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.