extraordinary lizard ceature called a tigou(?) whom I also held if not cuddled! And two huge snakes - one was an albino boa constrictor which I did not want to take home. We'll have to see if Camden Parks will put on an event for us on Fortune Gren or in the Maygrove Peace Park one day and bring Zoofari along.

Emmanuel School Proposals

Have just received this letter from the Chair of Emmanuel Governors, John ward. Come along if you are interested!

Dear Parents, Neighbours and Friends


Development project – open space

As part of our school development project, we will be spending some money improving the public open space at 160 Mill Lane.

The Governors would like to invite you to a public meeting on Tuesday 30 March 2010 from 7-9pm in the school hall to discuss how we should spend this money. We would very much like to hear the views of the local community as the public open space belongs to all of us who live in West Hampstead.

Further details of our development project are available on the school website at www.emmanuel.sch.uk. I look forward to seeing you on 30 March. No need to book; just turn up.

With all good wishes

Yours sincerely
John Ward
Chair of Governors

Friends of Fortune Green activity day

Congratulations to Friends of Fortune Green for organising another successful activity day the other weekend.  Bird boxes were assembled, litter was picked, children learnt about the flora and fauna, and Russell made an attempt to sweep up some of the pine needles from where the Christmas Tree recycling area was (their acidity harms the grass, apparently).
Also the Friends were active in seeking opinions on the proposals to improve Fortune Green Play Centre at the top of the green (See previous Spotlight entries).  The council is running an ongoing consultation on the proposals at the moment.  The most controversial aspect is clearly the temporary road that would need to stretch across part of the green to construct the new buildings - but the people I spoke to understood the need - so had no objection.

Traffic, Tesco and Parking

Last night there was a meeting in the Fortune Green Play Centre (sorry about the little chairs!!)
for residents to talk to Camden officers about the problems in Fortune Green Road attended by your 3 ward Councillors, Flick, Nancy and Russell. One proposal put forward was welcomed as a first step which is to create a "loading/unloading bay" out of the very wide pavement by the new shops - don't forget there are 3 other shop units still to be taken up and they will all need some unloading facilities. In the longer term, Camden have agreed they will looks at the wider area to see if the whole new development will make local parking problems worse. New residents of the block (one was present) can not have residents parking permits nor, he said, visitors permits.

Lots of issues like road safety were also brought up and the fears that if/when the alcohol licence is granted, there would be people stopping as they drive past - one resident said it would be the last shop before the M1! On the other hand there was general agreement that local people would use it and, as Councillors, we reported that we had received several emails in support of the new Tesco. But almost all are agreed that parking and traffic congestion is the main worry.

We've promised to keep you posted about Camden's plans to create an unloading bay.

Fortune Green Play Centre Proposals

The Council has revealed plans for combining the Sington Nursery with the Play Centre in a new purpose built centre. It will also involve moving the Sports Pitch / Multi Use Games Area (MUGA) nearer to the front of the site to make it more accessible for local young people.

So far we are in a "pre-planning application" consultation (running until March 24), and Camden would welcome your views. There will also be a later opportunity to comment when the planning application goes in. It all sounds very exciting but no doubt there will some issues arising. One which has been dealt with in consultation with the Friends of Fortune Green is the need to access the Centre during building work - this will mean a temporary road crossing the Green from Ajax Road which will be replaced and the Green reinstated and repaired when they've finished. Safety aspects have also been considered and we are promised any traffic will be marshalled. Important because its near the under-fives playground - which will not be otherwise affected.

Also work will not start until after the Festival!



These proposals can be viewed on the Camden website (see below)

http://www.camden.gov.uk/--------URL: http://www.camden.gov.uk/redirect/?oid=%5Bcom.arsdigita.camden.cms.contenttypes.Consultation%3A%7Bid%3D2168650%7D%5D&context=live



Title: Consultation on proposed redevelopment of Fortune Green Play Centre and relocation of Sington Nursery

Status: CurrentPurpose:To inform the development of the new Fortune Green Play Centre, relocated Sington Nursery and associated multi-use games area to find out how local people and amenity groups want to use the facilities outside core hours

Contact Officer/Department:Children, schools and families

Topic: Children and young people

Type: Camden website, Public meeting, Self-completion questionnaire (non-postal distribution), Self-completion questionnaire (postal)Start Date: Mar 3, 2010Completion Date: Mar 24, 2010

Results Date: Mar 24, 2010Statutory: NoTarget Audience: Black and minority ethnic groups, Carers, Children, Community/voluntary groups, Council staff, Disabled people, Faith communities, Parents, Residents, School staff, Statutory Groups

Geographical Area: Fortune Green, West Hampstead