Latest News
1.) SPEEDING AT GYRATORY:
The councillor for Transport Strategy in Camden told me that the promised 20-mile speed reduction that was meant to be delivered by TFL and ready this October (2022) will still come but with delay. The new target date is said to be February 2023.
2. VENUE FOR PARTIES:
There is a new venue for parties and community events for hire. The Food Chain Community Cafe on the corner of Acton Street / Grays Inn Road wants all in the community to know, that it is available for hire to the community. You get full modern kitchen access, can your own bar (selling your own beverages and drinks) etc. If upstairs is not enough, you can rent an additional large room downstairs from the NUJ. So if you have any bigger family celebrations or parties coming, you have a place literally down the road. The rate depends on how long you need it. All money is going to their charity. The venue was party-tested last weekend and it was pleasant and a success. You can have even loud music etc. without a problem Otherwise, they do breakfasts and coffee Mo, Tue, Thursday and Friday a.m. til about 14.00. The contact is Paul 020 7843 1800 or just walk in to discuss.
3. WASTE/RUBBISH
Some of the neighbours have put up friendly signs on waste collection. Have you spotted them?
4. BOUNDARY CHANGES.
Do comment on the changes to the constituency. For Parliamentary elections, we are to merge with Covent Garden, Kentish Town, Tufnell Park and Hampstead. see https://www.bcereviews.org.uk/ Disagree? Feel free to comment until 5/Dec/2022!
5. MORE FALAFEL!
Last but not least, there is a brand new Lebanese Restaurant that opened on 250 Gray’s Inn Road (next to Calthorpe Arms). More details when we have them.
WC1X - South East of Kings Cross 
2 responses to “Less Speed, More Parties, Merger with Hampstead & more Falafel!”
Regarding the Kings Cross traffic system I presume this will be more cycle friendly changes that are then used by very few cyclists? Like what they did to Greys Inn road? Underused cycle lanes that cause more congestion on a now half the size road where emergency services get stuck. Camden councillors are delusional making cycling a priority over buses and forgetting the vulnerable elderly disabled and young children who use buses out of need. Not everyone can or want to cycle but everyone can take a bus. In Grays Inn rd Camden with TFL also reduced bus stops so it’s impossible to transfer to another bus at Clerkenwell Rd or Chancery Lane. What kind of policy is this that discourages the elderly from taking a bus? Shame on the dim and dogmatic councillors who can’t imagine they’ll be too old soon enough.
It is TFL. This is a long-awaited speed reduction because some of the roads have always invited speeding. There have been several accidents over the years due to that. As to making the roads more suitable for all, it is a true art to get it right and consider many factors. Historically there was no consideration of pedestrians and cyclists at Kings Cross at all. Cars were king for TFL until at least the mid-2010s and TFL told us so in meetings, even in the midst of the worst of pollution and noise days. Crucially some people lost their lives at Kings Cross on bicycles. Their losses should never be forgotten. It was only these fatalities that made it possible to convince then mayor Boris Johnson that something needed to be done. As to other changes, personally having grown up in Germany and the Netherlands I strongly favour some of Camden’s transformations and I use the cycle path from Judd Street to Kentish Town Road several times a week. Of course, as soon as something is constructed it may not yet be 100 per cent right. But I also drive a car (and use the bus and other London public transport). I had to learn over the years to slow down and be more patient, but I can still get to most places if need be. You are right that cycle lanes that in an emergency can be driven on can make space for emergency vehicles better than those that do not allow this. But we do not have them on the South side of Kings Cross. The next ones are on York Way. In terms of making things better for car drivers, and here is a Camden-only thing, WC1X and other areas of Camden could do with residents-only pass-through permits of roads that were closed off in the last five years, like Fredrick Street, in the same way, that this has been done in Islington. Camden’s Kings Cross is on the edge of Islington Clerkenwell and likewise could benefit from resident permits that accept the permit code from the border of the next ward, whilst keeping other trough traffic out. We also need a greater diversity of car charging points, as in South Camden we only have the ones of the company Source, which are the most expensive at the moment to use. Personally, I favour the best bus stops money can buy and councils can afford. Buses are great, but a city must accomodate all, and keep all safe. That said, here we only talk of a speed reduction, which is the bare minimum left of what should have been a multi million pound transformation back in plans of 2016.