Bollards To NIMBYs

Who will join me in a petition to save this peice of vital heritage?!

Olympia resident had it right over in the comments there:

“West Kensington resident here. I can’t believe I have wasted so much time worrying about issues like Haiti, or the fact that half the world’s children are living in poverty, when all along the real issue was right here on my doorstep. Hats off to Ms Albert, and all those like her. When I join the procession of young professionals from Barons Court and West Kensington tubes in the evenings, or settle down for a pint in one of the area’s many gastropubs of a weekend, I too can’t help thinking of the extent to which West Kensington has been left behind other areas like Hammersmith and Shepherd’s Bush.

We must not rest until this rusty stump is removed, and West Kensington is afforded the respect it deserves.”

Not that I’m agreeing with Rusty Stumps Lady, but West Kensington is shitty, as anyone who’s got off the tube there would know. Boarded up and empty shops make the area look considerably worse than Shepherds Bush or Hammersmith. Not that it’s not /at the same time/ awash with young professionals. Isn’t everywhere?

Also, it’s not like money is being diverted away from Haiti or UNICEF to local councils to pay for rusty stump removal. To bracket those issues as more important than shitty local services is disingenuous. Residents are entitled to hold their local councils to account for the services they provide, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading Londonist.

The issue here surely isn’t specifically the rusty stump – the woman has a fair point about investment in Shepherd’s Bush & Hammersmith vs the rest of the borough.

If West Kensington didn’t have the word ‘Kensington’ in it, would there be anything left to make it a desirable area at all? It’s way more run down than Hammersmith or Shepherd’s Bush. I’m surprised that residents of actual Kensington haven’t demanded the name back… Maybe we should re-brand it as East Hammersmith in order to stop the reverse snobbery.

In no uncertain terms, the rusty stump opposite West Kensington tube station is the tip of the iceberg. It is blatantly obvious that if this eyesore, or indeed the boarded up shop front building was sitting on Fulham Broadway, it would have been dealt with years ago. West Kensington IS the forgotten part of the borough. To this day it amazes me that the residents have not risen in revolt against the council for the way the area has been neglected – as witnessed in something as simple as the lack of road sweeping. The council has for all intents and purposes allowed West Kensington to rot. The Earl’s Court/West Kensington redevelopment quoted in the article above was not the Council’s idea and if the private investor does not follow through then it will never materialise. I have lived in West Kensington for years and I’ve seen the area gentrify significantly but this can only continue with the direct involvement of the council. The derelict/boarded up building opposite the tube was sold in a forced sale by the council, only 8 years after the fire that caused the initial damage. How many years would it have been had that building been sitting on Fulham Broadway ? So no, the rusty stump is not the only thing that the people of West Kensington have to complain about – we are quite frankly fed up at how our area has been neglected for so long.