Membership Renewal Time

From time to time we have to confirm our membership to the satisfaction of the City.  That time has come around again.

Please join the house group here:  https://membermojo.co.uk/bjhg.   You can join the house group if you live in Ben Jonson House and/or if you are a long leaseholder of a flat in Ben Jonson House.  There are currently no membership fees.

This time we are trying out a membership management system.  Just press the big orange button on the right.  Please note that as we are adopting this new system, everyone is 'joining' rather than 'renewing'.

Please Join

UBS Pavement Cleaning Noise

From time to time the City cleans the pavement in front of the UBS building on Golden Lane.  To do this the cleansing team break out the noisiest high pressure water jet machine in the whole wide world.  Just to be sure we get the maximum noise the operators lift the soundproofing lid over the engine.

Getting ready to unleash the beast

Lid-Up. Max-Noise. Thanks guys.

At least they waited until after 09:00 before starting this morning.  It took until well into the afternoon for them to finish though :-(

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Update on 2016-09-29. The City responds:

Sorry for any inconvenience caused with regards to the cleaning of Golden Lane as described below.

I have asked our contractor for an update on concerns raised below and can confirm the following;

• Amey the City contractor will look at quieter (or electric) machines when they are due for replacement, I am led to believe that there may be a service issue with the machine and they are having it serviced and this may reduce the smoke and allow for the lid to be lowered to reduce noise in the future, they have a couple of other machines that I will take a look at to see if they are any quieter.
• The City schedule the work at weekends due to foot fall and the reason this area is scheduled every 13 weeks to be washed is due to algae that settles on the paving and makes it slippery, so all of the public benefit from the area being clean and safe. We believe that this is the best time to carry this work out when there is less traffic and people in the area, thus making the operation safer to carry out.
• The contractor are aware of the times that they are allowed to carry out noisy work and we have to share the schedule with markets and consumer protection noise team stating where and when we will carried out noisy work.
• The next scheduled clean is due approx., 17/12/16.

As stated I have discussed with our contractor and will make sure that points raised are adhered to.

Gnewt Distribution Business in Breton Car Park?

Meeting in the Lilac Room at 18:30 on 4th October will be held to discuss ...

The City are always looking to make more money from the car parks.  Money raised in this way is used to help fund the CPAs we all rely on so much.

The proposal is that Gnewt Cargo UK will use the Beton House / Ben Jonson House car park as a redistribution centre.  An HGV would bulk deliver to the car park once per day, and a team of 20 people would then deliver individual parcels using electric vehicles.

Vehicles like this?

Gnewt and the City have discussed this idea in the past, but it was dropped.  I thought this was because there was not enough power available in the car park to charge the electric vehicles, but I could be wrong there.

At the meeting we will be able to ask about timings, noise, how many parking spots will be taken for Gnewt and how many will be left for residents and visitors ... and anything else you can think of.

The BEO gave me a FAQ and sent the following:

___

Dear residents

Gnewt Consolidation Centre Proposal

The Barbican Estate Office would like to invite you to a presentation meeting regarding a car park proposal at the Barbican Estate. The details regarding this meeting are below:

18:30 - Tuesday 4 October
Residents' Meeting Room (Lilac Room)
Barbican Estate Office

Discussions have taken place with Gnewt Cargo Limited regarding a trial consolidation centre within the Breton/Ben Jonson House Car Park. This particular car park currently has 146 vacant bays (occupancy 39%) and this project looks at the possibility of letting 35 of bays.

Gnewt provide an efficient and environmentally friendly service for the 'last mile' distribution of parcels and packages. A location at Breton/Ben Jonson House Car Park would enable them to make short distance deliveries to city addresses using electrical vehicles, bicycles and pedestrian staff.

The City of London's Low Emission Neighbourhood team has also been working with us on this project as Gnewt are totally green, with a fully electric fleet.

We welcome your comments/questions regarding this potential trial with Gnewt, and this will form a 'Question and Answer' sheet which we will provide to those that attend the meeting – however if you cannot attend the meeting we will gladly forward this and the presentation onto you for your information.
Please send these questions and requests to:- barry.ashton@cityoflondon.gov.uk

This pre-planning consultation meeting and the feedback we receive will form part of the Planning Application. It will also be a good trial for possible future income generation for the car parks as part of the City's Service Based Review.

Estate CCTV cameras will not now happen

This is just a proposal, but it seems likely that this will come to pass ...

The City Police are no longer proposing to put CCTV cameras around the Barbican Estate.

Because the level of crime is so low, data protection requirements mean they cannot be justified:  “The overwhelming conclusion fed into the Privacy Impact Assessment is that there is not sufficient justification of a ‘problem that needs addressing’ in order to comply with the SCC and Information Commissioner’s guidance on the introduction of surveillance systems.” See:

http://democracy.cityoflondon.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=142&MId=17764&Ver=4

(that link now seems to be blocked)

Golden Lane Estate/Barbican Conservation Area

There is a change.org campaign to establish a conservation area.  The campaign was started by residents of the Golden Lane Estate.  The Barbican Association back this too.  Even the Ben Jonson House Group committee think this is a rather good idea ...

See, and sign, the petition here:

Click image to visit the Change.org page

The URL:

https://www.change.org/p/city-of-london-planning-department-golden-lane-estate-barbican-conservation-area?recruiter=599529446&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=share_email_responsive

Tackling social isolation for older people

At 10:00 - 12:30 on Tuesday 27th September the City is holding an event to discuss the issue of social isolation for older people:

Click to read the whole agenda

Air Quality Volunteers Wanted

The City is looking for more residents to volunteer to take part in the Stop Engine Idling campaign.

The campaign aims to reduce localised air pollution and improve air quality by raising awareness and changing behaviours. Barbican residents have already been taking part in the City's engine idling action days.  Residents found it a rewarding and positive experience - as in general drivers are interested in the message and receptive to change.

Why is this an important issue? Researchers at Kings College London estimate that 10,000 people die early in London each year as a result of long term exposure to poor air quality; so action to tackle the source of air pollution is key.

What is involved?
• Working as a team for 2 hours a month in a series of action days in the City
• Attending a training session

Residents interested in volunteering should register their interest using this online form http://tinyurl.com/z72n7yh and will be sent further details soon.

2015/16 Actual Service Charges

After the debacle of the 2014/15 service charges (which is still not resolved), the actual figures for 2015/16 are much closer to the estimates:

Click to read the whole letter