Tackling high turnover short term letting
Your councillors have been in touch before about the measures we are taking to tackle problem short-lets. Residents are entitled to let their properties, sometimes using platforms like AirBnB, for up to 90 days a year, but beyond that they need planning permission to let for short periods. That’s because residential areas suffer if they become badly managed hotel districts, with constant turnover of visitors bringing noise, litter, crime and a loss of community. The supply of residential long term housing Is also reduced.
Westminster City Council got agreement from AirBnB to put a 90 day cap on bookings via its site and we welcome this measure, but those letting can just move to another platform. We are using Community Protection Notices (CPNs), breaches of which can be a criminal offence, to tackle short-let landlords where the situation makes their neighbours’ lives a misery. In Park West, we are monitoring over 100 flats suspected of unlawful short letting. We have agreed with the managing agents that they will alert residents to ways of dealing with the problem.
Residents who suspect that flats near them are being let constantly for short periods (less than three months at a time) should email [email protected]. Our enforcement officers also monitor platforms and social media for evidence of breaches and inspect as needed. If enforcement notices are served, failure to stop short letting is a criminal offence punishable by an unlimited fine. A notice also stays on the property entry at the Land Registry for ever. We continue to explore other routes to protect our neighbourhoods against problem short-letting.
Crime and complaints fall at Hyde Park events
For the last five years, your councillors have worked with The Royal Parks, the promoters, AEG Live, and with police and our own officers to limit the impact on residents of events held in Hyde Park.
This year there were six British Summer Time concerts, some with crowds of up to 65,000. However there were only nine complaints about noise, a big improvement on previous years and testimony to the success of close working between WCC’s noise team and the contractors Vanguardia. Crowd movements in and out of the park went smoothly, with increased security measures.
Local resident Sally Martin, Vice Chairman of the Hyde Park Estate Association, told us: "We felt egress was better managed and the amount of rubbish dropped on the way to Paddington and Marble Arch stations was much less than previously”. However, Stanhope Place, Clarendon Place and Hyde Park Gardens will receive particular attention in future following complaints.
The midweek “Open House” events between the concert weekends attracted between 17,000 and 25,000 visitors a day, many of them young families coming after the school day to enjoy the free films and children’s entertainments. Crime figures, mostly petty theft, rose to 56 cases but this does reflect larger crowds and more police than last year.
As for the BBC Proms in the Park/Radio 2 weekend, there were only nine crimes reported and there was no over-run of the 10.30 end time for the Last Night at the Albert Hall.
This year’s Winter Wonderland concentrates attractions such as Santaland, for families with small children, in the north of the fairground footprint, keeping the noisier rides further south. There are some increases in the times lorries spend on North Carriage Drive because more security barriers need to be
delivered than previously – but we have asked the Parks to check on-and off-site times to ensure these are kept to a minimum.
Making it safer to cross Edgware from our area to Waitrose and Argos
Burwood Place and its junction with Edgware Road and Harrowby Street are being remodelled to make crossings easier for pedestrians. There will be a straight-across route over the Edgware Road just south of Waitrose, and one south of the road junction, so people with limited mobility or with pushchairs and children are less likely to get stuck in the middle.
Burwood Place will become narrower, with westbound traffic only, so that the conflicts between motorists and pedestrians walking along Edgware Road will be reduced, as will the conflicts at the corner with Norfolk Crescent.
The nearest alternative for the small number of motorists who use Burwood Place to reach Edgware Road, less than 70 during the morning peak, would be Kendal Street, though there are other alternatives. This is considered a reasonable re routing for traffic in order to make journeys safer at what has long been a problem junction.
