The Guardian: "Ministers accused of 'hypocrisy' over relaxation of planning regulations"

Link to The Guardian

"All the government ministers pushing through a controversial relaxation of planning regulations have opposed developments in their own constituencies.

"The Guardian revelations leave the chancellor, George Osborne, and Eric Pickles and his ministers in the Department for Communities and Local Government accused of 'breathtaking hypocrisy' for saying major changes to planning laws are vital to boost economic growth and ease the shortage of homes, while fighting such developments in their own backyards."

In August 2010, Osborne was the first of 25,000 people to sign a petition against an energy-from-waste plant in his Cheshire constituency. He is also honorary president of a campaign against a second local incinerator.

Pickles, the secretary of state for communities and local government, also campaigned against a waste facility, a composting site at Stondon Massey in his Essex constituency, saying approval would 'open the doors for our county to become the waste dump for the south-east'.
 

---

Plus: "Planning policy minister faces strong opposition from Tory heartlands"

Greg Clark must win over his Tunbridge Wells
constituency, where councillor warns 
shift in planning law is 'political suicide'

The Guardian: "Nikolaus Pevsner: The Life by Susie Harries - review"

Link to The Guardian

"There was much more to Nikolaus Pevsner than the guidebooks that bear his name. The proper name for a 'Pevsner' is the Buildings of England series – the 46 county-by-county architectural gazetteers that constitute one of the great enterprises of 20th-century scholarship. Pevsner started them in 1951, and their 60th anniversary has sparked a renewed interest in the man himself.

"He undertook the series for Allen Lane and quickly established an exhausting routine. He would take month-long trips twice a year, covering 2,000 miles at a time in a clapped-out Wolseley, and would visit as many of each county's buildings of note as possible, writing up his notes in dingy B&Bs in the evenings."

(picture: Richard london traveller)

"Turning up unannounced at grand houses, he was frequently refused entry. When trying to get in to examine Colney Hatch asylum, with its huge Italianate façade, he told the recalcitrant doorman: 'I am Professor Pevsner'. 'That's a new one,' was the response."

Haringey's Myddleton Road: Incremental improvements

Link to PDF file (6 MB)

"Myddleton Road sits within the Bowes Park Conservation Area, within the Bounds Green Ward, in the northern part of the London borough of Haringey.

"Myddleton Road was formerly the commercial heart of the residential suburb of Bowes Park, and historic photographs show thriving shopping parades, and an affluent and attractive street.

"Currently, Myddleton Road is in economic decline. It is secluded, physically isolated from its environs, and does not sustain enough footfall to support a vital degree of economic activity. Today, approximately 30% of the shopfronts are vacant or closed up.

"The street currently has an extremely high incidence of planning contraventions and unresolved enforcement issues, generally in the form of illegal satellite dishes, roller shutters and shop fronts, and this has lead to a serious corrosion of the street’s physical and visual environment, and sense of place. The sections of the local community which are committed to protecting the built heritage of Myddleton Road appear to be in a minority.

"The scope of this regeneration project is intrinsically defined by whether the shopowners/tenants are interested and willing to be involved, or not, in any future regeneration funding scheme. If implemented, the nature of this grant-aided regeneration is that improvements will occur on a fragmentary basis, and the overall effect on Myddleton Road would be an incremental improvement in the quality of the place, rather than an immediate and radical transformation.

"The funding of a regeneration scheme for active conservation and managed change is by no means a panacea for the range of problems confronting Myddleton Road. To have an impact, such a scheme will inevitably require the full cooperation of all sections of the community, and the immediate and unpopular enforcement of planning regulations. Myddleton Road could once again be a unique and distinctive place, and a “local hub”. Though currently degraded, it has the potential to re-establish itself."

---

Cllr Matt Cooke (Bounds Green, Labour) discusses the regeneration of Myddleton Road in Bowes Park, and outlines investment by Haringey Council and the future plans for the area. (Nov. 2010)




Courtesy: Bowes and Bounds Connected.

If you thought Barnet was corrupt, take a look at the murky waters in the Cotswolds...

Barnet Times

 (Click on the image to enlarge, and usually again to magnify)

Barnet's Reign of Terror - its Audit Committee

Link to Mrs Angry's 'Broken Barnet web site

"If you want a sensible analysis of the content of last night's meeting, go and ask Mr Reasonable, or Mr Mustard, who were seated beside Mrs Angry, and seemed to understand what they were all going on about. Mr Mustard wrote a lot of notes in purple ink on a yellow legal pad, and kept poking Mrs Angry with his elbow, making knowing comments, while Mr Reasonable muttered in despair, shaking his weary head, all the way through.

"Chairman Lord Palmer was his usual lovely self, and helpfully looked meaningfully in Mrs Angry's direction when at some particularly significant point in the proceedings, which was helpful. He is that rare thing in politics: a good man, with a sense of conscience and duty. If only our Tory councillors were so disposed.

"Deputy Chief Exec. Andrew Travers talked enthusiastically about monitoring contracts: a late convert to this concept, but better late than never, eh? Another brilliant idea is that, from now on, Barnet will be using systems 'properly' (this is presumably after Mrs Angry's 'action plan' advice, to pull his fucking finger out). So that's all good news, isn't it?"

Daily Telegraph: "Banning plastic bags will not have the slightest effect on global warming"

Link to the Daily Telegraph

"There are lots of things wrong with plastic bags: for a start, they're an especially ubiquitous and unsightly form of litter, blowing around in the wind and getting stuck in trees. They take up landfill space. They're a danger to wildlife, especially marine life, and some (though not, so much, British ones) end up in great litter agglomerations in the south Pacific. 

"But, if you're re-using them in an attempt to prevent global warming, I'm afraid it's an exercise in tokenism. 

"The creation of each bag produces just 31 grammes (one ounce) of carbon dioxide, according to George Marshall of the 'Climate Outreach and Information Network' – about the same as driving your car 300 feet. The plastic is usually non-biodegradable, so it's stable in landfills and doesn't give off methane from there. (Perhaps ironically, moves towards producing biodegradable bags may actually be harmful.) And, depending on the kind of "Bag for Life" that is used instead and how many times they are used, the apparently 'green' alternative may be more carbon-intensive."

The Guardian: "London ranks among worst European cities for air pollution"

Link to The Guardian

"London ranks as one of Europe's unhealthiest major cities, having done little to tackle deadly particles from diesel vehicles, according to a major air quality study published on Wednesday.

"The home of the 2012 Olympics ranks 'below average' in a soot pollution league table by German environment and consumer groups, coming behind Glasgow, Copenhagen and Stockholm."

Enfield Advertiser and Enfield Independent

 (Click on the images to enlarge, and usually again to magnify)

Friern Barnet Ecclesiastical Matters ('Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?')

The 'Bloggers of Barnet' have jointly published the following proclamation...

The Most Reverend the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury
Lambeth Palace 
London SE1 7JU 

Via email to contact@lambethpalace.org.uk 

Your Grace,

We the undersigned are writing to you to draw your attention to the behaviour of the Reverend Adrian Benjamin, the vicar of All Saints Church in Barnet.

As you are no doubt aware, the London Borough of Barnet, like many other London boroughs, is suffering huge cuts to public services. A campaign, Barnet Alliance for Public Services (BAPS), has been set up to defend these vital services and has been active in opposing many of the policies being implemented by Barnet Council. The campaign is broad based and not aligned with any political party.

As part of the campaign, BAPS intended to operate a stall at the Friern Barnet Summer Show, a local festival. Rev Benjamin is on the organising committee. Originally Rev Benjamin gave BAPS permission to have a stall, but withdrew that permission at the last minute on the grounds that he deemed the campaign to be political.

The campaigners from BAPS were offered space on another person's stall and they took part in the festival after all. When Rev Benjamin learned of this he brought some other men with him, dismantled the stall, confiscated the BAPS banner and asked the campaigners to leave the park.

 
When later asked to return the banner, Rev Benjamin replied that it had been lost and could not be returned. Since Rev Benjamin was also extremely rude to the campaigners, an unseemly row has now developed. Rev Benjamin spoke to one of our local papers, the Hampstead and Highgate Express and made the following statement:

“If someone came in with explosives then it would have been me who was responsible for disposing of it and as far as I’m concerned it [the banner] is as predacious as a bomb.’’ He referred to Mr Silverman (one of the campaigners) as ‘‘a rogue, a rogue.”

(The original article can be viewed here: http://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/hampstead_archdeacon_called_in_over_row_with_minister_1_1009722) 

Mr Silverman is a 74-year-old pensioner, who has worked tirelessly as a community campaigner in Barnet for many years. There are several questions raised by Rev Benjamin's behaviour, which we feel we must set out.

1. Shouldn't a minister of the Church set a better example in his dealings with members of the public? Publicly denigrating people who are clearly involved in community activities in the press is surely not acceptable.
2. Comparing local campaigners to terrorists is highly insulting and irresponsible. We believe that this shows an appalling lack of judgement.
3. The failure to respect the property of others and the failure to exercise a duty of care with materials in his charge shows a callous disregard for other people. The BAPS campaign has extremely limited funds and the banner will cost a significant amount to replace.

As Rev Benjamin is a part of the festival organising committee, we believe that he has brought the Church of England and the wider Christian community into disrepute. As leader of the Church, we call upon you to intervene. We believe that, at the very least, Rev Benjamin owes Mr Silverman a public apology and that he should pay for a new banner for BAPS.

As to whether Rev Benjamin is a suitable candidate for such an important role in the community and the Church of England, we will leave that to your wisdom and judgement.

Yours faithfully...

Boundary Commission will publish preliminary constituencies this month

Read the background:

Link to web site.

Broken Barnet: Committee for the Closing Down of Friern Barnet Library

'While You Were Sleeping: Scrutiny in Broken Barnet'
Link to committee report by Mrs Angry
(video also available)

"Libraries first: Councillor Rams at the table again. He was grilled by Labour, Libdem Jack Cohen, and by his own Tory councillor colleagues, especially Brian Salinger, about the vagueness of plans for the promised uber-library in the Arts Depot, which is supposed to make up for shutting any others.

...

"Tory Brian Salinger wanted to refer the matter back to Cabinet. A vote was taken: five for, five against. What did Chair Hugh Rayner do? He used his extra vote to block the library issue being referred back to Cabinet. Shameful."

The North London Waste Authority and Barnet Council Answer (weak point: they are also asking the questions)

"PLANNING APPLICATION
AND
CONSULTATION"

"A planning application for a waste facility and depot has been submitted to Haringey Council.

"The NLWA and Barnet Council are currently discussing the next steps to progress the application with Haringey Council. Further information about the process moving forwards will be provided in due course."

[Lots more follows...]

'Our Barnet' (newspaper): Friern Barnet Library Campaign

 (Click to enlarge images) 

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LetsRecycle: "Veolia unveils innovative MRF sorting technique"

Link to 'LetsRecycle' web site

(Veolia is one of two short-listed companies for the main NLWA contract; the other is FCC/ Skanska.)

"Veolia ES has unveiled a new ‘economically viable’ approach to sorting which it claims will allow councils to collect a wider range of plastics from households without having to use more containers. 

"The technology, dubbed ‘The Magpie’, is set to be installed in the UK for the first time this week at the 30,000 tonne-a-year capacity materials recycling facility (MRF) Veolia is building at Padworth in West Berkshire. The company then plans to retro-fit it in its 10 existing MRFs nationwide."

'Incineration myth'

"During the briefing, Mr Kirkman disputed the 'myth' that Veolia’s waste activities focus on incineration. 'We recycle as much as we incinerate,' he said, adding that 'we’ll have more treatment capacity that isn’t incineration by the beginning of next year'.

“... Much has been made about the benefits of Anaerobic Digestion, but it has yet to achieve its full potential. By combining AD with other technologies, such as composting, we believe AD can have a very bright future in the UK,” he said.

Haringey Journal

 (Click on the image to enlarge, and usually again to magnify)

(and in the Ham & High)

Haringey Journal: "High rise scheme will ‘destroy’ Alexandra Palace views"

BEFORE
(click on either image for web site)

AFTER

" 'Appalled' critics claim the ambitious Haringey Heartlands development - sandwiched between Wood Green and Hornsey, and due to go to a planning panel in the coming weeks - will completely destroy the vista from the Palace with 'Soviet-style' housing blocks up to 10 storeys high.

"Colin Marr, chairman of the Alexandra Palace and Park Conservation Area Advisory Committee, said:

"We do not object to height per se, and might have welcomed one or more higher buildings - it is the sheer bulk of the series of uninterrupted blocks that we find so objectionable.”

Enfield Independent and Enfield Advertiser

 (Click on the images to enlarge, and usually again to magnify)

 

Broken Barnet: Brian Coleman and the Strange Case of the Missing Friern Barnet Banner

Link to 'Broken Barnet'
(click on the main title wording to see all posts)

"The Chairman of directors of the 'Friern Barnet Summer Show' is a Councillor Brian Coleman.

"The charges for the use of local parks have been set by the Cabinet member for the Environment, who is a Councillor Brian Coleman.

"Is there a potential conflict of interest in this position, bearing in mind the popularly held belief that discretion is used over the decision to charge for the use of local parks, and the scale of charge? No. Mrs Angry is confident that any interest by any party was declared wherever appropriate, and that Friern Barnet Summer Show has always paid the full extent of the charge, and has similarly paid the full amount this year, as Finchley Carnival was expected to, before being obliged to cancel the show, which is why there is really no need to mention the matter now."

---

See also: "One of Our Banners is Missing".

Mr Reasonable: "Barnet's Audit Committee - Stifling Public Scrutiny?"

Link to web site

"On checking with the Council this morning, I was told that the deadline for submitting public questions to the Audit Committee is 10.00am tomorrow, Thursday 1 September. 

"At 3.54 pm on Wednesday 31 August, these papers were published. So I have between now and 10.00am tomorrow morning to read 162 pages, and to frame suitable questions."

Enfield LibDems: Dawn Barnes: "Wheelie bins are anti-recycling in Enfield"

Link to Dawn Barnes web site

"To encourage recycling and reduce general waste, as well as keeping rubbish out of reach of scavenging foxes, Enfield Council has started to roll out wheelie bins. However, for flats this means a reduction in kerbside recycling.

"In the meantime, it looks like more of my waste will be heading to Edmonton to be burned – sorry Edmonton, I try to send as little as possible your way. It’s no wonder that there is a need for another waste disposal plant on the borders of Enfield and Haringey – the very unpopular Pinkham Way - which will, if it goes ahead, see a huge waste disposal plant in a residential area and an increase in the numbers of vehicle journeys in the area of over 1000 a day."

---

"I regularly hear that people in Enfield are unhappy with the myriad wheelie bins outside their homes, particularly people who live in maisonettes and terraces and can’t easily put them in their back gardens. Enfield Council consulted people and informed us that they would give appropriate bins to people. This has not been the case and our streets are currently being blighted by a proliferation of large wheelie bins. I want the council to reconsider this scheme and try to give people reasonably sized waste receptacles.

"Meanwhile, the North London Waste Authority is seeking to build a large waste disposal site on the Enfield and Haringey borders at Pinkham Way, a section of the A406. In addition, Barnet Council intends to move its waste vehicle depot to the site. The result will be over 1100 additional journeys around the site; a smelly waste disposal site near people’s homes in Bowes, Southgate Green and Alexandra; and a risk of burning of waste on the site in future. The Pinkham Way Alliance is leading a campaign to stop this site from being used for waste disposal."

[Reposted] Challenging the North London Waste Authority on Freedom of Information Act requests

Driftwood (struggling to read the fine print): It says the, uh, "The party of the first part shall be known in this contract as the party of the first part." How do you like that? That's pretty neat, eh?
Fiorello: No, it's no good.
Driftwood: What's the matter with it?
Fiorello: I don't know. Let's hear it again.
Driftwood: It says the, uh, "The party of the first part shall be known in this contract as the party of the first part."
Fiorello (pausing): That sounds a little better this time.
Driftwood: Well, it grows on ya. Would you like to hear it once more?
Fiorello: Uh, just the first part.
Driftwood: What do you mean? The party of the first part?
Fiorello: No, the first part of the party of the first part.
Driftwood: All right. It says the, uh, "The first part of the party of the first part shall be known in this contract as the first part of the party of the first part shall be known in this contract" - look, why should we quarrel about a thing like this? We'll take it right out, eh?

---

Bestway Holdings Ltd

Complaint under s.50 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and under reg. 18 of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004

ATTACHMENT TO COMPLAINT

Background

1. Bestway Cash & Carry Limited is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bestway (Holdings) Limited (“Bestway”), the complainant. Their interests in the information are coincident and mutual.

2. Bestway Cash & Carry Limited and Bestway together own a freehold interest in property at Geron Way off the Edgware Road, London (“the Bestway Site”). The Bestway Site is located within the London Borough of Barnet (“LB Barnet”).The location of the Bestway Site is shown coloured green on the plan at Tab 1. Bestway has for many years carried on a cash-and-carry business at the Bestway Site, with a current turnover at that site of in excess of £50 million p.a. The Bestway Site provides a wholesale facility for local small businesses and it has more than 3,000 regular customers.

3. The North London Waste Authority (“NLWA”) is a waste disposal authority that arranges the disposal of waste collected in the seven London boroughs of Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Waltham Forest. The NLWA arranges the transport and disposal of waste collected by the seven north London boroughs.

4. According to the NWLA’s web-site:

“The NLWA works hard to ensure residents are kept informed about waste issues and are given the opportunity to input into decisions. Residents have and will be consulted where appropriate in relation to waste and waste planning.”

5. The North London Joint Waste Strategy (“NLJWS”) provides the strategic framework for municipal waste management in North London for the period 2004 - 2020. The NLJWS sets out the targets for reducing, reusing and recovering a greater proportion of the municipal waste which is generated in the North London Waste Authority area and for reducing the amount which is sent for disposal to landfill. The NLJWS completed the process of adoption by all eight partners (Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington, Waltham Forest and the NLWA) in February 2009. A summary of the strategy appears at this link. A complete copy of the strategy appears at this link.

6. As part of the NLJWS, the NLWA operates a waste transfer facility at Hendon (“Hendon Transfer Station”) which is in LB Barnet. Waste from the eight north London Boroughs is transported out of London by rail through the Hendon Transfer Station.

7. The Brent Cross Shopping Centre (“Brent Cross”) is within LB Barnet. The Hendon Transfer Station is opposite the Bestway Site, on the other side of the railway tracks to the east of the Bestway Site. Its location is shown coloured pink on the plan at Tab 1. LB Barnet produced a Unitary Development Plan which included a section dealing with the creation of a new town centre by the proposed expansion of Brent Cross: for details click. This was also dealt with in Supplementary Planning Guidance document to the UDP.

8. On 26 March 2008 a group called “The Brent Cross Cricklewood Development Partners” (“the Developers”) submitted an outline planning application to LB Barnet for the comprehensive regeneration of Brent Cross and the adjacent Cricklewood area (Application Number C/17559/08) (“the Development Proposal”). The Development Proposal covers an area of approximately 151 acres, which is defined to the west by the Edgware Road (A5) and the Midland mainline railway line and to the east by the A41, and is bisected east to west by the A406 North Circular Road. It is adjacent to Junction 1 of the M1 (Staples Corner) and includes Brent Cross and the bus station to the north of the North Circular as well as the existing Sturgess Park. It would involve the transformation of Brent Cross, the creation of up to 7,500 new homes, a substantial new commercial district, and a new high street with parks and some open spaces.

9. The Development Proposal proposes to relocate the Hendon Transfer Station — which is within the 151 acres of the Development Proposal — to the Bestway Site. In order to achieve this, LB Barnet would need to use its compulsory acquisition powers. LB Barnet has not, as yet, made any of the necessary resolutions needed to effect a compulsory acquisition.

Barnet Times

 (Click on the image to enlarge, and usually again to magnify)

Enfield Independent

 (Click on the image to enlarge, and usually again to magnify)

The Guardian: "Fusion power: is it getting any closer?"

Link to The Guardian

"For decades, scientists have been predicting that, one day, the same process that powers the sun will give us virtually unlimited cheap, clean electricity. Are they wrong?

"If only it were that simple. Fusion energy – in essence, recreating and harnessing here on earth the process that powers the sun – has been the goal of physicists around the world for more than half a century. And yet it is perpetually described as "30 years away". No matter how much research is done and money is spent attempting to commercialise this 'saviour' technology, it always appears to be stuck at least a generation away."

Scientific American: "For Energy Savings, LEDs Outshine Solar Panels"

Link to Scientific American

"Homeowners looking to save electricity costs should replace all their incandescent light bulbs with LED-based lights instead of installing a small solar photovoltaic system, a report by J.P. Morgan shows. 

"Light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, will become mainstream over the next 12 months as improving technology and performance and higher subsidies lead to a rapid drop in costs, according to the report."

The Guardian: "Recycling rates highest in fortnightly rubbish collection areas, study shows"

Link to The Guardian

"An English council has become the first to recycle more than 70% of residents' rubbish, according to a survey which shows the best performing local authorities are using fortnightly bin collections.

"The research by the letsrecycle.com website reveals that nine of the 10 English councils with the highest recycling rates have a system in which rubbish and recycling are collected on alternate weeks, with separate food waste collections."

Tuesday 13 September: Barnet Independence Day

The Guardian: "Community groups tackle Naples' rubbish problem"

Link to The Guardian

"Since the mid-90s, the southern Italian city of Naples and surrounding provinces have struggled with the proper disposal of trash. Tensions peaked during the hot summer of 2008, months after municipal workers refused to pick up any more garbage, in part because of overflowing landfills.

"But now Neapolitans are taking their city's trash problem into their own hands. Their activism could become a template for communities around the world where municipal budgets wither, infrastructure suffers, and residents tire of government inaction or ineptitude."

GAIA: "Incinerators: Myths vs. Facts"

Link to GAIA factsheet (PDF file)

"Incineration is a waste treatment technology that involves burning commercial, residential and hazardous waste. Incineration converts discarded materials, including paper, plastics, metals and food scraps into bottom ash, fly ash, combustion gases, air pollutants, wastewater, wastewater treatment sludge and heat. 

"There are 100 waste incinerators in the U.S. and most of these are used to generate electricity. No new incinerators have been built in the U.S. after 1997, due to public opposition, identified health risks, high costs and the uptake of waste reduction practices such as recycling and composting. 

"In recent years, the incinerator industry has tried to expand their sector by marketing their facilities as “Waste to Energy” (WTE), using misleading claims of “reducing climate pollution” and being a 'clean energy source'."

Enfield Independent

 (Click on the image to enlarge, and usually again to magnify)

The Independent: "Rethinking the Tube map: A design for strife"

Link to The Independent

"Harry Beck's Tube map is an undisputed classic, but a recent attempt to improve on it has derailed the consensus, as Chris Beanland discovers. 

"Beck was an engineering draughtsman whose radical idea to straighten out and simplify the Underground lines was way ahead of its time. It was pure modernism. And it has lasted, in different incarnations, right up to the present day."

Daily Telegraph: "The moral decay of our society is as bad at the top as the bottom"

Link to Daily Telegraph

"Yesterday, the veteran Labour MP Gerald Kaufman asked the Prime Minister to consider how these rioters can be 'reclaimed' by society. Yes, this is indeed the same Gerald Kaufman who submitted a claim for three months’ expenses totalling £14,301.60, which included £8,865 for a Bang & Olufsen television.

"The Prime Minister showed no sign that he understood that something stank about yesterday’s Commons debate. He spoke of morality, but only as something which applies to the very poor: 'We will restore a stronger sense of morality and responsibility – in every town, in every street and in every estate.' He appeared not to grasp that this should apply to the rich and powerful as well.

"The tragic truth is that Mr Cameron is himself guilty of failing this test. It is scarcely six weeks since he jauntily turned up at the News International summer party, even though the media group was at the time subject to not one but two police investigations. Even more notoriously, he awarded a senior Downing Street job to the former News of the World editor Andy Coulson, even though he knew at the time that Coulson had resigned after criminal acts were committed under his editorship.

"... The culture of greed and impunity we are witnessing on our TV screens stretches right up into corporate boardrooms and the Cabinet. It embraces the police and large parts of our media."

Twenty-five years, in Hackney

Link to 'Hackney : Revisited'

"Hackney : Revisited is a collaborative project between two urban photographers, who despite having never met, have come together to capture Hackney in different decades.

Berris Conolly lived and worked around Hackney in the 1980s.  Over the course of several years, he built up a unique collection of documentary-style photos.

Alex Pink lives, works and photographs Hackney & East London. He has revisited the places where Berris once stood, to document the differences."

Channel 4: Global Warming

(from September last year)

---

Link to "BBC: Arctic 'tipping point'."

Ham & High letter

 (Click on the image to enlarge, and usually again to magnify)

Barnet Bugle: "Shoppers turned away from Friern Bridge Retail Park in Barnet"

"BBC London News reports that shoppers were turned away by retailers in Barnet for fear of looting and rioting."

[Updated] North Circular Road Regeneration

New opposition web site:

Link to 'Stop the A406 Flats' web site

"The plans are to build 140 homes in place of the existing 20 houses in the area by the new bridge, with an additional 39 homes planned for the area adjacent to Pevensey Avenue. The plans include a nine-storey tower block (on the corner of Wilmer Way and A406, overlooking Broomfield School) and a six-storey block (on the corner of A406 between Ollerton Road and Pevensey Avenue)."   
 

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4 August: Enfield Independent:  

(Click to enlarge, and sometimes again to magnify)

Link to Bounds Green and District Residents Association.

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Reposting of details of the scheme, from early July:

 CONTEXT

Notting Hill Housing welcomed people last weekend to an exhibition of the emerging plans for the regeneration of a number of sites, located on or nearby the North Circular Road.

The sites are part of an extensive portfolio of properties that were originally purchased to allow for a major expansion of the A406. This resulted in a lengthy period of blight.

Through its North Circular Area Action Plan, Enfield Council wishes to see the provision of quality new homes linked with improvements to local transport and community facilities. The Council’s ambition is to deliver well-designed, accessible and pleasant environments in this part of the borough.

Following recent initial consultation sessions with the nearest neighbours to a number of the sites, this exhibition provides a further opportunity for local residents, businesses and organisations to learn more and give feedback.

Notting Hill Housing is in the process of preparing planning applications which are expected to be submitted to the London Borough of Enfield from the Summer of 2011 onwards.

Members of the regeneration team would be pleased to answer your questions [even now, after the exhibition] as we would value your views. All comments received will be carefully considered, prior to the submission of the planning applications.

  ACHIEVING REGENERATION

Notting Hill Housing is a social enterprise which has been at the forefront of vibrant urban regeneration since 1963. Notting Hill has over 25,000 homes across London and the South East and employs 800 staff.

Affordable homes for rent or part-ownership, as well as homes for sale are provided. Some £180 million was invested in 2010, completing just over 1,000 new homes.

The service offered by Notting Hill is flexible, local and personal. Housing officers look after just 125 tenancies, and they are responsible for all aspects of service and contact with residents, such as rent collection and repairs services.

In 2010, Notting Hill took on the renovation and regeneration of the North Circular Road sites, after the scale of local road improvements was downgraded.

Much has already been achieved by Notting Hill in transforming the local area including:

• £10 million committed to refurbish over 250 homes, due to finish next year;
• housing or re-housing 118 existing tenants, with remaining homes available for new tenants nominated by Enfield Council;
• the eviction of a large number of squatters; and
• the major clean up of derelict properties & rear gardens including hazardous waste & asbestos – estimated at over £450,000.

This exhibition shows Phase 1 of the proposed new development programme, that will complement the refurbishment of existing properties.

The new development programme seeks to:

• deliver further high quality sustainable homes for rent, shared ownership and sale;
• regenerate vacant and derelict sites and some existing properties that have been compromised by the road improvements;
• provide new landscaping and tree planting to enhance the environment; and
• Improve security and clean up eyesore sites.

 SITES

(You will need to email for a copy of the complete display boards, for more details of the sites; see below.)

BIRCHWOOD COURT & MELVILLE GARDENS

WILMER WAY JUNCTION NORTHSIDE

WILMER WAY JUNCTION SOUTHSIDE

TELFORD ROAD CORRIDOR

PALMERSTON CRESCENT & CHAUCER CLOSE

 WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

Alongside future phases, these proposals seek to respond to the aspirations of the London Borough of Enfield, and deliver the regeneration of an area that has suffered years of neglect. Taken as a whole, the sites will bring forward much-needed new homes, offering a mix of tenures along with a series of environmental improvements benefiting existing and new residents alike.

Future phases of the regeneration programme will include additional homes, as well as community and business uses.

Once developed, the new tenanted properties will be fully managed by Notting Hill Housing alongside the existing refurbished homes, meaning that there will be a long-term involvement in the community.

The team working on the redevelopment programme will review all of the feedback received during the consultation process, and finalise proposals in the light of this.

Planning applications will then be submitted to the London Borough of Enfield, from the Summer of 2011 onwards. These applications will be subject to further consultation by Enfield Council, and representations will be invited from the local community.

The current expectation is that decisions will be made on the applications from the end of 2011 onwards.

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For a PDF file of the full display boards, and to pass on your comments, email Martin Hughes, of the agency that produced the exhibition, at martin@polityuk.com.