Treaty Street tipping around electricity sub station

Posted on July 4, 2006 by William Perrin

There is a long running problem with tipping of waste including abandoned cars and broken glass around the electricity substation building on Treaty Street.  the site is right by the entrance to a primary school – the kids have to walk by it on their way into the school

Treaty_st_moped

G817mfltreatyst


Treaty_street_tipping

the pics show the sort of tipping there has been here over the past few years.  the moped skeleton is there right now (7 july) It is not clear who owns the land around the substation and is thus responsible for cleaning and securing it – ICSL is looking into this on behalf of the NKXETG

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Fencing – Carnoustie Drive and Pembroke Street

Posted on July 4, 2006 by William Perrin

Wooden fencing seperates the above roads from the Channel Tunnel Rail Link works area.  Behind the fencing is about an acre of unobserved scrub land with about 20yo trees.  The fencing is rotting and needs replacing.  there are two large holes in it.  Drug users have been observed getting over the fence to take drugs on the other side.

Carnoustiefence

The NKXETG is looking to get the fencing repaired or replaced with modern fencing, but not the sort that makes it look like a prison – that will only add to the harsh alienating landscape of the area.

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Bingfield Park – finishing off the refurbishment

Posted on July 4, 2006 by William Perrin

Bingfield Park used to be a magnet for anti-social behaviour.  It is hard to describe how bad it was.  Daily stolen moped Grands Prix would take place ending in the mopeds being burned out against a tree. All the lights were vandalised, there was no maintenance and the police would not come to a call-out there and it was a giant dog toilet.  Even in the scorching summer people would not use the park.  This satellite photo shows the park before refurbishment (click to get rid of the bubble and the park is the green feature off to the right).

The park was transformed by a huge expenditure by Islington Council using Section 106 money from nearby redevelopment.  the park is well lit, and maintained with a good football pitch, the Crumbles adventure playground has been refurbished, and now the park is a safe place to walk and for kids to play (thanks also to a huge effort by the local kids groups to provide activites for the local youth)

 

But like any piece of domestic DIY there is lots that needs finishing off.  Our councillors Paul Convery and Rupert Perry are pushing to get this done.  We also need some action on dog waste in an area used more and more by kids.  Will update on this.

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Tilloch Street access control

Posted on July 4, 2006 by William Perrin

Tilloch Street is a remnant of the old street layout before the slum clearances of the 1970s that resulted in the Bemerton Estate.  It is a small stub street between the Caledonian Road and Carnoustie Drive next to the Co-Op map

The street used to be bollarded-off by lockable bollards and attempts were made to put some flower tubs in etc and make it a pleasant pedestrian spot and prevent rat-running.

Tillochstreet

Kember_carnoustie_again

The bollards have been wrecked though and it is often home to a skip or waste tipping.  the NKX environmental taskgroup is trying to fix this.  will update here

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Outram Place sex worker and drugs issues

Posted on July 4, 2006 by William Perrin

Residents and police have had a long running campaign to clean up the parking bays underneath 29-35 Outram Place rough map

this section of Outram Place is so obscure it is not even on the map.  it is the blank space south of Randell’s Road.  Drug using sex workers from Kings Cross and Maiden Lane areas would bring their clients here in cars for out of the way sex acts and drug-taking.  the area was littered with drug taking apparatus, used condoms, stank of urine etc etc.

here are typical scenes from this Spring
63h90009

Syringe_outram_place_22_april

Homes for Islington who run outram place were not maintaining the area properly.  We have worked with them to fit a secure gate aross the entrance that has prevented car ingress and worked on improving the lighting.  Abuse of the area has fallen massively since the gate was fitted.  However sex workers are still occasionally using the bin bay with their clients. 

the next step in a long running saga is to put hoardings across the parking bays (which are undercrofts) and hopefully secure children’s art works to decorate the area and prevent graffitti appearing.  HfI are open to this and the Copenhagen Youth Project is costing art work for the hoardings.

on 4 July 2006 a mattress is dumped in the bay underneath 29 outram place.  in the warm weather sex workers or their pimps will bring their clients to outdoor venues such as this.  unless residents report it this sort of thing can stay unnoticed for ages

Matress29outram

UPDATE – on 5 july the matress had been removed – thanks to john eustace at HfI

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North Kings Cross Environmental Task Group (NKXETG)

Posted on July 4, 2006 by William Perrin

The council has set up a multi-agency group to tackle the more intractable environmental problems in North Kings Cross.  The group has as members: staff from the north kings cross project, the police, the council, ICSL the cleansing services people, local councillors for caledonian ward and residents. I chair that group as a resident.  The group has a problem solving flavour – residents and officials raise problems and we work together to get them resolved across the boudnaries that divide service provision.

The multi-agency problem solving approach is working on the ground.  I am always struck by how much the memebrs do want to improve thigns and get stuck in to solving problems.  But the group needs wider representation from residents and more regular attendence from councillors.

It is worth noting that this website is independent of the work of the group and does not represent its views nor the views of Islington Council, nor its contractors nor staff.  Realistically though this site does point to many of the issues the Group tries to tackle.

the minutes of the May meeting are here
Download minutes_of_etg_10_may_20061.doc

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keeping north kings cross clean and live-able

Posted on July 4, 2006 by William Perrin

i have set up this blog to keep a public record of actions on the local street environment in my neighbourhood of North Kings Cross in London.

by local street environment i mean everything that goes on on the streets and public places – from waste and litter to anti-social behaviour and planning

this may sound an odd thing to do but it is a very high priority for people that live here.  North Kings Cross has a long history of neglect and decay – it used to be a police-no-go-area and i shall post historic examples to show how bad it was.  But action by residents, the council, the voluntary sector and the police have turned it around.

by north kings cross (map) i mean the area is in general bounded by the canal to the south, the railway line to the north, york way to the west, and the caledonian (cally) road to the east

I shall in time stray outside this physical area to wider Kings Cross and South Islington.

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