Police Crime and Security

The Ealing Council's community safety liaison officer for the Acton area is:

Chris Reynolds

07956 812253

Smartwater - where is it?

Police parking on double yellow lines by junctions

I am the Community Safety Officer for Acton.

Thank you for your email dated 27 November 2006.

This matter was brought to my attention by Safer Neighbourhood Team

(SNT) Police Officers in September 06 as several residents had

complained of Anti-Social Behaviour and Street-drinking from the

premises. Having identified the owner of the property (via land

registry and several alternative means) PCSO Young, Sgt Cowan and myself

all contacted the owner in an effort to have them take responsibility

for their property.

Unfortunately and despite our best efforts, the owner has to date

shunned all duty of care/responsibility for 433 Uxbridge Road.

On 24 October 2006 I arranged a meeting between Community Safety,

Environmental Health, Planning and South Acton SNT so that a course of

action could be decided upon. With regards to finding a short term

resolve to this matter both the Council and Police are hindered by what

actions we can take to evict squatters, however we are looking towards a

long-term solution. The legislation available in tackling squatting is

somewhat limited, however if the owner continues to refuse to take

responsibility for the property we would look to consider a Compulsory

Purchase Order (CPO) whereby the council purchases, redevelops and then

sells on the property.

Cidi Greenaway from Empty Dwellings has been assigned this matter and

shall now be the central figure within the Council moving forward. To

date, Ealing Council has only completed one CPO, so at this initial

stage, a report is in the process of being submitted to Corporate

Board.

Andy Pedley (Environmental Health) has sent a precautionary letter to

the owner, and enclosed a Section 16 Notice (this relates to the owners

proposals for the property and must be returned to the council within

14 days of issuance, failure to do so can result in further

prosecution). The owner was also informed of our intention to begin the

process of applying for a Compulsory Purchase Order.

This initial letter shall be followed up by further correspondence from

Cidi warning that a CPO is now being processed, in the hope that this

finally elicits voluntary action - however in the past informal contacts

and Statutory Notices have been ignored.

The site value; 2 x shops and 2 x flats, is likely to be substantial,

so we will need to find the funds to cover our costs; however the

intention would be to purchase and sell on as soon as possible, so we

would hope that funds can be taken from capital budgets and repaid

fairly quickly thereafter.

Jonathan Kay (Enabling Officer) from Shepherds Bush Housing Association

(involved in the redevelopment of the Harvester site) has also been

informed of the current situation.

We are moving forward with the matter and have arranged another meeting early January 07 to evaluate our progress.