Londoners should feel safe and secure when walking the streets of London from anything happening from under their feet but alas this is not the case with an increase in pavement explosions. 

From a FOI request l made to the HSE it was been established that since 2015 the incidents of pavement explosions have increased. We have had just over 50 incidents in London over the two years since August 2015 while we had just over 80 between 2010-2015! A clear increase of incidences.

The Local Election 2018 in Little Venice Ward of the City of Westminster was certainly one to watch on the night of the count, as had we taken all 3 seats there, we would have in all certainty taken control of the Council.  So we made a huge effort in the ward which helped us cover very blade of grass since the beginning of the year but unfortunately it was not enough in Little Venice to see myself, Sue Wolff and Iman Less elected as councillors. We increased the Labour vote from 2014 by around 60 per cent but it was not enough. Not really surprising as l  saw Tory voters turn up in their Rolls Royce at Lanark Rd polling station very early in the morning! 

​What you won’t hear is that the result across the whole of the City of Westminster were better than the 4 new seats we have gained in Maida Vale (2); West End (1) & Bayswater (1) would suggest. As Britain Elects shows clearly below the Labour vote went up by 7 per cent and there was only a few percentage points between us and the Tories. We reckon across the whole borough there was 21,837 Tory voters while we had 20,803 Labour voters. Thats just over a thousand voters! And also suggests we need to look at the electoral college of councillors, as its quite clear it is easier to elect councillors in a ward like Knightsbridge & Belgravia in comparison to wards in the very North of the City. Almost suggesting we have a rigged electoral college of councillors because of the boundaries of the ward. So bring on a boundary review as soon as possible. 

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The choice for residents – red for tree pits?

The choice for residents – white for the tree pits?

An astonishing £ 57,000 worth of tree pit works – the hole in the ground in which a tree is planted – is being undertaken along Warrington Crescent & Sutherland Avenue, W9 through council ward budgets priorities of the local councillors in Little Venice Ward. One has to ask if this was value for money; were other options investigated and could the money have been better spent on other ward priorities.

Some locals have commented that the costs involved per tree make this a very expensive enterprise. With about 100 pits, it comes out as over £500 per tree pit! One estimate obtained by a local resident suggests it could have been done for £11,000 including installation ( 100 pits, 1 sq metre each, depth of 40mm, brown & 20 m apart ) , as a two day job with six man crew. A marble or glass finish (not brown) would of course be dearer but could have been included. And there could be extras if the site is difficult to access. So clearly Conway are having a laugh with this £57,000 quote for the tree pits. Others go further and suggest that we could have got the local garden centre, Clifton Nurseries to offer better options and probably cheaper as well as a local supplier. 

In their local consultation with local residents the choice was between whether the tree pit works were done in red or white. So nothing else was offered other than this colour choice to local residents. Other options like for example doing some guerrilla gardening at the bottom of the tree as has been done along Warwick Avenue were not offered or investigated. Something that would certainly appeal to those more environmental concerned with such matters in the neighbourhood. 

As for other priorities, clearly with the murder of a local resident along St Mary’s Terrace  at the end of last year, concerns have been raised about the lighting along St Mary’s churchyard passage. Paying for better lighting and CCTV coverage at this location all residents of Little Venice go through would have been a better use of these scare financial resources. 

So the tree pit gate scandal illustrates well our sitting councillors in Little Venice priorities when other alternatives existed at probably far lower costs and measures against the fear of crime and making people feel secure in the neighbourhood were not considered at all. l’m just fed up with being lectured about procurement and efficiency by the Council who have rings run round them by contractors. 

“Guerrilla gardening” along Warwick Avenue – much better alternative to tree pit works!

Browen Maddox’s comment article in the ES ” Is North Korea really coming in from the cold in the Olympics” is patronising. If the Germans and Vietnamese can come together after recent major conflicts, why can’t Koreans? Should reunification not be a legitimate aspiration for them since their peninsula was divided in the fifties?

At an air pollution conference, l attended in Busan in 2016, the issue of reunification came up a number of times, suggesting to me it is a clear ambition of South Koreans. So the rapprochment between North & South Koreans has more emotional capital than Donald Trump’s concern about the US losing influence in the region.

The coming together of the North & South Korean Olympic teams under one flag in the opening ceremony was telling in itself. IF this signals the start of the end of a long era of American dominance, Koreans may feel it is no bad thing.

A copy of this blog was printed as a letter in the Evening Standard letters page on the 13th of Feb. 

Global Witness this week told us about the levels of properties owned by secret property companies registered in tax havens throughout the UK and guess where the centre of it all is? Yes right in the heart of London, the City of Westminster, with over 10,000 properties out of the 85,000 in the whole country. Private Eye did a similar exercise for us a few years back when the levels were at much the same levels. 

For a residential housing market to operate well, we need perfect information in that market. We certainly do not have this in City of Westminster as with this level of concentrated secret property ownership we certainly have all the adverse impacts like properties lying empty for years. All  ultimately acting to price locals out of the housing market.

The recent Sunday night  BBC drama McMafia  is raising awareness of corruption and global crime allegedly amongst the Russian oligarchs based in London, with officials threatening to use the “full force of government” to be brought to bear on foreign criminals and corrupt politicians who use Britain as a haven. Officials will use new unexplained wealth orders (UWOs) – which came into effect this week – to seize suspicious assets and hold until they have been properly accounted for. Lets see what actually gets done. 

Funnily enough the last CEO of Westminster City Council left to take up role as CEO & Head of Civil Service for British Crown Dependency of the State of Jersey.  Now normally the leaving of CEO from a local authority does not arouse any eye brows but if one is going from the City of Westminster to the States of Jersey, when the City of Westminster has the biggest concentration of properties owned by off-shore companies registered in places like the British Crown Dependencies, it just may do so. 

Last weekend we saw the Kurds of London on the streets of London protesting against the incursion of the Turkish into Afrin, as they stand in solidarity with the people of Afrin and said no to war. This had the feel of when the Tamils of London went out on to the streets as the Sri Lankan army tried to push the Tamils into the Indian Ocean around 5 years ago. 

Jeremy Corbyn, a regular over the years at such mass protests was not able to make it but sent the following statement: 

“I send my solidarity to the Kurdish people of Syria and all over the world facing attacks on them as a people and on their identity. 

What is urgently needed in Syria is a ceasefire, de-escalation and a negotiated political solution, which must include the Kurdish people, not further escalation and interventions in a conflict that has already led to huge numbers of deaths and refugees. 

Multiple interventions by outside powers in the Syrian war have increased the suffering and destruction and intensified tensions in the region and must end. 

Turkey’s air and ground assault in the Afrin region is already causing civilian casualties, including among refugees who have fled other parts of Syria. 

The British government has failed to consistently oppose foreign interventions in Syria and is itself involved in the US led bombing campaign. 

We have a moral obligation instead to throw our weight behind pressure for a lasting peace and political settlement in Syria, including the withdrawal of all foreign forces engaged in the conflict. ” 

Unfortunately Turkey under Erdoğan is hell bent to pursue this military intervention into Syria, so we will rightly see more protests against their actions by the Kurds of London in the coming months.  

Brazen Head, Bell St on corner of Lisson St, NW1 (Closed for business)

The Preservance Pub, Shroton St, NW1 ( closed with Airbnb lets above )

The Pheonix Pub, Daventry St, NW1 (hostel with bar still operating)

The Old “Blackmans” Pub, Ashmill St on corner with Daventry St, NW1 (converted into residential & offices)

Green Man, Bell St on corner of Edgware Rd, NW1

The Globe Pub, Lisson Grove NW1 ( gone upmarket now! )

Bell Inn, Bell St on corner of Cosway St, NW1 ( now a bar with rooms let above)

When l first moved in Marylebone, l could take a left or right immediately from my front door, or even in front of me of even behind me and there was a pub. So you could easily have a pub crawl without having to go very far on and off Bell Street, NW1. Indeed from my doorstep, you need only go hundred metres or so and you could reach seven pubs. Alas that is now down to two. So what does this all mean?

You could start a pub crawl in the locality with the Blackman’s at the corner of Daventry St and Ashmill St over 10 years ago. Yet it become the first pub that was successfully converted into residential and office space and started the trend of change of use in the pubs on and around Bell St.  You could then go down the street and get your next pint in the Phoenix. This has since become a successful youth hostel though it still have a licence for a bar which a few locals still using it as a waterhole. Coming back on to Bell St, the Green Man on the corner of Edgware Rd is still a going concern, offering hostel accommodation above as well to travellers from around the world. Further up on Bell St the Brazen Head has long gone and was a popular place to watch sporting events. Now its been completely converted into residential with two flats above over the old pub area only just occupied since over the Christmas period. The old Constitution on the corner of Bell St and Cosway St has become more like a bar ( under new management again! ) called the Bell Inn and does a good business letting its flats and rooms above on Airbnb. Which now moves us onto the Perservance on Shroton Street which recently had its planning application of residential conversion turned down.  In recent time it appears the rooms upstairs are rented out on Airbnb while the pub premises lie empty. That is not surprising as the owner of the premises is asking for £70,000 rent annually when the going rate would be some £25,000. And finally we have the Globe opposite the Seashell, which is still operating as a Pub concern but has certainly gone up market with the business now aimed at the weekday trade of French bankers in the neighbourhood from the BNP Paribas HQ in London nearby. This is a far cry from the old stable of footie and the cheapest beer for a mile, which Sean the previous landlord operated when he run the show.   

We have saw a similar trend with pub houses on the other side of Marylebone station, with a public house premises along Linhope Street, where we managed to save it under a listing as a Community Asset, showing how to save your local pub, yet it still lies empty after four years ago when the new owner first pursed a change of use. 

So as we have gone down from seven pubs to two now, on and off Bell St, is this just the sign of the times? Have drinking habits changing forever? In recent time we have had 3 public house conversion proposals only two of which has been approved but the other premise lies empty. What is clear is that the margins made in running pubs are very low, particularly when you operating on your own and not within a huge chain offering cheaper beer costs.  Furthermore the premises usually get higher values as other uses like offices and certainly residential when converted and rented out. So the finances of the once cherished public house have more than anything determined the fate of the local pub.  And finally if we were going to challenge the whole saga, it should have been when the Blackman’s pub on Daventry St & Ashmill St, first put in their application for change of use over 10 years ago. That would have put a stop on pub closures everything else in the locality.  

The two ends of the housing world can be illustrated well over this Christmas break at Paddington Green. While Crisis at Christmas are putting up 250 rough sleepers at City of Westminster College site over the Christmas break, we have a new launch of properties on an adjoining site of Westmark Tower on “West End Gate”  at prices the vast majority of local residents will certainly not be able to afford. 

Crisis at Christmas will be accommodating up to 250 rough sleepers till the 30th of December in Paddington Green giving them health services like dental and foot care; benefits assistance on top of a bed and food and of course social support. Plenty of the street homeless along the Edgware Rd have made their way to Crisis point of help and assistance. 

All this whilst the “West End Gate” developers undertake a new launch of properties in Westmark Tower at prices the vast majority of local residents will certainly not be able to afford where property prices begin at £935,000 for a one bed flat! And do not forget the hefty annual service charges as well 

Westmark Tower in WEG development

WEG development along the Edgware Road

It’s all a bit like a posh restaurant where the locals can look in but are priced out of eating as the hefty prices keep them well and truly out in the cold!.  So it is with this contrast in developments in Paddington Green. It is two different housing worlds which is not helped as the social housing is cut by nearly half to boost developers’ profits in “West End Gate”. The 200 flat addition to the development should have had 70 ‘affordable’ flats according to Westminster Council’s own rules but the development was waved through with a design with only 32 affordable flats, so depriving local people of 38 new homes. Westminster Council should at least adopt the Mayor of London’s guidance for developments to have at least 35 per cent of genuinely affordable housing. 

What is strange is how both different housing ends of the housing spectrum and rubbing shoulder to shoulder during this festive break at Paddington Green.  At least one is in the christian tradition of the festive break and l will not have to tell you which one!