Published: 11 November, 2011

Open letter to the people of Westminster

• WW are the Campaign for a Queen’s Park Community Council and we aim to set up London’s first parish council in Queen’s Park ward in the north of the City of Westminster.

We write to ask for your support.

In May we handed a petition of 1,600 names to council leader Colin Barrow.

In response the council has announced a community governance review to explore whether to establish the new parish our neighbourhood wants.

Community (or parish) councils are concerned with local issues and people often associate them with village life.

We believe cities, too, can benefit but we do not seek to impose our ideas on anyone else.

We are campaigning for Queen’s Park ward, nowhere else. We have already begun work on projects including a garden and toy exchange.

We also helped organise a public meeting in response to the recent shooting on the Mozart estate.

Westminster is a huge and diverse area, and we believe local people understand their neighbourhoods better than anyone else.

Our campaign is non-political and we believe our council, with its deep roots in the community, will complement the strategic leadership provided by Westminster City Council across the borough.

We believe our aims fit with the government’s commitment to localism and the Big Society.

While the parish council’s administration is funded by a precept added to council tax (in our ward only), the councillors are volunteers.

Please join in the consultation. Write to Tom Kimber at the City Planning Delivery Unit, Westminster City Council,
11th floor, City Hall, 64 Victoria Street, London SW1E 6QP, email tkimber@westminster.gov.uk  telephone 020 7641 3478, or contact your local church, area forum or amenity society, and tell them you support the residents of Queen’s Park in bringing this ancient form of local democracy to the heart of London. And please visit our website: campaign4queenspark.org or email us: campaign4qp@gmail.com

ANGELA SINGHATE
Chair, Campaign for a Queen’s Park Community Council