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.)