by FitzWest admin | Oct 26, 2022 | Consultations, Environment, Rubbish, Uncategorized, Waste
Rubbish dumping and problems with waste are big problems for us all in Fitzrovia – and are certainly issues that come up with regularity at all of our meetings.
So we are pleased to share with you some of the steps that are being taken by Westminster Council to deal with this issue.
Here is a communication from Rob McCrae, the Senior City Inspector at Westminster Council about what is happening this week:
I would like to update you on the upcoming plans for a Waste Action Squad to tackle the challenge of dumped waste and littering. The Waste Action Squad will be a multi-agency team working with the community to identify effective solutions to address dumping hotspots through a trial programme, across Westminster.
This will start on Monday 24th October 2022 with a week of action focused on hotspots within the Fitzrovia ward area.
The key objectives for the team are:
· To provide a highly visible operation that shows this is an area of focus and that we are acting against persistent problems.
· To engage residents in a meaningful conversation about waste problems in their neighbourhood. To gather insight into how these could be tackled together and educate on the best ways of disposing of their waste to keep their streets clean and tidy.
· To create an action plan following the engagement to tackle these issues.
Below is a timeline for the week of engagement, the Waste Action Squad will be available at various different times on different days throughout the week, from 11am through to 9pm around the area providing education and enforcement on street and engaging with our residents and businesses.
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Day & Time
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Area
|
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Monday
PM:
14:00 – 16:00
Nightime:
19:00 – 21:00
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AM: James Street j/w Oxford Street
Gazebo
PM: Bird Street/Barratt Street
|
|
Tuesday
PM:
11:00 – 13:00
Nightime:
15:30 – 17:30
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AM: Great Portland Street Gazebo
PM: Great Titchfield Street
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Wednesday
AM:
10:00 – 12:00
PM:
15:00- 17:00
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AM: Wells Street
PM: Market Place (South) Gazebo
|
|
Thursday
AM:
12:00 – 14:00
PM:
16:00 – 18:00
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AM: Langham Street
PM: Foley Street
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|
Friday
AM:
12:00 – 14:00
PM:
16:00 – 18:00
|
AM: Hanson Street
PM: New Cavendish Street
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by FitzWest admin | Oct 19, 2022 | AGM, CIL, Consultations, Environment, Greening, The Plan
The Fitzwest Forum AGM last week was a great chance to hear about ongoing and future projects funded by the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and to hear Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg speaking about the Fitzrovia environment and how the Council are dealing with environmental issues.
You can read the minutes here.
We were treated to interesting presentations on the following CIL projects:
- All Souls School Playground Renewal
- Carburton St Greening
- Soho Poly Theatre
- Market Place Greening and Development
- New Cavendish Street Planters
More details are available on our website: CIL Projects
For those who couldn’t attend or didn’t get a chance to leave their ideas, we would very much like to hear from you. These further ideas will be added to the suggestions from the AGM and the public meeting earlier in the year.
Ideas for funding should align to the Fitzwest Neighbourhood Plan and the recently amended priorities of Westminster Council which are:
- Affordable housing (enabling)
- Green transition
- Sustainable and active travel
- Community facilities
- Accessible and inclusive public spaces
Please email us with your ideas on info@fitzwest.org
by FitzWest admin | Feb 23, 2022 | CIL, Consultations, Environment, Greening, Our Neighbourhood, Public Space
Thanks to everyone who attended the public meeting on 15th February 2022 at the Fitzrovia Community Centre.
The purpose of the meeting was to hear ideas and to inform residents and local organisations about the Community Infrastructure Levy and how it works.
We were delighted to see lots of people there and to hear many ideas of how to improve the infrastructure of Fitzrovia West using the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL).
Amit Mistry, Principal Policy Officer from Westminster Council addressed the meeting and took questions about CIL, the kind of projects it funds and how it works.
There were lots of suggestions for projects from people at the meeting and via email beforehand. A summary of the subjects is here:
- Cycle racks modelled on Banja Luka
- Planters with cycle racks attached
- Planting around the tree on Carburton Street
- Replacing the planters near Holcroft court.
- Upgrading the cycle racks near the Almost Saturday cafe.
- A children’s playground (if a location could be found)
- Green walls
- Benches with green walls built into them (solar powered)
- Small on-street waste bins
- Rain gardens
- Trees on build outs
- Cultivation of tree pits
- Opening up the school for the benefit of the community
- A corridor through the Fitzrovia Centre to the garden behind
- Refurbish the old swimming pool behind the Fitzrovia Centre (expensive)
- Notices on bollards giving the times of collection of rubbish
- A study for a low traffic neighbourhood
- An air quality survey
- Refurbishing local benches
- Road bollards.
- Pop ups of various kinds
The full minutes of the meeting are available here – CIL Public Meeting 15.2.22
The time scale to come up with a project and apply for CIL funding is ongoing. The Westminster Council CIL committee meets every 3 months to assess the applications, so there are plenty of opportunities for people to create an application. All details are here:
https://www.westminster.gov.uk/planning-building-and-environmental-regulations/neighbourhood-community-infrastructure-fund/applying-neighbourhood-cil
Any comments or suggestions then please email us on info@fitzwest.org or leave a comment here.
by FitzWest admin | Jan 23, 2022 | CIL, Consultations, Our Neighbourhood
Tuesday 15th February 2022 – Fitzrovia Community Centre, Foley Street – 6pm
All residents, businesses and community groups in Fitzrovia West are invited to come along and share ideas for projects that will improve the infrastructure of Fitzrovia. We will collect all the suggestions together and then a selection will be put forward for funding application from the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL). There will be more information about CIL at the meeting. To give you an idea, here are the kind of projects that have been funded by CIL in other areas:
- Prevention of crime and anti-social behaviour, such as CCTV installations;
- Public Realm enhancements;
- Transport/highways, such as junction improvements to improve pedestrian safety, electric charging rollout, cycle docking stations, bridge refurbishment /corrosion protection;
- Open Spaces, such as WCC parks, landscaping and play facilities and upgrades;
- Health facilities;
- Sports & Leisure facilities;
- Utilities/Waste, e.g. deep drainage improvements, Street Markets utilities and improvements.
- Feasibility studies and research to enable the identification of eligible infrastructure projects.
If you are not able to attend but have a project you want to suggest then email us at info@fitzwest.org
We will look forward to seeing you then.
by FitzWest admin | Jan 7, 2022 | CIL, Consultations, Greening, Public Space
Thank you to all the residents and businesses who responded to our consultation about planters in Fitzrovia.
The response was overwhelmingly supportive and included lots of great ideas for other places and greening initiatives. And also many offers to help look after the planters with watering and weeding.
100% of respondents were in favour of greening generally in the area and 94% were in favour of all the suggested sites. Click here to see the full report.
We really hope that if we are able to successfully achieve this small amount of greening, then we can begin on other projects.
We have made some adjustments to the proposal, taking into account feedback and concerns (for example the corner planters at locations 2 and 5 will be a smaller rectangle shape not the larger square shape in the photographs – which means there will still be space there for people to wait at these spots when the pavement on New Cavendish Street is crowded.)
Funding Application from CIL
We had anticipated having enough money to complete this project using the Tesco funding, but costs have increased because the planters are on the public highway so we now need safety checks, traffic impact assessments etc. As a result we are now applying for further funding from the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and will know by February 7th 2022 if we have been successful and are able to complete this project.
by FitzWest admin | Nov 3, 2021 | Consultations, Environment, Greening, Public Space
After consulting previously with residents and businesses, we identified various locations which either have a lot of pavement space or are prone to rubbish dumping – or both! The idea is to position planters in these locations to brighten up and green our streets – but also we hope to deter dumping. We have funding that we successfully applied for from Tesco. The disruption of Covid has meant all plans were put on hold, but now we are keen to use the money to improve the area. Please let us know your thoughts.
Westminster Council have agreed in principle to the locations, so this is about making sure that residents and businesses know what is going on and have had a chance to have their say. Can you help? We are also looking for anyone who would be able to help maintain the planters, e.g. by watering, particularly in the summer.
We are very much hoping that this will lead to further greening projects as there have been many locations suggested by residents and businesses.
Click on this link here to fill out the survey: Fitzwest Greening Project 2021 Survey
