Westminster Councillors

Another year has passed in the life of Covent Garden and the wider local community. Many of the issues faced locally are hardy perennials (licensing, planning, traffic and crime etc) and, working with the CGCA and others, we continue to represent the concerns of all in the area.

We have participated in the increasing debate amongst Covent Garden businesses, landowners, residents and amenity groups about the future of Covent Garden - is it to become a central London theme park trading on a history largely forgotten perhaps by some involved? Or can we ensure that everyone who cares about the diversity, in human as well as architectural terms, of the area has a say and is heard? Despite the fall in tourist numbers in recent months, the area still shows a high level of stress and the bulk of this falls on the residential community.

The recently launched initiative by a number of local businesses and institutions to fund increased policing in the Piazza area demonstrates once again the community spirit still found in Covent Garden but also highlights the woeful reduction in police numbers available in the area and the ever present concern felt by both residents and businesses about unlawful behaviour against both property and persons. Signs of the evils of the drugs trade are frequently visible in alleys and doorways and a general lack of visible policing (due to police resource shortages) often means that the benefits of a particular policing initiative in one locality can lead to increases in reported crime in other areas. Inspector Paul Wright and his local team do a tremendous job and need the increased resources they deserve.

Westminster Council's Civic Renewal programme was launched on the back of widespread public consultation and real resources are being targeted through the key aims of the programme. In Covent Garden the launch of a mobile urinal scheme has helped reduce the problems of public urination but it is essential that pubs, clubs and bars assist the Council by ensuring adequate facilities in their premises and by raising public awareness about the impact of such anti-social behaviour on the local community.

As we move towards celebrations to mark the Golden Jubilee of HM The Queen, we both would like to record that, while Covent Garden and the wider local area faces many stresses and strains, we would not willingly wish to seek to represent any other area of the capital in local government.

Cllrs Alexander Nicoll and Louise Hyams

 

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