Cloudesley Association – November 2022 Update
1. Christmas Carols in Lonsdale Square
The annual tradition of singing Christmas carols on the four corners of Lonsdale Square will take place this year on Tuesday 20th December at 7pm, starting as usual in the NE corner of the square. For anyone not familiar with the event, participants sing 2-3 carols in each corner of the square, and raise some money for charity. All residents are warmly invited so please do go along if you are free.
2. Islington Traffic Plans
Islington Council are proposing a new Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) development in Barnsbury. As you may be aware, a consultation event was hosted in the Library in Thornhill Square last week, but the event was attended by too many people for the Library to accommodate, much to the annoyance of those left. The meeting was eventually abandoned, to be rescheduled. You can view a video of these extraordinary events here: https://rumble.com/v1w1lfa-november-20-2022.html
Many residents were unaware of the event as it didn’t seem to be particularly well advertised, so we have written to Rowena Champion to ask her to let us know when the rescheduled event will take place and we will let you know as soon as we can.
A few of us did manage to get into the meeting, where the Council gave a presentation which you can find by going to the Council website at https://www.islington.gov.uk/roads/people-friendly-streets/liveable-neighbourhoods and clicking on the link at the bottom of the page under “Useful Documents”. The presentation does not seem to give any concrete details of what the Council is planning, beyond a vague proposition to make Barnsbury more “Liveable”. We understand that a Freedom of Information request is being lodged with the Council to ask for details regarding the sources of the statistics given in that presentation.
3. Cloudesley Association Meeting – A Date for your Diaries – Tuesday 24 January 2023
We are intending to hold our next residents meeting in January. We will confirm the agenda and any special guests, as well as the exact date, time and location as soon as possible, but we are hoping that the Drapers may be able to accommodate us as usual. We will also be putting some money behind the bar so that anyone joining us can enjoy the meeting with a free drink in hand!
4. Cloudesley Square Cycle Rack – Consultation
Residents of Cloudesley Square have been leafleted by the Council with a proposal to instal a “bike hangar” outside No. 17. The leaflet included instructions on how to object to this proposal, with a deadline of October 28, which has now passed. Several residents are known to have objected on a variety of grounds. We now await the Council’s response.
5. Victoria Line - Tube Noise between Highbury & Islington and Kings X
Neil Smith has kindly provided us with the following update:
Since our last update we had our 6 monthly meeting with TfL and our GLA Member Sem Moema on the 28th of September, grinding has been carried out and the GLA Environment Committee invited me to contribute to a discussion on noise pollution in London.
TfL carried out the 6 monthly grinding of the rails north and southbound between the 31st of October and the 7th of November. However, they did not grind the whole of the north and southbound tracks; only those areas they considered to be problematic using measurements at the track level, not in homes.
This approach is very worrying because it takes no account of the progressive increase of noise following any grinding and suffers from using only track level noise and not in-home noise and that correlation is not exact. TfL are now carrying out in-home measurements.
Once the measurement information is available a meeting will be arranged to discuss it and next steps.
If you wish:
- to contact the GLA Environment Committee then its chair is: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
- to have measurements taken in your home then you should contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
In any event feel free to contact me, Neil Smith: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
6. Thornhill Gardens
Despite the season, Thornhill Road Gardens is looking very attractive as you can see from this photo of the war memorial, majestically decorated for Remembrance Day. Thanks to Ceri Owen who was responsible for most of the planting.
The central Georgian fountain project plan moves forward, albeit slowly. A reminder that volunteers are welcomed on the last Saturday of the month 10am to 2pm – you get a cup of tea and a toasted cheese sandwich for your efforts!
7. Kings X and Islington Square
A few highlights:
- Tattoo Artists Against Homelessness – this is a free exhibition curated by Sacred Gold and renowned artist Joao Bosco showcasing some of the finest tattoo art from around the world. The exhibition takes place at Unit 76 Viaduct/Upper Level in Coal Drops Yard and will culminate in an online auction to raise funds for LandAid, the property industry charity with a mission to end youth homelessness.
- Christmas in Kings Cross – events in Kings Cross are taking place from now until 2 January 2023, including towering decorations, curling, and an Alpine Bar.
- Christmas Boulevard Market – this will take place every Saturday and Sunday at The Boulevard at Islington Square from this weekend until 24 December 2022.
If you are aware of any event, consultation or news item that you would like us to include in our next newsletter, please let us know.
As ever, if you know of any neighbour who is not on the Cloudesley Association email distribution list, please pass this email on and/or ask them to provide us with their contact details (to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) so that they can be kept in the loop.
Amanda and Nick
On behalf of
The Cloudesley Association
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
