Kings Cross Local Environment

What Would The Sun Say?

How do you describe this?

Yet another tree destroyed - this time on Lower Northdown Street.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to stop this!

Moped arson on Regents Canal towpath

It is sad to see that moped theft and arson has returned to the area after being absent for a while.  Lisa reports three separate incidents of moped arson on the Regents Canal towpath near Treaty Street, with some being set alight right next to residential buildings.  Quite scary for people who live there.  Hopefully the police are on the case.   The only durable solution though will be activities for local young people to channel their risk-taking behaviour into a more productive outlet.

What kind of YOB does this????

Frankly, I'm just at a loss for words about this!  As I walked up York Way on Saturday afternoon and glanced down Railway Street I was greeted by this sight!

All the trees on Railway Street were paid for by local resident and business contributions and already on this street alone three of the seven recently planted trees have been vandalized.  And this is not the only place - as one walks around the neighbourhood there are a number of other empty tree pits where newly planted trees have been vandalized.

Did anyone see or hear anything?  If you did, please let me know as I would like to make it my personal quest to go after those responsible.

Allez les bleus...........

Nothing too remarkable about this sunset photo - except for the lack of the huge blue containers that have blighted the neighbourhood for the last four months.  The last three have been removed from Randell's Road - that set were particularly dangerous as they force the Cemex lorries into the middle of the road and created a blind corner for cyclists and others.  See here and here and some more here for the saga. 

Thanks to Paul and Stuart in particular for banging on about it and not letting the Coucil forget.

Gifford st generation game.....

Another chilly night looms for resident of Gifford St, the Bemerton estate and the West of the Cally road as a massive power outage hits the area.  A high voltage cable has burned out, probably in Cally Road on Friday night and the area to the West of the Cally as far as Gifford St has been without power for up to 36 hours. 

EdF (contact details here) has shipped in some big generators which they plug into the sub-stations.  But there is a generation game going on as the one they dropped on Pembroke St for Gifford and the North Bemerton ran out of diesel, causing angry scenes on the pavement.  It is also doubtful whether they have enough generation capacity.  In the meantime Cally road is being dug up to find the cable.  I can post this because Rufford St runs off a different substation on Randells Road - which had its high voltage cables replaced recently and York Way dug up for some time.

The police are no doubt looking forward to a night on the estates with no power for door entry/closure systems or TVs......
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Cally crime.......

Oh dear, here we go again - Sunday 11th March 0230 a group of males was assaulted receiving serious head injuries at this site in an unprovoked attack.  This is outside the newsagent near Iceland on the Bemerton side of the Cally - if you know anything call the police on 020 7421 0185.  I wonder if the super-dooper CCTV camera 40 yards away was pointing in this direction.

Tudorvale noise at St William's Yard

All still very up and down with the Tudorvale construction site at St William's Yard on Gifford Street.  No work on Saturday which is good but a lot of overruns, noise and a hardening attitude towards residents who continue to stick up for themselves.  The Council noise protection people are fully engaged. For reference readers can click here for the Council Code of Construction Practice of which Tudorvale seem to be in breach.  As usual at the end of the day today the Tudorvale sub contractors were rushing to pour concrete after six o'clock and i caught it on film - the noise goes on like this more or less all day.

CCTV on Bridgeman Road

For some time, folks have been frustrated about the delays associated with the long-awaited CCTV installation at Bridgman and Caledonian Roads.

Please note the following from PC Mark Warwick of our Safer Neighbourhood's Team.

Just to let you all know the CCTV is up and running in Bridgeman Road and Carel and I had our first arrest as a result of its presence. A male was arrested for a Criminal Offence ( Sorry - I can't be more specific at this point) . This  arrest was also in Conjunction with our colleagues from the LBI Park's Patrols and "Duke" the dog who played his part very effectively.

Its a good start .... Lets see where it takes us !

Thanks to Mark and the Team for their continued efforts on behalf of our neighbourhood...

If any of you wish to be notified about the work of the Safer Neighbourhood Panel (the residents group that meets regularily with our Safer Neighbourhoods Police Team), please contact Jennifer the Panel's secretary (and local resident) and request to be added to the mailing list.  Of special note is that this Panel is Chaired by our local Councillor Paul Convery, so this is a real opportunity to channel your views about how to improve safety in our neighbourhood directly to someone who has the influence to take matters further! 

Local crime coverage

The blanket coverage of Terry Adams conviction and sentencing has led to plenty of TV coverage for the area.  The Adams family grew up on the Barnsbury Estate, East of the Cally Road and South of Copenhagen Street built in the 1930s and 1950s (only Sky seemed to find it - i can't quite get the circle on the map in the right place - the BBC was helplessly filming in front of some Georgian terraces). 

The coverage has been disappointingly glorifying, making comparisons to Lock, Stock etc.  One angle the media miss is the tragic role model that the Adams and other organised criminals provide to young people.  Seen from one perspective, such criminals are people who have fought hard to escape local poverty, poor housing and lack of local opportunity.  If you have no other models turning to crime seems less illegitimate. 

Local youth workers frequently mention this as an important influence on young people's behaviour when they start to go down the wrong path.  This makes the problems in Kings Cross harder to tackle.  Despite that though imaginative and targeted youth work has made a big impact in the area in the past few years.  I am on the board of the Copenhagen Youth Project - who really impress will post some more on them shortly.

Noise, noise, noise - St Williams Yard shakes up neighbourhood

The St William's Yard building site at Gifford and Pembroke Streets continues to be badly supervised and wreak havoc with local residential amenity.  Work runs over agreed hours, workers behave in an unsafe way, the streets are full of mud and concrete, the lorries drive too fast down Bingfield Street and the noise and vibration are driving residents mad.  Diana Shelley and Cllr Convery are both in the fray.  Tudorvale the developers are communicating but not much seems to be changing on the ground.  Hopefully the Council will crack down.  If anyone needs to communicate with Tudorvale pls email  Martyn Chandler who is fending residents off. 

Also try the hilarious St William's Yard website they have here which seems to forget to mention the difficult social problems faced by the neighbourhood into which these developers are trying to sell an Islington Upper Street lifestyle concept.