Clerkenwell Liberal Democrats

Ghost is appealing against Islington Council Licensing Committee’s decision to shut them down pending a formal review in January.

The only information I have is that the appeal will be heard at a Licensing Committee on Monday 21st December at 2.00pm at Islington Town Hall.  At this stage I am not clear whether the meeting is in public or not.  A decision will be made at the end of the hearing.

Some of us are meeting the Islington Tribune at 10.30am outside the club on Monday morning for a photo.  All are welcome to join us.

Today, Clerkenwell’s Lib Dem Councillors are starting a campaign to get the Ghost Night Club closed down, following incessant disturbance, violence, noise, disorder, traffic chaos and now, a shooting.

Follow this link to our campaign web site, and  - if you live in one of the streets named there - sign our petition OR submit your own written comments to Islington Council by 30th December 2010.

We will be happy to help people make individual comments on the review, as these carry more weight than any petition.  Contact George Allan if you would like help.

There is a link to the Islington Gazette coverage of the shooting incident here.

If you can, please come to St James’ Church, Clerkenwell Close, tomorrow (15th December) to take part in an urgent mass-screening by the Antony Nolan Trust to find a bone marrow donor for Rachel Baughen.

Rachel has a rare form of leukaemia and urgently needs a transplant.  Many people will know her from her work at the Church, where her husband Andrew is the Vicar, and at Clerkenwell Parochial School, where she was the Chair of Governors and did so much to turn it around, with spectacular results.

The  screening is 12.00 noon-2.30pm and 4.30pm to 7.00pm.  You could be the donor Rachel needs.

The news is on the BBC site here and the Evening Standard here.

Ghost, the controversial night club in Farringdon Road, has been closed down, pending a formal “review” of its licence, by the Licensing Committee of Islington Council this afternoon.

The Police closed the club at 4.00am on Sunday 13th December, following a shooting incident which has left one man in hospital with serious gunshot wounds.  The Police then applied to Islington to extend the ban until the review had taken place.

This is only the latest episode.  Ghost opened in February 2009 and has been the subject of a tide of complaints about its management and the behaviour of its customers, ever since.  Despite two meetings with residents (the second on 30th November) nearby residents in Farringdon Road, Farringdon Lane, Ray Street and Pear Tree Court told its owner David Serlui that weekends had become intolerable and that his attempts to mitigate the problems had been ineffective.  These included noisy parking and door-slamming, loud music from parked cars, broken glass, litter, customers urinating and conducting loud conversations under their windows at 4.30am.

The options open to the Licensing Committee will include revoking the licence completely, altering its conditions, removing the right to carry out some licensable activities, curtailing its hours and removing Mr Serlui as its designated premises supervisor.

I will ensure that nearby residents  have every opportunity to make their views known in the forthcoming review, and will post details of the timescale for this as soon as I can.

The Council has installed 350 new cycle racks in the last year – putting Islington streets ahead of other London Boroughs in providing safe places for people to lock their bikes. Locally, new bike stands have been put in on Clerkenwell Close, Amwell Street, Exmouth Market, Goswell Road, Myddleton Street, Hardwick Street, Green Terrace, Tysoe Street, and St. John Street.

In August 2007 there were 420 racks in Islington.  By August 2008 the council had doubled that number to 880.  Today there are over 1230 cycle racks on roads all around Islington – more than double the number than in neighbouring Labour-run Hackney.

A June 2009 report by the London Assembly found that 45% of people would cycle more if there was better cycle parking.  Research conducted by TfL showed that the availability of cycle parking and the security of parked bikes remain the two biggest cycling-related concerns.

Councillor Greg Foxsmith, Islington’s Liberal Democrat councillor responsible for transport and the environment, said:

“I cycle, and would recommend it as a great way to get around Islington.  The Liberal Democrats want to support people to take up cycling, and people need to know that they have somewhere secure to park their bike when they visit the shops, the doctor, church, or while they’re at work.

“That’s why this Liberal Democrat council has tripled the number of cycle racks on our streets in the last two years.  We’re committed to making Islington one of the most cycle-friendly boroughs in London.”

Craft Central is opening its “Made in Clerkenwell“  open house today, at Pennybank Chambers, 33 St John Square EC1M 4DS and at Cornwell House (21 Clerkenwell Green EC1R 0DX).

Craft Central - previously the Clerkenwell Green Association - has provided a home for hundreds of craft-based industries in the area for many years.  You will be able to visit up to 70 of these and buy or even commission new work from the craft person direct.  Jewellery, fashion, accessories, ceramics and other home items are all available - and cup cakes too.

There is a web site here.  Further details can be obtained from Craft Central on 020 7252 0276.  Admission is £2.50 or free for under-16s.

The event is on 26th November (5-8pm), 27th November 12.00-8.00pm and 28th-29th November 12.00-6.00pm.

Accident and Emergency services at Whittington Hospital, Archway are under threat and could be cut under plans put forward by local NHS chiefs.

The plans were revealed in a letter from North London NHS boss Rachel Tyndall which sets out four options for reorganising NHS services across North London. All four options described in the letter would see Whittington designated as a local hospital with ‘no emergency services’, which will mean casualty services being axed.

Local residents and councillors have reacted furiously to the news that A&E services at the Whittington are under threat and have launched a petition against the closure. You can sign the petition by clicking here. Book mark the campaign website to keep up-to-date with news

Shadow MP for Islington North Rhodri Jamieson-Ball said:
“This is outrageous! Local people need to know that in an emergency there is somewhere nearby they can go to get the treatment they need. The NHS should not be considering cutting the emergency service they provide here in Islington.

“If the A&E service at the Whittington is cut, people in the north of the borough will have to go to the Royal Free or UCLH for their nearest emergency service. That’s too far. The Lib Dems will be campaigning to save the Accident and Emergency service at the Whittington.

“What really worries me is the prospect of even more cuts, the Government’s handling of the economy means there will be less money to go around and more services could be axed.”

Local resident, Lorraine Constantinou said:
“I don’t know what the NHS think they are playing at. It’s obvious we need emergency services to stay at the Whittington.

“Local residents have all paid National Insurance for years. The least we expect is it that if the worst happens, we can go to the A&E at our local hospital to get help.”

Facts

1. 240 people a day use the A&E at the Whittington.
2. The only A&E services in the area if the Whittington casualty unit closes will be: UCH, Homerton and the Royal Free. This follows on from the closure of Barts A&E in 1995.
3. The plans to cut A&E services at the Whittington were revealed in a letter sent out by Rachel Tyndall, Chief Executive for North London Central NHS, which was sent to all relevant hospital Chief Executives and Medical Directors.

The Farringdon area is turning out to be “geotechnically exciting and every bit as challenging as we thought”, Crossrail’s Tim Grimshaw told a large meeting of the Community Liaison Panel on 24th November, called to discuss the latest developments in the huge construction projects now in progress around Farringdon station.  A picture of the completed western end station is shown here.

The meeting was chaired by my colleague Cllr Marisha Ray and here are the highlights:

Thameslink say they are progressing normally.  They are doing underpinning work in Turnmill St, while the Cardinal Tower has been scaffolded prior to the imminent start of demolition. The southern bit of Farringdon station has now disappeared, as has Steve Crosby’s former meat shop in Charterhouse St.

Work will start soon to divert services to allow the rebuilding the bridge which constitutes Cowcross Street outside Farringdon Station.  This will take much of 2010 and involves hoardings blocking much of the space.  The security and safety aspects of this caused us some concern, particularly during peak hours for travel and clubbing.

There will be major track closures between Christmas and New Year, to coincide with other major work at Blackfriars.  Keep an eye out for signage advising of these.

On Crossrail,  the rather mixed news is that the extensive drilling of boreholes in the area for the last six months is going to continue in January 2010 in the St John’s Lane/ St John St/ Eagle Court area.

The “geotechnically exciting” nature of the area explains why some of the boreholes will be within feet of the previous ones.  Crossrail is trying to locate a geological fault running through the area, and to plan the “dewatering” of some of the layers they will have to drill through.  This has obvious implications for the stability of buildings in the area during and after tunnelling starts.

Planning of the replacement building for Cardinal Tower is advancing with developers Cardinal Lysander, but there is nothing to be consulted on yet.  The owners of adjacent Caxton House are considering demolition soon but there are no details on this yet.

Property is being acquired in the Charterhouse St/Lindsey St area to enable work on the eastern ticket hall to start.  The Moorgate branch will be de-commissioned in the New Year.

Tim drew our attention to a major supplement on Crossrail from New Civil Engineer, which has a feature on Farringdon here.

An “outreach” exercise by both projects found that 73% of businesses in the area feel they know what is going on in the area.  Sadly of course some of them will be closing soon as part of the work - notably all the shops currently in the station building in Cowcross St.

Malcolm Cree of Islington Council told the meeting what steps the Council is taking to keep the area clean during the works.  Litter bins outside Farringdon are emptied 7 times a day, he said.  The new pop-up urinal is working well and the City Corporation is considering putting some up on its site of the boundary.  55 people have been issued with fixed penalty notices for littering in Cowcross Street in the last 6 months and the message is starting to get through.

The next Liaison Panel will take place in March 2010 - date to be decided. Presentations will include those on accessibility issues,  the skill training opportunities and an update on things geological.

It looks as though we are all going to hear more about what the engineers think is going on under our feet and how confident they are about its effects on our familiar buildings over the next 8 years!

Residents of Clerkenwell have overwhelmingly supported a move to make all roads in the ward - other than the main through routes - subject to a 20mph limit.

The area between Rosebery Avenue and Pentonville Rd in Clerkenwell is already a 20mph “zone” - ie, complete with road humps - but the new proposal was to make the remainder into 20mph “areas” - subject to the same limit but without the humps.

The Council’s South Area committee unanimously agreed to this proposal at its meeting on 23rd November 2009.  The new limit will affect all of Clerkenwell other than Kings CrossRd/Farringdon Rd, Clerkenwell Rd, Goswell Rd, Rosebery Ave and Pentonville Rd.  St John Street will thus be subject to the new limit.

I voted for this, and I am immensely encouraged by how far we have come since I was first elected.  Ten years ago, some drivers seemed to think it was OK to travel at 60mph along our streets, angrily hooting at anyone impeding their progress.  Now, drivers often give way voluntarily to pedestrians at road junctions.

The plan is part of a borough-wide initiative which may well result in all residential roads in Islington becoming 20mph.  The existing 29 20mph zones have already halved the number of people - many of them children - killed or seriously injured on Islington’s roads from 227 in 2001 to 112 in 2007.

Council highways engineers explained that the thinking is that through traffic will stick to main roads rather than have to slow down to go through residential areas.  Because the new areas are not self-enforcing, the effect on actual speeds will be monitored and humps will be considered if necessary.

The papers for the meeting are available here.

Today, the Metropolitan Police gave cyclists in Clerkenwell Road a vivid demonstration of their vulnerability to injury from collisions with heavy goods vehicles - notably when the lorries are turning left.

Cyclists were invited to stop and sit in the driver’s seat of a state of the art HGV  in Farringdon Lane.  As they did so, a policeman wheeled the cyclist’s own bike along the nearside, while the cyclist watched in the battery of mirrors with which, like all the very latest lorries - it was equipped.

Chillingly, although the policeman in a visibility jacket could be seen in one or other mirror, his image  became much smaller as the angle changed and it would be possible for a driver in heavy traffic to fail to see a cyclist.  Anyone in the passenger seat could obstruct some of the mirrors.

You also had to be at least 10 feet in front of the lorry to be clearly visible directly to the driver - despite a very ingenious mirror trying to remedy this.  Transport for London are apparently considering fitting mirrors to traffic signals.   But of course, mirrors mounted anywhere only work if the driver actually looks at them,  sees and then acts on the information they give!

Nearby, Metropolitan Workshop Architects held a cycling safety and awareness session in memory of co-worker Rebecca Goosen, who was tragically killed in Clerkenwell in April this year, one of two women killed in collisions with left-turning lorries within 24 hours of each other.  The other was fitness instructor Meryem Ozekman, 37.

DI Andy Cole explained to me that 7 of the last 8 cyclists to die in collisions with lorries in London have been women; an astonishing imbalance.  He is studying psychology and has launched a research project into what the reasons for this might be.

In addition to the mirrors, the lorry itself was armed with an automatic audible alarm warning nearby cyclists that it is about to turn left, and a detector to warn the driver of the proximity of a cyclist - working rather like the reversing alarm on many modern cars.

Clerkenwell will continue to have more than its fair share of lorries while Crossrail, Thameslink and other building projects are in progress, so we will have to remain vigilant to avoid any more injuries.   The best advice is - just avoid going any closer to lorries than you have to - and never be on the nearside of one at a junction.

Next Sunday, I shall be attending the annual service of remembrance for road death victims: road deaths are now the biggest cause of death of young people.