We Asked, You Said, We Did

We asked for views on how the ban on motor vehicles from entering the north-easternmost arm of Lennox Gardens (outside Knightsbridge School), between the north-eastern kerb-line of Lennox Gardens (north-westernmost arm) and the south kerb-line of Pont Street, between 7.45am and 9.15am and between 3.15pm and 4.45pm on Mondays to Fridays inclusive, was working in practice.

We had no objections and 27 supporting scheme in Lennox Gardens for https://consult.rbkc.gov.uk/communities/school-streets-experimental-traffic-order-seven-sc/ and no objections or other comments received for https://consult.rbkc.gov.uk/communities/lennox-gardens-school-street/

We have made this scheme permanent.

We asked for views on how the ban on motor vehicles from entering the southern west to east arm of Cadogan Gardens (outside Holy Trinity C of E Primary School), between the eastern kerb-line of Cadogan Gardens (eastern north to south arm) and the western kerb-line of Pavilion Road, between 8.45am and 9.15am and between 3.00pm and 3.40pm on Mondays to Fridays inclusive, was working in practice.

We had no objections and 23 support for the scheme in Cadogan Gardens for https://consult.rbkc.gov.uk/communities/school-streets-experimental-traffic-order-seven-sc/ and no objections or other comments received for  https://consult.rbkc.gov.uk/communities/cadogan-gardens-school-street/

We have made this scheme permanent.

For your views on initial proposals.

The key themes emerging from resident feedback were:

• Strong support for the Nursery and Children’s Centre but objection to the housing and/or height
• Height should be lower to reflect the surrounding properties
• Concerns regarding the impact on Westfield Park, particularly the playground
• Concerns about the impact from construction
• Concerns about living next to the new proposals
• We have taken on board your comments and feedback where possible to shape the evolving design of the proposals.

The scheme

• The impact of this scheme on Westfield Park is concerning, particularly the playground.
• Strong support for nursery but objection to the housing and/or height.
• Concerns on the construction and environmental impact (noise, air quality, transport etc.)

Height of the building

The proposed height of the new building is too tall and will:

• Be taller than buildings in the surrounding area.
• Reduce sun/daylight reaching surrounding buildings and over Westfield Park.
• The traffic and density will increase as the proposal will bring too many new residents, adding strain to local infrastructure and resources.

We will:

The scheme

• Reassure you that all proposals are within the existing footprint of Cheyne Nursery and don’t have any impact on Westfield Park. We are committed to retaining the existing playground and propose to improve the pathway to the park.
• Continue to work with the architects to ensure concerns about light and access to the park remain a consideration throughout the planning process.
• Ensure good construction practice will be used, taking into consideration noise, air quality, transport, adequate parking and will work to continually update residents and relevant communities on phases of construction.

Height of the building

• Change the proposal to reflect the surroundings heights. We are now proposing four storeys which should reduce potential daylight and sunlight impacts on neighbouring properties.
• We will continue to provide 100 per cent social housing on this site, but the number of homes will be reduced to nine in-line with proposed height reductions.
• Make sure that the development will be ‘car free’ with no car parking spaces allocated to the new homes.

We asked for views on the proposal to convert two RBKC Housing Personalised Disabled Permit Parking Bays (Bay Numbers WER01 and WER04) within West Row Estate, to two RBKC Housing Permit Holder Parking Bays (WER). [Note: The change to bay WER04 will be made to the traffic order only – the area is currently marked as a RBKC Housing Permit Holder Parking Bay as a previous traffic order amendment has not been implemented].

We had no objections or comments about this proposal.

We have made this scheme permanent.

We asked for views on the proposals made in the June 2021 Miscellaneous Parking Changes.

We had a total of 37 objections and 35 comments about these proposals.

We have made all of the schemes permanent, with the exception of Cadogan Lane and Exmoor Street (which will not be progressed) and Egerton Gardens (where no decision has yet been made).

We asked for views on the proposal to reduce the number of parking spaces (both residents and visitors) within Hillgate Village, as the Council has received concerns about the access of emergency vehicles from London Fire Brigade

We received 41 responses to this consultation

87 per cent of respondents said that if the Council removed a total of 13 residents’ parking spaces from Hillgate Place, to ensure the emergency services can access the street, they wanted the Council to mitigate the loss of these 13 residents’ spaces.

Of the options presented to residents for mitigating the loss of 13 parking spaces from Hillgate Place, 49 per cent of respondents said they wanted the Council to convert 10 visitor parking spaces in Uxbridge into residents’ parking spaces. This was the option that received the highest level of support and we will consult formally on this proposal in October and November 2021.

We have made the removal of 13 residents’ parking spaces in the June 21 Miscellaneous Parking Amendments and will propose to remove another 10 visitors’ parking bays in the October 2021 Miscellaneous Parking Amendments.

We asked for views on the proposal to extend the hours of control, during the London Wonderground Event on the old Earl’s Court site (between 15 July to 26 September), in Eardley Crescent, Kempsford Gardens and Earl’s Court Square until 10am on Mondays to Saturdays and introducing Sunday controls from 8.30am to 10pm

We had four objections and 35 comments of support about this proposal.

We have made this temporarily for the duration of the London Wonderground Event.

The Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) Partnership, working with Kensington and Chelsea Council and Westminster City Council, undertook extensive engagement and consultation to inform the development of a new five-year VAWG Strategy. VAWG is the umbrella term used to describe a range of violent and abusive acts and behaviours, including: domestic abuse (including coercive control), rape and sexual violence, female genital mutilation, forced marriage, crimes in the name of 'honour’, sexual harassment, stalking, trafficking, prostitution/sexual exploitation. The Councils (Kensington and Chelsea Council and Westminster City Council) sought the views of those who live, work and study in the two boroughs, to better understand the needs in the borough and to establish the strategic direction of this vital work. The consultation was an opportunity for residents, businesses and other stakeholders to tell the VAWG Partnership how safe they felt in the borough, what needs to be done to better support survivors, and what should be our priorities to make our boroughs safer. This survey was part of a wider consultation process which included online workshops with a range of professionals and focus group sessions with survivors and experts through experience.

• Safety during the day: A total of 22 per cent of respondents who live/work/study in Kensington and Chelsea outlined that they felt ‘Very safe’ and 51 per cent felt ‘Fairly safe’ from the threat of VAWG in their area during the day. A total of 27 per cent of respondents who live/work/study in Westminster said that they felt ‘Very safe’ and 43 per cent said that they felt ‘Fairly safe’ from the threat of VAWG in their area during the day.
• Safety at night: A total of 26 per cent of Kensington and Chelsea respondents and 30 per cent of Westminster respondents said that they felt ‘Fairly unsafe’ at night, whilst 19 per cent of Kensington and Chelsea respondents and 15 per cent of Westminster respondents outlined that they felt ‘Very unsafe’ from the threat of VAWG in their area at night.
• Personal experiences of VAWG: Across both Kensington and Chelsea (59 per cent) and Westminster (66 per cent) ‘Harassment in the street/Cat calling’ was the most selected response. A total of 47 per cent of respondents from both Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster outlined that they had experienced ‘Sexual harassment’.
• Witnessing harassment: A total of 23 per cent of Kensington and Chelsea respondents outlined that they had witnessed a woman being harassed ‘1-2 times’ in the last two years, whilst 32 per cent of respondents from Westminster selected this option. A total of 23 per cent of Kensington and Chelsea respondents said they had witnessed a woman being harassed ‘3-5 times’ compared to 19 per cent of Westminster respondents.
• Accessing support for VAWG: A total of 35 per cent of respondents selected ‘No’ they did not know how to access support, whilst 33 per cent were ‘Unsure’. Meaning 68 per cent (net) of all respondents did not know how to access support for VAWG.

• Priorities for local VAWG partnership: A total of 72 per cent of Kensington and Chelsea respondents and 70 per cent of Westminster respondents selected ‘Support for those who need it, when they need it and for however long, they need it’. Nearly two thirds (63 per cent) of Kensington and Chelsea respondents, and just over half (51 per cent) of Westminster respondents selected ‘Support for victims of VAWG throughout family court proceedings’.

The ideas, priorities and suggestions provided by our residents through this survey have informed the development of our new five-year Ending Violence against Women and Girls Strategy. This strategy will set out the commitment of the wider partnership and the role we can all play to end VAWG as part of a coordinated community response.

These priorities are:

• Violence against women and girls is prevented
• Victims are supported
• Partnership working is undertaken to end violence against women and girls
• Abusers are held to account

Next steps:

We are now developing our strategy using these four priority areas to frame our approach. We are expecting to launch our new strategy to coincide with the United Nations 16 Days of Activism to End Violence against Women, November 25 to December 10 2021.

In 2019, the Council undertook extensive consultation and engagement to inform the Council Plan 2019-23. More recently, and led by the Corporate Strategy Team, we have needed to re-assess and re-prioritise our work to address the unprecedented impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on our residents, businesses and local economy. In order to do this, we used the opportunity to gather views from residents using a survey to; understand how residents feel Covid-19 has impacted them and their community, learn what is most important to them now and hear what they think the Council could be doing to help. The online survey was promoted via the Council’s key communication channels as well as directly contacting voluntary and community organisations across the borough. The survey ran during April and May 2021.

• Respondents most valued safety first, followed by environment, health, housing and community.
• Reducing crime and antisocial behaviour was the most important issue for respondents followed by space for pedestrians and cyclists and air quality
• Over half (56 per cent) of respondents felt that environmental services should be prioritised by the Council, followed by parks and leisure services (55 per cent), mental health and wellbeing (53 per cent), roads and transport (50 per cent) and then health services (50 per cent)
• Over a half of respondents were worried about the impact that Covid has had
• A total of 23 per cent of respondents felt that social isolation and loneliness had been impacted the most by Covid, whilst the same amount felt that health and wellbeing had also been impacted the most
• Just under a half (45 per cent) of respondents felt that increasing green spaces could help support the recovery of Covid, as well as supporting local business (43 per cent), helping people to keep healthy (36 per cent) and supporting mental health and wellbeing (31 per cent).
• When asked how the Council can work better with local people to meet their needs, just over two thirds (68 per cent) want the Council to be transparent and open about decisions and two thirds (66 per cent) think we need to engage with residents about issues that matter to them. Just over half (52 per cent) would like to see solutions and services co-designed and co-produced with residents
• When considering how to improve local places and spaces, just under two thirds (63 per cent) believe we should reduce road traffic and increase spaces for walking and cycling, over half (52 per cent) said we need improve safety and reduce the fear of crime and 49 per cent want improvements to green spaces made.
• Around half of respondents said that to improve prospects for young people we need to improve and increase local employment and opportunities and improve and increase facilities and activities.
• In order to support people to gain new skills and get into work, over half (55 per cent) said we need to work with partners in London to increase available opportunities, 52 per cent said we need to connect local people with local job opportunities, 46 per cent think we should support people to reskill and 41 per cent think we should increase the amount of training available.
• Overall, a total of 18 per cent of respondents were very satisfied and 42 per cent fairly satisfied with Kensington and Chelsea as a place to live. And when asked how satisfied they were with how Kensington and Chelsea Council run things, six per cent were very satisfied and around a quarter (24 per cent) were fairly satisfied.

The ideas, priorities and suggestions provided by our residents through this survey have now directly shaped the recently refreshed Council Plan, by enabling us to test our focus and commitments. The Plan responds to what has happened over the past 18 months, and how we want to support our communities to recover.

The Council Plan continues to have many of the same priorities, particularly around our green ambition, having safer and cleaner streets and building new housing, but also now includes new priorities that have emerged, especially in relation to our local economy, employment opportunities and in physical and mental health, responding to the input from our residents.

The Plan continues to describe how we will ‘narrow the gap’, now specifically in relation to supporting our most vulnerable residents and those who have been disproportionately impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, for example young people and those who are socially isolated. With residents being clear they want us to focus our support for those who are now in need of finding secure and stable work and businesses who need to recover, the Plan describes how we intend to provide this support and lists some key outcomes that we want to achieve and see in our communities, such as the revival of our local economy.

Next Steps

Being able to update out Council Plan now will ensure we are focusing our time and resources on the issues that matter most to residents.

In line with the Council’s commitment to the Charter for Public Participation, we will continue our conversations with residents when developing strategies such as the Council Plan and engage with them as part of the process to assess our performance and the delivery of these priorities.

We have recruited a panel of over 2000 residents from across the borough with a diverse group of backgrounds. We asked these residents, ‘in light of the impact of Covid-19 on you and your community, what matters most to you now and what should the Council do to help?’.  

We also asked specific questions on what the Council can do to help recover from the Covid pandemic, about supporting people to gain new skills, getting into work, and improving the prospects of young people.

Health, safety, and housing were the top three areas that respondents said they value the most.  

The areas that were most important to respondents were: 

• Reducing crime and antisocial behaviour  
• Access to affordable and good quality housing  
• Good quality schools where all children achieve their potential  
• Helping people to stay healthy 
• Opportunities for young people  

Over two thirds (69 per cent) of respondents felt that education should be prioritised by the Council, followed by housing and homelessness (66 per cent), health services (64 per cent), mental health and wellbeing (59 per cent) and then parks and leisure services (54 per cent).

With regard to the Covid pandemic, over half of respondents identified supporting mental health and wellbeing and supporting local businesses (53 and 51 per cent respectively) as priorities for the Council.

When it comes to supporting people to gain new skills and get into work, a large proportion of respondents identified supporting people to reskill (71 per cent), connecting local people with local job opportunities (70 per cent) and increasing available training (68 per cent). When asked about young people’s prospects, around half of respondents selected improving and increasing local employment and opportunities for young people (50 per cent) and improving and increasing facilities and activities for young people (49 per cent).

The ideas, priorities and suggestions provided by our residents through this Citizens' Panel have now directly shaped the recently refreshed Council Plan, by enabling us to test our focus and commitments. The Plan responds to what has happened over the past 18 months, and how we want to support our communities to recover.

The Council Plan continues to prioritise Grenfell Recovery, supporting and safeguarding vulnerable residents, creating a borough that is healthy, clean and safe, a great place to live, work and learn, and a place of culture to visit and explore. Over the next three years, the Council will spend £355 million of capital, on homes, transport, the environment, and education.

The Citizens' Panel survey was based around these themes and we have updated the priorities to reflect our residents’ views and changes since the pandemic. The findings will also be considered in deciding how we spend the Covid Recovery fund and deliver services over the coming years. Going forward, we will continue to engage with the Citizens' Panel on a range of topics and we will consult with residents from specific wards through targeted surveys.

Respondents identified providing good quality schools where all children achieve their potential as a key priority. The Council is investing in the infrastructure of the borough’s schools. All of our schools are rated ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted, and they have been flexible in maintaining through online learning and provision during the Covid pandemic.

A key priority for respondents was helping people to stay healthy. We are committed to providing high quality health services and we are working to protect and enhance services at the Royal Brompton Hospital. We will continue to invest in our parks and have re-opened our leisure centres with a new range of activities being developed for the coming year.

The pandemic has made mental health support a key priority for all and this was identified by over half of the Citizens' Panel respondents. The Council will continue to work with the NHS to deliver early intervention with those most at risk and to increase services in the wider community to support and improve the wellbeing of our residents.

Respondents identified supporting local businesses as a key priority for recovery from the Covid pandemic. We will create an environment where entrepreneurs and micro-businesses can flourish. We have also supported businesses to re-open, working with the hospitality and retail trade to ensure safe trading and expanding the use of al-fresco licencing to support high streets to recover. There have been changes to how we work with local businesses with new and established business forums that we will maintain, as well as issuing business grants. We will continue to work with and support businesses as Covid restrictions are lifted.

A large proportion of respondents identified supporting people to reskill to get into work as well as creating opportunities for young people. In the Council Plan, we are committed to co-creating a new youth offer with young people and children in the borough. We will target the recruitment of local people and the provision of new skills development and training opportunities, including apprenticeships. We are leading local partnerships to support young residents into work through the Government’s Kickstart work placement programme and our own targeted efforts. Going forward, we will lead by example by increasing job opportunities for local people in our supply chain and by providing council internships, work experience and apprenticeship and providing spaces for community services aimed at improving job readiness.

Next Steps

Being able to update our Council Plan now will ensure we are focusing our time and resources on the issues that matter most to residents.

In line with the Council’s commitment to the Charter for Public Participation, we will continue our conversations with residents when developing strategies such as the Council Plan and engage with them as part of the process to assess our performance and the delivery of these priorities

In December 2020, the Council committed to working with local residents to establish a £1m new Grenfell Housing Legacy Fund as part of our Grenfell Recovery programme. The aim of the fund is to support Housing initiatives for residents living within Council owned properties or placed by the Council in temporary accommodation in Notting Dale ward.

We committed to ensuring that the fund is resident-led, and that residents have the opportunity to put forward their ideas and to make decisions about which projects receive funding. The fund is part of our commitment to establishing a long-term sustainable legacy from the Grenfell tragedy which is community-led and meaningful to local people.

In March 2021, we launched a six-week consultation with all eligible residents to ask for their views about the key themes for the fund and their ideas for how it would work best. We wrote to all eligible residents and held a number of pop-up events on estates in the ward.

• Residents expressed support for all of the proposed themes, with the most popular being for projects that increase economic opportunities for residents, achieving a 70 per cent approval rating and community safety projects, receiving approval from 67 per cent of respondents
• Residents had ideas for other themes, including a focus on green spaces and opportunities for children and young people.
• People asked for support in developing pitches and writing proposals.
• Residents expressed a preference for an online voting system but had concerns about people who did not have access to technology.
• Residents raised a range of issues which fall outside the scope of the fund, including increasing housing stock and refurbishing existing stock.

We will

• Keep a broad range of themes, adapting them to reflect some of the ideas we heard, including adding a focus on the environment and green spaces and a new theme around opportunities for children and young people.
• Give people time to develop proposals, providing targeted support for those who might wish to submit an idea, using learnings from other participatory budgeting initiatives across the Council.
• Simplify the bid writing process to make it as easy as possible for those who would like to submit a proposal without prior experience.
• Develop a voting system for each estate or group of properties which will allow people to vote online or offline, with ballots mailed out to all residents to ensure the process is fair, accessible and transparent.

Proposed themes

Residents will be able to submit proposals under any of these themes:

• Projects that increase economic opportunities for residents
• Projects that focus on sustainability, the environment, and green spaces
• Projects that focus on community safety
• Projects that promote inclusion and accessibility
• Projects that promote residents having their own voice
• Projects that provide opportunities and support for Children and Young People

Link to You Said, We Will leaflet

The Kensington and Chelsea Community Safety Team, on behalf of the Safer Kensington and Chelsea Partnership, were keen to understand the most important crime and community safety issues affecting residents and businesses in Kensington and Chelsea. This consultation was an opportunity for residents, businesses and other stakeholders to tell the Safer Kensington and Chelsea Partnership how to focus resources from agencies across a range of statutory services – including the Police, the Council, The National Probation Service, and Health services – to make the borough a safer place to live, work and learn. A range of virtual engagement sessions took place to gather the views of residents and stakeholders throughout the community. An online survey was also promoted via conversations with residents, voluntary and community organisations and social media channels. The online survey ran between 11 February 2021 – 2 May 2021.

The feedback from the survey and the workshops told us that the most important community safety priorities for residents in the borough are:

1. Violence – this related to youth violence and violence against women and girls. The impact of both issues described were broad and a range of behaviours from knife crime, child exploitation and grooming, as well as the safety of women in public spaces and rise in domestic abuse were all shared by participants.
2. Antisocial behaviour –  range of issues from begging, noisy neighbours to drug related behaviours.
3. Drug related crime - The concern for drug related offending as a driver of crime was significant and it was felt to be an ignored issue by many, with reporting of these crimes making little impact

• Feelings of safety - nearly three quarters (72 per cent) strongly agreed/agreed that they felt safe in their neighbourhood during the day, whilst this was reduced to a third (32 per cent) when asked if they felt safe in their neighbourhood at night.
   
• Tackling crime in Kensington and Chelsea: When attendees at the virtual engagement sessions were asked about what can be done to tackle crime issues in the borough, the most frequent responses were around: community engagement, communications, physical improvements, neighbourhood patrols and youth prevention services. These aligned with the findings from the survey, where 75 per cent selected High visibility patrols by police/wardens, 56 per cent selected Increasing CCTV and 49 per cent selected Enforcement against anti-social behaviour as the most effective ways of tackling crime.

Following on from what we heard from the consultation, the Council’s key recommendations to the Safer Kensington and Chelsea Partnership is that the Community Safety Plan will focus on the three priorities of Violence, ASB and Drug related crime. The responses outlined by residents and the continued engagement of residents in the delivery of the plan will also be a prominent feature. The Community Safety Plan will be written with a timetable to be agreed by Full Council by the end of the financial year. This Plan will outline what the Council will do to respond to these concerns and make the borough a safer place for all.

We consulted residents, local businesses and organisations about the proposals in our second round of consultation. We held two online chat sessions as well as an online survey to gather views.

A total of 51 surveys were received with 31 stakeholders attending the two live chat sessions. We would like to thank all residents and stakeholders that took the time to share their views.

• 24 objected to the principle of the scheme while 19 supported it. The main reason for objection was the height of the development and the impact on light of surrounding residents
• Over half of respondents indicated five storeys was their preference
• The majority (38) indicated they supported the retention of the tree on site
• Attendees at the online chat sessions were clear in their support of social housing but not if the level proposed would negatively impact their existing surroundings

In response to feedback from the previous rounds of consultation, the proposed scheme has been amended in a number of ways. We have now:

•  Amended the design to a smaller building of six-storeys in height
• Reduced the height and footprint of the building to minimise daylight/sunlight impacts
• Ensured that all homes have access to a balcony or winter garden

Amended the landscaping scheme to:

• Ensure that no bins or bike stores are located in the garden space
• Ensure direct and safe access to the garden for residents
• Retain the existing London Plane tree at the front of the site
• Provide the wheelchair accessible home on the ground floor with its own front garden and rear patio.

Additionally, following concerns raised regarding the potential impact of incorporating access to ACAVA studios outdoor areas, we will be considering works to these areas separately to this application to enable further involvement with relevant parties.

We will now be holding two “You said, We did” resident engagement events to show residents how we have adapted the plans to take on board their feedback. The first will be an outdoor in-person event on Saturday 26 June from 10am to 12pm at Whitstable House car park, 21 Silchester Road, W10 6SH and the second an online chat session on Wednesday 30 June from 5.30pm to 7pm.

Following these events, we will finalise the scheme and submit a planning application. Residents will have a further opportunity to comment during the planning process.

Kensington and Chelsea Council has been working with local residents and providers to deliver the Community Leadership Programme.

With three years of the Grenfell Recovery Programme remaining, we recently launched a consultation to understand people’s views on the Community Leadership Programme. The consultation ran from 18 February 2021 - 9 April 2021. We received 80 survey responses and also held a series of stakeholder engagement activities between November 2020 and April 2021 which included: one stakeholder focus group; feedback from 14 Community Leadership Programme providers; community conversations with 12 local residents; and engagement with the youth forum about how the CLP can be improved to develop young people as leaders.

• More than half of respondents said that they learnt new things whilst taking part in a Community Leadership Programme (CLP) course and 49 per cent said that the CLP helped them think about what they can offer to the wider community
• Residents wanted courses and training to focus on fundraising, budget management, IT and community and bid writing
• Respondents were keen to have a combination of a resident-led steering group and an online voting process to decide what courses should be delivered as part of the CLP
• Respondents would like to receive information about the CLP through the Council’s social media platforms, texts, WhatsApp groups and face-to-face meetings. Many respondents felt that the website was the best place to get information about the CLP
• The need for improved marketing of the CLP to engage more residents

What’s next

• A series of Community Leadership Programme recommendations were discussed by Leadership Team in May
• Increase the marketing of the Community Leadership Programme to engage a wider audience of local residents
• Advertise and recruit local people to be part of the Resident Led Panel to co-steer operations of the Community Leadership Programme 2
• Ensure Community Leadership Programme 1 is complete before we embark on Community Leadership Programme 2 

Kensington and Chelsea Council has been working with local residents, grassroot organisations and new collectives to deliver the Grenfell Projects Fund.

With three years of the Grenfell Recovery Programme remaining, we recently launched a consultation to understand people’s views about the Grenfell Projects Fund. The consultation ran from 18 February 2021 - 9 April 2021.  We received 99 survey responses and also held a series of stakeholder engagement sessions between November 2020 and April 2021 to capture feedback about the Grenfell Projects Fund.  This included: 1 stakeholder focus group; feedback from over 20 Grenfell project leads; community conversations with 12 local residents; and the facilitation of one Grenfell Community Assembly dedicated to the Grenfell Projects Fund.

• Half of those who responded thought the Grenfell Projects Fund (GPF) was a success and 64 per cent would recommend that a friend or neighbour apply to the GPF
• Almost half of respondents said the six themes should remain the same (Wellbeing for children, young people or adults, educational opportunities to increase skills, knowledge, enterprise and qualifications, social and cultural events that bring communities together and provide information to increase connections across the community including initiatives to reduce isolation for older people, community safety that increases the safety of everyone, activities for young people and food growing/greening and food-based activities that increase communities coming together and enhances the local environment)
• The majority of respondents favoured a combination of a resident-led steering group and a public vote for the decision-making process
• Residents would like to receive information about the GPF through the Council’s social media platforms, texts, WhatsApp groups and face-to-face meetings. Many respondents felt that the website was the best place to get information about the Fund. 

What's next

•  A series of recommendations were discussed by Leadership Team in May
• Increase the marketing of the Grenfell Projects Fund 1 to engage a wider audience of local residents
• Advertise and recruit local people to be part of the Resident Led Panel to co-steer operations of the Grenfell Projects Fund 2
• Ensure the current Grenfell Projects Fund 1 is complete before we embark on Grenfell Projects Fund 2

The legacy from the Grenfell tragedy continues to be challenging for the communities affected, and we recognise the importance of taking time to understand existing and potential future needs, and how best to work with partners and commissioned services in order to meet the needs of children and young people for the remaining three years of the Grenfell Recovery programme.

The Council was keen to hear views about proposals for the provision of emotional health and wellbeing services for children and young people in the wider Grenfell-affected community.

An online consultation was launched on 27 January 2021, and ran until 26 March 2021.

The feedback from the consultation included:

• A strong feeling that despite some improvements in emotional health and wellbeing that there was a clear ongoing need for these services
• Strong positive feedback on the provision for those currently receiving support
• A need to better promote awareness of the offer
• An ask to extend the reach of services and provision to ensure that it reaches as many children and young people as possible
• Schools are broadly happy with the current offer and there was not a consensus on whether they wanted to directly commission services.

We Will

Following on from what we heard from the consultation, the Council’s key recommendations to its Leadership Team for Emotional Health and Wellbeing Support for Children and Young People include:

• Recognising the positive feedback from the consultation on existing provision, fund existing providers in schools to deliver refreshed and rescoped emotional health and wellbeing services
• Recognising the positive feedback from the consultation, fund existing providers in community-based settings to deliver refreshed and rescoped emotional health and wellbeing services, in line with the consultation themes
• Recognising the feedback on the need for increased and diverse provision in the community, make new funding available for new community-based initiatives to support children and young people’s emotional health and wellbeing.

We will work with providers and other stakeholders, the community and young people to:

• Increase reach and impact of services
• Ensure provision is as responsive as possible to changing needs, and that it takes into account significant milestones such as decisions about the future of Grenfell Tower
• Ensure provision is focused on celebrating the voices of children and young people
• Make sure that the proposed new community funding supports initiatives that meets the needs of children and young people, and
• Invite proposals from local community organisations around how they might access and use the new community funding.

Kensington and Chelsea Council has been working with some brilliant grassroot providers under the ‘Together 4 Grenfell’ umbrella to deliver services for adults in the North Kensington community.

With three years of the Grenfell Recovery Programme remaining, we recently launched a consultation to understand people’s views on these services and the broader offer and how we could improve our offer. The consultation ran from 1 February to 26 March 2021.

We received 97 survey responses and 36 stakeholders attended three focus groups.

What you told us

• 77 per cent were currently using local services to support their emotional health and wellbeing needs
• 66 per cent were 'very confident' or 'moderately confident' in accessing services
• 60 per cent felt the services were publicised to varying degrees of effectiveness
• 92 per cent currently using Together for Grenfell services said they were ‘very good’ or ‘good’
• 89 per cent using Together for Grenfell services told us their emotional health and wellbeing had ‘significantly improved’ or ‘slightly improved’
• 50 per cent said that services meet the diverse and cultural needs of the community ‘very well’ or ‘well’
• 70 per cent told us they would prefer to receive ‘face to face’ support with 49 per cent preferring ‘online’ support

Where we could improve

• 69 per cent felt ‘emotional health and wellbeing support for young adults’ was an area of need
• 66 per cent felt ‘support groups’ were needed
• 57 per cent felt 'support for elders to tackle social isolation and loneliness’ was a gap
• 40 per cent felt publicity was not effective and therefore improvement required

What’s next

• A series of recommendations will be discussed by Leadership Team in May
• We will be looking at an enhanced counselling and wellbeing service for adults
• We will be offering additional therapy to over 50s to help tackle isolation
• We will continue with a hybrid of face to face and virtual offers to meet the community’s needs
• We are developing a peer support programme for adults in the local community to launch in summer 2021

We consulted residents, local businesses and organisations about the proposals in our second round of consultation. We held two online chat sessions as well as an online survey to gather views.

A total of 122 surveys were received with 90 stakeholders attending the two live chat sessions. We would like to thank all residents and stakeholders that took the time to share their views.

Here is a snapshot of what you told us:

•  67 per cent objected to the principle of providing new homes, improved outdoor space and flexible affordable community use/ workspace on the site, with 20 per cent of respondents supporting this
• When presented with a choice of three building heights for the tallest building (20, 18 and 16 stories), a large percentage of respondents chose not to answer this question. This is likely to indicate that respondents did not support any of these options. A third of respondents (33 per cent) chose 16 stories.
• 54 per cent objected or strongly objected to the proposed large landscaped central open space with an increased area, surrounded by smaller garden and park areas. This was largely due to respondents being against the scheme or height of buildings or because of the proposed movement of graffiti walls. Twenty nine per cent strongly supported or supported this approach
• There were mixed views about the location of the ball court. Twenty three per cent would prefer to see a ball court within the newly created open space while 22 per cent wanted a ball court north of Trellick Tower and 23 per cent would prefer no ball court
• When asked about a preferred location for public art space/graffiti wall, 24 per cent would prefer to see it located north of Trellick Tower, with 23 per cent preferring it to be integrated into the newly created central open space and 22 per cent wanting to see it on the eastern section of Meanwhile Gardens/Great Western Road Bridge. However 36 per cent would like to see the public art space/graffiti wall in another location, the vast majority of these indicating they would like to see it remain in its current location.

Following this feedback and to address these objections, we wanted to go beyond the traditional methods of consultation and have therefore been working closely with CoMMET (The Council of Meanwhile, Metronomes, Edenham and Trellick) and the Cheltenham Estate Community Steering Group (CECSG) in a number of workshop sessions to explain in more detail how the current design for the site was developed and to receive more targeted feedback to inform the next stage of design.

 Following these meetings and the two rounds of consultation, we have increased the rounds of consultation from three to four and are now looking at discussing the updated proposals for the site with the wider community.

 We will also be holding face-to-face events as part of round three to try and reach more members of the local community as we recognise not everyone has internet access so may not have been able to attend the online consultation sessions. It is important that as many local residents as possible who live near the site have their say.

We asked for views on the proposal to make Bonchurch Road (between Portobello Road and Wornington Road) one-way except pedal cycles and to stop motor vehicles from entering Munro Mews from Bonchurch Road.

We received no objections or comments to this proposal.

We have implemented this proposal.

We asked for views on the proposal to convert Henry Dickens Court Estate residents’ bay No. 23 to a disabled bay.

We had one letter of support for this proposal.

We have implemented this proposal.