Baker Street Two Way - Update
Duct crossings in Gloucester Place can only be undertaken at weekends due to TfL restrictions, so there has been considerable activity during weekends this month. These arrangements have been agreed with the Westminster City Council Noise Team - but please make your councillors aware of any concerns. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
Works has started on Portman Square / Upper Berkeley Street junction and will continue until late December. One lane closures will allow works to take place. Five parking bays opposite Home House will be suspended (reference footway works). The NCP car park will remain unaffected.
• 16th October to end-October – works on the South West corner, outside the Hyatt Regency
• Beginning November to mid November – works on the North West corner, outside the Radisson
• Mid to end November – works on the South East corner
• Beginning December to late December works on the North East corner, outside Home House
Safer Neighbourhood update - policing
The following is from a meeting last week attended by one of your Councillors and residents:
Motor vehicle crime
This has increased over the last 4 months by 15 instances, with valuables being left in sight. This is could be due to people not locking their cars or Blockers, which are used to prevent people from locking their cars when they think they have done so.The Welbeck Street Car Park and Manchester Street/ Square are two main areas. The Police Team and other clusters continue to patrol our ward. Your Councillors propose to use some Ward Budget monies to provide STOP cards to support the police.
Rough sleeping
The current hotspots are Hinde Street Church, St Marylebone Church but thanks to the work of the Council our ward continues to buck the national trend. We still have a few people begging and the police are generating background details in order to ban them from the are via a Criminal Behaviour Order (CB0).
Anti social behaviour
There have been some issues around Luxborough Tower and the police continue to liaise with the Council and City West Homes.
Licensing: Shisha
Your Councillors have received numerous complaints regarding Acacus, Dorset Street and have taken action. Firstly, Shisha is not a licensable activity. However with regards to Shisha smoking at this property, we have been keeping an eye on it and we can confirm that this particular matter now remains under active investigation. The reason for this is because under planning law there are provisions for ancillary uses to occur provided that the predominant use of the property remains within its lawful use.
The lawful use of the property in this case is as an A3 restaurant. If the predominant use of the property remains as A3 restaurant use, and the Shisha smoking is ancillary to this use, there will be no material change of use of the property. The Planning Enforcement Team can only pursue action on material changes of use that require planning permission. We provide a link to the relevant Planning Practice Guidance issued by Central Government which explains material changes of use: please click here for further information.
In light of the above, we can confirm that a Planning Contravention Notice (PCN) is currently being prepared. A PCN is a legal questionnaire served on the property to ascertain further information on how the property is actually being used, including a detailed assessment of the number of shisha pipes available and the percentage of sales attributable to food and drink consumed on the premises compared with the percentage of sales attributable to shisha smoking. Such information is crucial for the City Council to determine if a material change of use of the property has occurred in planning terms. Once a PCN is served, the recipient has a statutory timeframe of 21 days to provide a response. It is a criminal offence to fail to respond to a PCN or to provide misleading information in a PCN response.
In the meantime, if Shisha smoking is causing a nuisance by way of noise or odours, we would strongly advise you to contact the City Council’s 24 Hour Environmental Health Team on 0207 641 2000 to report the matter.
Oxford Street transformation
The Council recently published the findings from the first phase of the joint consultation with Transport for London (TfL) and Westminster City Council on the future of Oxford Street. We received almost 12,000 responses from local residents, stakeholders, businesses and visitors from across the UK during the initial eight-week consultation between April and June. We found strong support to transform the area but also noted the concerns of residents on traffic impacts across the wider area, provision and relocation of bus services and the need to improve air quality. Your councillors together with the Council and TfL will be looking to address these concerns as we move into phase two of the consultation in November. Please make sure you have your say.
The Old Marylebone Town Hall
We are please to announce that the refurbishment of the Old Marylebone Town Hall is nearly complete and it will be reopening its doors in early 2018. There are a number of beautiful rooms available to hire including the Marylebone Room (pictured above). For more information on this iconic building please visit their website here.
