Notes from 28th April Enfield Forum

So here are my notes from Wednesday Nights Enfield Forum:

Mayfield Garages:
I collared Roger Bryant, the head of the new Environmental Crime Unit and explained the situation. He has promised to look into it and said that if they can identify where the rubbish is coming from they will prosecute. I also suggested that they block off access to the garages themselves rather than simply boarding up the units and also coordinate their clean-up activity with the local community police force, to encourage them to patrol that area regularly, which he said he would consider. He has promised to call me once he has some news and I will post any response I get.

Control Parking Zone:
Edward Smith said that this has now gone to final consultation with plans due to be published in the local press and distributed to all affected residences in May/June. A number of people asked why could we not have a simple one-hour midday restriction CPZ policy, as this would kill off commuter traffic as has been proven by a similar scheme in the Arnos Grove area. Mr Smith stated that this had not been included in the plans but we would have the option to state our preferences in the forthcoming consultation.

I talked to Mr Smith after the meeting and he said that a number of streets had complained and would not therefore get CPZ. However an equal number had either been in favour or had such a low response rate that they were regarded as being in favour.

I asked where Mayfield Avenue fit and he said that Mayfield WOULD get CPZ.

Serial Rapist:
After the meeting I had a chat with the local Police Representative who was here to talk about the antisocial behaviour act. I asked if there was any news on the rapist that had been terrorising our area. His comments were rather interesting.

It appears that the police knew of this person for a while and had an undercover unit working on the case and by all accounts getting close to a successful conclusion. Throughout the activity the police had an agreement with the local press to keep this out of the public domain, but unfortunately for the police one journalist reneged on the deal and printed an article about the rapist in the local papers. The national media then quickly picked this up. The net result was that the rapist immediately went to ground and so far no further attacks have occurred.

The police representative said that he couldn’t say much more except to say they were frustrated by the journalists actions, the undercover unit is still in force and pursuing leads and there are no further attacks to report.

It’s an interesting dilemma. The Police want to keep things quiet so that they can collar the monster yet the public feel they have a right to know of dangers in their vicinity. I’d be interested to hear any views on this subject. In the meantime I will endeavour to keep tabs on this story.

North Circular Road:
Still no progress, TFL has put in a bid to Central Government Spending Department and they hope to know this year of their decision.

Footpath at Blagdens Lane:
This footpath is broken up and a danger to pedestrians. E. Smith stated that the council did not regard pavement maintenance as a priority, which was why nothing had been done to date. Councillor Zinkin however piped up and said that Highways maintenance is indeed a new top priority for the council and this would be looked into. A member of the public reminded the board that this message was largely unchanged from the last two years of inaction, which was met with an embarrassed silence.

Unauthorised Advertising Hoardings:
Specifically hoardings on the North Circular stretch of Bowes Road. The board was “shocked” to discover that hoardings were being erected sans council sanction and stated that an enforcement team had been put in place to prosecute the individuals responsible.

New Environmental Crime Unit:
Roger Bryant who is head of the new Environmental Crime unit (See update on Mayfield Garages above) appeared to announce the formation and current success of his unit. Its been live since October last year and they currently have tackled over 100 cases of illegal fly-tipping, car abandonment etc.

Cherrytree Junction:
A new Zebra crossing has been earmarked for this junction, to be hopefully installed in June. (I wasn’t sure whether they were referring to the Cherry Tree pub in Southgate green or not).

Antisocial behaviour act:
The local police are enforcing the new antisocial behaviour act on Southgate Green. This gives them the power to disperse groups of more than two people and take home youths they feel are under the age of 16. Although this sounds draconian it is proving effective and had widespread support from the public.

Squeegee Guys:
Groups of aggressive Car window squeegee cleaners are being blitzed yet again. Unfortunately the Police have their hands tied, as they cannot simply lock them up. A member of the public said that as they are mainly kids cant the police use the anti-social act and frogmarch them to their parents? The police representative stated that this wouldn’t work as in general the parents are actually with the kids working the cars!

Enfield in Bloom:
A council guy stood up to boast about the quality of our parks and had to beat a pretty hasty retreat as he was inundated by complaints and general outrage that he had the nerve to even appear. Complaints included:

* Arnos Grove fallen trees and fly-tipping untouched, with a warden who has to share her time with
* Broomfield park and has publicly stated she cannot cope with the workload.
* People whose houses back on to Broomfield park wandering around the park late at night.
* A complete lack of litter bins
* Arnos Grove Bowling club regularly broken into and rubbish littering the grounds.

The council guy (I did not record his name) made a valiant attempt at deflecting blame to other departments, while insisting that Enfield was fragrant as a new rose and clean as a whistle before finally giving up and sitting down rather uncomfortably.

London Underground refurbishment:
The good news is that Arnos Grove, Southgate, Oakwood and Cockfosters are all earmarked for refurbishment. Work will start at Arnos Grove with over 50 CCTV cameras to be installed, numerous help points and a new PA system.

The bad news is that Southgate will have to wait another four years to enjoy similar activity.

Someone asked will the refurbishment include Arnos Grove staff being able to know which platform a train was leaving from finally. The LU spokesman then told us the following incredible fact:

Apparantly all signal changes are actually performed in Earls Court, using an old computer, they nickname “metal Mickey”. When I say old, I MEAN OLD. For any IT guys out there the computer in question is a Commodore 64!!! I kid you not. For non-IT guys, know that a calculator probably has more power than this thing.

Anyway unsurprisingly it goes AWOL regularly. The signalman will decide that Platform 4 is the first to leave and the computer will randomly override him, deciding that actually it prefers platform 3 to go first. This means that the signalmen, driver or platform staff no with any real confidence, which train this pile of ancient circuitery is going to decide is next.

The only solution Arnos Grove has introduced is what is called “roving PA systems”, which are essentially portable units the staff use. Now when a light suddenly changes from red to green or vice versa, they run to the Driver and ask him to wait as they announce to a disgruntled public that they need to hotfoot across to the relevant platform if they want to arrive at their destination that day.

Equally unbelievably metal mickey is not due to go to transistor heaven until 2013. As Richard Littlejohn says, you couldn’t make it up.

British Transport Police
I guy from the British Transport Police was there to talk about their activities, which are largely restricted to ensuring safety within the confines of London Underground Stations and helping to clear graffitti . There was some amusement as we collectively tried to figure out where this boundary was in relation to Arnos Grove and Southgate but the guy handled it well. They are also heavily recruiting in the London area so if you fancy patrolling station platforms or have a recalcitrant teenager who claims there are no jobs available you can apply here

Poor Air Quality:
I must admit to dozing off during this session run by Trevor Williams of the Environmental Health office. Enfield has poor air quality and it is centred on major roads. Moving cars cause less pollution than stop-start traffic. Hey ho.

So just got back from a raucous Enfield Forum meeting. Its 22:15 and I'm exhausted. Time for a bottle of Budweiser and then bed. Domani I'll write up my notes, which will inlcude updates on the local rapist, Mayfield garages and CPZ, plus a bunch of other stuff.
In the meantime, nighty night

New Calendar Function

Hi
Your notice a new entry in the LINK section on the left, called "NEIGHBOURHOOD CALENDAR".

If you click on it, the system will ask for your bank account details and then syphon gazillions into my personal account, at which point I will vanish from Mayfield Avenue........okay so that was a joke, I was just testing to see if you were reading this.

When you click on the link it will take you to an online calendar, where I aim to add pertinent diary entries, such as the Enfield forum date etc. So if ever you want to remind yourself of what is coming just take a peek by clicking on the entry.

In addition I have made it open to all of us, i.e. its a PUBLIC calendar. That means that if YOU have any important dates to remember you can ALSO place entries into the same diary. In addition, when you place an entry you can also enter an email address where you want a reminder email to be sent.

As and when I get time to learn a bit more about web design I'll tidy up this site and add some more functionality, but this is quite cool for now.

If you have any queries just add a comment in the link below this message. In the meantime have fun!!

Newsletter help required

Hi
So I have 300 copies of the newsletter ready to roll but I need help in distributing them. Karen, Pamela or anyone else who can help I'd be grateful if you could pop round me abode when you have a mo'
cheers
PS: Reminder - Wednesday is the night of the (in)famous Enfield Forum, being held at the Broomfield school at 19:30, see ya there

Apologies

Apologies for sporadic posting. Bit of a domestic crisis with my son suddenly realising he's not going to be a rock star and my baby daughter proudly displaying a sudden proliferation of chicken pox spots. Hey ho.

BTW All you people out there with kids, Chicken pox seems to have descended with a vengeance in the area, particularly amongst the toddlers so be alert. Ours is now confined to the house, which is a real shame as we have had to postpone her birthday bash that she was looking forward to. Anyway to cheer her up I'm considering blowing up some photos of her to A3 size and let her play "join the dots"...

Whatever happened to....

Whatever happened to the local rapist that first didn't exist and then suddenly had been known all along? If anyone is going to the Enfield forum on the 28th it would be nice to ask for an update from the police representative there.....

Walker Cricket Ground

A neighbour has informed me that they recently called our local town planner Andy Higham asking for an update on the Walker Cricket Ground white elephant - sorry cricket & leisure centre - application.

Andy stated that the last set of plans had been rejected and so did not go to consultation and they are currently awaiting a revised set.

There has also been a rumour concerning a possible telephone mast installation on the grounds but Andy did not know of this so it looks like this will hopefully remain simply a rumour.

Credit Card Scam

If you have a Visa or Mastercard and you get a call from anyone purporting to work from the security and fraud department, who then go on to say your card has been flagged for an unusual purchase, be on your guard.

If they ask you to confirm your card numbers DO NOT GIVE THEM. If you do give them it may lead to an unlawful purchase being made on your account.

REMEMBER: The real Visa /Mastercard never, ever ask for anything on the card as of course the real Visa/Mastercard already know everything about us in the first place.

Burglary alarm Cold caller

An individual in Palmers Green was cold called by a male stating he was from UK alarms and then added Chubb security systems. She initially made an appointment (in the name of God, why???) but then thought it a bit strange that the male had left no contact details (surprised? no neither am I). The male called back the day before the appointment and refused to give any contact details stating that he was in a call centre. When the lady again asked for a contact number the male put the phone down. Chubb alarms do not cold call and there is no trace of UK Alarms on directory enquiries.

I have commented about cold callers before but its worth repeating.

Do not accept ANY Cold callers. Period. Even if you are interested in what they are trying to push. At the very least insist on some literature, website address, contact number etc. and say that IF you are interested you will call them. Then shut the door and go and make a cup of tea safe in the knowledge that you have potentially avoided a whole heap of trouble.

The Old Letter box trick....

Apparantly there has been a couple of recent example of the classic letter box trick, whereby unsuspecting innocents leave their car keys in the hallway, which are then nicked by intrepid deviants armed with some straightened coat hanger wire. Bye bye car. Belsie avenue Palmers Green was the latest incidence.

So please, simple measure. DO NOT LEAVE YOUR CAR KEYS IN FULL VIEW ON THE SIDE IN YOUR HALLWAY. Tuck them away somewhere safe, go on, you know it makes sense.

Con artists refining their trade

There have been a number of burglaries throughout Enfield Borough and across North London whereby premises have been entered in the early hours by persons posing as police officers. The main targets are the Elderly.

In addition some householders have been tricked by doorstep con-artists. This has involved such incidents as a man claiming to be a neighbour calling to fix a leak, he engaged the victim in conversation whilst an accomplice raided the house. There have also been instances of people claiming to represent the utility companies (gas, electricity etc.) using similar tactics.

So a few points:

1.Put a chain guard on your door, even if you are expecting someone, it may not be that person.

2.If you are confronted by “police” in the early hours insist on ID before you let them in. If you are in ANY DOUBT, ask them to wait outside, close the door and dial 999

3.If a stranger knocks on your door, claiming to be from any of the Utility companies, again insist on ID, close the door and call the utility firm in question for confirmation. If you are in ANY DOUBT dial 999.

4.Know your neighbours! If that’s impossible/undesirable keep your wits about you, use that chain guard and if you have any doubts do not be afraid, embarrassed to close the door on them and dial 999.

Newsletter update

So Newsletter is already to rock and roll, but I need my boss to give it the all clear. So Pamela if you're reading this can you send me an email saying yay or nay?

Mayfield Garages: A sad update

So I spoke too soon concerning the Garages.

Yesterday a neighbour spotted a huge truck dumping building waste in the garages, so it appears that awareness of the site as a great place to dispose of unwanted rubbish is spreading. In addition a gang of youths – the usual suspects – have returned, diligently wrecking the boarded up garages once again.

We need the council to close off the entire site and ideally demolish all the garages
We need the local police to patrol the area and be willing to prosecute fly-tippers.
We need the site developed PDQ

None of this is rocket science. But what to do?

Well, in the local press on March 10th there was a little article titled “Yob Culture will not be tolerated.” This was a piece promoting Enfield council’s new enforcement supremo.

Apparently more than 100 people have been prosecuted for fly-tipping, posting and car dumping and the Enviro unit is also purported to be cracking down on general anti-social behaviour. The assistant director for environmental health and regulation is one Mike Hainge who was quoted as saying “Enfield council is well placed to continue its fight against yob culture and we’ve achived some notable successes in the past few months, we are definitely on the right track and will continue to work with the police to protect the majority of decent folk from a selfish, anti-social minority”.

Sounds great. Lets give him a call.

NOTE: The way to do it is I think to contact the Environmental Crime unit (020 8379 1000), who then forward it on to the Enforcement unit.
Details of the Environmental Crime Unit can be found here
Details of the Enforcement unit can be found here

Mayfield garages: And now for the bad news....

It has been brought to my attention that dumping is continuing apace in the Mayfield garages. This is of course tragic, bad and a whole load of other asterisk filled words.

What makes it worse however is that the guilty party is known and very much close to home. One among us was spotted dumping a dirty great carpet in the garages recently. I don't wish to name names but suffice to say the residents of an even numbered house whose two numbers add up to 10 (first No. is "4")should be experiencing a bout of warm ears if they are reading this piece.

This is a real kick in the teeth to those of us trying to encourage the council to clean up the area, doing absolutely nothing for our credibility.

Can I please ask everyone living in Mayfield avenue to keep an eye out for locals who look like they are shuffling off down the road towards the garages with large amounts of rubbish. If you spot one try and gently remind them that there is a wonderful, official dumping site at Carterhatch lane, which would be much better suited for this purpose and in fact has great recycling capabilities. All they need is their Recycling Centre Residents Permit, which should have arrived with their council tax. If they have lost it, dog ate it etc. they can simply call 020 8379 1788 during office hours with their council tax account number and request one for free. In addition the local rubbish men will pick up a whole bunch of stuff, follow this link here to read the details.

If that fails feel free to concoct a uniquely satisfying set of anglo-saxon expletives and shop them to the council environmental health officer.

** STOP PRESS ** COUNCIL CLEAN UP GARAGES! **

I have just noticed that I have a couple of emails sent to the Blagdenslanewatch@hotmail.com address referring to an interesting turn of events recently. Unfortunately that particular email account has tumbleweed blowing around inside it so I have been guilty of only peaking into it on an adhoc basis, so saying "recently" is stretching the point a little bit. Still, now that volume has increased by 200% its back to a daily refresh once again!

Anyway, I digress. On Friday 26th a council team turned up and cleared the rubbish, returning on Saturday 27th to board up the garages once again.

Have the council been reading our website? Has Terry Smith been banging a few heads together? Have they finally got tired of denying responsibility to all the complainents from our street? Was the trashed Telewest van an embarrassment too far? Who knows, the council works in mysterious ways, but let us be thankful that we have had action at last.

Now all we need is for the fabled community police teams to include the area on their beat. A free pint for the first person to spot one.

Neighbourhoods to get dedicated police teams

So apparantly London neighbourhoods are going to get a team of police walking the beat in the locality. Finally we will have something to show for our council tax. This is excellent news, assuming it will actually happen and I suggest we all attend the Enfield Area forum and ask when Southgate can expect their very own team.

Newsletter now ready, finally

Hi
So I have finally put pen to paper. A copy will be winging its way to Pamela for proof checking and then we'll get it sent out to all and sundry. Apologies for the delay, but now I have done the first one, the template is now set so others should be quicker.
cheers
Anthony