Walking around in West Hampstead and Fortune Green today in the wonderful sunshine, it occurred to me how many things there are to celebrate in our area and, curiously, how many of these only arrived comparatively recently. Some- if not all- changes are definitely good!
I was delighted to attend the first anniversary celebration today of the Sherriff Centre – our local church with a post office (and much more!) and to record my heartiest congratulation to Fr Andrew Cain for his vision and tenacity in making it happen!
Then I visited the Farmers Market which seems to have gone from strength to strength. Busy and popular, it owes a debt to ex West Hampstead Lib Dem Councillor, Gillian Risso-Gill for getting the project off the ground and making it the success it is today. For the record, I bought some delicious bread, a joint for my Sunday lunch, some lovely bacon and chops and had a happy time exploring the plant stall.
Further back down the road, I managed to blank out the Ballymore development which, I fear, will take us all a long time to get used to, (and even longer to celebrate as one of the best things about West Hampstead!) But we do now have our agreed Neighbourhood Development Plan (with thanks to James Earl, Keith Moffitt and a host of others who fought a cross-party campaign to win a ”Yes” vote in our local referendum). This should give us a local say in opposing and moderating unsuitable local developments. The next big issue will be the Travis Perkins site which has already sparked opposition by residents in Lymington Road.
Further up the road, after my regular visit to our much loved West Hampstead Library (see previous post) I was delighted by the variety of interesting shops which have appeared in West End Lane in recent months and by the hanging flower baskets kindly supplied by the newly energised West Hampstead Business Association who have a host of ideas for brightening up our high street.
As I got up to Fortune Green, my delight lessened slightly at the sight of the neighbourhood nuisance which is the Monte Cristo shisha café, but cheered up by the “No Parking” notices outside. Sadly, these are only temporary while the footway opposite is being repaired, and will probably lead to their customers parking their flashy cars all over the area! There is still no news on the enforcement appeal against Camden’s decision to refuse them planning permission – the government inspectorate is apparently short of staff and is taking its time!
But Fortune Green itself always cheers me up – on a lovely sunny day, it was full of people enjoying themselves including a dog who was so good dribbling a football, he should have been signed up for the England squad! All in all a good morning in West Hampstead – I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else!
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