Covent Garden London
The heart of London's West End
Secretary's Report
Another year has passed and our Association has yet again spread its limited resources propitiously to handle the cascade of new planning and licensing applications, new building developments and a whole host of consultations on the many changes, both proposed and actual, in Covent Garden.
The ten elected members of your Committee have worked hard facing up to the never-ending influx of matters needing attention, sometimes so urgent that we actually find ourselves "fire-fighting". Occasionally, we have had no choice but to prioritise items, leaving less urgent matters until later or, despite our good intentions, unattended. There is no shortage of consultations flooding into our office as the CGCA is held in high esteem in many quarters and our opinion on all aspects of life in Covent Garden truly valued. To help us overcome the workload we have had valuable help from our volunteer Robert Clark, while John Bos, our full-time co-ordinator, works an embarrassing amount of unpaid overtime to make sure as little as possible remains unattended. All in all, we manage our limited resources to the very end of their limits.
But we need as much involvement from our constituents as possible. Already we have an active "Residents & Environment" Sub-committee which meets regularly and has been very well attended all year. The feed-back from local residents together with their reports of new environmental hazards, and possible solutions, is invaluable to the CGCA. Nevertheless, there are several other areas where more involvement from our members, both residential and business, would be welcome.
The meetings of our Planning Sub-committee which are held approximately every other Monday evening, are open to interested members of the public and, although they cannot vote on decisions, their views are always welcome. Indeed, we make a point of notifying residents and businesses in the area when there is an important development pending. The proposed development of the Hospital site in Endell Street into a music club, the on-going Royal Opera House projects and the redevelopment of the Holborn Town Hall site are all examples of major developments in Covent Garden where we have an important role to play in making sure the community has every opportunity to express their views.
We would welcome more involvement from the community in the area of licensing. Both residents and businesses are becoming increasingly appalled at the anti-social behaviour resulting from the ever increasing number of drinking houses in Covent Garden. Indeed we are already receiving reports that some people are now avoiding the area because of the rowdiness and brutish behaviour of some of the people who now come to the area for the singular purpose of getting drunk. For those who live here, it is quite common to find vomit or excreta in one's doorway or to be woken at 4am in the morning by screaming and shouting; many of us have experienced the stench of urine wafting from alleyways etc. The Hampstead and Highgate Express published an article last year entitled "Costa del Camden" highlighting the loutish behaviour of people who come from outside Camden, believing they can behave in a manner which would not be tolerated where they live. We now have to put up with the kind of behaviour that summer resorts in Spain and Greece have been enduring for years. Furthermore, there is increasing peer pressure on young people to use alcohol as a social hinge, as the bars become more sophisticated and ubiquitous.
Alcohol licences are granted on an individual basis, each application being judged on its own merit and taking no account of the number of licensed premises already in any given area, or the effect that yet another bar may have on the environment. Changes are afoot to take licensing away from magistrates and put it into the hands of local authorities and the CGCA will no doubt play a part in the eventual consultation process, but until then we need as much involvement from our local community as possible. This year we had to attend the Crown Court on two occasions where applicants had appealed against a magistrate's decision, one for the licence itself and the other for conditions which had been attached thereto. These were both for new 400/500 person bars which we felt could only further harm our environment. One of these was for another "All Bar One" in Cambridge Circus, a chain run by Bass which ranks among the most professionally managed operations in the licensed industry. Nevertheless, we felt obliged to lodge objections on the grounds that another large bar could only further damage our environment. Our objections were overturned as we were reminded that there were no grounds on which to refuse the licence. There is no mechanism which takes into consideration the density of bars in a given area and we seem ominously on course to face an indeterminate number of new licences in the future, some going to appeal if the magistrates refuse them. We are going to need all the help we can get from the community, both in joining us in court to express our views, writing letters and becoming involved in any consultation process for reforming the licensing system.
The other activities of the CGCA are widening as the years go by. We are nearing completion of the "Older Persons Outreach Worker" project, ascertaining the need for a good neighbourhood scheme in the area. We have received a one-off grant from Camden Council for this project. Mike Marlow is making headway with his "Business Watch" working closely with our police forces to combat business crime. Although this is separately funded, Mike works from our office and we maintain close links with his project. The Covent Garden Business Group maintains a good membership but more work needs to be done to keep the businesses more involved in local events. We welcome any suggestions from local businesses and hope we will see the formation of a new Business Group Committee this year.
Covent Garden has been proposed as one of the new "Clear Zones" where all through traffic will be banned. Being one of the most polluted areas of London, we clearly welcome this and look forward to some progress sooner rather than later.
We are grateful to Camden and Westminster Councils for their generous grants to the CGCA this year. Camden Council, being by far the largest contributor, is truly our greatest supporter, however, Westminster were able to give us a small grant this year despite their cut-backs to other voluntary organisations. We must thank our local councillors for their considerable efforts in securing our grants.
We have managed to maintain our "open-door" policy, giving free advice to members of the public despite the ever increasing workload in the office. This is largely due to the dedication of John Bos and the help we receive from our volunteers. It is an essential part of our work so remember that you are always welcome to come in for advice or to discuss a particular topic (except on Tuesdays when the office is closed).
Our membership remains strong but please remember to introduce anyone who has moved in to the area or who has an interest. It is vital we maintain our numbers and continue to have a voice in what happens in Covent Garden; our part of central London may well be the most active development area in the country and we need the backing of as many members as possible; it is essential to be sure of maintaining our influence.
Let's hope we can see in the new millennium with some positive results.
Edward de Mesquita
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