The latest progress on Thameslink and Crossrail (at Farringdon, where they cross) was relayed to a meeting of the Community Liaison Panel on Monday 8th March.

Thameslink

Network Rail  has successfully demolished most of Cardinal House and will start work on the foundations of thew new Integrated Ticket Hall in May.  Demolition of the adjacent Caxton House seems delayed because its owners, Thornfield, are in administration.

In Turnmill Street, it is working on the foundations of the new structure there, and steelwork erection - at night - is scheduled for April.

In Cowcross Street, the effects of the progressive replacement of the roadway - a bridge across the railway tracks - are now apparent.   Parts of the road will be closed, in sequence, for the next one and a half years, by site barriers.   I expressed concerns about the (mis)use of the panelled-off walkways and a compromise has been reached -during some periods the resulting “corridors” will be open only during peak hours, but will then be closed leaving one passageway, which will be busy but secure.

There is a problem with cyclist/pedestrian conflict.  I pointed out that there isn’t any signage to tell cyclists to dismount (in fact, I discover that  the only signage there is a “no motorised traffic” one, and so doesn’t ban cycling).

The remaining parts of Farringdon Station will also be underpinned.

Crossrail

Crossrail announced the arrival, at last, of their new on-line search facility for their works.

The main action will switch to the Eastern Ticket Hall, with the occupation, and swift demolition, of most of the Lindsey St/Hayne St block at the east end of Smithfield Market.

Boreholes will be sunk at the junction of Peter’s Lane and St John St/ St John’s Lane over the next 6 weeks.  These are to determine the precise location of various geological faults (see previous posts) and pockets of 160-million year old water in the clay layer, through which the tunnel bores will be driven.  They won’t, mercifully, be extracting this water from the boreholes, but through the resulting tunnel bores.

Toilets and Sanitation at Farringdon

Crossrail has announced that its rolling stock will have no toilets.  Nor will any of its stations in central London.   This is a major concern to us because it means Farringdon will only have its existing, tiny toilet facilities, intermittently available, and only Thameslink trains will have any loos.

This means, first, that clubbers and drinkers making their way home are more likely to relieve themselves in the vicinity of Farringdon and of course the other night-life-area stations Crosrail will serve at Tottenham Court Road and Bond St.

Secondly, Farringdon - uniquely - will have some of the best rail/tube connections in south-east England and is in effect a mainline station: but with virtually no sanitation.  What happens to the area around it if thousands of commuters are suddenly marooned there by operating difficulties?

Crossrail say they are a “metro” service - like the Underground - which has never had onboard loos.  This seems to ignore the much greater length of Crossrail services, the excellent connections attracting thousands of passengers, and the longer gaps between stations in central London.  Trains are in addition often stuck in tunnels for long periods.   This is an issue we have raised repeatedly at all levels ever since Crossrail started and we have got nowhere.

We will continue to try to get London Underground and Network Rail to think seriously about this issue.  A representative of Camden Council confirmed that it, and Westminster Council, are also concerned by this.

A brand new £2.4 million centre has been opened at Three Corners Adventure Playground, offering something for the whole community. It gives the existing adventure playground a permanent building for the first time, replacing the portacabins that have housed the youth club since the original cabin burned down in a fire several years ago. The new building will host youth activities, and also houses an Adult Learning Centre.

The Three Corners Centre will provide youth activities in association with the Peel Centre, services for young people aged 12 to 20, and a new Adult Learning Centre with a crèche – the first of its kind in Finsbury. This will be used for training, careers coaching, and employment services. The building will also be available for use by voluntary and community groups.

Clerkenwell Lib Dem Councillor George Allan is a member of the Three Corners Centre Trust, which has been set up to help the new Centre meet its full potential in the community. He commented:

“This has been a true community initiative. Islington Council and EC1 New Deal worked with local people and listened to local needs and came up with this innovative approach to providing training, youth facilities and play space under one roof. It is a fabulous new space which will give a great boost to almost everyone in the area. Islington Council and EC1 New Deal have done a fantastic job in providing a facility that our community will really value.”

Councillor Jyoti Vaja added:

“The Three Corners adventure playground is cherished by people in Finsbury. It’s been here since 1983, so it’s a real local institution. It was a tragedy when the old cabins burned down – but the new centre is like a phoenix from the ashes, bigger and better than ever before.”

The Ghost Club in Farringdon Road, scene of much disorder and a shooting in December, has appealled against Islington Council’s ruling on 11th January that its licence should be curtailed to 1.00am.

The appeal will be heard at Highbury Corner Magistrates Court on  18th and 20th May.

Islington Council lawyers and licensing team will now liaise with local residents about getting some volunteers to appear as witnesses.

Meanwhile,  Piya Piya, a restaurant in City Road which operates as a nightclub at weekends,  had its hours curtailed at a licensing hearing on Monday, as a result of a “review” brought by residents of the Lexington flats, opposite the premises.  The Committee, on which I served, heard a long list of incidents of noise, drug-dealing andnon-compliance with licensing conditions, culminating in a street brawl on 29/30th January which took police arriving in 10 minibuses and cars to deal with.

Piya Piya will now have to cease licensable activities at 12.30am and close completely at 1.00am.

Myddelton Square is to get a make-over.

Consultation is to start almost immediately, in order to develop a brief for what local people want to see happen, within the available funds.   It is envisaged that there will be a leaflet, some door-knocking by Council staff, followed by a steering group of local stakeholders and residents to oversee the progress of the scheme.

This will be funded partly by about £250,000 “section 106″ funding from the Angel Centre development, and partly by the “Playbuilder” scheme for upgrading kids’ play areas.

This is good news.  Residents in the area have had to put up with a great deal of noise and disturbance from the Angel Centre redevelopment works, now nearing completion at the corner of St John St and Pentonville Road.  The square itself, though well-used, is looking its age.

Consultations on public open spaces can bring out conflicts between different types of user, and we must try to minimise this.  Dog walkers, children and tree-lovers all have legitimate views but the result is always a compromise.

The timescale is intended to result in the works being complete and ready for an official re-opening by April 2011.

Islington Liberal Democrats have won their battle to stop local residents’ council tax being put up by Labour for the second year running.

Last year Labour councillors took advantage of Liberal Democrat councillor Donna Boffa being rushed into hospital to force an inflation-busting council tax rise of 2.5% on local residents already struggling in the recession. This was inner London’s highest council tax rise.

Following a Liberal Democrats petition backed by thousands of Islington residents, Labour councillors have now backed down and agreed to Liberal Democrat plans to freeze the council tax this year.

The council tax freeze will form the centre-piece of the Liberal Democrat council group’s budget proposals for 2010-2011. Other proposals include:

• Freedom Pass - Liberal Democrats are stepping in with £750k to ensure the Freedom Pass can continue in its current form for Islington’s pensioners and disabled - despite the Labour government withdrawing £30million from London’s Freedom Pass funding.

• Potholes - following the recent severe winter weather, Liberal Democrats have identified £1million to spend on patching up potholes in the borough.

• PlusBus - Liberal Democrats will be proposing to save this vital service for many of Islington’s elderly and disabled. Labour’s Ken Livingstone, when he was Mayor of London, wanted to axe this bus route.

• Contact Islington - Liberal Democrats believe this is most residents’ first point of contact with the Council so it is important to ensure a decent level of service. Labour wants to cut it, meaning more time hanging on the phone and emails not being answered just like the dark days of Labour running the Town Hall.

• Area Planning Committees - Labour is proposing to abolish the borough’s four area planning committees. The Liberal Democrat budget amendment will save them. Local councillors should make local decisions.

• Estate cycle sheds - putting more money into the hugely popular secure cycle sheds on estates. This will encourage more people to cycle and reduce carbon emissions.

• Pensioners - continuing the £100 discount for over-65s paying council tax.

• Councillor allowances - Liberal Democrats are proposing a cut of £500 to all councillors’ allowances with another £500 from Exec Member salaries.

Liberal Democrat council leader Terry Stacy said:

“I know that residents will be pleased that Labour has finally caved in to pressure from Liberal Democrats and followed our lead on not putting up the council tax.

“It’s only sad that Labour has taken so long to come to their senses on council tax. But it’s better late than never.

“The Liberal Democrat budget will help all Islington residents - council taxpayers and the most vulnerable in our communities as well as continuing the LibDem commitment to helping the environment.

“We know people are struggling still in the recession. So we have been clear that our top priorities should be not putting up the council tax, getting maximum value-for-money for residents and cutting waste while protecting frontline services.”

Today, Islington Licensing Committee reviewed Ghost’s licence and ordered that in future it should close at 1.00am, not opening again until 10.00am on Sundays or 7.00am on other days.

It also removed its owner, David Serlui, as the Designated Premises Supervisor of the premises and ordered that the Club should not reopen until CCTV had been installed externally and its sound system recalibrated to control noise.

It also ordered that another 25 conditions be added to its Licence.

Police: “Out of Control, a hot spot for crime, disturbance and violence”

The Committee heard a senior police officer say that the premises were out of  control, the functioning of the club having been assumed by its (now sacked) security firm.  Evidence from an undercover police officer hours before the shooting on 13th December reported that none of the security staff were wearing their identity badges, as required, and that they appeared to be pursuing their own admissions policy, causing resentment among those waiting outside.

There had been a total of 36 calls to the Police since February 2009 relating the the premises, he added.  Of these 11 related to violence, 5 were drug-related and 11 about antisocial behaviour.

He concluded that Mr Serlui was not operating the premises appropriately; that the Committee should consider removing him as DPS; and that the current opening hours would not support the licensing objectives of reducing crime and public nuisance.  The Club was a hotspot for crime, disorder and violence.

More than 20 residents had put in objections asking the Committee to revoke the club’s Licence completely. They reported a downward spiral of disorder, drug-dealing, noise and fights, bringing an atmosphere of menace to their previously peaceful neighbourhood over the last 12 months.  Serlui’s attempts to deal with their concerns had made matters worse.

Mr Serlui had parted company from his lawyers and represented himself.  His response consisted firstly of a sustained attempt to stop me commenting on his activities at all, claiming that I should have been “objective” throughout, assisting him to open his night club.  In this he failed and the Committee allowed me to say what I wanted, on behalf of the dozens of constituents who have complained to me about the club.

His story was then that the Club had become popular among the black community as a result of its “fair and non-discriminatory” admission policy.  It was only in November 2009 that the police made him aware of their serious concerns about drugs, firearms etc and about his security firm.  A change to a new firm was agreed to take place in January 2010, but - sadly - before this could take place, someone had inexplicably smuggled a gun of unknown size into the Club and shot someone.   He was now suing his former security firm.

Some of the calls to the Police were from the club itself, in order to arrest people fighting or found to be dealing in drugs.  On one night (7th/8th November) he had even hired an (ex-Police) consultant to observe the Club, who saw nothing amiss.  The Committee itself noted that the Police had been called 4 times to the Club on 8th November alone - apparently unremarked by the consultant.

On one occasion the club had been “steamed” by a group of youths, he added.  Some of the residents’ evidence was mistaken because the club was closed on the dates on which they said disorders had taken place, he asserted.  Many nearby licensed premises were the source of some disorders.

I told the committee that the residents and police evidence showed there had been incidents on 14 of the last 15 weekends it had been open.

I asked that Mr Serlui be sacked as DPS in any event and that the licence of the club should be revoked completely in order that the future of any licensable activities in it could be considered completely afresh.  The premises were totally unsuitable for the three “shifts” of up to 400 clubbers Mr Serlui was bringing through the premises every Saturday night/Sunday morning.

Mr Serlui now has 21 days to decide whether to appeal against the decision.

The preliminary papers for the hearing of the review of Ghost’s licence have now been published  on the Council’s web site here.  The review will be at the meeting of Licensing Committee “D” starting at 10.00am on Wednesday 6th January 2010 at Islington Town Hall.  The “Ghost” item won’t start before 1.00pm but in practice this is likely to be 2.00pm.

The papers include objections already received from residents, but also, importantly evidence from the Police and the Council’s noise service.  Other objections received up to the deadline of 30th December will probably be circulated shortly thereafter.

In the papers the Police give details of the incident on the morning of 13th December when a man was shot inside the Club, confirming that the door staff initially denied all knowledge of a shooting, despite members of the door staff having taken the victim to hospital.  It also details a string of previous calls and intelligence received, firmly related to drug supply, fights, threats of violence, posession of firearms etc.

The Council’s noise patrol gives evidence of eight visits, during six of which they witnessed noise nuisance, disorder or anti-social behaviour, including one on 27th September when a man left his car in the middle of Farringdon Road, noisily greeted friends nearby, while gesticulating at the traffic obstructed in Farringdon Road by him and sounding their horns.

The papers also include details of the 26 new conditions unsuccessfully proposed by club owner David Serlui in an attempt to re-open before the review takes place.

The Ghost night club lost its attempt to stay open over Christmas and New Year at a hearing at Islington Town Hall earlier this afternoon (21st December).

David Serlui asked the Licensing Committee to reinstate his licence - suspended after the summary closure by the Police following a shooting in the early hours of 13th December.

Cllr Marisha Ray and I are seen here outside the Club this morning with a group of concerned local residents.

Mr Serlui’s lawyer told the Committee that:

• the previous security firm had been sacked;
• all events at the premises would be promoted by himself, so there would be no more events “promoted” by other organisations;
• the club would stop serving alcohol at 2.30am and close at 3.00am.

He also offered more than 20 new conditions, to be attached to his licence, most of them dealing with the details of how registered door staff were to be managed and regulated.

Questioned by the Committee and Council officers, Mr Serlui’s proposals started to look a bit shaky.  In particular:

• the club would close at 3.00am - but open again at 6.00am.  So his 24-hour licence would merely become a 21-hour one instead;
• many of the security measures were said to be already in place - but if so, why had they not worked before the shooting on 13th December?
• was there any real difference between a “promoted” event and one organised in-house?
• why was an event at the club on New Year’s Eve still being promoted on a  promoter’s web site?  (The Police said they could not resource the policing of such an event on New Year’s Eve if people had to be turned away.)

After a 20-minute adjournment to consider its decision, the Committee decided to make no change to the complete suspension of Ghost’s licence imposed by a (differently-constituted) Licensing Committee on 14th December.

The Committee’s ruling made it clear that they still had “grave concerns” about the failure of Mr Serlui to manage the premises, and that they did not accept that the measures proposed would promote the licensing objectives laid down in the Licensing Act 2003.

It has emerged that the man shot inside the club was taken to hospital by the security staff, who did not inform the police or ambulance services or, it is said, the management of the club.

I had asked the Licensing Service to ask the Committee to open the meeting to the public and press, and it agreed to do so.   Regulations state that hearings such as this have to be in public unless the public interest is better served by having it in private (eg if there is sensitive Police evidence).

I welcome this decision.   The one regret I have is that it has taken a shooting to make the Police take the problems with Ghost bar seriously.  Most residents in the area have had bitter experience of the poor management of the club, making the shooting just a matter of time.  The summary review, and the conditions put forward by Mr Serlui, were all about door security, rather than the endlessly repeated problems of the behaviour of the clubbers, which Serlui has shown himself incapable of dealing with.

The closure will last until the full review triggered by the Police action - likely to be early in the New Year and possibly 6th January.  Representations from people living within 300 yards or so have to be received by the Islington Licensing Service by 30th December.

If you live in this area, please either write to the Service at licensing@islington.gov.ukon or before 30th December or follow this link and sign our “Ghost must Go!” petition.

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.

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.

Many thanks to everyone who signed the Clerkenwell Licensing Petition, which was presented to the Council on 8th October.

As a result, Islington Council is going to consult Clerkenwell residents and businesses on declaring the area “saturated” with licensed premises.  If adopted, this will mean that anyone asking for a new licence - to sell alcohol - will have to show special reasons why it should be granted, in view of the 135 licensed premises we already have.

In a separate move, a Controlled Drinking Zone around Vernon Square is also to be consulted upon, following a variety of problems there (see separate post coming shortly).

The announcement about saturation was made by Cllr Greg Foxsmith, Executive member for the Environment, at last week’s full Council meeting, in response to a question from local resident Martha Burnige of Wharton St.  (There is a 40-minute “question time” for residents to ask Executive members a question submitted in advance, plus a “supplementary.”)

Earlier, I had presented the first instalment of the Clerkenwell Licensing Petition, in which over 100 residents had signed up on the doorstep, or on-line, backing our calls for a saturation policy, controlled drinking zones,  endorsing the Clerkenwell Charter for licensees and asking for reforms of the infamous “Temporary Event Notice” system.

Later in the meeting there was a debate on a motion I had put down, denouncing Labour’s Licensing Act 2003 for its top-down, one-size-fits-all policies which made it virtually impossible to respond to residents’ legitimate expectations of controls on licensing.  This was passed by the Council, which rejected half-hearted Labour attempts to water it down.

Many local publicans support the “saturation” move.  Maybe it will limit the scope for additional competition; maybe it also reflects a recognition that things have gone too far.

We’ll give further news here about the consultation as it develops.

Our Licensing Campaign comes to Islington’s Council chamber this Thursday, 8th October.

First we’re having a gathering of supporters of the campaign on the steps of the Town Hall at 7.15pm on Thursday - so come along and show your support!  We’ll take a few photos for the web site!

Secondly, I will present the petition to the Council just after the meeting starts (at 7.30pm).  It was gathered during the summer, calling for 4 key developments (see previous posts for these).

Thirdly, local resident Martha Burnige will ask Greg Foxsmith - Executive Member for the Environment, whether the Council will declare Clerkenwell “saturated” with licensed premises.   (Both these items are early on in the meeting so worth staying to hear).

Fourthly, there is a motion which I have put down, drawing attention to the petition, criticising the Government’s licensing legislation for not being responsive to residents and calling on the Council to lobby the Government for changes.  This may or may not be debated in full but will be rather later in the evening.

So - come along to the meeting and help ensure that Clerkenwell’s  voice is clearly heard in the Council chamber.  I will be in the entrance to the Town Hall at about 7.15pm.

It is Sunday morning at 4.00am:  I am observing Ghost Club, Farringdon Road,  in operation, following lots of reports from residents about how disruptive the Club is at this hour.

The club asks its patrons to leave at about 4.00am - then re-opens about 4.30am for an “after-party” club aptly called “Jaded.”

The scene is almost as chaotic as that outside Fabric in Charterhouse St- nearly four times the size of Ghost - but without the organisation and supervision.  Dozens of people are milling around outside, some departing in mini-cabs hooting to attract custom, some conducting noisy discussions with their mates, getting into cars (BMWs with loud sound systems are preferred), others urinating against nearby walls.  At least the throb of noisy music is not audible.

It isn’t long before I am spotted by the owner of the club, David Serlui, who introduces himself.  While I am describing how unacceptable this is, a local resident approaches us to tell us how he and his young family had just been woken up - as they are every Sunday morning - by the noisy comings and goings at the club.

Mr Serlui tells  me what nice people his clubbers are (despite evidence to the contrary) and how  much respect he has for the local resident community.  It is better than the former Wetherspoons pub: it has had only two fights in 8 months. My response is that niceness and respect are not the issues: what matters is the impact of the club on the quality of life of those living and working around it, which is very evidently dire.

Mr Serlui claims that he can’t stop people parking legally anywhere in the area.  He also said he can’t control the illegal hooting of horns by mini-cabs.  So it seems he can’t control much, whether legal or not.   My point is that by bringing these disturbances to his club, he becomes responsible for them, and if he can’t control them, then his licensed hours should be reduced.

I leave Mr Serlui in no doubt that unless he starts controlling the impact his club is having on the vicinity, he is likely to face a review of his Licence with a view to curtailing its early-morning operations.

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.

Today, Clerkenwell’s Lib Dem Councillors start a campaign to tighten up the rules on the sale of alcohol in Clerkenwell.

The ward has 135 licensed premises, and we think that’s enough.  Anyone coming along with a proposal for yet another bar, club, pub, restaurant or cafe wanting to sell alcohol should have to have a very good reason for it.

We’ve started gathering a petition - both on paper and on-line.  We will be out on the streets gathering signatures, and knocking on doors throughout the summer.

If you would like to support us, please go the campaign web page here.

You can also sign up there for news on how the campaign is going, and leave comments for us.

This is one of the most important factors affecting the quality of life in Clerkenwell, so please help us!

A film crew is filming scenes in the cells of the House of Detention in Sans Walk, Clerkenwell for “St Trinian’s 2″. 

Sadly, the area does not seem to have been over-run by St Trinian’s girls in their characteristic uniforms.  The crew is here  until the end of the week.

If you enjoy watching demolition, Clerkenwell is the place to be for the next few months!

Currently, there is not much going on  but that is about to change, big time, a meeting of the Farringdon Community Liaison Forum heard on 6th July.  This meeting brings representatives of local residents together with the Islington, Thameslink and Crossrail staff directly concerned with the operations around Farrringdon.

Charterhouse St and Farringdon Road will see more destruction than they have since the infamous V2 rocket  landed at this spot in March 1945 killing 110 people.

That’s why I am calling the next few months the Clerkenwell Festival of Demolition, with Thameslink and Crossrail as the main sponsors.

Unlike other festivals, this will play to a rather reluctant audience of residents, commuters and other workers in the area.  The opening event will be the relatively minor demolition of Steve Crosby’s meat shop in Charterhouse Street, in the next few weeks, to give access to the track area.

The main event will be the demolition of Cardinal Tower, the unlovely 1960s block in Farringdon Rd,  and the warm-up has already started with “soft” stripping-out.  August will see the erection of scaffolding - plastic wrapped - and a tower crane, before the serious demolition of the structure starts in late September.

It’s a double bill.  The owners of adjacent Caxton House (another unlovely 1960s block, seen here) have said they will also be demolishing their building at the same time.  September will also see internal  demolition work at Farringdon Station.

A planning application for a new “integrated ticket hall” serving both Thameslink and Crossrail in Cowcross St will go to the planning committee on 8th September and I understand that it will not be demolished until then.

As a sort of “fringe” event nearby, contractors for the Goldsmith’s Company will be demolishing part of the former Eagle Court school shortly, for their new craft centre there (see previous post).

Noise control

Islington Council pollution team member Dan O’Sullivan told the Liaison meeting how Islington will be monitoring the noise, dust and vibration issues from Thameslink/ Crossrail.  Airborne dust monitors are being installed in Charterhouse Square and Greville St.

His team can be reached via 020 7527 3340 or Contact Islington  on 020 7527 2000 (24/7).  In the event of complaints, his team needs to have basic details such as when an incident happened, where, what it was and how long it lasted.  Camden residents should ring Islington as the works will all be on its side of the boundary.

National Rail Information & Complaint Line

National Rail (who are in charge of the Thameslink work and most of the above-ground work at Farringdon) have a 24/7 information line on 08457 114141. If a problem is clearly related to Thameslink work (including Cardinal Tower) then ring this line first and Network Rail claims this will resolve the complaint faster than via the Council.

In the longer term, Crossrail will start drilling a pilot tunnel for the new station platforms in 2011, long before the 4 main tunnelling machines arrive at Farringdon (where they will eventually be dismantled and removed.)

If you live near Farringdon Station in a block of flats you probably already have a representative on the liaison panel but do contact me to check.  The next meeting is scheduled for 15th September,  just before Cardinal Tower and Caxton House finally start coming down.

In due course, there will be a replacement building for Cardinal Tower - but there are no proposals for this yet.  A replacement for Caxton House has been given permission.

The Goldsmiths’ Company has started work on its new £17M training centre in Clerkenwell.  Site hoardings have gone up around the derelict former Victorian primary school in Eagle Court and Britton Street.

The former school has been empty for about 10 years.  The modern part will be demolished and the original part will be altered and refurbished to become a state-of-the-art centre where Goldsmiths will be trained and work in custom-built workshops.  There will also be a cafe on the Britton St side.  The approved plans can be seen at the Council’s online planning site.  Do a search for application P072928 (the “0″ is a zero not the letter “o”).

Demolition work on the modern bit will start on 13th July and will last until September…when demolition will start in earnest on Cardinal House in Cowcross Street/ Farringdon Road nearby. 

The new Goldsmiths centre is scheduled to open for business in April 2011 and it will not only train new generations of goldsmiths but also help establish Clerkenwell, along with nearby Hatton Garden, as a centre of the craft and jewellery industries.

Another week, another few awards!

Last week, Islington won the prestigious 2009 Municipal Journal award for Energy Efficiency, some details of which are here.  The citation was for “its pioneering programme in reducing carbon emissions, being the first to include a carbon dioxide reduction target in its Local Area Agreement.”

Last week’s haul also included one from English Heritage, which I went to receive from Baroness Kay Andrews, Chair Designate of English Heritage.  This was for the London Council that had done most to improve its conservation areas, with particular reference to those in Whitecross Street and Kings Cross.

Transport for London (TfL) has recently produced a plan for improving the dreadful corner of Margery St, Lloyd Baker St, Farringdon Road, Calthorpe St and  Kings Cross Road.   I have published the plan they have produced here.

Here I am showing the problem to Caroline Pidgeon, Lib Dem Greater London Assembly Member, on the spot.

“Five Ways” is a typical Victorian triumph of laissez-fair planning:  bring 5 streets together at the same point and then wonder why chaos results.

The Story so Far

Since 2006, I and my fellow Lib Dem councillors have been badgering TfL, Islington, successive Mayors (Livingstone and Johnson) with petitions, questions etc. The snag was that TfL never answered their e-mails direct but merely gave occasional (unfulfilled) promises of action to Islington officers and just didn’t get on with it.

In November 2008, Mayor Boris told Caroline Pidgeon, that work on the junction was “at an early stage” and TfL would keep in touch with us.

Then – silence.  More unanswered e-mails.  Now – in June 2009, news has filtered though via Islington officers that TfL had produced the scheme shown here, and that work would start  “in July”.

TfL is reported - indirectly - to us as saying that there will be no consultation with the public, because the scheme is in response to concerns about pedestrian conditions- and as the scheme improves these, consultation is “unnecessary”.  So it’s gone straight from an early stage to final scheme without the benefit of local opinion!

What the scheme does

The scheme:

• creates “build-outs” round the junction, widening the pavements slightly
• introduces a yellow box junction and a defined lane for traffic turning right into Lloyd Baker Street and Calthorpe St; and

• introduces tactile surfaces and pedestrian advisory signals.

And, er, that’s about it.  It may restrain some of the wilder manoeuvres such as the heart-stopping 180-degree turn some drivers make from Margery St into Lloyd Baker Street.

But it doesn’t do much for cyclists, who are put at risk by the excessive speed of traffic from Calthorpe Street into Lloyd Baker St or out of Margery Street, and by the huge size of the junction which means southbound cyclists can be half-way across the junction (and going slowly uphill) when conflicting traffic emerges from the other streets, on a green light.

So there we are then!  Naturally, we’re protesting about the lack of consultation but this scheme is a bit like buses – you wait along time for one, then they call come in a rush.

Mayor Boris has yet to do anything which starts getting Transport for London away from the unaccountable and beurocratic habits it has learned throughout the decades while it was the GLC, then the Highways Agency, and now TfL.

If there any further developments, I’ll post it here!

At

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! 

Why didn’t work start on 2nd March, as promised by Boris Johnson, on the infamous “death junction” at the corner of Pentonville Road and Penton Rise, scene of many cycling accidents and a recent fatality?

Here’s a further extract from Mayor Boris’ ample bag of excuses:

 Question No: 633 / 2009

Caroline Pidgeon (Lib Dem Assembly Member):

In the light of your Answer to my Question No: 263 / 2009, can you explain why no work appears to have taken place yet at the Pentonville Road/Penton Rise junction?

Answer from the Mayor:

As I outlined in answer to your question 263/2009, some preliminary works at this junction that were due to start in January 2009 were re-scheduled in order to avoid adding to the disruption of Pentonville Road caused by major gas main repairs at the Angel.  TfL’s contractors were due to commence work at the junction on 2 March but on arrival found a number of underground utilities services that had not been identified previously.  These required the scheme designs to be modified, and TfL anticipate that works will recommence in April.

A packed-out meeting of nearly 60 Clerkenwell residents and businesses at the Sessions House on 9th March told Council officers, police and the licensed trade what it is like living up close to the 135 assorted licensed premises in the area.

Residents told of drunkenness,  obstruction, drug-dealing, rowdy on-street after-club parties, urine, vomit and faeces.  One resident even described how some clubbers held a drag-race down St John Street.

The meeting had been convened by Islington Council’s licensing service to discuss the problems and what the borough was doing about them. 

 Jan Hart, Assistant Director, Public Protection & Development, opened the meeting by telling residents what the borough was doing to control the problems, including consideration of a “saturation” policy “- to limit further licences being issued - a possible “controlled drinking zone” designation and extra enforcement efforts aimed at low-performing premises. 

Street Environment manager Malcolm Cree then described the extra sweeping, street-washing and litter patrols in the area, adding that work was starting next Monday (16th March) on the new pop-up urinal in St John Street.  Police Sergeant Anne French of the Clerkenwell Safer Neighbourhood Team described their work and how it fitted with other police and enforcement teams.   Her team had issued 18 fixed penalty notices and made three arrests recently for antisocial behaviour by clubbers.

Jan described what the responsible authorities and residents can do about these issues - notably by reporting the problems and initiating formal “reviews” of the licences of some premises.  A “Residents’ panel” was being set up to help liaison with the licensed trade and the Council would be taking part in a new “purple flag” scheme to raise standards in areas of night-time economy.

Questions from residents included why drinking on the street was allowed, (it’s not an offence but can be controlled by licences, up to a point) why there weren’t more recycling bins for discarded cans (had been tried but been abused by businesses) and the Fabric queue.  There were several calls for more, and more visible, policing of the area.

Dan Coshan, manager of Fabric and Chair of the local “Pubwatch” scheme, responded that Fabric tried hard to limit the impact of its operations.  It opened early on popular nights to limit the length of the queue, it helped fund the temporary urinals and would help manage the pop-up one.  It has 38 unisex and 6 female-only loos, and had a “no-readmission” policy. The City flatly refused to let the queue go along its part of Charterhouse St.

My message to residents was : “don’t suffer in silence!” The attendance at the meeting demonstrated the strength of feeling in the area, but it is only if we report the problems that the officers can make the case for the resources needed to control them.  I am already helping two sets of residents to mount reviews of the licences of two problem premises and am happy to help with others.  I urged volunteers to come forward for the residents’ panel and I am glad that seven people did so.

The feeling afterwards was that the meeting had been worthwhile and positive, as a first step.  Much will depend on what happens next.  

To help residents get information to the authorities, here is a handy list of contacts:

for serious disorder and violence : call 999

for noise such as amplified music: call the Islington Noise Patrol via Contact Islington on 020 7527 2000.

to report  antisocial behaviour: call the new Metropolitan Police non-urgent call number: 0300 123 1212 or the Clerkenwell Safer Neighbourhood Team on 020 7161 9383 or email clerkenwell.snt@met.police.uk

for complaints or reports about particular licensed premises: call or email the Islington Licensing service on 020 7527 3031 or licensing@islington.gov.uk

And, of course, contact me too!  I’m on 020 7359 4625 and at george.allan@islington.gov.uk

Transport for London is due to start work this week on an infamous junction - the corner of Penton Rise and Pentonville Road - scene of dozens of minor injuries and a recent fatal collision between a cyclist and a lorry.

I have been badgering TfL constantly to get on with it, with a petition to Boris Johnson, a site meeting, lots of emails and questions from Caroline Pidgeon, Lib Dem Assembly Member and spokesperson on transport matters.

Caroline’s last question - querying why work hadn’t started in January as promised - elicited the following response from the Mayor:

“Design of a new junction layout to improve cyclist safety is complete, and some preliminary works due to start in January were re-scheduled in order to avoid adding to the disruption of Pentonville Road caused by major gas main repairs at the Angel. The gas main works have now moved along Islington High Street so the work at the Pentonville Road/Penton Rise junction is now due to start on 2 March for completion by 21 May 2009”

We must all hope that no further accidents happen before the works are finished.  The new junction will give cyclists a choice between filtering into the correct lane or crossing at at light-controlled “Toucan” crossing, thus avoiding having to make a dangerous manouevre across a lane of fast-moving and heavy traffic.  A “ghost bike” at the scne now reminds us of the consequences.

Meanwhile, there is no response from TfL on another notorious junction in the area, at the junction of Kings Cross Road, Lloyd Baker St, Margery St, Farringdon Road and Calthorpe St….

Thameslink have issued their monthly “notification letter” for March, giving (some) details of the works ahead.  This not (yet) on their web site but previous versions can be downloaded from here (under “want to know more?)

There will be all-weekend works on the weekends of 27th February-1st March and 13th-15th March, from 8.00pm Friday night to 6.00am on Monday mornings.  The works to be done during these weekends “will generate significant noise and disruption to our neighbours”, says Thameslink.

Earlier this month, noisy works were carried out at 12.30am and after intervention from the Islington noise service, Thameslink agreed to carry them out during more normal hours.

April will see the construction of a new temporary exit from the station onto Turnmill Street, and the stripping out of the parade of shops in Cowcross Street opposite Farringdon Station.

Looking further ahead, the demolition of Cardinal House (the big block on Farringdon Road) is scheduled to be in “June - September 2009″.

George Allan writes:

Murphi’s karaoke bar, at 102-108 Clerkenwell Road, EC1, failed this morning in its attempt to get its licence extended to 5.00am.

The decision was made by District Judge Perkins sitting at Highbury Magistrates Court, hearing an appeal from a decision made by Islington Council’s Licensing Committee on 13th August 2008.

This was the fourth attempt by Murphi’s to extend its hours in four years - only one of which has been successful.   Murphi’s appealled the three refusals, and all three have now been turned down by the magistrates.

The Court heard evidence from local residents (and me) as well as a Council licensing officer and a Noise officer, with accounts of excessive noise, disturbance caused by the uncontrolled departure of large numbers of customers, with consequent traffic jams, hooting of car horns etc in the early hours of Sunday mornings, waking up local residents.  No efforts were made by staff to manage this. 

The court also heard allegations of illegal smoking inside the premises, and about further incidents in recent weeks, leading to the district judge’s conclusion that Murphi’s was not getting the standard of management required by Islington’s Licensing Policy.  Murphi’s were ordered to pay Islington over £5,000 costs.

Local residents will now be considering the options for launching a review of Murphi’s licence.  Please contact me if you would like further information.

Islington Council is proposing to install a pop-up “Urilift” urinal at the corner of St John St and Cowcross Street.

This is a response to years of complaints by local people about the sight, and consequences, of clubbers and drinkers urinating in the street and various alleys off them, and recent efforts to get licensed premises to take more responsibility for their customers.  It is quite normal to see drinkers outside pubs relieving themselves in the street - rather than using the facilities inside which are available to them.

The urinal will rise out of the pavement at certain times, and then disappear back after its work is done.

You can get an impression of what it will look like from the manufacturer’s web site here.  Similar installations have been made in Westminster and Guildford. 

I have asked officers to ensure wide consultation of neighbouring residents and businesses.   If you want to make your views known, please contact the Operations Management of Islington’s Street Environment Services, on 020 7527 7644. 

The site is particularly suited for the Fabric queue, and by being visible, will be far better known than the temporary urinals that Islington has been installing on Friday and Saturday nights in the area.

Weekends in the Farringdon area of Clerkenwell are becoming a sort of free-fire zone for engineers. 

First up, there is Network Rail, which is putting on a weekly show by closing Turnmill Street and bringing in a colossal mobile crane there to remove the old footbridge at Farringdon Station.  We’ve had two weekends of this so far in 2009, and we are promised more -  Friday 20th to Sunday 22nd February, 13th-15th March, and again on 19th-22nd March.

Pedestrians can still move along the pavement, “except during lifting operations”, and drivers can go to premises as far as Thackeray Court (after some negotiation with contractors).

In its latest bulletin, Network Rail coyly admits that “at times this work will generate significant noise and disruption to our neighbours,” some of whom are slowly being given secondary glazing to cope with this.

Later on, the bridge forming the carriageway in front of  Farringdon station will be cut up and removed, before being rebuilt.  The parade of shops opposite the Station will also be demolished.  Then Cardinal House will be demolished, probably during the summer, for Crossrail.  I hope you’re with me so far! 

Meanwhile, our friends at Transport for London have decided that weekends just now are a good moment to install a speed table at the junction with Cowcross Street and Farringdon Road, so we have the sight of huge road-rollers and surfacing machines at weekends as well.

Islington’s own officers have just unveiled their own modest triumph in the area.  The hoardings on the north side of the Clerkenwell Road bridge across the railway have at last been removed, revealing…a large expanse of pavement.  This is (almost) the final chapter in the saga of the strengthening of the bridge, which was closed for 3 years (1996-1999) because it required strengthening, causing massive diversions, but the necessary repairs took a long time to be organised.  Then the work was done - partially - but one lane on the north side remained closed. 

Finally, in 2008, after 12 years of closure, the money, track-possessions etc were at last made available and the work done.  It involved underpinning the Victorian bridge and encasing its pillars in concrete, all in the middle of the night and without damaging any of the four electrified railway tracks, inches away from the pillars.

I am now hoping the resulting space will  become a cycle lane in part.  An approach lane was installed in anticipation of this on the west side of the junction  - in 2000 - and has remained unused ever since. 

And if this wasn’t enough, we’ve just had 6 months of gas-main renewals all over Clerkenwell, following on from extensive water-main renewals.  Granted all this infrastructure has to be renewed every hundred years or so but  - maybe, guys, not all at once??

Clerkenwell residents are being invited to a meeting to discuss the impacts of its 24/7 economy on their quality of life.  The meeting will be on Monday 9th March 2009 at the Old Sessions House, Clerkenwell Green at 6.30pm.

The meeting has been convened on the initiative of Islington Council’s Licensing Service, who deal with many of the issues resulting from the high number of bars, restaurants, clubs and other licensed premises in the area.

Council officers, Police, Fabric Nightclub and the Chair of the local “Pubwatch” scheme will be there.  The Council Officers will explain what they have been doing to mitigate the problems over recent months and want to hear from residents what their experiences are and how the area could be improved.

Ever trying to be balanced, the officers say in a memo to me that the increased activity of the licensed trade in Clerkenwell “brings many social and financial benefits to the area”.  They continue: “unfortunately there are also unwelcome aspects, such as instances of antisocial behaviour and low level crime and disorder.”

So please make use of this meeting to let both the Council officers - and, importantly, representatives of the licensed trade - know your feelings on many of the issues I and my colleagues have been raising on your behalf. 

Welcome to the newly-established web site of Clerkenwell’s three Liberal Democrat councillors.

We’ve launched this to help keep us in touch with you and to help bring you useful information about what is going on in the area and how to influence it.

We’ll be bringing more and more detail onto the site over the next few days and weeks, but we needed to bring it into operation straight away to deal with some urgent issues about a proposed nightclub, which are is the next item on this site.

The new “Ghost” nightclub, at 117 Farringdon Road, duly opened in the early hours of Sunday 15th February.

George Allan writes:

“I’ve been getting reports of serious noise and disturbance waking up local residents from 2.00am and lating until well into mid-morning.  The problems were - as predicted here - noise from arriving and departing patrons, parking and obstruction and consequent hooting of car horns.   

Meanwhile, the Club’s application for a Licence comes up at Islington’s Licensing Committee meeting on Monday 23rd February at 10.00am in Islington Town Hall.  The papers for this are available here.

The new Club is applying to Islington Council for variations to the 24/7 licence previously held by Wetherspoon’s Print Works pub, and local residents living in the vicinity (only) were able to make objections on or before 6th February 2009.  You can still attend the meeting on 23rd even if you did not object, as it is a meeting in public. The variations would remove many of the safeguards imposed on Wetherspoons and increase capacity from 290 to 400 patrons.

There are major concerns about the suitability of the premises to be a night club, but the promoters have not yet applied for the planning permission required for this change. 

The recent openings have taken place under a “Temporary Event Notice” - a back-door way in which the Licensing Act 2003  allows dancing, drinking etc for up to 72 hour periods, without making a full licence application.  Only the police can object to a TEN and up to 12 TENs a year can be used.  

Clerkenwell has developed as a major centre for late-night clubs and pubs and this has caused considerable problems to local residents.  We are currently helping three groups of residents with these, and the Council has recently launched a “Clerkenwell Charter” for local pubs etc to sign up to.

If you have problems with the management of local licensed premises, let us know and we will be happy to help you.