The only Tower in Church St Ward is Burne House on Bell Street, NW1

Latest figures from Census 2011 calculated by my colleague Cllr David Boothroyd shows that that the City of Westminster has some of the most densely packed wards in the United Kingdom (UK) including the top three spots in a table of Wards – Church Street, Harrow Rd, Tachbrook.

Church Street Ward, takes top spot but it doesn’t as such have a skyline of any sort, with over 11,000 residents in 43 hectares. It has one major Estate – Lisson Estate – along with a whole series of smaller Estates and street properties. The only Tower in the Ward is along the end of Bell St immediately behind Edgware Rd ( Bakerloo line ) tube station owned by BT, the ugly Burne House which lies largely empty! Furthermore, In the top ten mostly densely packed Wards, the City of Westminster has 5 wards including Bayswater & Lancaster Gate, so its not just the poorer wards. 

What’s this mean for its residents? Well it certainly makes for more intimate living than we have in the rest of the UK! More seriously its something we should take into consideration in the provision of both public services and other services in these Wards and should be of special factor in both. So for example in the provision of rubbish collection, it should mean greater concentrations of rubbish. And lets nor forget open space provision should also be of particular concerns as well, for those in those Wards.

What ever happens, some analysis of the implication to lives of our residents should be undertaken. So l hope to hear your views on how it feels to live in the some densely packed City in London.