Join us protesting the Government’s cuts on March 26th
Cally Councillors are joining the mass demonstrations on Saturday 26th March at Highbury Fields and in Central London.
Islington is due to lose £335 million of public funding as the Tory Lib Dem Government cuts hit public services across the borough – a total of £4,000 per household.
The Council currently estimates that it faces losses of over £54 million to fund services and £80 million slashed from repairs, buildings, roads and other capital projects. The NHS in Islington could see £90 million slashed from services while the 20% cut to the Met police could mean £15 million less spent on crime-fighting and community safety in the Borough. Spending on public transport in Islington will be reduced by £55 million whilst welfare benefit cuts to Islington residents are likely to total another £40 million.
This year alone, Islington Council has lost 12% of its funding from central government; meanwhile an affluent Borough like Richmond upon Thames has only lost 2%.
To pledge your support for the March 26th demonstration, please go to Islington United Against the Cuts.
York Way needs wider pavements, traffic calming and pedestrian crossings
Pedestrian improvements are badly needed on the southern section of York Way – along the east side of Kings Cross station. Over the next few months Islington, Camden and Transport for London will begin works to widen pavements and introduce better pedestrian crossings along the stretch between Euston Road and Wharfdale Road.
York Way is the boundary between Camden and Islington and – despite many other improvements in the area – both Boroughs have neglected the road in recent years. For obscure historic reasons, Camden Council is the highway authority for all of York Way so it is responsible for the carriageway and the pavements on both sides of the road.
Camden has now published plans for one stretch of York Way – to widen the pavement alongside the station flank wall, to introduce a pedestrian crossing by Caledonia Street and to re-position the main bus stops and the bus stands.
Last year, Islington Council proposed to return York Way to two way traffic as a first stage in removing the entire gyratory that includes Wharfdale Road and the bottom of Caledonian Road. This was intensely opposed by TfL and by Camden – not least because further junction improvements at Euston Road would become very complicated if two-way traffic were reintroduced on York Way without corresponding changes to all the other roads in the area. So Camden has proceeded with a new scheme that has several reasonably attractive features:
- Widened pavement alongside the Kings Cross station flank wall;
- Some widening of the east side of York Way between Euston Road and Caledonia Street
- A pedestrian crossing just before Caledonia Street that creates a traffic “pinch point” by reducing all traffic to single lane.
Cally Councillors are still pressing for further changes to the scheme notably to restrict more of the carriageway to a single lane beyond the new crossing at Caledonia Street. And we are still waiting to see proposed plans for two further schemes: to significantly improve pedestrian crossing at the Euston Road junction; and the Wharfdale Road junction. The Camden scheme is funded by £1m of S106 payment from Network Rail which arises from the redevelopment of the station.
Paul Convery comments “I am disappointed that Camden has still not accepted changes that Islington proposed. There still may be a chance for last minute modifications. And I really want to see the scheme for the Wharfdale Road junction – not least because one of the key elements of the Kings Cross station redevelopment was the removal of the York Way entrance which was next to the Wharfdale Road junction. Ideally I want to see a pedestrian bridge across the tracks at Wharfdale Road but I fear that time is running out. With a price tag of around £8m required to build such a bridge, I really cannot see much chance of capital funding materialising to build this”.
Meanwhile Paul has started discussions between Islington Council and Transport for London to examine the case for returning two-way traffic on Caledonian Road in the stretch between Wharfdale Road and Pentonville Road. This alone would effectively remove the gyratory system around the north side of Kings Cross and bring relief to Wharfdale Road and the other residential streets around it.
A copy of the latest Camden plan can be downloaded by clicking here.
Former Lib Dem Councillor pops-up in suburbia
Every so often people have asked us “whatever happened to Arnie Gibbons”? He was one of 3 Lib Dem Councillors who represented Caledonian Ward between 2002 and 2006. Even his former fellow Lib Dem Councillors from that time had lost touch. He lived at Thornhill Bridge Wharf for a few years but completely disappeared from view after the 2006 local elections when Labour won back Caledonian Ward. We think he moved away sometime in 2008.
But now he has popped-up as a Councillor in the London Borough of Richmond Upon Thames representing Whitton Ward – which is roughly half way between Twickenham and Hounslow.
This means that Arnie has been a Councillor in three different places in England during the past ten years. When standing for Islington Council in May 2002, he was still a serving Councillor in the city of Leicester. He got onto Islington Council then by a whisker. But in 2006 the Lib Dems were beaten by Labour’s team. Arnie had also fallen out with his leader, Steve Hitchens. Despite being one of the leading Lib Dem Councillors, it is said that he complained he “couldn’t get anywhere with Steve in shifting money to the Cally”. Hitchens was also defeated in May 2006.
Arnie was one of the full-time paid Executive Councillors for all 4 years he was on the Council. This allowed him the time to concentrate on being the Lib Dem’s Agent in their 2005 General Election campaign. Despite his efforts, Labour’s Emily Thornberry won the south Islington parliamentary seat.
Rupert Perry adds “I suppose this tells a story about the Lib Dems these days – their Councillors are like nomads wandering from one vaguely winnable seat to another. Arnie now represents a highly affluent neighbourhood in deep suburban outer West London – a ward that usually elects Tories to their Council. Rather different from the Cally”.
Remembering Jessie Wright
Today has marked the first anniversary of the tragic death of 16 year old Jessie Wright. A local youth Zakk Sackett is due to face trial later this month charged with her murder.
Friends and neighbours will be quietly mourning Jessie’s passing this weekend.
Her death shocked the neighbourhood and her funeral in late April last year was a deeply emotional event for everyone touched by her passing.
Paul Convery says “I shall join the many people remembering Jessie this weekend and praying that we never again see this kind of senseless violence in our community”.
“Choudhury Mansions” – demolition will go ahead
Neighbouring residents have welcomed the decision to forcibly demolish these apartments that were erected in 2006 without planning permission
A notorious block of flats on Pembroke Street will be demolished after an Appeal Inspector backed the Council’s refusal to grant planning permission.
The long running saga of “Choudhury Mansions” began in 2001 and has now come to an end. For over 4 years, Cally Labour Councillors have repeatedly opposed any granting of retrospective planning permission for the grim block of sub-standard apartments.
Local Councillors urged the appeal Inspector to back the Council and uphold an earlier ruling that the building should be demolished.
Construction began in early 2006 but the new building did not match the plans originally granted four years earlier. After pressure from local Councillors, Islington’s planning officers began enforcement action.
In 2008, the owner tried to get planning permission to regularise the building as constructed but this was refused and Islington issued a demolition order on the building. The owner appealed and lost. A first appeal Inspector upheld the demolition order but offered a final “chink of light” to the owner.
So the Council invited him to submit further plans to reconstruct the building in ways that would meet the Council’s planning policies. But the eventual redesign blatantly ignored the Council’s planning policies and the Council rejected the application last September. The Appeal inspcctor agreed with the Council on 2 of its 3 substative grounds for refusal.
Cllr Rupert Perry is a previous chair of planning and he says “This developer erected the shoddiest building in our neighbourhood and thought he could get away with it. No developer should think Islington Council’s planning policies can be ignored. We are no soft touch. We want affordable housing built to family-sized dimensions. And we require the highest standards of design and amenity space. Cally Councillors are vigilant for any and every abuse of the planning system and we warn all rogue developers they will not get away with blatant abuse of this kind.”
The Inspector’s appeal decision can be downloaded by clicking here.
Dispersal zone to cut anti-social behaviour on the Cally
The police now have a special power to disperse young people behaving anti-socially in this hotspot of recent trouble.
After weeks of anti-social behaviour concentrated on the Bemerton estate and streets east of Cally Road, a dispersal zone came into force yesterday, February 17th.
Since Christmas there has been a further build-up of aggressive anti-social behaviour by teenagers. Cally councillors called for the special powers to be used on the estate and have welcomed the extra attention the area has now received from the police service.
The powers granted to the police allow them to remove any group of people gathered within the dispersal zone who are involved in antisocial behaviour or causing trouble or problems for other people. A Police Officer or a Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) can direct them to “disperse” or leave the designated area and not return for up to 24 hours. Anyone aged under 16 years who is not in the company of a responsible adult may be escorted home or taken to a place of safety. The dispersal order
The dispersal order – which will remain in force for 3 months – is one part of a determined campaign to rid the Cally of persistent anti-social behaviour. Cally Councillors are backing Homes for Islington, BVMO (the Bemerton estate tenant management organisation) and Team Cally who are working together with the police and local youth projects.
The police and Council are methodically working to identify offenders and so far have brought action against 18 individuals or their parents. In the past weeks, a further three tenants who are parents of individuals responsible for ASB in the area are due to have Possession notices served against them for failing to bring their kids under control.
Meanwhile the Sparkplug project on Pembroke Street has started diversionary activities whilst BVMO and Team Cally have received funding from the council for a young people’s construction training project. Twelve young people aged 16-18 will gain work experience whilst the estate and its residents will benefit from improvements to the green space. It will start in March and run for 12 weeks.
Paul Convery says “The majority of youths who have been recently massing around the Cally most weekday afternoons and at weekends are not from this neighbourhood. The police have identified many of the kids and traced them back home to places like Tufnell Park and Camden Town. Paradoxically, they come down to the Cally because they feel ‘safe’ here. But they make a lot of other people feel very unsafe, especially older people and younger kids. At weekends especially they cause considerable damage as the all-too-regular Monday morning updates from the BVMO caretakers testify. Vandalised stairwells, graffiti, broken lights, windows and damaged cars have been increasingly commonplace. It’s time for the neighbourhood to get some respite and the dispersal zone will provide this.”
A question and answer briefing produced by the police and the Council explaining the powers used for the Bemerton-Thornhill dispersal zone is available here.
Council budget saves frontline services and freezes Council Tax
This evening, Caledonian ward’s Labour Councillors voted for the 2011-12 Council budget which has safeguarded frontline services and cut out waste and inefficiencies. Caledonian Councillors voted to reject an amendment from the Lib Dem opposition to abolish free school meals.
Islington faces the biggest cut in London because our community has one of the highest levels of low-income families in the country. The government has cut funding to Islington by £40m this year alone. The cuts came as Tory/Lib Dem Government Minister Grant Shapps personally refused to stop targeting areas with many low-income households, like Islington. Affluent places like Richmond-upon-Thames have had only 2 percent cuts, while Islington has been hit with a 12 percent cut.
In setting the budget, Labour Councillors have managed to protect services that the Tory-led Government thinks we should cut. Labour’s priority has been to protect services that support low-income people, the young and the vulnerable:
- Established a new Citizens Advice Bureau
- Created a £1m rescue fund to help local voluntary groups deal with Government cuts
- Kept all our Children’s Centres open
- Protected universal Free School Meals
- Doubled the team dealing with dangerous dogs
- Kept all our Libraries open with no change to opening days or hours
- Kept all school crossing “lollipop” officers
- Kept the £100 Council Tax discount for over 65s
- £400,000 on getting people in poverty into work
- Committed an extra £2m for people with Learning Disabilities and an extra £2m for child protection
- Retained Adult Social Services for those with moderate needs – one of the only councils in the country to still do this.
Paul Convery says: “This has been the toughest Council budget ever. Islington has suffered the largest government cuts in living memory. We’ve achieved this budget partly by cutting waste and inefficiency inherited from the previous LibDem administration. We’ve made over half the budget savings by doing this. We found £1m of savings just from simple management reorganisations. As a result, more money will be spent on frontline services. The other half of our budget saving has been a lot harder to find and difficult choices have been made. But our priorities have been to protect the services that help the less prosperous in our community.”
But this unprecedented financial squeeze is only just beginning. Each year the Government’s cuts will be worse for Islington – more services will close and fewer people will get the support they need. That is why Labour is appealing to the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats to stop targeting boroughs like Islington in this way.
Cally Councillors urge residents to support our campaign to stop the Government pushing through yet further draconian cuts next year … and the year after. The Council has estimated that Islington will experience cuts totalling £335m over the next 3 years – in healthcare, transport and local government services.
Sign the petition at www.islingtonlabour.iparl.com/petition/7
Cut to police funding threatens safer neighbourhood team
Cally police team has a sergeant, 2 constables and 3 community support officers dedicated to patrolling our ward
The Labour leadership of Islington Council is urging members of the public to help keep the dedicated police teams for our neighbourhoods. Tory Mayor, Boris Johnson, has threatened to directly pass-on government spending cuts by reducing the numbers of police who exclusively serve the Borough’s 16 Wards.
A plan is being considered by the top brass in the Borough police command which will cut the number of teams and extend their geographic responsibility. One option has been discussed with Councillors and members of the Safer Neighbourhood Panels that would create a large area west of Cally Road stretching all the way from Kings Cross to Nags Head. This would cover much of Holloway and Caledonian Wards.
The Labour Councillors for both these Wards have rejected this option and called on the Met Police to safeguard neighbourhood police teams based on the current ward geographies.
Islington Council has robustly lobbied City Hall and the Met Police Commissioner. We now believe a “fallback” scheme has been proposed by the Borough Command. This would keep the 16 neighbourhood teams but make a saving by reducing the number of Sergeants in charge of the teams.
Paul Convery says “We are lobbying hard to stop the amalgamation of neighbourhood police teams and to retain Caledonian’s dedicated team. The Met Police faces a similar problem to our own Council – faced with savage cuts from the Tory-led Government. But we think the Met should protect frontline policing. So, even the compromise plan has its weakness. Sergeants are very definitely part of the frontline patrol presence and losing any of these highly experienced officers would represent a cut in neighbourhood policing.”
As part of the Met’s budget review, a public consultation about neighbourhood policing is underway. The closing date for responses is 25th February. We urge the public to participate. Go to: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/DPJ68VS
Crumbles Castle is located alongside Bingfield Park in the heart of Caledonian Ward
Cally Labour councillors have welcomed the Council decision, announced today, to increase funding to our adventure playground, Crumbles Castle. The extra money will start in April this year and means that Crumbles can provide a core service of 3 days throughout term times and “short day” of play (12-4pm) during the school holidays throughout the coming year.
After lobbying by Crumbles with support from Islington Play Association and local Councillors, Islington has increased its funding from £45,000 per year to £56,000.
Crumbles has gone through significant change in the past year with recruitment of new Committee members and staff plus a significant renovation and refurbishment of the building.
Cllr Paul Convery says “this is excellent news for kids in our neighbourhood. We have supported Crumbles over the past year to get a better funding deal from the Council. Crumbles is run by a volunteer committee and for many years it has received far less money from the Council than the other adventure playgrounds in the Borough – especially those run directly by the Council. Crumbles is now placed on a much stronger financial footing and is getting a more fair deal from the Council.”
“The increase in funding comes at a time when the Council is being forced by the Tory-led Government to make cuts of almost £40 million in 2011-2012. So this decision represents quite an achievement for this vital youth service in our neighbourhood. The Labour Council intends to safeguard its youth and play services over coming years in the teeth of these government cuts.”
Yet more traffic chaos scheduled for Cally Road
Stop-go traffic will last for at least 6 weeks
Network Rail is carrying out work to the “Ferodo” rail bridge on Cally Road, starting on Monday 10th January. The structural repairs mean that one lane of traffic will be closed for a period of 6 weeks.
Traffic lights will control movement of vehicles. Work hours will be from 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday plus other work during weekends. The work is planned to finish on 21st February.
Network Rail says in a statement “we understand the effect our activities may have on the local community and can assure you that our team is familiar with working in close proximity to residents. We will endeavour to keep the noise and disruption to an absolute minimum; however some disturbance during this period may be unavoidable due to the nature of the work.”
Questions or complaints should be made to a National Helpline on 08457 11 41 41.
Paul Convery comments “This is bad news indeed. It’s engineering work that Network Rail did not issue much advance notice about. It wasn’t mentioned in their consultation about the main railway works that started over Xmas. This kind of traffic disruption will not help local traders and will badly disrupt bus services on the Cally Road“.
Labour Councillors representing the Cally neighbourhood in Islington 