Lyon Park Avenue/London Road Railway Pedestrian Bridge to be inspected 'later this year' and any necessary action taken

 I have received this response from Network Rail about the poor condition of the railway pedestrian bridge  between Lyon Park Avenue and London Road:

Work Request - Bridge Improvement Required - Bridge ID: LEC1/32 - Between London Road & Lyon Park Avenue, HA0 4DX

Thank you for contacting us about the footbridge going over the mainline near Lyon Park Avenue.

 

I have raised this with the structures team and they have let me know that this bridge is due for inspection later in the year, and they will take necessary action following the examination.

 

 

Slow Brent Council fails to act on motorists speeding along a narrow Wembley residential street - residents petition for action

 

Petitioners on Lyon Park Avenue on Sunday 13^th December copyright Paul Bambridge

 

Residents in Wembley have sent a petition to Brent Council officers and elected members demanding urgent action on traffic concerns on Lyon Park Avenue, Wembley, a very narrow residential road. The petition has been signed by over 100 locals who are alarmed at inaction by Brent Council to prevent the serious speeding and dangerous driving that occurs on their road.

 

The petition has been addressed to the Chief Executive, the Leader of The Council, the Head of Transport in Brent, Brent North MP and local ward Councillors for Wembley Central and Alperton.  This step by residents follows several months of communication with Brent Council officers who have so far refused to commit to any quick actions to alleviate the traffic issues. 

 

Lead petitioners Kay Carroll and Paul Bambridge along with local ward Councillor for Alperton, Anton Georgiou, had an online meeting with a Brent Council officer to request immediate measures before lockdown 2 ended, such as traffic enforcement and additional 20mph signs and Vehicle Activated Signs.  They discussed the traffic survey conducted by Brent Council on Lyon Park Avenue which showed 4,039 speeding vehicles on the road in just one week, some at 40 and 50mph.  

 

Brent Council blame lack of funding for their inability to act fast on residents’ concerns, so far they haven’t contacted the local police to undertake any traffic enforcement action and by the middle of December they can’t even advise how much the extra signage might cost.  

 

Lead petitioner Kay Carroll says:

 

Residents are appalled Brent Council are ignoring our pleas for urgent action regarding speeding traffic on our road. Families should feel safe where they live and when they walk their children to school. We need enforcement action and proper solutions now before there is a truly serious incident.

 

Liberal Democrat Councillor for Alperton, Anton Georgiou says:

 

I am fully supportive of residents’ calls for quick action to deal with the traffic concerns on Lyon Park Avenue. The road is used as a through route for drivers seeking to avoid Ealing Road traffic and this has meant an increase in speeding. It must also be noted this is a busy road for pedestrians and many families and children use it to walk to and from the local schools. The lack of funding argument doesn’t quite add up, surely safety must be a priority – Brent has over £129 million in CIL money, it is about time some of this is spent on urgently dealing with issues like this.

 

Brent allotment holders encouraged to go green as sites with short waiting lists advertised

Birchen Grove allotments near the Welsh Harp

It is good to see Vanessa Hampton, Brent Food Growing and Allotments Officer, taking action to encourage greener gardening by allotment tenants.  This was sent to allotment holders today:

Earlier this year I ran a couple of free cultivation classes which were attended by approx. 50 people.  So back by popular demand I’ve organised another 2 classes which any tenant is welcome to come along to.  The classes are identical, so you don’t need to go to both.

We will be covering useful topics for beginners on the allotments looking at tools and how to get your plot cleared and dug over, composting and how to garden more sustainably, reducing the use of chemicals on a plot.

The classes start at 10.30am and there will be a poster on the gate showing where I am on site if you can’t see me from the entrance. The class will last for approx. 2 hours and I have enclosed a useful information sheet that covers some of the subjects we’ll go over in the class.

Saturday 29 November at Gladstone Park Gardens allotment, Dollis Hill, Broadfield Close entrance, NW2 6NR  Map and travel info   There is a car park at this allotment.

Saturday 10 January 2014 at Woodfield Avenue allotment, North Wembley, HA0 3TP  Map and travel info   The entrance to the allotment and car park is in the park: go down Sudbury Avenue, take the first turn on the right into the park and you will see a building, North Wembley pavilion and the car park opposite where the gate to allotment is. 

I will also be contacting every tenant in December to invite them to complete a short questionnaire about their gardening methods with a view to finding out how green are our plot holders, for example do you have a water butt if you have a shed and how often do you use pesticides?  We will then re-survey everyone in a year’s time to see if people are getting greener.

I am also producing a Conservation Management Plan for the allotments and the aim will be to improve the places for wildlife at every site.  This will involve some fun habitat improvement activities like making log piles and ponds, building bird boxes and managing hedgerows.  If you are interested in joining in with a habitat improvement activity on your allotment site, please let me know.

Meanwhile the Council is advertising some potential plots on its website:

If you fancy your hand at food growing, some of our allotments have short waiting lists where you can be offered a plot within a year or so.

The short waiting lists are at:

• Cecil Avenue, Wembley, HA9 7DY
• Dors Close, Kingsbury, NW9 7NT
• Kinch Grove, Kenton, HA9 9TF
• Lyon Park Avenue, Wembley, HA0 4DZ
• Sudbury Court Road, Harrow, HA1 3SD

Allotments are a great way of growing good quality and fresh fruit and vegetables for your family and friends at a low cost.

Apply online for an allotment plot or call 020 8937 5619.

Allotment plots available in Brent NOW!

A corner of my allotment at Birchen Grove

I was under the impression that there were huge waiting list at all Brent allotments but today Brent Council tweeted that there were vacant plots available immediately at 7 sites without waiting lists. I am not sure if this fact has been conveyed to people on the waiting list at other sites so here are the details:

Seven allotment sites in Brent now have plots immediately available for anyone who wants to try their hand at food growing

The vacancies are at:

• Dors Close, Kingsbury
• Cecil Avenue, Wembley
• Kinch Grove, Kenton
• Lyon Park Avenue, Alpterton
• Sudbury Court Road, Sudbury
• Vale Farm, Wembley
• Woodfield Avenue, Wembley.

Allotment gardening is a great way to grow healthy food, keep active and works out a cost of just 22p a day for a standard size-five pole plot - that's about half the size of a tennis court and is big enough to grow enough fruit and veg for a small family.

Apply online for an allotment plot or call 020 8937 5619.