Living near Conway Road / Priscilla Place?

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Permalink Reply by Ceri on February 16, 2014 at 21:38

hi Vijay

My house in Cranleigh Rd backs on to Priscilla Place. There were issues 13 yrs ago when the council sold the yard to a developer and the former council and fire service buildings were converted to flats and houses. Locally many objected to the council's plans because the houses were all designed without gardens, and there was no plan or arrangements to maintain the common areas - neither the road nor the open area, nor the entrance way. The person we were complaining to in the planning dept then seemed to leave and joined the development company that had bought the yard and all its buildings. 

The council and then the developer always promised the properties would be sold to single key workers, as they weren't ideally suitable for families with children as the only place to play is in effect a car park and unadopted road. Then in fact the houses were nearly all bought by buy to let investors, who then let them out again mostly to housing associations and other London boroughs housing depts, who used them for temporary accommodation for homeless families, mainly for a few months at a time. One of the larger houses was used as a hostel, though without planning permission. This means that there was a very transient population, in unsatisfactory accommodation. But I think that is now changing, with a greater variety of tenants there, and more stability, and certainly less problems with rubbish and noise. (There used to be persistent rubbish collection problems and dumping, as the council's collection lorries can't get up the narrow drive, and I don't think the roadway within the development has been adopted by the council, and is not maintained, nor the rubbish which builds up from time to time cleared).  However, if you did move there, I can see no reason why the residents would not respond well to you supporting them to work together on getting the rubbish cleared up, and then regularly collected and litter picked up and/or to form a leaseholders/tenants group to help deal with common issues.  Also it should be possible to design the common areas so that cars only go in one part, and children could play in the rest, in safety. I've met some great kids there when I've been over there leafletting about local events, and also when I have gone over to cut the other side of my hedge, and it could be quite a paradise for children if the yard was redesigned. 

Also on the plus side, those old Victorian buildings are pretty, it's just near Chestnuts Park, and a short walk from Andreas' food shop on St Ann's Rd and Green Lanes. And there's Woodlands Park Residents Association to join. 

I think there have been other discussions on HOL over the years about the history of this council yard. Good luck, I hope you do move here. 

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Permalink Reply by Vijay on February 16, 2014 at 22:26

thanks for the very detailed reply Ceri. 

I didn't have a huge amount of time to properly acquaint myself with the area when I was doing viewings so that's really useful. Does anyone else have any comments, either good or bad about the area?

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Permalink Reply by Geoff Amabilino on February 17, 2014 at 11:21

Hi Vijay

I live a bit north of Ceri, on Terront Road, and go along with Ceri's comments.  It's reasonably quiet and friendly, and I haven't heard of any issues in Priscilla Close for a long time.  I'm on the St Ann's Safer Neighbourhoods Panel and I can't remember it showing up on any of the crime mappings recently.

About six or seven years ago there was talk of the Council adopting the access road, meaning that they would become responsible for street lighting and cleaning.  If you do move in, it could be worth investigating that again with local councillors although I recall that it was expensive for the Council to do it.  Personally I don't like the unlit entrance road and am surprised that whoever owns the site hasn't done something about it.

Woodlands Park Residents Association have an email group that you could join, just let me know.

All the best.

Geoff

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Permalink Reply by Vijay on February 17, 2014 at 11:25

Thanks Geoff, another vey helpful reply. 

I have just had confirmation that I will be moving in soon, so the fact that there don't seem to be any recent issues is putting my mind at ease!

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Permalink Reply by JulieB on February 17, 2014 at 12:07

I live on Conway Road and we back onto the old firestation yard.

We bought our house 10.5 years ago and the only trouble we used to have with the residents behind us was the children playing football and constantly kicking their balls over our wall, then climbing over to retrieve them. But they have all grown up and/or moved on and we haven't had any problems for years.

The studios at the end of the yard have recently been overhauled and are looking so much better. There is a lot of building work and younger families moving into the area. I've always felt safe coming home late, transport links are very good and there is a lot going on locally in terms of community events, pubs, shops and restaurants.

I love the sense of community in the area and have made lots of local friends. My children both went to Woodland Park nursery which is brilliant and are now at Chestnuts which they love.

Welcome to the area! 

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