Cally Road hoarding finally removed and pavement restored at 35-45 Caledonian Road

Posted on August 5, 2013 by William Perrin

cally road hoardingResident Cabe sends in this photo of the hoardings finally moving back at this comedy building site on the Caledonian Road (my words not Cabe’s), former site of TG Lynes pipe fitting suppliers and plumbers.  The site has been ‘under development’ for years with huge hoardings jutting out into the pavement.  As its in a conservation area I presume that the planners will enforce a return for the charming period shop fronts of this facade that adorned Lyons and were preserved by the longevity of their tenancy.

These buildings have a complicated planning history – including attempts I think to turn them into an NHS drop in centre and a restaurant.  We wrote about them in 2007 and the latest is P102751 from two years ago.  Do any readers know what’s happening?

 

Posted in Planning, Licensing and Regulation | 14 Comments

Appalling, dangerous road surface at junction Euston Road and York Way

Posted on August 2, 2013 by William Perrin

road surface euston road

There’s an unusually bad set of dips and bumps in the road at the junction of Euston Road and York Way at the moment.  There has been some bad patching of the road here in the past and tyre-scrub of turning HGVs and buses has ruckled the road surface up in an odd way.  The real danger comes when you are cycling through it – the dips and grooves seem to grab your front wheel alarmingly.  The photo can’t quite do it justice.  I reported it over a week ago, making clear how dangerous it seems but as of yesterday, no action.

Posted in Broken Stuff on the Street | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Heritage and modern styles collide in shiny shiny building on Pentonville Road

Posted on August 2, 2013 by William Perrin

shiny top building

An odd new building has been completed at the very busy, hectic junction between Pentonville Road and Kings Cross Road. As the photo shows it has a very shiny glass top on top of a plain Victorian exterior.  As you move around the planes of the mirror show shifting views. According to the blurb it lights up at night.  Otherwise, the heritage shop front patterns and brickwork are nicely done.  Some will think it striking, others won’t be so sure.  It’s commerical/retail unit.  As you walk around that area, it’s salutary what a bad road system it is.

Posted in Architecture | Leave a comment

Kings Cross cemetery station and mortuary Randell’s Road

Posted on July 30, 2013 by William Perrin

kings cross mortuary station 1954

A rare 1954 photograph of the Kings Cross cemetery station on Randell’s Road/Rufford Street, replaced in the 1960s by the concrete plant now owned by Cemex.  This was the London end of a short lived North London funerary service, rather less successful than its famous south London necropolis cousin.  The wedge-shaped half tower, in poor repair here was highly distinctive.

I won’t repeat all the background here as several websites do a great job – this 1954 article from The Railway Magazine, the magnificent Ian Visits, where Ian excelled himself with plans and modern pictures of all the key sites and this lovely synopsis of a talk by Martin Dawes who wrote a book on the railway funerary service, with extract below. It was Martin’s book that tipped me off to the existence of the picture above in the Islington Local History Centre where the staff were enormously helpful in tracking down the picture and scanning it.

‘”The Builder” gave a review shortly after its opening describing the dilapidated surroundings, with mud and squalor all around. The building itself was impressive with an unusual spire at its southern end which was wedge shaped. The entrance was on the upper story which gave direct access from street level. There were separate entrances for coffins and mourners. The platforms were on the lower level, with a flight of stairs for the mourners, and a hydraulic lift for the coffin. A mortuary was provided free of charge by the company in an attempt to encourage the populace to remove bodies quickly from their homes. Within the mortuary, gas jets were continuously lit under exhaust ducts to make sure there was a continuous flow of air – remember these were the days before refrigerators. The lit stained glass windows must have made an impressive sight for passengers coming out of gasworks tunnel during the evening.’

 

Posted in Kings Cross local history | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Euston Area Plan for consultation

Posted on July 30, 2013 by William Perrin

EAP consultation map and text resized

Euston Station is Victorian Kings Cross station’s great niece from the 1960s in some sort of weird Oscar Wilde play.

‘To lose one high speed proposal may be regarded as a misfortune….’

anyway an important consultation document has just come out, the Euston Area Plan.  I haven’t read it yet but some aspects will be of interest to our audience, such as:

‘7. Improving the environment along Euston Road: for pedestrians and cyclists’

As long term area planning sufferers in Kings Cross will know, this Euston Area Plan will be very important for setting the parameters for the subsequent re-working of Euston. I may post something on it over the summer if there are topics of interest to KX.  There is a confusing mix of websites, including a bespoke one for the plan but the gist is that:

‘Consultation on the draft Euston Area Plan is now underway. Consultation on the draft plan and Sustainability Appraisal Report will run from 29th July to 7th October.

Here is the Euston Area Plan – 128 pages. Here is a summary of the plan as some boards from an exhibition.

The plan provides a framework for change in the Euston area over the next 20 years, and has been jointly prepared by Camden Council, the Greater London Authority and Transport for London. It seeks to ensure that, whether or not the new High Speed rail link (HS2) goes ahead, despite Camden Council’s strong opposition to HS2, we can get the best possible future for the residents, businesses and visitors to Euston.’

Once you have had a look at the draft EAP please complete the online questionnaire by clicking the link: ONLINE QUESTIONNAIRE

Other ways of viewing information and commenting are below:

Speak to the Euston Area Plan team at pop up events throughout the summer (see below)

Look at an online 3D model of the proposals shown in the draft plan by clicking here [this link was broken – W]

View hard copies of the draft Euston Area Plan at St Pancras and Camden Town libraries

Contact the EAP team at eustonareaplan@camden.gov.uk for help with commenting or to request translations or copies of materials

You can use Camden’s textlink service on 020 7974 6866 if you are hard of hearing and need help

Dates and locations of pop up events

9th August, 8am – 12pm, Euston Square Gardens, Euston Road, NW1

12th August, 3pm – 7pm, Cumberland Market open space, NW1

13th August, 3pm – 7pm, St James Gardens, Cardington Street, NW1

17th September, 8am – 12pm, St James Gardens, Cardington Street, NW1

18th September, 3pm – 7pm, Euston Square Gardens, Euston Road, NW1

19th September, 3pm – 7pm, Cumberland Market open space, NW1

26th September, 7.30pm – 9.30pm, Hpod, Cumberland Market, NW1 3RH

If you have any questions mail these people eustonareaplan@camden.gov.uk

Posted in Big developments, Planning, Licensing and Regulation | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Traffic issues for proposed hotel 62-68 York Way

Posted on July 25, 2013 by William Perrin

62-68 york way isometric of bulidingTraffic caused by the proposed new hotel has been raised with me a few times.  So I shot some video of the traffic situation on Wharfdale Road, just opposite where the proposed guest entrance will be for the Whitbread Hub Hotel between York Way and Crinan Street.  As the videos below show (filmed on Wednesday morning 24 July at about 0830) there are issues with the large swing out bus drivers take when making the tight, right-angled turns off York Way. In particular for North-bound buses coming up York Way and turning right: some take a wide route around this tight corner which also aligns them for bus stop J a few metres to the East of the proposed entrance on the North side of the road.  The bus coming from the South practically touches the North pavement at the apex of its turn.

In this video the South-bound 390 swings out into the road before coming hard back against the North (joke) cycle lane to align for the bus stop.

But in this film the North bound 91 and 59 are more disciplined in their turn, but illustrate just how quickly queues develop here.

It seems, prima facie that taxis, airport transfers etc picking up and dropping off at the proposed entrance will get in the way of buses.  It’s also salutary to see what an aggressive traffic environment it is for pedestrians as traffic comes around the two corners totally blind to who ever might be crossing on the desire line to and from the York Way south pavement.  However moving the guest entrance around the corner to York Way won’t help and would be strongly opposed if it were moved to Crinan Street, where the goods entrance is proposed that already disconcerts local residents..

Posted in Planning, Licensing and Regulation, Road Safety in Kings Cross, Transport | 1 Comment

Cemex – still an anti-social neighbour, time to shut them down for good

Posted on July 24, 2013 by William Perrin

noisy Cemex plant Rufford StreetCemex have a concrete plant next to Rufford Street, they bought it from Readymix.  It’s a legacy of the old Kings Cross when people just thought they could dump noisy bits of industry here because no one cared.   The plant was built in the early 1960s on the site of an old, architecturally distinctive mortuary of which only the forbidding wall survives.  At the planning inquiry the inspector said that he thought it didn’t matter that the plant was noisy as the steam trains would drown it out (seriously) and was backed up on appeal by the Minister.  As the picture shows the plant is cheek-by-jowl with houses.

Over the years the plant has been badly run and is noisy and dusty.  The lorries gouge huge holes in the tarmac as they turn on Randell’s road.  Everyone who lives nearby knew there was a plant there when they moved in (you can’t miss the razor wire and din) but it doesn’t operate in a sociable way at all.  Neighbours have taken the plant on to limit its opening times and to manage the noise and dust.  But it keeps slipping back into its old ways.  We used video on this website in the early days of YouTube to capture the nuisance caused and I even ended up in a Cemex environmental awareness video.  But they are playing up again.  Stuart Cottis lives next door and copied me in on this email exchange with Ian Southcott, UK Community Affairs Manager at CEMEX UK updating on current issues and referring back to the last set of incidents in September 2012:

Further to your email below improvements were made but I am afraid things have got out of hand again. Your plant is working all hours – today there was a huge din and screech at 0700 when tippers arrived and reversed etc. with their warning hooters at full volume. We have just been listening to the cacophony of your vehicles too this evening – hence the plant is still operating as late as 1945. It’s just not considerate and not appropriate in what is now a predominantly residential area. Please revert to the sensible hours agreed some time ago with Islington Council.

Also, there are a couple of techniques that you are employing that are very irritating and I wonder whether they can be mitigated or done elsewhere at your other plants that are not near residential properties. They are: (1) a task where a man uses a large hammer to knock bits of concrete out of your mixers usually at the end of the day; because of the reverberation from the metal of the vehicle this is extremely irritating and (2) another cleaning technique where your mixers go round and round and make a really annoying ear-penetrating and continuous noise as bits of concrete swish around inside of the mixers.

I have copied in my local councillor and also our community website.

I’d be very grateful if you could ensure that actions are taken within 5 business days to stop the noise torture. I don’t want to have to escalate this.

It would be good too if you could reduce the amount of dust you’re causing to enter my property in this hot weather as all of my windows are open. Smartening up the site further (it has improved a bit) would be good as its definitely an eyesore.

Cemex have offered a meeting to discuss. As they have done in the past when neighbours raise problems with them.  But the simple fact is that Cemex’s London management structures are weak the the plant keeps sliding back into unacceptable modes of operation.

Back in 2006, Islington’s Environmental Protection team engaged Cemex and forced them into a noise action plan.  The formal correspondence and action plan are in the two letters in this file.  In my opinion Cemex are repeatedly in breach of this action plan and the time has come for the council to take legal action to prevent the plant from operating.

Posted in Anti Social Behaviour, Crime etc, Noisy CEMEX concrete plant Rufford Street | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Noisy council depot in Outram Place disturbs local people

Posted on July 24, 2013 by William Perrin

noisy council depot outram place

The council depot in Outram Place (map) is causing a lot of noise that disturbs local residents. Council workmen a few years ago began bricking up car parking bays under the 29-36 Outram Place block and turning the area into a work yard.  An Outram Place resident has contacted me and forwarded a couple of emails:

The noise in the house is audible through the walls, but even more than that is the noise of the mechanical street sweepers and the guys driving them and talking amongst themselves at the crack of dawn every day. I know different people have to work at different times, but this is a residential area after all and to operate offices from a residential garage ideal for the community.

[now] they are building a dressing room backing on to my living room and this will cause even more noise.  It is really stressing me out being woken up so early every morning before work.

recently there has been a mechanised service depot introduced into our car parking spaces behind the property. I am writing to voice my concerns about how this area is being used and wish to ask for it to be removed immediately.

Every day I am getting woken up about 5-6am by people shouting and people slamming doors, vehicles being turned on and people making noise. All of this is happeing in what used to be a car parlking space behind my property.

The guys start making noise from 5-6am every morning. This is not acceptable in a residential area. Today I got woken up by someone drilling in the room, I have not been notified of anything being done to our property and low and behold it was being done by the Mechanised service depot. This needs to be relocated as this is not an industrial state, the council have taken over a residential area for this.

As the council have been using this building for the past three years, could you please give me a breakdown of how much the mechanical services depot has put towards the service charges?

Can you please also provide the planning permission that was submitted when the council has changed the usage of our residential block of flats into offices for the mechanised services depot, as I don’t remember being consulted or informed?

Please could you put an action plan together for

A timeline for when this depot will be closed down and relocated.
Reimbursement for every person who has been affected by the noise.
Plan to put money into the services fund for residents who have overpaid service charges unfairly. The amount of space and people going through this depot they should be paying at least 50% of the service charges I have paid.

I attended the site this morning and engines were being left running, doors slammed etc without apparent regard for local people.  The area is a yard enclosed by brick walls that reflect and magnify the sound.  The pictures show how many lorries are based there and on Google Maps we can see at least four street sweepers and five trucks, NSA-style.  the workers who use the depot work hard to keep our streets clean, but it doesn’t need to be as noisy as this.

To me it seems an open and shut case of nuisance under the environmental health act.  Noise from a workplace is repeatedly and plainly audible in a residential dwelling and causes a nuisance to the person that resides there in waking them up, affecting their right to quiet enjoyment of their property.  The council’s environmental protection officers are obliged to enforce the act against the council or its contractors as against any other person.

outram_fire

Then there is the matter of planning permission.  This large secluded yard with concealed car parking used to be a bad place. It was a regular haunt of sex workers with their clients in cars, indeed when i lived nearby I bought handheld search light I used to shine at cars occupied by drug takers and sex workers in the yard and on Randell’s Road to scare them off (it worked really well) and helped get a gate on the entrance.   The bays were regular dumping spots for needles and condoms.  Arson was a frequent problems.  Putting the yard to use, making it somewhere that has regular footfall and bricking up the bays has I think reduced the problems of ASB there – despite one tragedy.

But it is a dense residential area and very noisy use seems wrong.  Indeed the Delhi-Outram estates (named after roads named for key aspects of the 1857 Indian Rebellion) are relatively quiet, peaceful places with no through traffic, making the contrast the more severe.  So if there is no planning permission it needs to be sought retrospectively with proper local consultation and either this space put to a more appropriate use or stringent controls on working hours and noise introduced to save local residents.  I would check for planning permission but the council’s web search thing is broken as I type.  Elsewhere such parking bays have been turned into housing units and this must be possible here.

Posted in Anti Social Behaviour, Crime etc, Planning, Licensing and Regulation | Tagged , , | 5 Comments