At last, at very long last, Transport for London’s contractors are on site at the junction of Pentonville Road and Penton Rise.  They are installing a new design of junction intended to stop the sickening number of accidents there.

Here we are - Cllr Marisha Ray and me - hearing from Sean the contractor what he and his team will be doing there up to the end of June.  Only a few days ago, we were protesting at the lack of action.

The only snag is - cyclists are continuing to expose themselves to serious danger by riding through the coned-off nearside lane, then dodging down Pentonville Road while the rest of the traffic turns left into Penton Rise.  Sean is thinking of ways to discourage this.  He tells us he’s already seen two near-misses likely to have been fatal- in four days of work at the site.

The scheme creates a bus/cycle only lane on the offside of the southbound carriageway, into which bolder cyclists can filter, some distance back from the junction.  Less bold cyclists will be able to continue in the nearside carriageway, but come off onto a new bike lane on the pavement, then cross the junction at a “Toucan” cycle/pedestrian light-controlled crossing, then rejoin the bus/cycle-only lane a few yards away.

Virtually all the paving will be brought up to modern standards.   There’s no news however on the timing of the green-man phase at this junction, which was discovered recently to be non-compliant with national standards.  See a BBC TV item on this problem filmed at this junction.

So - a big thanks to Caroline Pidgeon, Lib Dem GLA member and transport spokesperson, seen here with me and our petition calling on Boris & Co to get work started here.

I will even raise two cheers to TfL.  The third will come when the work is complete and cycling and pedestrian safety are much improved!

Three more accidents took place at the junction of Pentonville Road and Penton Rise in 10 days in late April/ early May - but there is still no sign of work starting on Mayor Boris’ long-promised works to make the junction safer.

Two of the accidents involved cyclists and the third a schoolgirl who was hit by a bus, and who was taken to UCH with what looked like serious injuries but have mercifully turned out not to be.  The two cycling accidents were the all-too-familiar collisions between forward-going cyclists and left-turning traffic and were only with cars; those with lorries are almost invariably fatal.

A group of us gathered at the scene on 5th May, pictured here.  Further near-misses continued to happen while we were there.  As previous posts on this blog have documented, Transport for London has been dragging its feet in starting work, despite constant pressure from us and Caroline Pidgeon, Lib Dem Assembly member.

We have now been told that the works will take place “between May and August” this year.  They cannot come a moment too soon.  We are holding our breath…

Over the years, the fate of what remains of the Clerkenwell House of Detention has been a source of both fascination and controversy.

The remains are in effect a series of dank underground rooms forming part of the semi-basement of the former prison, underneath what is now the car park of Kingsway Place, the Victorian former school in Sans Walk.

So it’s nice to come across this item in New Civil Engineer about its structural history.  Some time ago the South Area Planning Committee granted planning permission for the area to be converted to offices, after a history of attempts to use it as a Museum,  and ideas for converting into a cafe.

There is a TV programme in the “Most Haunted” series which is rebroadcast from time to time and always prompts calls from people who want to visit.  Now, if the scheme goes ahead, you could rent offices there!

 The Left was on parade today on Clerkenwell Green, assembling for its annual May Day march.  Once a year, the Green becomes a sea of Red, as a varied bunch of marchers of every left-wing stripe and shade comes here before moving off, accompanied by a band and large numbers of Police. 

It is a colourful sight.  The placards varied from a vast portrait of Stalin to “the Society of Sacramental Socialists” (one person dressed as a Catholic priest) via the “University of Greenwch Leftist Society” (which had run out of space on its banner).  As usual there was a bewildering range of groups from Iran and Turkey as well as a large group of Tamils.

I have a theory that there is virtually nothing that happens anywhere in the world that does not end up - sometimes within weeks - affecting Clerkenwell.  It’s not just protesters on May Day; if there is a war or revolution, refugees arrive here surprisingly soon.

The news that Clerkenwell has one of London’s first households isolated with swine flu is only the latest example of this.  Let us wish them a speedy recovery.

Perhaps the best comment on May Day in Clerkenwell came from local glass jewellery-maker Michelle Kent.  A sign in her window with a big red star advertised a “Mayday-only Special Offer: 20% off”.  So capitalism was quietly getting on with it under the noses of the comrades noisily proclaiming its demise.  Sadly, there seemed to be few takers!