MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE HOLLAND PARK RESIDENTS’ ASSOCIATION HELD AT 7 p.m. ON MONDAY JUNE 12TH 2017 AT THE ECOLOGY CENTRE HOLLAND PARK

1. Welcome, introduction and apologies

The Chairman (John Cowdry [JC]) welcomed:

• PC Nick Swire [NS] of the Met Police
• Councillors Rock Feilding-Mellen [RFM] & Deborah Collinson [DC]
• Invited guest Victoria Borwick [VB]
• Committee members (Katy Michael [KM]; Judy de Haas [JdH]; Ciannait Tait [CT])
• HPRA Members

Apologies from Betina Kunzl; Sabine Blümel; Rosamond Clayton; Keith & Anni Gallon; Nancy Mitchell.

2. Policing - Safer Neighbourhood Team

NS assured the meeting that neighbourhood policing is long-term strategy. There are two dedicated neighbourhood police officers on Holland Ward.

Holland is the second safest ward in central London, with the 2nd lowest crime rate after Norland. In the last 12 months, 700 crimes (of all varieties) were reported in Holland Ward. Burglary is very rare, vehicle crime is the main concern. The police have a dedicated team to tackle vehicle crime.

Advised: not to leave valuables in the car; to park under street lights; to use a clicker only when next to the car; to use traditional devices like driving-wheel locks. .

A complaint was made about cycling on pavements, especially on Notting Hill Gate where there are restaurant tables on the street. This kind of misbehaviour is low priority to the police (most offenders seem to be tourists), but they do challenge them when spotted.

Warwick Road Estates
Some residents applied for the depot to be listed, which application was rejected, but the application caused delays. New proposals are being put forward by the Architect for a unit half the size of the current one with retail, office and green space plus 300 new homes. Looking to provide housing for low-to-middle income households. All Council tenants will be offered a home, and leaseholders will be offered a share of equity purchase.

Barlby & Treverton project: A number of options were worked up over the last year or so, and a recommendation for 300 – 400 new homes comes to cabinet in July.

Trellick Tower & Edenham Way redevelopment: A planning application for ± 100 units (50 affordable) is being considered. 5 developers asked to submit proposals.

Silchester Estates redevelopment (Latimer Road Tube station): CBRE appointed as lead advisers on the project. On-going consultations with local and interested parties are taking place, with it being envisaged that some sort of direction will be identified during the course of next year. Redevelopment could lead to a large number of new homes.

RFM advised that the RBKC itself pays for four police officers (only Borough in London to do so), the Kensington & Chelsea Council Policing Team. The Met can ‘bid’ for that team to perform operations, in this case, for example, "cycling on pavement". However, the team’s deployment is dependant on evidence collected, of residents’ complaints / phone calls. All calls should be to the Met’s non-emergency number 101 (emergencies always to 999), and if there are sufficient calls / complaints, this would provide justification for the team to be deployed to our area to tackle the issue/s complained about.

A suggestion was made to equip bike stands with stickers encouraging cyclists (especially tourists, who are not familiar with our bye-laws) not to use pavements.

RFM: Public safety is primarily a police matter, and the Borough asks advice from them. There is a five-year plan security plan in place, to which the Borough makes a substantial contribution.

A query was raised about security at the Notting Hill Carnival: VB informed us that 1,000 local businesses had been surveyed, and it was found that most in fact close during the carnival. The shops therefore actually lose money, as they also carry the cost of shuttering / boarding up.

3. Councillors’ Forum

VB encouraged members to be active in the community, especially on issues relating to loneliness.

RFM gave an update about regeneration plans on four estates, a massive undertaking by the Borough the scale of which has not been seen for the last 30 years.

The Council always has a development partner, even for development of small parcels of land.

Warrick Road, Barlby and Treverton: Council plans to decide on the preferred method of re-development by July 2017 (options being: (1) continue as-is; (2) build on empty parts and re-furbish existing buildings; (3) full/partial re-development).

Trellick Tower & Edenham Way: 4 submissions to re-develop have been received; RBKC plans to make a decision on which development partner to choose, by September 2017.

Contrary to rumours, all Council tenants have a guaranteed right to return to the same (or equivalent) home after refurbishment projects. Lessons have been learned from the past, where planned relocation led to splintering of families and communities. There is no ‘cleansing’ going on, as claimed by some: people will be able to return to the re-developed homes on the same terms.

The Council owns 9,000 properties, some leasehold and some ‘street’ properties, with significantly more interest by applicants in vacancies in the ‘street properties’, than in vacancies on a Council estate. The flats are allocated on a points-based system. For this reason, rather than purpose-built estates, the Council wants to construct (or acquire?) more ‘street properties’ as part of its housing stock, rather than create new housing estates.

Other developments mentioned:

• Odeon seems to have been halted.
• Boots on Kensington High Street to be developed.

4. Duke’s Lodge: developer’s address and questions

he developers’ representative was due to attend the AGM, but cancelled on a few hours’ notice. The Candy Bros have put the property on the market (for £85 it was thought).
There is one outstanding element in terms of them getting their final approval of conditions, otherwise all other plans, including traffic management plan (CTMP), have been approved. It will - during building - be houses 38, 78 and 79 the worst affected, as they are closest. The approved CTMP provides for up to 85 trucks per day for a short period at the peak of construction.

It is likely, it appears, that the works will go forward with current permits, either by the Candy Bros, or by a party who may acquire the property, rather than new applications being submitted by any acquirer. If the property is not sold, the works might start as early as September.

The developers have been asked to put up a notice board with weekly updates, and a suggestions box. JC will follow progress and keep members updated.

5. a) Approval of Minutes 2016 AGM

Minutes approved.

b) Approval of 2016 accounts

2016 accounts approved

6. Issues affecting residents

a) Current developments and property matters (other than Duke’s Lodge)

A number of properties on Holland Park were mentioned: 2 (extension renovation, very conscientious owner-developer); 9 (renovation after being acquired reputedly for ±£54m); 13 (conversion from flats to house); 54 (Algerian Embassy for sale); 66 (application for conversion to Azerbaijani Embassy, and planned refurbishment); 67 (refurbishment); 78 (refurbishment); 84 (Cameroonian Embassy in poor condition); land next to 89 (approved new-build by developer Sophie Hicks).

(b) Filming / photographic shoots and resulting revenue

Filming hasn’t taken place for many years, but as it brings in some money, the Committee had recently (when approached by a production company) decided to ‘approve’ reasonable and controlled filming. The meeting endorsed this decision unanimously.

There has to date been one photo-shoot in the Mews, for which a donation had been received. Anther shoot was planned for later in June, which will also be monitored.

Filming requests come through the Film Office at the RBKC.

(c) Bus Stop HA and traffic management

Bus stop HA opposite the Mitre pub will be moved 10 m East to reduce the current blind spot (when turning out of Holland Park). The tree will remain.

The bicycle barrier at the northerly end of Holland Walk has been reduced in size, re-placed, further south, corduroy bumps have been installed, and additional “Cyclists dismount” signage has been erected.

(d) “Next Door”

JC has been looking at the app., “Next Door”, and reported noticing a good number of non-political community-based matters being raised (e.g., plumber recommendations, cleaner enquiries, etc.). Any members interested in joining could ask JC to help: it’s invitation-based.

(e) Membership

New members always welcome, everyone should encourage neighbours to join.

(f) Parking

JdH remarked that since about a year finding a parking place has been more difficult. Could e.g. some parking places on Abbotsbury Road be made into paying places? When some car places were taken for the bike parking, Abbotsbury Road residents were complaining.

(g) Trees

There are overhanging trees on the southern side of Holland Park Avenue. They have been checked, and deemed not to be impeding. They could be dangerous, and as a lot of the residents don’t care about the trees growing on their property, the problem is not going away.

7. Election of Residents’ Association Committee

As three were no nominations or volunteers, JC, JdH, KM and CT all agreed to continue.

David de Haas thanked the Committee for their efforts.

8. Approval of date of next AGM

Monday, 11 June 2018

9. Any other business

• Street rubbish bins are overflowing, especially in the summer. (Noted that the small bins are emptied by street sweepers, the large ones are responsibility of other rubbish collectors.

• A question was raised regarding food waste collection (Marina Nacheva). The meeting was advised that the RBKC has a special dispensation from the EU so it doesn’t have to do this, as food waste waiting collection on the street would attract vermin. RBKC doesn’t send food waste to landfill, it is incinerated instead, powering 20,000 homes. The powder created from the incineration is then used as construction aggregate.

• VB reported about a project to ‘green’ schools, with a pilot project on Westway.

• It was suggested putting air pollution and other environmental issues on the next AGM agenda.

The Chairman closed the meeting at 20h30, with thanks to everyone.