Ian Wilder 1947 - 2009

West End Extra - by JAMIE WELHAM Published: 31 July 2009

Ian Wilder A champion of West End who led clean-up crusade City mourns loss of Ian Wilder who fought drunks and dealers Ian Wilder, a Conservative councillor, who dogmatically fought to clean up the West End from drunks and drug dealers for more than 15 years, has died aged 62. He gained the nickname the “video vigilante”, for his all night walkabouts, in which he recorded scenes of violence in the West End, once filming an attack in which a man died, to expose what he saw as the impotence of the council’s licensing enforcement. Cllr Wilder, a former chartered accountant for the music impresario Harvey Goldsmith, who represented the West End ward since 1994, passed away on Tuesday in Houston, Texas, where he was receiving chemotherapy after a long ­battle with cancer. Friends and colleagues will remember him as a man of action, a man so committed to the daily battles of residents in Soho, Chinatown and Mayfair, that he dragged himself from his hospital bed to join meetings over video-phone. His long line of achievements include laying his hands on the binding 175-year-old covenant that consecrated the land on which under-threat St Mark’s Church stood for “ecclesiastical purposes forever”. The miraculous find ultimately persuaded the council to throw out plans to turn the Grade I-listed building into a health spa. He was also a vociferous defender of the much-derided eastern end of Oxford Street, campaigning against what he called “historical vandalism” of the famous street by the coming of Crossrail, and becoming a thorn in the side of the retail body the New West End Company, who he believed were trying to turn the street into a faceless high street. His more left-field ideas, many of which captured the imagination of the public and the media, included an audacious bid to bring Formula 1 to the West End, and calls for a Japanese-style Monorail to run the length of Oxford Street. Cllr Wilder grew up with his parents, who owned a tailors business in Soho. He is survived by his wife, Dora, son and daughter. Tributes have flooded in from fellow councillors on both sides of the political spectrum. The Lord Mayor of Westminster Duncan Sandys said: “Ian was an incredibly hard-working, respected, valued councillor who committed himself to improving the lives of local residents and making Westminster a better place to live. “In 15 years as a councillor, he was passionate about the West End and did a huge amount of good work in improving the area, helping to transform it into the world famous destination that it is today. Ian will be sorely missed and we offer our sincerest condolences to his family and friends.” Paul Dimoldenberg, leader of the Labour group on the city council said: “Ian was a lovely man who fought for the West End and for local residents. He will be sadly missed by everyone who knew him. Never afraid to say what he believed to be the truth, he spearheaded a one-man crusade to clean up the West End. He ruffled feathers and courted controversy but his motives were never about personal publicity but about getting things done. He overflowed with ideas. He simply wanted the best for the West End.”