North Kings Cross enivronment – Council follow up

Posted on March 5, 2007 by William Perrin

Islington_logo_1_3 Simon Kaufman a Senior Street Environment Officer at Islington Council has just got in touch following the last North Kings Cross Environmental Task Group (partially reported here).  All helpful.

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Following on from our last meeting, I would like to update you on some of the issues that we have dealt with:

  • Havelock Street and Brydon Walk – Leaflets have been distributed to the residents regarding correct procedures of refuse and lumber
  • Kember and Freeling – Refuse is now being collected daily
  • Carnoustie Drive – Extra collection for the domestic properties situated at the back of Caledonian Road to alleviate dumping
  • There are still some outstanding issues from the last meeting that we will tackle over the next two weeks
  • Dog fouling stickers to be placed around Bingfield and Havelock – we are still waiting for them to come into stock but hopefully by the end of the week
  • Moving the litterbins on Caledonian Road away from the kerbside

We have just received some issues from Will via email.  We will deal with the issues that Street Environment enforce and pass the others onto Highways.

Please let me know if you require any further information.  If you wish to organise a walkabout in the area, please contact me and we can set something up.  Also please let me know if there is another meeting planned.

Regards

Simon

Posted in Street Tipping, Mess, Trash | Leave a comment

Tale of the tape……..

Posted on March 5, 2007 by William Perrin

Tale_of_the_tape Wow – this site has just had its 10,000th page view.  This isn’t bad for a site only aimed at people who live within 500 metres of each other in Kings Cross. Internet statistics are funny things but the following might be of interest:

  • This website began on 4 July 2006 as to record the things going on in Kings Cross to clean up the streets. There have been 160 posts/articles.
  • There are three authors so far – me, Stephan and Sophie. 
  • The site functions as a sort of community environment magazine – recording and informing local issues. 
  • Average page views a day are between 40 and 50
  • The site has links to about 12 local issues videos on YouTube – in aggregate the videos have been viewed 2,800 times.  The videos have been especially useful for noise pollution issues – the polluting sound comes over well
  • Updates happen about a couple of times a week on average
  • As with most ‘blogs’ only 10% of people comment, the majority are happy to watch. 
  • Paul Convery, Stuart Cottis and Alistair Murray are the most prolific commenters
  • Stephan Schulte’s excellent Kings Cross community email list seems to drive viewers (he mentions something, readership goes up that day).
  • 35 people subscribe to the email update service driven by Feedburner (they get one email per 24 hours when the site is updated – the mail has all the latest posts in and photos)
  • The site runs on the Typepad blogging software, costing about £8 a month.  It is very easy to use.
  • The site has been on the Guardian discussion site and Chris ‘Brent Spar’ Rose has featured it as an example of ultra-local campaigning on his site.
  • If I get around to claiming it, I shall get a small amount of money from Islington Council from the West Area Community Chest to meet some costs – this has no impact on editorial policy.
Posted in How to get things done locally | Leave a comment

Street environment issues, Saturday 3 March

Posted on March 3, 2007 by William Perrin

Waste_59b_northdown_street A walk around Kings Cross this morning revealed the following problems (with picture gallery here):

Reported to Contact Islington

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Kings Cross development – judicial review blessed by High Court

Posted on February 27, 2007 by William Perrin

GasholderslargeThe Kings Cross Railway Lands Group continues to battle for the community – the judicial review has moved onto a proper judicial footing.  This is the last chance to have another look at the Argent plans.  You can find out more at the KXRLG website here.  Diana Shelley has put out a press release on behalf of the group.  She reports:

"Members of King’s Cross Think Again campaign were delighted to hear that their application for judicial review had been recognised for its seriousness and urgency by the High Court.

In an order made last Friday, Mr Justice Collins gave directions for the hearing of the challenge to LB Camden’s decision to grant planning consent last November to the controversial King’s Cross development.

Because of the urgency, with developers Argent hoping to start demolishing heritage buildings within weeks, he ordered a ‘rolled up’ hearing of both the campaigners’ case for permission to have a judicial review and the actual judicial review hearing itself. The hearing is likely to be in April.

Leigh Day & Co, solicitors for the King’s Cross Railway Lands Group which is leading the campaign, argue that councillors were wrongly advised at the November meeting about their right to reconsider the provisional consent given by their predecessors in March 2006. A second key issue is the obligation planning officers have to return an application to councillors if there has been a material change in planning circumstances.

Mr Justice Collins stated in his order he considered ‘both grounds are likely to be considered arguable’.

As well as clearing the way for a judicial review, Mr Justice Collins ordered that buildings of historical interest which are threatened by the current plans should not be demolished in the meantime."

Posted in Planning, Licensing and Regulation | Leave a comment

A bed for the night – Rufford Street

Posted on February 27, 2007 by William Perrin

Rufford_binsIf anyone is interested in a ‘Bed, divan mattress set, used, slightly damp with free folding bed‘ – come and pick one up in Rufford Street – reported to Contact Islington Tuesday 0800

Posted in Street Tipping, Mess, Trash | Leave a comment

How Many Betting Parlours Does King’s Cross Need?

Posted on February 25, 2007 by Stephan Schulte

Composite This morning, Sunday 25 Feb, I went over to Gray’s Inn Road to buy a paper and pastry.  On the corner of Birkenhead Street and Gray’s Inn Road I discovered some notices posted on signposts outside the former police station.

To my surprise, I found that these were notices for a planning application to Camden Council by William Hill to convert 345 Gray’s Inn Road, WC1X 8PX from a Police Station to a Betting Shop.  In addition, the consultation period for this application had expired on 16 February.

If you want to see the actual application, go to the Camden website, look under Planning for Application No. 2007/0124 – Change of use from police station to betting shop (Class A2).

As it now appears local residents can no longer object to this application, I have asked our Councillor Paul Convery what, if anything, those interested can do to prevent what I perceive to be a further degradation of the area.  As King’s Cross already has the following betting and gaming establishments operating, can there be any justification for yet another.

Related Establishments Now Operating – Please see attached map (click photo at top of this post)

Ladbrokes
5-7 Euston Road

Better Betting
286-288 Pentonville Road

William Hill
258 Pentonville Road

Related – Gaming
Play 2 Win
1A Euston Road

I understand that Camden Council must accept all applications, but would hope that they too see that an additional establishment of this nature will send the wrong signal to proper shops that might reconsider locating in the area.  I have a hard time seeing the glorious future of a re-developed Channel Tunnel Rail Link, St. Pancras, and King’s Cross Stations, if the final neighbourhood is made up of pirate bookstores, sex shops, betting parlour and arcades!

I accept that this is a cross-border situation, but hope the members of Islington and exercise some control over this situation.

When i find out what next steps can be taken I will advise.

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Kings Cross – meeting with Network Rail

Posted on February 16, 2007 by William Perrin

Kings_cross_station_3_9Cllr Convery and Stephan Schulte convened a meeting with Network Rail today.  Network Rail fielded a substantial team led by Ian Fry the Project Director for the Kings Cross refurbishment.  Representatives of major local property developments and businesses attended (thanks to Stefan for arranging and to MacMillan, The Guardian, Parabola and Kings Place).  We had an open and frank exchange of views, but in a constructive way.  We all agreed that the meeting should have happened some time ago. Network Rail made the following points:

  • the refurbishment is important for the rail network, including the need for a new platform
  • if there was a simple way of engineering access from the East and North it would have been done
  • inserting access now was a complex and substantial engineering task.  this was not to say that it couldn’t be done, but that to do so would require a major change to current plans and would be very difficult.

The Access Alliance (i just made that up – couldn’t think of another name for an unholy alliance of property developers, businesses, councillors and residents – almost a post-modern ‘community’) said:

  • there was very strong feeling about the issue locally amongst a community that has lived with the station through thick and thin over many generations
  • major businesses such as MacMillan and The Guardian had and intended to relocate to Kings Cross in anticipation of Eastern and Northern access for their staff – both for the convenience of a major transport hub and for staff safety and security
  • the refurbishment of Kings Cross was welcome and a huge, complex engineering task. In comparison to this, the challenges of access North and East, such as through a bridge over the tracks were small
  • If this access had been planned in properly from the outset major changes would not be required now
  • Islington Council would work closely with Camden members throughout the planning process
  • the community had a long history of fighting planning battles – the CTRL bridge noise and vibration insulated bridge over the ECML was vastly more expensive than any footbridge over the tracks.

Network Rail said it was happy to engage with parties on improving York Way (as were Camden planning officers).  The community asked whether a commitment could be given about engaging on developing access options.  Network Rail said that they needed to reflect on the meeting and asked for a week before coming back with an answer. 

The tone of the meeting was helpful, so let’s see what Network Rail come back with.  Thanks to everyone who gave their time – any views from attendees (i may have missed some bits) or others welcome in comments to this post or by email to me.  In the margins there was encouraging interest from Network Rail in involvement in community work – will report further.

Posted in Kings Cross Station Refurbishment | 1 Comment

Addis Restaurant

Posted on February 16, 2007 by Sophie Talbot

Addis My personal vote for best local restaurant goes to… Addis! I love the relaxed atmosphere, the beautiful Ethiopian furnishings, the friendly staff, the Ethiopian beer (when they have it in) and the fantastic food at affordable prices. It’s lovely to go with friends so that you can all share your main meals served on top of an Injera (a kind of outsize slightly lemony pikelet or thin crumpet) so you all dip in and eat with your fingers. The starters are wonderful too. Unless you go for the really spicy dishes (which I do), the food is delicately spiced and wonderfully fresh. Top marks from me, I think we are lucky to have it nearby. It’s opposite Tesco at the south end of The Cally.  http://www.addisrestaurant.co.uk

Posted in Food and Drink | 1 Comment