Kings Cross Local Environment

Black History Month hits KX

 

 

We have been sent details from Voluntary Action Islington about  Black History Month 2010, but nothing yet from Camden. If anyone has info about events on the Camden side of KX, please contact us asap so that we can help spread the word!

 

 

Camden town hall annexe sell-off still on the cards?

The new Labour-led council is going ahead with plans drawn up by the previous LibDem/Conservative-led council to sell the 1970s town hall annexe building and construct new offices in the King's Cross railway lands, according to a report in Camden New Journal (CNJ) on July 22. (Labour U-turn over ‘vanity project')

This is despite well-publicised Labour opposition before the election, from both King's Cross Councillor Jonathan Simpson and Holborn and St Pancras MP Frank Dobson, which picked up on strong local feeling.

As a King's Cross ward resident, I was anxious to see what was to happen to the project. I agreed with concerns put forward about the loss of my local library, the dangerous precedent set by the likely building of a much higher 'skyscraper' south of Euston Road and years of disruption for the local school and other facilities. In an individual written response to a letter of concern from my household, Frank Dobson said, "I should make clear that I am opposed to the Lib/Dem led council to sell off the Town Hall extension for redevelopment…I don't think it is in the Council's job to go in for property speculation…(this and other sell-offs mentioned in the letter) are to the disadvantage of the local community."

I happened to contact Cllr Simpson before the CNJ story was published, to find out the fate of the sale and details — he referred it on to Cllr Sarah Hayward, also of King's Cross ward and a council cabinet member. I'm awaiting a reply.

The building's costly state of disrepair was the key justification made by the LibDems and Conservatives for the site's disposal. They talked of a repair bill of some £15m. But according to the recent news story, the Labour administration now say it's a £77m bill. Whichever the figure, it is crucial that the calculations behind these hefty figures be made available for public scrutiny. If a decision has indeed been made, the local community deserves no less than a full and detailed explanation and the first fair chance to probe this controversial deal.

Clare Hill

Bridging the Kings Cross Divides

Many thanks to Tobias Newland for this article:

In May 2010 the two councils which control Kings Cross both returned to Labour control. For the first time since 1998 the councils on the Islington and Camden sides of Kings Cross are controlled by same political party. Previously Camden had been controlled by a Conservative/Liberal Democratic coalition, while Islington had been run by a Liberal Democrat administration.

 

 

That both Camden and Islington councils are under the same political control, “certainly makes joint working easier” notes Sarah Hayward a councillor in Camden’s Kings Cross ward which adjoins Caledonian and Clerkenwell wards in Islington as well as St Pancras and Somerstown ward in Camden north of the Euston Road. 

Since the creation of the current Camden and Islington boroughs in 1965, Kings Cross has been under unified control for only 33 out of 45 years.[1] But since 1998, when Labour lost overall control of Islington Council, there have different party administrations on either side of the Kings Cross divide (shown in red on the map above). 

Before 1965 the situation was even more complex with the area controlled by three metropolitan borough – Finsbury and Islington in the east (boundary shown in dotted red) and St Pancras borough in the west. For seven out of the 19 years between the War and 1965 the boroughs were under the control of different parties including periods in the early 1950s and again in the early 60s when the Conservatives controlled St Pancras Council with socialist administrations in the eastern boroughs.

The recent political convergence is particular welcome in the context of increasing physical divisions within Kings Cross experienced by residents walking through the area. Notably the loss of a bridge across the tracks at the northern end of Kings Cross station as well as pedestrian access into the station from Wharfdale Road. 

And then there is the severance between the Kings Cross communities living north and south of Euston Road/Pentonville Road. Such was the power of the gulf which this created in local communities that older residents remember referring to the road as the river Jordan. The introduction of the London Congestion Charge in 2003 has made things worse. This already busy road has become a de facto inner ring road with studies showing that each day more than 15,000 private cars which used to enter central London diverting around the outside instead.[2]

[1] Woolard J and Alan Willis (ed), Twentieth Century Local Election Results, Volume 3: Summary Data: Inner London County & Borough Elections 1889-1998 (Local Government Chronicle Elections Centre, University of Plymouth, 2000)

[2] Leape, Jonathan, The London Congestion Charge, in Journal of Economic Perspectives – Volume 20, Number 4 – Fall 2006, pp157-176.

Public health threatened

 King's Cross is home to many celebrities, one of whom is Professor Phil James. Phil did his medical training at our local hospital, UCH. He lives in King's Cross and is President of the International Association for the Study of Obesity (IASO), an independent not-for-profit organisation. 

The IASO links over 50 regional and national associations with over 10,000 members in scientific, medical and research organisations. It is an umbrella organisation for 52 national obesity associations representing 56 countries. 

Last Thursday saw Phil explaining the ramifications of new UK Government policy towards public health, particularly relating to the Government's intention to abolish the Food Standards Agency and to work closely with large food companies to stop the 'prescriptive' approach to school dinners taken in recent years.

The Government is not keen on the Jamie Oliver led introduction of healthy low fat, low salt food into schools. They would rather schools stayed out of the decisions that they believe only parents should make about what children eat. I visited Copenhagen Primary School at lunchtime recently and witnessed this prescriptive approach in action. Kids happily tucking into appetising healthy food - not a turkey twizzler in sight.

As John Snow interviewed Phil it became clear that this is just the start of what maybe a full scale attack on public health. Phil said, 

"We are threatened with the reversal of the trend towards better public health"

You can see the full piece by clicking on this link and sliding across to 9.07 minutes in. Phil's interview starts at 13 minutes in.

Islington Council's newspaper

Islington Council publishes a newspaper 'Islington Now'.  An FOI request from one L Barnett on 'What do they know' yields some fascinating information.

Islington Now is produced ten times a year with 97,000 copies distributed.  £273,000 was spent on the paper in 2008-2008 with £251,000 budgeted for 2009-2010 As far as i can make our from the FOI request, the paper raised only £14,000 from external advertising, with another £135,000-odd apparently being raised in an internal money-go-round where the council charges it's own divisions to advertise in its own paper.  The council employs a full time staff member to produce the paper at a full cost of £46,000 per annum.

The following phrases occur in Islington Now's editorial policy:

'Articles also need to reflect the council’s key messages, and the magazine has sections that enable us to do this...'Messages should be positive but realistic – we have to be honest with readers and invite them to engage in dialogue with us.We avoid council speak so the magazine is not perceived as propaganda '

Catherine West the new Council Leader has said that 'there will be a few changes to this magazine'.  Will be interesting to see what happens - would be nice to see the council reaching out more to local websites such as this - i have never once had Islington Council's press people contact me or comment in the comments - have a go now folks....

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.

Election worries? Feeling confused? Help is at hand!

Votematch from Unlock Democracy - the UK campaign for democracy, rights and freedoms - is here to help.

An independent academic panel based in the politics department of Goldsmiths University of London devised a number of key statements likely to sway voters in the election. Each political party then responded to the statements. Votematch asks you whether you agree with each statement, disagree, are open minded or just want to ignore the statement. You'll then be asked which of the issues addressed by the statement matters most to you. Finally, Votematch shows which party most closely fits with your opinions. It lists all the parties in order of how closely they agree with you. You can look at each party in detail to see where they fit and where they disagree with you.

Votematch is politically neutral and has an Advisory Board chaired by Sam Younger, former chair of the Electoral Commission.

 

Spotlight on King's Cross - From the Homes & Property Section of the Evening Standard

Apparently The Homes & Property Section of the Evening Standard has just published a piece about King's Cross.  You can download it here - Download Spotlight on Kings Cross_ Homes & Property.

While in general the article is very positive, we've already heard from one local resident who was not happy with what was said.

We now invite you all to have your say.

 

Armchair accountability - 'Democracy Club' meeting Thursday evening Holborn

The people at MySociety (who do theyworkforyou and fixmystreet) have set up this interesting national organisation Democracy Club.  It describes itself as

'a non-partisan hub for for armchair activists. We suggest small ways in which volunteers can hold our representatives to account.'

As you know we try not to do party politics on this site (there's plenty of that on the internet elsewhere) but we do do scrutiny and accountability.  Democracy Club is i think mainly web basedd but has it's first face to face meeting for central london just down the road in Holborn on Thursday evening bringing together people from a range of London constituencies.  Their text follows:

Central London democracy club meeting

Democracy Club is a non-partisan project that aims to inform the electorate and support more engagement with political issues.

We aim to cut through the spin and gather a record of each candidate's position on local and national topics along with information on who candidates are and what they say and do.

We are meeting this Thursday to progress those aims by talking about the forthcoming election, the issues that will affect it in central London.

As voters, having greater clarity on what election candidates actually stand for helps us to hold them to account.

Together we are making a difference. The more of us there are, the more difference we make. We hope to see you on Thursday, or if you can't come, then please sign up at www.DemocracyClub.org.uk

Democracy Club Meeting on Thursday 25th February 2010 7pm - 10pm

Venue Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square. London WC1R 4RL

Venue Details:
* Nearest station is Holborn (Central and Piccadilly) approx 3 min walk
* Convenient bus routes: 1, 8, 25, 38, 55, 59, 68, 91, 98, 188, 243, 521
* Entrance is on Red Lion Square, google map: http://tinyurl.com/yf8t4n5


Become a fan of Democracy Club on Facebook.

London 'needs two million trees'

King's Cross leads the way, thanks to local activists particularly John Ashwell, aiding London's need to become low carbon. But more needs to be done and that more is more trees, greenwalls and greenspace. This from the BBC's website today:

An extra two million trees should be planted in London to combat rising temperatures over future decades, the mayor's environment plan has suggested.

Projections suggest average summer temperatures could be 3.9C higher in London by 2080.

However increasing tree numbers by 2025, as well as creating more green space and roofs, may help to thwart these projections, the report added.

Isabel Dedring, London mayor Boris Johnson's environment advisor, said: "People really struggle to see how an old, Victorian built-up city like London can really be a low carbon city, which if you look at the targets, it needs to be.

"There are lots of things we can do collectively offsetting those rises, and we have to start doing that now."

She said that trees in London's streets improved air quality.

Mr Johnson promised to fund 10,000 extra trees in his election campaign and so far 1,500 have been planted.

Temperatures in London are affected by the "urban heat island effect", where buildings absorb and release heat.

To counter this, the report has called for more roofs and walls to be covered with vegetation.

Local heroes like Lisa Tang, the driving force behind many local environmental projects including green flag winning Thornhill Bridge Community Gardens beside the Regent's Canal on the Cally Road, are helping to save our city from potential disaster. Private gardens including those all along The Cally and tucked away behind Northdown Street and on the Battlebridge Basin are vital in the capital's struggle to overcome the man-made catastrophe that is global warming. Camley Street Natural Park remains a lifeline not only for urban wildlife, but also for every local Londoner and commuter. 

King's Cross Community Projects, a small fledgling charity, is currently fundraising to create a vertical landscape on the King's Cross Gyratory, donations can be made online. The charity has raised £52k and needs at least a further £30k+ before works can start so every penny counts.