From government ministers and whitehall mandarins, to community champions and 1000s of Westminster residents, the Campaign for a Queen’s Park Community Council is the talk of the town.

There has been plenty of press covering the Campaign’s progress, from the locals to national and even global press!  Visitor numbers to the website www.campaign4queenspark.org (hosted on the Queen’s Park Forum website for now)have shot up to an average of nearly 1000 “unique visits” each day!

For links to some of the press coverage…

Dave Hill’s London Blog (May 2011)

The Guardian (May 2011)

Local Government Chronicle (May 2011)

LocalGov.co.uk

Wood and Vale (May 2011)

Westminster Chronicle (May 2011)

The Economist (Feb 2011)

BBC London News (Jan 2011)

Westminster Chronicle (Jan 2011)

West End Extra (Jan 2011)

The Guardian (Dec 2010)

(Above: Some of the campaign group for a Queen’s Park Community Council outside Westminster City Hall in Victoria yesterday with the 1600 strong petition before it was handed over.)

Spirits were high among the group of 10 Queen’s Park residents who made the journey to City Hall yesterday to formally present the petition to Westminster Council.  The Leader and the Chief Executive of the Council warmly welcomed the delegation, and on taking receipt of the petition gave some welcome words of encouragement to the group. 

Angela Singhate, Chair of the Campaign for a Queen’s Park Community Council,  prasied the level of committment of the many residents in support of their local community.  Ms Singhate highlighted the enthusisam the campaigners were met with on the doorstep, and pointed out that in knocking every door in Queen’s Park the campaign secured double the number of  signatures required by law.

Councillor Colin Barrow, Leader of Westminster Council, replied by welcoming the involvement of Westminster citizens in their community. Recognising that the new economic challenges facing local authorities and communities around the country needed a fresh and positive response he said “We always welcome people wanting to get involved in shaping their communities to make it a better place to live and work. A review will now be carried out to ask the wider community in Queen’s Park about the idea of a parish council. At the end of the review, we will then publish our recommendation setting out if a parish council is appropriate for this area.”  

(Below: Leader of Westminster Council, Councillor Colin Barrow receives the 152 page petition from Campaign Chair, Angela Singhate.) 

(Left to right Mike More, Chief Executive of Westminster Council, Gill Fitzhugh, Simon Walton, Emma Sweeney vice-chair of the Campaign, Ludo Hunter-Tilney, Angela Singhate, Cllr Colin Barrow)