Published: 27 January, 2012
by JOSH LOEB

NORTH Westminster activists hoping to set up London’s first “community council” say next week is crunch time for their campaign.

Backers of the scheme to create the body – an urban equivalent to rural parish councils – say they held “positive” talks on the subject with outgoing council leader Colin Barrow, who visited Queen’s Park last year to discuss the proposals.

They have also met with City Hall officers and other senior council figures and are piling the pressure on the council by encouraging local supporters to respond to a consultation due to close on February 3.

The community council, the lowest tier of local government, could take control of decision-making on a range of local affairs including management of green spaces and street cleansing.

Angela Singhate, chairwoman of the Campaign for a Queen’s Park Community Council (QPCC), said it would give people in Westminster’s most northerly, and historically most deprived, district greater power to influence City Hall.

She added that it would generate funding via a small “precept” added to residents’ council tax.

Westminster Council’s cabinet will decide in May whether to give the go-ahead to the plans, which could set a precedent in London.

Other groups in the borough who may wish to emulate the QPCC include church leaders, said to be interested in the idea of setting up a Mayfair Parish Council that could take control of some decision-making about parking.

The reintroduction of parish councils is a cornerstone of communities secretary Eric Pickles’s localism agenda.

• QPCC campaigners are hosting a drop-in information surgery for residents on January 30 from 9am-8pm at the Beethoven Centre in Third Avenue. To find out more visit www.campaign4queenspark.org