April Updates from GRH OYD
A NEW LIFE FOR FOUNTAIN - AT LAST
WORK HAS NOW STARTED TO IMPROVE THE MUCH NEGLECTED MILLENNIUM FOUNTAIN FOLLOWING A MEETING BETWEEN GRH AND A REPRESENTATIVE OF THE COUNCIL JUST FOUR WEEKS AGO.
GRH have been trying to arrange an on-site meeting with the Council for almost a year. In the past emails were ignored or detailed explanations give as to why the fountain had filled with sludge and litter. However, the Council’s attitude changed recently when Mark Sullivan took over as Head of Estates at the Council’s Environmental & Communities Dept.
He agreed to meet GRH at the fountain.
We were joined by a couple of members from the Enfield Society and it soon became obvious that the favoured outcome was for a garden at the base of the Fountain/Sundial that had stood there for quarter of a century.
Last Tuesday important drainage holes were created. Soil will be moved into the base that once held water and plants have already been ordered. The work is expected to last three or four weeks.
The Millenium Fountain was created by sculptor Wendy Tayor MBE and unveiled on September 8th 2000 and commemorates the restoration of the New River project. GRH resident Sue Grayson Ford MBE knows Wendy Taylor well and says that she will be extremely happy if the Fountain’s second use is as an attractive garden.
ENFIELD’S CINEMA FUTURE
A month ago at the exhibition detailing development plans for Palace Gardens there was a small section called ‘Night Time Economy’. However, we were told that those plans did not include a small cinema like they have in Hackney, Finsbury Park and Crouch End as Deutsch Bank thought that would be ‘too expensive’.
So what about Enfield’s Cinema future ?
Cineworld is still fully operational although at least six other Cineworld Cinemas in various parts of the country were scheduled for closure last year. That currently is not a possible threat to Cineworld Enfield.
But is there another threat ?
Early this year plans were submitted for a major development of 1150 new homes on what is known as the Southbury Leisure Park site that includes the Cineworld building. The current planning application does not include a replacement for Cineworld. Instead shops and ‘community spaces’ are planned alongside the development which is currently proposed to be 29 storeys.
Meanwhile, at the other side of town the Dugdale Arts Centre is said to be losing the Council a ‘significant’ amount of money and plans are being made to try and save £200,000 per year. The centre contains a theatre space seating 150, a cafe, a local museum and various other spaces that can be hired.
Interestingly it is also able to show films.
One of the choices the Council has is whether or not to outsource the facility as a whole which is what has happened to the Millfield Arts Centre in Edmonton last year.
‘Art House ‘ and ‘Picturehouse’ Cinemas are increasingly popular as is watching films on certain TV channels at home. Cineworld Enfield has a Giant IMAX cinema holding 727 people and a Superscreen holding 375 but it also has studios with 23 and 58 seats that they advertise as, ‘perfect for small gatherings’.
So Enfield’s Cinema future will be interesting over the next few years and will the next new Cinema be just a ten minute walk for GRH residents ?
CRUEL TO BE KIND
This was the scene in Chase Green Gardens shortly after the Council hung new ‘Please Don’t Feed Bread to the Ducks’ signs on local lampposts.
Excess levels of left food can attract rats which, if carrying diseases, may harm the birds and particularly young chicks.
The Ducks and Geese actually love bread. They can’t get enough of it. But the bread doesn’t have much nutritional value. Instead it fills the stomachs of the birds so they feel no reason to search for the food that would give them the nutrients they need to keep healthy.
The RSPB point out that the natural food for such birds is seeds, berries, plants and insects – exactly what they would be looking for if feeding themselves.
BORING BUILDING GETS NEW OCCUPANT
IF YOU TAKE A WALK PAST THE REGISTER OFFICE, THE PUB AND THE BUS DEPOT YOU COME TO A RATHER SAD LOOKING BUILDING AT THE TOP OF CHURCH STREET. (See Below).
For years the vacant space has been waiting for a new occupant.
So for interest we asked TEN different GRH residents :
· What they would NOT like to see in the space
BUT ALSO
· What they WOULD like to see in the space
· NO to a Vape shop
· YES to a Private Restaurant
· NO to a Nail Bar
· YES to Independent Coffee Bar
· NO to Slot Machines
· YES to a Coffee Bar
· NO to a Nail Bar
· YES to a Community Café
· NO to Fast Food Outlet
· YES to a High Class Restaurant
· NO to Fast Food
· YES to COTE Restaurant
· NO to a Betting Shop
· YES to a Restaurant
· NO to a Hairdresser
· YES to a Café
· NO to a Bed Shop
· YES to a Restaurant
· NO to Fish & Chip Shop
· YES to Pop Up Bar
But now the building has a new occupant.
The week after we collected the opinions of the ten residents a sign revealed that there will be no fast food outlet or vape shop or slot machines BUT rather a Yoga & Pilates Centre opening very soon.
PAINT THE TOWN GREEN
Free Paint and Chemical Collection Service
Unsure how to safely and responsibly dispose of those old tins of paint or varnish from the loft? Bottles of half used garden chemicals in the shed that you need to get rid of? Garage rake around uncovers old tubs of engine oil and antifreeze or under sink clear out left you with a random selection of old cleaning products?
These household chemicals can’t be put into your household rubbish and most aren’t accepted at Barrowell Green or on the council bulky waste service.
Help is at hand however with the City of London providing a free doorstep collection and disposal service of paints and chemicals on behalf of boroughs!
All households are entitled to up to three free collections per year with up to 50 litres in total able to be collected each collection (based on the capacity of the containers, not how much is left in each container).
You can request a collection by completing an online form, by phone or post. You will need to provide:
The type of chemical you want collected
The size of each container
One resident that used the service this week to dispose of old paint reported that the process was simple to follow with good communication from the City of London officers and the collection contractor Biffa.
Details on the service can be found by clicking here
To request a collection click here
PALACE GARDENS COULD WELL GET HIGHER
IN THE MARCH EDITION OF ‘GRH ON YOUR DOORSTEP’ WE GAVE SOME INFORMATION ABOUT THE PLANNED DEVELOPMENT OF THE PALACE GARDENS SHOPPING CENTRE
THE PLANS WE SAW SHOWED 300 APARTMENTS WOULD BE INCLUDED AND TO ILLUSTRATE THIS THE DEVELOPERS USED A DIAGRAM SHOWING SIX BLOCKS OF FLATS . THE HEIGHT OF THE BUILDINGS WAS INDICATED BY DEVELOPER’S DESCRIPTIONS SUCH AS ‘GROUND +5’ MEANING FIVE STORIES HIGH.
SIX BLOCKS OF FLATS WERE ILLUSTRATED – THREE WERE FIVE STOREYS , TWO WERE TEN STOREYS and ONE WAS FOURTEEN STOREYS.
All this was a couple of months ago when the public was invited to take a look at the plans and leave comments if they wished to.
Now it has been revealed that parts of the development could rise to fifteen storeys. There is no mention which part of the development will rise so high or whether one or more of the blocks of flats will also be fifteen storeys. Last Summer the hugely influential Enfield Society claimed that any building over nine storeys would, ‘cause substantial harm’ to the Grade 2 listed St Andrew’s Church nearby.
Deutsche Bank, the owners of Palace Gardens, are due to submit their planning application this Summer. But they admit that their application will have a large impact on the Enfield Town Conservation Area !
TO BE CONTIUED……..
AS ALWAYS PLEASE LET US KNOW IF YOU HAVE:
Ideas on how to improve things
Stories you would like information on
Issues you would like to know about
Just write to us at the below address.
STAY IN TOUCH
EMAIL: grhresidents@live.com
WEBSITE: www.grhresidentsassociation.org
INSTAGRAM: @grhenfield
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/grhenfield