A very well-attended Farringdon Community Liaison Forum meeting on 15th September heard presentations from both Thameslink and Crossrail about what they will be doing over the next few months.  These are the highlights.

September 2009

Crossrail will be continuing its programme of trial trench-digging on Saturday mornings, using pneumatic drills etc.  They are supposed to start at 9.00am but have been starting at 8.00am according to local residents.

A crane will be installed at Cardinal Tower in late September to assist demolition.

Monday 21st September: Thameslink starts the demolition of the shops opposite Farringdon Station in Cowcross Street, and also some demolition in Turnmill St, which will be closed over the weekend of 26th/27th September for crane operations in support of this. The Vine Street complex of offices will have an access ladder installed down to track level.

October

Crossrail starts demolishing Cardinal Tower.  This will be done using mechanical diggers equipped with “jaws” which will gradually move down the building, always behind a protective scaffolded screen.  It will be down to ground level by Christmas and foundation level by March 2010.  Similarly Steve Crosby’s meat shop in Charterhouse St will be demolished by Christmas to prepare for the creation of a lorry ramp down to the tracks.  Demolition work itself won’t take place at night but some scaffolding activities will.

In Turnmill St, auger-piling operations will begin in October and there will be a further road closure on 30th October/1st November.

December: the station will close on Christmas Eve for a period but trains will continue to run through it without stopping.  There is further demolition work in the station and the Moorgate branch will be decommissioned.

As always, if you have having problems with noisy or inconsiderate working, call the Network Rail helpline on 08457 114141.  This operates 24/7

The next Liaison Forum meeting will be in late November/early December, and we asked for presentations from Thameslink on (a) the management of the Cowcross Street bridge (which is to be removed and replaced in stages) and (b) the information and signage available to the clubbing fraternity, who may not always realise that that the trains that brought them to Farringdon station may not start running as usual the following day!

A big “Thank you” to everyone who has signed our petition - either on your doorstep or by electronically, or by signing a version downloaded from the web site.

We have been out on the doorsteps of Clerkenwell gathering signatures, which are now building up, and we’re still going. Virtually everyone we have asked on the doorsteps of Clerkenwell has agreed to sign.

We’re planning to take it to the Council meeting on 8th October, where I will say a few words about it at the start of the meeting.

Licensing has been much in my mind recently.  There was a major incident at the Ghost nightclub in Farringdon Road on 31st August - Bank Holiday Monday - at about 2.00am, when 10 police cars and 3 ambulances attended an incident later described as a “bottle-throwing and stabbing”.   Ghost has certainly fulfilled early predictions about the disruption it would cause, and I am now considering options for action on this, with various local residents.

Residents in the vicinity of Vernon Square have had a hard time with street drinkers and backpacking teenagers staying at nearby hostels, with some football tourists from the Travelodge hotels in the area, drinking and playing football into the early hours of the morning.  Council officers and Police in both Islington and Camden are giving thought to what can be done about this.