No doubt we will all be wearing our 'I love Covent Garden' badges again at this year's Annual General Meeting. Let us not forget, then, what this stands for! If we all love Covent Garden as we say we do, we must all do our bit to preserve its unique style - and that includes the councillors, the politicians, the council officers, the licensing authorities, the police, and all those in whose hands the destiny of Covent Garden rests. Visitors to Covent Garden who have known and loved it for years, now tell us how it is degenerating faster than ever. Visiting after dark, one may be astonished at the thumping noise emanating from bars, the number of young people consuming incredible quantities of alcohol, and the resultant anti-social behaviour in the streets throughout the night.

By day, the noise and dust from the many major building sites can be unbearable. There is still a lack of realisation among the general public that there are over 6,000 residents in Covent Garden, a vibrant local community by any standards. In most European cities, local communities are seen as an important part of the life of even the most popular tourist areas. I believe we must impress upon all those with the power to make decisions for us here in Covent Garden, that we risk destroying this community if we do not seriously take stock of where things are headed, and such a loss would be a tragedy for all of us - even the tourists!

Last year I reported how our office, under the competent management of John Bos our Co-ordinator, dealt with a constant stream of planning, licensing and consultation documents, draft reports, etc, etc. Well, nothing has changed; they still keep piling in, and we still keep battling to keep up with it all. We feel we cannot really afford to drop our guard for a moment; there is so much happening that we often feel quite frustrated with the sheer workload. John, who often works well into the night and who thinks nothing of taking work home, manages to keep on top of things - even when the Planning Sub-committee is forced to schedule extra meetings to cope with the cascade of applications. This year's non-stop office work has included the Holborn Town Hall and St Paul's Hospital redevelopment proposals (see Planning Report), consultations on the newly proposed Eco Bus between Aldwych and the Tower of London (running along the South Bank) and we have continued to give our feed-back on the 'World Squares for All' proposals to pedestrianise Trafalgar Square.

In addition, we continue to have a major influence on the Royal Opera House and this year saw the very successful launch of the Covent Garden Handbook. One particular encouragement during the year was the donation of a new computer, printer and software by BT, which will hopefully keep the office ticking over for the next few years. There is no question we continue to maintain an important influence on the authorities who make decisions concerning Covent Garden. Sometimes we are successful in our pursuits, sometimes not; but we never falter in our quest and despite some setbacks, our work is extremely worthwhile and rewarding.

The CGCA has sometimes been perceived as being anti-business. A poignant question from the floor at last year's AGM suggested this, and it received a more than adequate response. It is important we make clear that the CGCA is most certainly NOT anti-business! Never confuse our wish to conserve a working balance between the business and residential communities with what may sometimes be a hostile reaction to yet another bar, an ugly shopfront, a noisy or illegal ventilator, or a selfishly placed A-board blocking the pavement. We believe the businesses here play a major role in what Covent Garden is - indeed, it is the reason why many residents choose to live here. But it is unquestionably our remit to educate the business community into ensuring they operate in a manner both in keeping with the area and in sympathy with the people who live here. This is not being anti-business, it is simple common sense. In addition, we must remember that the CGCA has an active Business Group and that we have business members on our Committee.

Our office is always open to our members. The Camden Councillors' surgeries (last Friday of each month) at our office continue to give people the opportunity to seek advice from their elected councillors and we welcome members needing help or advice. Do not forget that our window carries notices and local community ads, so do look in from time to time. At last year's AGM, we adopted changes to our constitution which bring some of our rules up-to-date. Copies of these are available to our members from our office. Our membership continues to be healthy and currently stands at around 1,000. We have worked through our membership lists this year, weeding out some obsolete data and getting the necessary responses to bring our files up-to-date. Please remember that our membership is our life-blood and if you know of any residents who have recently moved into the area or have never joined, please introduce them as members. Please also remember that senior citizens, unemployed, disabled and students, who are entitled to FREE membership, still need to fill out a joining/renewal for, enabling them to vote at our AGM. Finally, I would like to thank all those who have helped the CGCA this year, particularly the volunteers in the office and those who have made generous donations, and wish everyone involved in Covent Garden the very best in the year to come.

 

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