Be proud of what together you have achieved for your neighbourhood in 2011. 1st in London, and arguably the best campaign of its kind anywhere in the country… blimey, what a difference a year makes!

The Campaign for a Queen’s Park Community Council has already achieved things that some thought were impossible and, for now at least, residents remain strong and united in the face of adversity. We live to fight another year and are discovering that cooperating not only works, but feels good too!

At the beginning of 2011 Queen’s Park Forum (down, but not out as a result of 100% cuts to its budget) held several public meetings attracting hundreds of local residents to discuss the future of Queen’s Park, and in particular the idea of a Community Council for Queen’s Park. There was no agenda other than to sustain the good community work that had helped all the residents of Queen’s Park (whether directly or indirectly) over the previous two decades, but which was no longer possible due to a lack of sustained funds.

Meeting after meeting, following in-depth questioning and discussion, the idea received unanimous endorsement by local residents who felt a Community Council would provide the best means for championing the interests of our diverse local community.  This overwhelming (and somewhat unexpected) support provided the necessary encouragement to residents to form a Campaign to gather the necessary signatures and to get the message out further.

Despite the dark, icy evenings eager residents knocked on every door in Queen’s Park. The signatures came in thick and fast. Even on the doorstep there was little opposition to the idea. Within the space of a few weeks enough signatures had been collected to formally lodge the petition for a Queen’s Park Community Council with Westminster Council.

To show that this community won’t settle with doing things by halves, and to prove the overwhelming support of local people, active campaigners continued to collect signatures until double the number required by law were collected. To date nearly 2000 of Queen’s Park’s estimated 10,000 population have registered their support for the initiative.

The central group of campaigners and activists which numbers around 40 residents, with the help of Ted and Fabian at the Queen’s Park Forum, have notched up some notable successes over the last twelve months:

• FUNDS HAVE BEEN RAISED through corporate sponsorship to support our efforts;

• The fireworks show wouldn’t have happened this year without the help of volunteers from the Campaign. This was QUEEN’S PARK’S BEST COMMUNITY FIREWORK SHOW YET, and something the Community Council would doubtless wish to continue;

• ‘Caring is Sharing’, a hugely popular project conceived and delivered by residents. Local children with the help of their parents and teachers collect donations from within the community and PREPARE FOOD PARCELS FOR LONELY OLDER PEOPLE or families living in poverty in Queen’s Park for Christmas. Campaigners compiled the list of beneficiaries and accompanied the children on their house calls. Campaigners are already discussing developing this into an informal befriending service;

• Information is power. Residents worked together on A NEW COMMUNITY NEWSLETTER to fill the gap left by Paddington People magazine. Queen’s Park Voice which is written, produced and distributed largely by volunteers. Delivering it to all households in Queen’s Park ensured that everyone received information about the campaign. Another edition is planned for January to encourage local participation in Westminster’s somewhat under-publicised consultation on the proposal for a Queen’s Park Community Council;

• Allotment scheme – this is in its early stages, but a large piece of land in full sunshine hitherto unused is being brought into use as A GROWING SPACE FOR THE COMMUNITY. Campaigners negotiated this with the housing association whose land it is, and have already applied successfully to become a recognised urban gardening scheme, even receiving a small grant to kick start the project. Soil samples were recently sent to the lab for testing and it is hoped the project will be ready to launch in the spring;

• STANDING UP TO GANG VIOLENCE – Campaigners helped to mobilise hundreds of people to express their frustration at the escalating postcode violence affecting this area. As a result Westminster Council have undertaken a full review of their CCTV provision in Queen’s Park and have identified a budget for the installation of at least five new cameras in hotspot areas. They have also conceded that gang violence not only exists in Queen’s Park, but that we have reached a state of emergency;

• Campaigners are committed to acting in the public good, in being accountable and working transparently. They agreed a core set of values, objectives and priorities by which the Campaign would operate, and set these out in a public document (see ‘campaign resources’ section of the website);

• Key Campaigners HOSTED A VISIT BY LEADER OF WESTMINSTER COUNCIL, Cllr Sir Colin Barrow to discuss Queen’s Park priorities and the proposal for a Queen’s Park Community Council;

• The Campaign, which is rigorously non-party-political, has received support from all quarters including from Karen Buck MP, from the government department for Communities and Local Government, from the National Association of Local Councils, from the University of Westminster, from all three local councillors and from some Conservative Councillors in Westminster too;

• The Campaign has received GREAT PRESS COVERAGE, featured among others by BBC London News, The Economist, The Guardian and has been followed closely by all the local newspapers;

• Residents applied successfully to manage A ‘COMMUNITY CHEST’ FOR QUEEN’S PARK for the next two years. In anticipation of the creation of a Queen’s Park Community Council, local volunteers are eager to decide how funds are awarded and allocated locally;

• Campaigners for a Community Council supported Queen’s Park Forum and parent charity Paddington Development Trust to submit a successful application to government to become ONE OF 10 NATIONAL PILOT PROGRAMMES aimed at bettering coordination of public services in Queen’s Park. The sustainability of this high-profile project rests on Westminster giving the green light to the Queen’s Park proposal to become London’s first Parish Council.

There is no denying that this is an incredible achievement… one that is all the more impressive considering the social and economic obstacles that Queen’s Park people disproportionately face.

What is at stake is the community’s ability to sustain this spirited effort.

2012 will be an important year for London. For sports fans around the world it will be remembered for the Olympic Games, but for Londoners it could be the start date for a change in the way we engage in our communities and in our city.
Queen’s Park is holding the torch and lighting the way for other communities both in London and elsewhere in the country to follow.  But 2012 will be a real-life test of this government’s championing of localism, and Westminster Council’s commitment to allowing its residents full expression of their rights as citizens. In May we will find out what the future holds when Westminster Council gives its verdict on the proposal.

One thing is sure, if the admirable efforts of local people to work for their community are to be sustained, a paid-for support structure that has the community’s interests at heart is essential. Either the community must be allowed to pay for it, if it so chooses, or someone else must. At a time of receding public spending can we afford to look a gift horse in the mouth?