Kings Cross Local Environment

Conference to look at making food growing projects viable

Local Action on Food and London Food Link (sustainable food networks based in Angel) have organised a national conference which will explore methods and models for community food growing projects to generate income and become economically viable. King's Cross is home to a number of food growing groups and initiatives.

The event, 'Getting Down to Business' will be held on Friday 25 June 2010, at the Brunei Gallery, School of African and Oriental Studies (SOAS) WC1H 0XG. It runs from 1030—1730, with tickets priced from £15—£45 (includes lunch).

For full details and to book, have a look at the Local Action on Food event page.

Clare Hill

Venue Change: "LISA - A Folk Opera"

  Rain Shifts Show

LISA - a folk opera

4pm Matinee Performance TODAY, Tuesday June 8 of show will now take place in the Copenhagen School, Treaty Street N1 OWF
(off Copenhagen Street) ending 3.45 approximately and not in Edward Square

For tickets for the longer show (1 hr 15mins) in Assembly Room, Islington Town Hall on Tuesday June 15, e-mail:
[email protected]

Rob Inglis 020 7387 4942
[email protected]

For more info on this show please go to our previous posting.

Men's and Women's Tailoring and Alterations - new to area!

I recently discovered a new tailor in our neighbourhood that I thought might be of interest to local residents.

Zac Tailoring is located at 184 Caledonian Road in the parade of shops just North of the bridge over the canal and before Copenhagen Street.

The tailor, M.S. Zakaira did a great job altering my suit jacket at a very reasonable price, so I would recommend him should you require alterations for men's and woman's wear.

There is even a selection of men's suits in the shop at very attractive prices and he does dry cleaning and laundry.

If you drop in to see him, please let him know you found him on our local King's Cross Community Bulletin Board.

Check out his website for more information: www.zactailoring.co.uk

 

MOTOR VEHICLE CRIME ON THE BEMERTON - URGENT APPEAL

 

Our Safer Neighbourhood's Team need your help!

The Community Bulletin Board just received this urgent appeal from Sgt. Michael Atkinson, Head of our local Caledonian Ward Safer Neighbourhood's Team.

Apparently, in the early hours of Friday 4th June 2010 there were 17 motor vehicles broken into and had property taken from them on the Bemerton Estate.

The Police are treating this extremely seriously and our Team are appealing to any witnesses with any information to contact their local police on 020 7421 0271.  Alternatively, if you wish to remain anonymous please call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

According to our Sgt, crime in Islington - including vehicle crime has gone down over several consecutive years, and the Police are currently working on reducing it further. This appears to be a one off incident and extra patrols have been moved to this area.

Further crime prevention advice can be found at www.met.police.uk/crime prevention

For more information about Islington Police go to or to read the latest Safer Neighbourhoods newsletter for Caledonian ward go to: www.met.police.uk/islington.

Please, if you know or have seen something that you feel could help get in touch with the local police ASAP.

And remember these crime prevention tips:

Basic Crime Prevention Measures

• Most vehicle crime is preventable. It can take as little as 10 seconds for a thief to steal something from your car. If at all possible, leave nothing on view.

• NEVER leave valuable items in your car, including sunglasses, the removable radio cover and your Sat Nav. Do you really need all those things you keep in the glove box?  It is good practice to leave the glove box empty and open when the vehicle is unattended.

• Wipe away the Sat Nav suction mark on your windscreen.

• Consider fitting anti-tamper screws to your number plate.

• Never leave your car keys where they can be seen from the front door.

Vehicle Common Sense

Always: -

• Close the windows and sunroof; lock the doors and activate any security devices when leaving your car unattended

• Park with care, particularly at night or if you are leaving the vehicle for a long time. If possible, park in a busy, well-lit area.

• Never leave cash, credit cards, chequebooks, mobile phones, vehicle documents or other valuables in the car.

• Never leave your keys in the car, even for a second - treat them as you would your cash and credit cards.
  

 

Transition in King's Cross - An event of possible interest at The Hub

The Hub at 34B York Way is hosting an event of possible interest to local individuals and groups.

Some individuals and organisations in the Kings Cross area are planning to start a local transition group to see what action they can take toward reducing the community’s carbon emissions by energy transition away from fossil fuels.  Come and join the likes of Alara, Create KX, Get More Local, Hub Kings Cross, Argent and others, to see what we can do.

Attendance is free but RSVP requested so The Hub can prepare for the right numbers.  If you're interested in attending email them at: [email protected].

Specifically general aims of the group will be as follows:

The plan is that Transition Kings Cross will use the processes developed in the many transition initiatives to:

• Work to raise awareness in Kings Cross around peak oil and climate change and assess the desire to undertake a community lead process to rebuild resilience and reduce carbon in the area

• Connect with existing groups in the Kings Cross community to understand how we can support each other

• Build bridges with both Camden and Islington council connect with other transition initiatives in the area, especially in Camden

• Form groups to work at some key areas of life such as food, energy, transport, health, heart & soul, economics and jobs

• Develop projects aimed at building people's understanding of resilience, carbon issues and community engagement plan a community defined and community implemented "Energy Transition Action Plan" over a 15 to 20 year timescale

The initial meeting at the Hub on 7th June is to see if there is a group of people who live/work at Kings Cross who want to be involved with this.

Best wishes

Alex Smith

The BP oil spill mapped onto Kings Cross

The extraordinary picture says it all really.  From http://www.ifitwasmyhome.com/  You do have to aim off though for the foibles of the Mercator Projection - which makes it appear slightly bigger at these northern latitudes.

Revision to Planning Application will open way for another late-night liquor license application - 9 Caledonian Road

As those of you who read the Bulletin Board may remember the parties hoping to lease the empty premises at 9 Caledonian Road have recent submitted a Licensing Application for a Late-Night Premises License for an establishment to be known as Drink, Shop & Do Ltd.  The shop (bar?) is seeking to permit the sale of alcohol between:

11:00 and 00:00 on Mondays to Wednesdays
11:00 and 01:00 on Thursdays
11:00 and 02:00 on Fridays and Saturdays
11:00 and 23:00 on Sundays

As there already is a pre-existing Planning Condition that has been imposed on these premises from the original application (P081971), a new Planning Application that seeks to remove this earlier Condition should the above Licensing Application be successful has now been submitted.  The new Planning Application is P100625 and the prior Condition it seeks to amend is:

CONDITION (EN02): Hours Limited Specified Days - The ground floor cafe/restaurant use shall not operate except between 0800 hours and 2330 hours Monday-Saturday and 0900 hours and 2300 hours on Sundays. REASON: To ensure that the proposed development does not prejudice the enjoyment by neighbouring occupiers of their premises.

Considering the number of "late-night premises" licenses that have already been granted in this small stretch of Caledonian Road, readers might feel enough is enough.  If you do, and haven't yet objected to the Licensing Application, you can still do so by sending an email to the Licensing Team (to the attention of Dominic Ping).  Your comment should state the name and address of the premises named in the application (Drink, Shop, Do, Ltd, 9 Caledonian Road).  You comments should refer to one or more of the licensing objectives, i.e:

·  the prevention of crime and disorder
·  the protection of children from harm
·  public safety
·  the prevention of public nuisance

You can also comment to Islington's Planning department on whether or not you feel the Condition detailed above and originally imposed by Planning on these premises should be scrapped by clicking here.

Frankly when you read the original Condition imposed, it seems that it was put there specifically to prevent any late-night activities from happening at these premises.  The fact that this Planning Application is being submitted to support another Licensing Application FOR just such an activity is hardly a reason to grant any modifications!

This writer will be objecting to both situations with the caveat that if the Licensing Application is reduced to be consistent with the original Planning Application (no service after 2300 all nights) all objections will be withdrawn.

Please remember that the character of your neighbourhood depend on YOUR involvement.  So please let your comments be heard by the Council.

Another tree destroyed on York Way!

With all the problems facing the world you might wonder why I bother with this posting!

Yes another local tree seems to have been vandalized but frankly, who really cares, the Council will replace it, won't they?

Well I care, and I would really like to know how this happened (and continues to happen).  I would like to know who did this and why can't we try to find out so that we might get them to pay.

We have cameras all over our streets, yet every time I offer to spend of my personal time trawling thru CCTV footage I'm told that I'm not authorized to do so...  Of course when it comes to traffic fines, then we surely get snapped!!!!

Well, can't we get someome who can focus on this problem - after all our taxes are being spent on replanting so why can't some of our money go into finding the culprits for this type of crime and making them pay.  What do you have to say?

Voyeurism comes to King's Cross!

At first when I passed the activity on Good's WayI thought it was just another old building being demolished, but then I realised that there was no building on the site and what I was seeing was a building be erected and not torn down.

After some further investigation I learned exactly what was going on - an outdoor spectacle was being created!!!!!

Here is the blurb from The Sadler's Wells website.  The event looks fantastic and I've already booked my tickets - Outdoor Theatre in King's Cross, now that has to be a good thing!!!

Electric Hotel is a uniquely designed outdoor spectacle, a fly-by-night hotel brought vividly to life through dance and sound by the team of David Rosenberg (director and co-founder of Shunt) and Frauke Requardt (choreographer, Pictures from an Exhibition at Sadler's Wells/Young Vic) with Börkur Jónsson (designer, Woyzeck at Barbican, Metamorphosis at Lyric Hammersmith) and Ben and Max Ringham (composition and sound design).

The weird and wonderful Electric Hotel appears against the dramatic and unusual backdrop of the last remaining Victorian ironwork Gas Holder at King's Cross Central. The action takes place in a four storey temporary structure, 20 metres wide by 14 metres high. It has a total load of 48 tonnes, requiring 40 ton cranes to transport it.

Some time ago, an unspeakable incident destroyed the reputation of the five star Electric Hotel. The woman involved in the event returns. Sitting on the outside looking in, the audience snatch glimpses of the do-not-disturb lives unfolding behind the floor to ceiling windows. Wearing headphones to eavesdrop on the internal spaces of the building they watch the residents in their private rooms: the natural habits, the unnatural fantasies and housekeeping of wildly varied quality.

Watch the promo clip  For more info and to book tickets go to the Sadler's Wells site: http://www.sadlerswells.com/show/Electric-Hotel

The People's Supermarket opens in Bloomsbury

Alright, it's not in King's Cross, but not far off, and worth a special note for uniqueness.

The People's Supermarket is a co-operatively owned social enterprise — a 'conventional' supermarket (scaled down a little) selling everyday grocery items and staffed by its members. All profits are to be ploughed back into the business.

The store, in Lamb's Conduit Street, WC1 is the brainchild of Arthur Potts Dawson, the chef and entrepreneur behind Acorn House (the sustainable restaurant in Gray's Inn Road — well and truly KX) who has modelled it on the well-established Park Slope Co-op in New York.

As one with more than a passing interest in sustainable food, and social experiments, I joined up last week. For a £25 annual membership and a commitment to work 4 hours in the shop per month, I'm entitled to a 10% discount (it's intended this will rise to 20%). It wasn't my shift today, but I popped down to check it out and help with some opening tasks — something about partly owning it, you start to feel all responsible?

Back on Friday, the shop looked more like a building site, and as if it was only going to be selling soft drinks and chocolate bars. Today, reassuringly, staples like milk (organic and non-organic) and basic loaves of bread had arrived. A diverse group of volunteers (well, owners) were busy stacking, dusting, learning the tills and improvising price tags. A few press were in, and a TV documentary crew, who have been following the whole project for months. Local curiosity has been building up over days and weeks, and before long customers trickled in and the tills started tentatively ringing.

It's just a bit ambitious — the People's Supermarket will have to compete with the buying power of the all-conquering supermarkets, and balance a range of ethical concerns against the conflicting tastes and priorities of its members, and come in on price. It might work in New York, but will this sort of thing fly in London? Along with all the excitement surrounding it, there's no small measure of skepticism going around. I'm harbouring a bit of both,truth be told. It's early days yet, the fresh produce hasn't arrived (Wednesday's the plan) and there's but 110 members. But there's only one way to find out if this model can work.

Clare Hill