Kings Cross Local Environment

Barnsbury News

Martin O'Donnell from Peabody Kings Cross dropped me a line with a copy of the Barnsbury News produced by the Barnsbury Community Group.  You can Download the whole thing as a pdf here: Download Barnesbury newsletter 2(2)

It's a mine of useful information - I liked the sound of Caledonian Connect:

Caledonian Connect is a fantastic new advice and guidance service based  at Hugh Cubitt House every weekday.

The team has started door knocking in the local area and has so far spoken to 233 people and helped 55  people with issues ranging from welfare benefit problems, employment and training, help with receiving grants for household items, support for health issues has been given as well as supporting families with children etc. One grateful resident was Aymona Bibi who said that Connect was "a great service that helped me with my problem". So why not come and visit the team at the Hugh Cubitt Centre or give them a call on 020 7833 2536.

EXPLORE "THE CHARLES DARWIN TRAIL" - 6TH JULY 4PM AT CALEDONIAN PARK

The following was received from Lisa Tang, our local neighbour:

Islington is hosting the first Darwin Trail in London.

Caledonian Park is about to see the launch of a Darwin Trail, the first of its kind in London.

Follow the ten slate markers around the park to see how Charles Darwin's work can be linked to the nature found in Caledonian Park. The trail shows how Darwin's work is still with us today and helps us to understand the importance of urban ecology, wildlife habitats and biodiversity to the world we live in.  A leaflet and map will also be available.

The trail will be launched on Tuesday 6th July at 4pm by Randal Keynes, great-great grandson of Charles Darwin, scholar of his work and Islington resident. All are welcome.

The Darwin Trail at Caledonian Park is a Darwin-inspired project delivered in partnership between Islington non-profit organisation The Garden Classroom and The Charles Darwin Trust with support and funding from Islington Council.  Many thanks to the Caledonian Park Users Group for help with this project.

There are a number of Darwin Trails around the world - across South America, in Cabo Verde and in the Azores in the Atlantic, in the Galapagos in the Pacific, in Australia, and in South Africa.  Intended for use by schools and for the general visitor, these are currently all at different stages of development. The Charles Darwin Trust ([email protected]) will provide specific information on request.

To download a leaflet with more information on this trail after 6th July please visit www.thegardenclassroom.org.uk.

Jeremy Barlow, great-great-grandson of Charles Darwin:

I've known Islington for nearly half a century and I'm sure the Darwin Trail will greatly enhance the residents' awareness of the natural world and will also inspire future generations of scientists. My great-great-grandfather would be delighted.

PRESS ENQUIRIES C/O MARNIE ROSE AT THE GARDEN CLASSROOM TEL: 07974 353148 EMAIL [email protected] Download poster: Download Darwin Trail Poster

Network rail's overspend on their own offices and Platform Zero

Network Rail overspent by as much as £60million on their own de luxe listed offices in Kings Cross station that bring no benefit to the travelling public.  This up to £60million overspend is three times the amount that Network Rail told the community it could not afford for a much needed footbridge over the tracks. It is as much as nine times the initial budget.

The overspend on offices for Network Rail staff is 13% of the entire budget for the Kings Cross refurbishment (usually quoted hazily at around £400m) at no benefit to the travelling public.

The estimate of £60m on offices is an interpretation of opaque data released by DfT under FOI.  Costs were up and down like a yoyo: the DfT synthesis document makes it impossible to see how much Platform Y (now Platform 0 or Zero) cost other than that it appeared over budget.  We know that the Eastern Range offices turned out at £66.4m.   I assumed that the lowest budget of £13m for Platform Y/0 and Eastern Range were split 50:50 then that's an overspend in the range £50-60m.  I'd be delighted to hear from Network Rail in the comments with precise budget at outset, revised budgets and actual out turns for each of the Eastern Range and Platform Y/0 - their PR stopped returning any emails from me months ago. 

The budget for Kings Cross is hard to pin down - the 'Stations Delivery Plan' (Figure 5, page 8) shows forecast expenditure on Kings Cross from 2008-2013 of £328.6m, but no indication of the budget.  Kings Cross is hoovering up over 30% of the entire national Station Enhancement project.

Network Rail is not subject to FOI but their reports to DfT are and DfT's letter to me confirms that this is all they have.  It's great that the new government will extend FOI to cover Network Rail.  If Network Rail overspend by this much on offices one does have to ask what else is going on in the rail system with more complex projects - transparency is long overdue. 

Bits of this information have been in the public domain for some time.  But i had become rather fed up with the station saga and let it languish.  Until I learned of the crazy bonuses paid to Network Rail staff. Which motivated me to put this post together.  Construction News first covered a doubling of the budget in August 2008 and my FOI requests last year dragged more information into public view.

DfT claims no responsiblity nor apparently great interest in the overspend which is odd given it's substantial proportion of the Kings Cross budget.  I specifically asked what steps DfT officials had taken to make Ministers aware of the problem.  The DfT reply did not include any such information, nor did it cite any exemptions on 'advice to Ministers'.  So one has to ask if Ministers were informed.

New platforms are always a good thing, but it's puzzling that DfT officials and Network Rail invited the new Secretary of State for Transport to the opening of Platform 0 as his first public rail engagement.  Accurate briefing would have said:  'come and open this over budget project that it adds nothing significant to the capacity of the East Coast main line and caused a huge reaction in the community' (the viaduct at Welwyn remains the limiting constraint on ECML capacity - £60m could perhaps have been better spent there.) Mr Hammond was opening an expensive car park for trains (or train park) but he wasn't to know - he has Network Rail's opacity to thank for that.

Charitable trust seeks trustees

King's Cross Community Projects started life just 18 months ago. It is a registered charity that aims to improve the area within a half mile of the station. The first project being undertaken by the trust is the Wharfdale Road greenwall project funded by the London Borough of Islington.

The Trust is seeking two new voluntary trustees to join the existing board. If you have an interest in urban regeneration projects that concentrate on improving the environment and providing public art, this maybe a role for you.

Can you bring fresh ideas, enthusiasm and willingness to undertake some voluntary work using your relevant skills and expertise?

Are you a team player looking for team mates to play with in the broad field of developing your community?

Do you want to feel like you are really contributing to making King's Cross an area to be proud to live and work in?

Send us a short email, no more than the equivalent of one side of A4 ideally, explaining what you can bring to the trust and why you'd like to join us. If you'd like to include a CV, feel free. Please state clearly your connection to the area covered by King's Cross Community Projects.

Visit our website for more information.

Email us at [email protected]

Just what do PCSO's do? Listen and learn from members of our Safer Neighbourhood's Team

If you want to know about the kinds of work the PCSO's of our Safer Neighbourhood's Team do, why not listen to this interview in which two of our team, John Argyrou and George Motum explain their roles.

Listen to the interview conducted by Tim Wallace - click here

Guardian Reader event: local photography walk

 King's Cross St Pancras station: renovated iron and brickwork from WH Barlow's original engine shed are used in the new build. Photograph: Sophia Eva

Local resident Andrew Long spotted this in the Guardian and thought it might be of interest to local residents.  A photography walk and lesson with photography experts from the Guardian.  It's a competition, so you have to go to the Guardian website for the details and to enter -  click here.

Here are the main details:

Whether you're an aspiring photographer or just want to know how to take better holiday snaps, this event is for you.

Meeting at the Guardian's offices on the afternoon of Saturday 7 August, Roger Tooth, head of photography at the Guardian, and Guardian photographer David Levene, will take a group of 15 competition winners and their guests on a walk around the waterways of Kings Cross, giving practical tips and professional insight into what makes a good photograph.

Roger and David will be sharing their expertise about cameras and lenses, composition, exposure, choice of subject and much more, giving you the opportunity to improve your own photography.

Following the walk, guests will return to the Guardian building on York Way for afternoon tea and cake and a talk from two of the best national newspaper photographers in the country.

To be in with a chance of being on the tour, please enter your details here.

King's Cross Central Construction Newsletter - Summer 2010 Edition

 
The title of this post says it all - download the Newsletter, and find out what's going on:
Download Newsletter - Summer 2010

Celebrate this site's birthday on 4 July

A few folk are meeting up for drinks on Sunday 4th July in the afternoon at The Harrison on Harrison Street in South Kings Cross to celebrate this webite's fourth birthday.  All readers are welcome - to give me an idea of numbers let us know in the comments if you want to come along or reply to the daily email.  Will advise on precise time nearer the day. [Update - let's make it 1700]

After several years of traditional campaigning - going to meetings, writing letters, sending email etc I tentatively set up this site in July 2006.  I wanted help to manage the huge flow of information generated by local civic activism.  At the time my main focus was an obsessive assault on fly tipping and broken street things in north Kings Cross where I lived at the time - on one night i had recorded 50 broken lights maintained by the council and there was an epidemic of litter and waste.  I wanted to keep track of the things I had reported and let others know.  I didn't really know what i was doing and was sceptical per se of 'blogs' but Tom Steinberg persuaded me that you could blog without being a t*sser and use a service like typepad to create a website.

Anyway with huge support from local people - especially Stephan, Sophie, Lisa, Diana, Paul, Daniel, the late Phil, Sarah and recently Clare and many others over four years this site has become a community endeavour, helped people fight campaigns and hopefully helped people change things for the better.  So Tobias and others suggested a drink, which we probably deserve.

King's Cross street to be turfed for free street party

As part of the London Festival of Architecture (LFA), which kicks off this weekend, Squire and Partners Architects, of Wicklow Street WC1, have confirmed details for the party outside their offices on Thursday 1 July.

The architects, who seem to have a thing for urban golf, will be turfing over the street for a bit of putting. The party will start at 3pm and continue until 9pm and is open to all. 6 St Chad's and Smithy's bars, to either end of the street, will be open for drinks and live music. All in aid of 'loving your street'— something the LFA is trying to encourage. For full details on the party and its other attractions, including graffiti and apple-bobbing, a dedicated blog has been set up, and the listing can be found here. All that's needed now is some weather...

Clare Hill

Garden Open Sunday 20th 2-6pm 1 Battlebridge Court, Wharfdale Road N1

Mike Jackson, our neighbour at Battlebridge Court wrote to the Bulletin Board to let everyone know that his garden will be open to the public again this year, next Sunday under the National Gardens Scheme.

Entrance is £2 for my garden or £6 for the group of Islington Gardens which includes mine, Barnsbury Wood, 44 Hemingford Road and 36 Thornhill Square. Children free. Teas available at Thornhill Sq. All proceeds to charities.

Further information is available on the NGS website, under Islington Gardens (www.ngs.org.uk) and at this link - click here.  There is also a news story on the Islington Tribunes's website.

Mike tells us that last year he had 180 visitors and the event raised around £400.

For more info, you can email Mike Jackson at: [email protected]