Welcome to the Website for Camden Cutting

The Camden Cutting group represents the area bounded by Parkway to the north,  Granby Terrace to the south, Arlington Road to the east and in the west Park Village East and West including the Peabody estate.

Email info@camdencutting.co.uk to contact us

Camden Cutting Privacy Notice

Privacy Notice for the Camden Cutting Group[13021]

7-9pm Thursday 14 September 2017 at Netley School, 74 Stanhope St NW1 3EX

“HS2 catch-up” at 6pm for newcomers

2017 Community Meeting & workshops: Air Quality, Green & Open Spaces & Trees, Design, Assurances, High Speed 2 (HS2), Traffic, Noise insulation, Compensation…..

Speakers & action plan: Keir Starmer, MP Holborn St Pancras & Georgia Gould, Leader of Camden Council

For information on consultations, planning and air quality See www.camdencivicsociety.org Contact: Dorothea Hackman camdencivicsociety@gmail.com  (m) 07710 269 195

 

CCG Summer Newsletter, 2017
Hi All,
I hope you have enjoyed the summer and this newsletter from Camden Cutting
Group finds you well.
Please read on for information on how to make noise complaints to Network Rail and
HS2, updates on how we are representing our community at recent meetings with
HS2, NR and Camden Council, HS2’s proposed Local Environmental Management
Plan and Noise Monitoring stations, a petition to stop the proposed cycle scheme on
Delancey Street, as well as a warning on burglars.
Regards,
Jackson
J. Toms-Limb
Secretary, Camden Cutting Group
www.CamdenCutting.co.uk

1. Noise Complaints
One of our committee members, Fiona McGuire, has spent time liaising with Network
Rail, to register her complaints about the current HS2 enabling / preparatory works,
but also to understand the best way to get issues resolved as they arise. She spoke
with several NR staff at a senior level who have assured us that when complaints are
raised they will make efforts where possible to resolve these. We want to urge you
all to raise a complaint, each and every time you are disturbed, the number and
regularity of complaints really matters.
NR are keen to forge a better relationship with those affected by the HS2 works, and
to improve communication with residents, indeed they have recently appointed 2 new
communications directors to fulfil this goal. They will continue to send letters to
residents to give notice of works for each forthcoming 2-month period.
NR have reported that their maintenance workers are trained in quiet working
practices and can be suspended for breaching requirements. If you are disturbed by
workers shouting at night, throwing or dropping equipment, these incidents should be
reported asap to NR Customer Services (see number below) so that the local
maintenance manager can stop the breach and so that a complaint is logged against
the team, with possible disciplinary consequences to improve future working
practices.
Complaints logged by NR are reported also to HS2, and only if a complaint is logged
can we hold the contractors, HS2 and NR to account. Therefore we need to make a
complaint each and every time we are disturbed. Currently NR and HS2 are
receiving very few complaints so do not believe there is an issue with the out
of hours works – we need to make ourselves heard!
The value of complaining to NR can be reinforced by the following real example from
Fiona. On Saturday 17th June at midnight, the NR works safety lighting came on in
the Cutting causing a light pollution problem affecting her child’s bedroom. She
telephoned NR Customer Services immediately. Within 5 minutes of her call to NR
Customer Services, the offending lights were adjusted and the light pollution issue
resolved.
Not all problems can be rectified as quickly and easily, however logging complaints
to NR (and HS2) when their work impacts negatively on the local community will
have an effect on future working practices in the cutting, but this will only be achieved
by a volume of complaints. If it’s left to one or two people, HS2 can continue to rely
on their ‘good record’ of minimal complaints in the area and things will not improve, in
fact they’re sure to get much worse when spades break ground!
For all HS2 related works you can report these to the HS2 Helpdesk at:
Telephone: 08081 434 434 (open 24hrs)
Email: HS2enquiries@HS2.org.uk
For complaints regarding works in the night, please call rather than email as
they say they will try to address concerns straightaway.
Please be as specific as possible with information regarding the location and nature
of the disturbance. Providing personal information is optional, but does mean they
can report back to you.
You can also report works to Network Rail at:
Telephone: 03457 11 41 41 (24hrs)
Email: NRHS2@networkrail.co.uk
If you are unsure who is responsible for the works, contact HS2 and they will pass on
to NR or contractors as appropriate.

2. HS2 LEMP and Noise Monitoring
HS2 have released the Local Environment Management Plan (LEMP) for the
borough of Camden now, which you can read at the following link. This will govern
how the contractor will operate in the borough, and builds upon the Code of
Construction Practice (CoCP) which we saw alongside the Environmental Statement
back in 2016. The LEMP covers a wide range of topics including heritage, air quality,
noise, traffic and waste.
HS2 have also published proposed noise monitoring and dust monitoring sites for the
preparatory works. CCG is currently pushing for additional monitoring in our area.
If you have the chance to read these and can provide any comments back to us, we
will collate and feed back to HS2.

3. CCG Engagement with HS2 and Others
Noise insulation is now being progressed on the West side of the cutting with
measured surveys being undertaken and the promise of installation of secondary
glazing within six weeks for qualifying properties who have accepted their offer
following the survey and production of drawings for acceptance.
Matt Hollier and Luisa Auletta continue to meet regularly with HS2 – indeed the
Noise Insulation Working Group meetings will now be monthly to deal with the
issues arising under this topic. We continue to press for external insulation where
appropriate on historic windows with internal shutters and HS2 have now agreed that
residents who have a particular need (such as furniture in the way, insurance
requiring the use of shutters, etc.) can have external glazing on these windows. If
you have any queries about how this “exemption” is working, please let us know.
On the East side of the cutting the Noise Insulation roll out is not due to take place
until later on, after works in the cutting to demolish DB Cargo shed have started. We
continue to press for this timing to be brought forward. However anyone who lives in
a dwelling which qualifies for Noise Insulation and is elderly, or has young children, is
disabled, housebound, or needs to work from home in peace can contact HS2 NOW
and ask to have their noise insulation put in sooner! We encourage anyone
who may qualify as a vulnerable case to do this!
Luisa attends regular meetings of the Traffic Working Group with HS2 and TfL to
review the myriad issues relating to construction traffic and safety. At the moment,
because the recently appointed Main Contractor CSJV are detail designing their
scheme, it has not been possible to discuss proposed HGV routes etc. The needs
for routeing and numbers of vehicles may change from what was presented in the
Hybrid Bill (albeit within the overall maximum stated within the Environmental
Statement for our area). We remain concerned that, whilst the possible change to the
design in the throat will lead to a reduction in congestion (as Mornington Street
bridge will not be demolished, and Granby Terrace and Hampstead Road bridges will
only be lengthened and not demolished), it may also result in some roads seeing an
increase in HGV numbers. Sadly, despite much effort, it was not possible to
persuade Camden to allow HS2 to use the soon-to-be-vacated Maria Fidelis
school site adjacent to the main construction compound on Hampstead Road
as a Lorry Holding Area so the use of the Zoo Car Park for HGVs will go ahead.
We also continue to attend the regular ECRG meetings as the overall main
community engagement forum, and are working with the independent engagement
specialist to improve how HS2 interact with the community.

4. Cycle Scheme Petition
There is a proposed cycle route for Delancey Street and Pratt Street, which we are
concerned will add to the traffic chaos that HS2 will also cause on these already busy
roads and very possibly on streets that have a junction with Delancey Street as the
traffic builds up. This is what has happened in the Tavistock Place cycling scheme
and many residents in nearby streets are now having much higher levels of noise
and pollution as a consequence.
Catherine Colley has started a petition against the proposal and needs more
signatures. If you are willing and able to sign, please contact her on 07914955750.

5. Warning on burglars
The following warning has been circulated by Camden:
Be Aware: Post Grenfell Fire Safety Check Bogus Callers
Authorities are warning London residents about people posing as fire safety officers
to break into homes after the Grenfell Tower tragedy.
There have been increased reports of people trying to gain access to people’s homes
on the pretext of testing smoke alarms or saying that they are there to carry out
health and safety checks
Be vigilant and always ask any callers to show you their identity badge.
Dial 999 if you’re suspicious or the caller won’t leave. Call the police non-emergency
number 101 if you’re not in immediate danger but want to report an incident.
If anyone is worried they’ve been targeted by a scammer posing as a firefighter or
fire officer, call London Fire Brigade on 08000 284428.
For more information see: http://www.peoplefirstinfo.org.uk/news/be-aware-postgrenfell-
fire-safety-check-bogus-callers.aspx

14 May 2017

Hi All,

Thanks to those who were able to attend our Annual General Meeting in April, we were very pleased to have a packed audience and hope you found the presentation by HS2 useful and the discussions afterwards informative also. Luisa Auletta and Matt Hollier continue as the Cutting co-chairs.

Here is a report from the meeting, containing some of the links that were mentioned. 20170426 CCG AGM Notes

Here are the HS2 plans for the Euston Mitigation Measures EMM%20Design%20development%20March%202017

and Luisa’s earlier report describing the changes proposed in more detail. EMM Report March 2017

We will continue to update you on  news regarding these plans and other topics through the summer.

Air Quality Green  and Open Spaces Trees group summary April 2017 AQGOST summary update on AQ HS2

Finally, I welcome those new members who provided their email addresses at the meeting, and also thank a few of you who have offered your support to join the Committee, we will be in touch shortly to get you involved.

Regards,

Jackson

J. Toms-Limb

Secretary, Camden Cutting Group

 

 

27 February 2017

Hi All,

As many of you will be already aware, the HS2 Bill received Royal Assent last week and is now an Act of Parliament. As we move into the next phase of the project with ‘spades in the ground’ we feel a refresh of the Camden Cutting Group is needed, and so we will be holding a public meeting with members (you) to discuss what we as a community need to do – dates to follow shortly.

Thanks to Mary, John and Tim for their continued efforts around lobbying and media relations – this will remain an important part of our battle to reduce the impact of the project, and improve the final design for the railway and station.

A reminder that you can keep up to date with HS2 Ltd’s latest news by signing up to receive email alerts from their website: https://hs2ineuston.commonplace.is/signup This includes air quality monitoring reports, and proposals for the temporary taxi design options. This information is also available at HS2 in Euston office for viewing and commenting on, up to and including 4th March, and there will be a presentation on the taxi options by project staff at HS2 in Euston at 1.30pm on Saturday 4th March.

On the HS2 Commonplace website you will find documents that give you an overview of their forecasted works for this year. The next Construction Open Evening is 16th March 6 – 8pm at HS2inEuston offices, the National Temperance Hospital. All are welcome.

Many of you will have received letters from HS2 recently regarding surveys for Noise Insulation and Listed properties, regarding the potential option of external glazing. This has come about because of community pressure on the council and HS2 to consider this – if you would like to know more please let us know. Again, we urge anybody who has not told HS2 they need Noise Insulation to do so urgently by contactingHS2inEuston@hs2.org.uk

We are still awaiting news on the updated plans for Euston and the Approach and expect to hear more in early March, but it is looking hopeful this will benefit our neighbourhood – we will pass this on as soon as available.

Regards,

Jackson

J.Toms-Limb

Secretary, Camden Cutting Group

 

September 2016 Camden Cutting Group and petitioners from the Cutting area will be appearing before the House of Lords Select Committee on Tuesday 13th September 2016 at 10am. You can watch live on http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Committees

Here is the Cutting presentation: HoL Cutting presentation

August 2016

Dear members,

As reported in my last email the CCG committee have been hard at work preparing for the House of Lords appearances, as well as further discussions with HS2 on assurances they might offer the community. This email is written to provide you a brief update on those discussions as well as to ask you to take a quick 2 minute action to help us for our appearance.

1. HS2 Assurance Discussions (For Information)

Last week, HS2 wrote to the various community groups, including CCG, with whom they have been discussing potential assurances. Their letters covered 25 assurances across the groups, and yet we believe most of these offer nothing more than what is already covered by the Environmental Statement, Code of Construction Practice, and various other documents, so we are deeply disappointed by this. We will continue to push HS2 to see if they can do more, but we are taking this as clear indication that we will indeed have to appear before House of Lords Select Committee to make our case and ask for more significant changes.

2. HOL Preparations – Camden Council Support (For Information)

On Monday 22nd, LBC held a session at the Surma Centre to help individual petitioners prepare for their Lords appearance, which included an introduction from Sarah Hayward as well as a presentation from their legal counsel for HS2. You can read more on the LBC website here:

http://www.camden.gov.uk/ccm/cms-service/stream/asset/?asset_id=3486035&utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_name=&utm_source=govdelivery&utm_term=

3. Individual Petitioners need to confirm their appearance - ACTION REQUIRED

If you are one of the many in Camden who submitted a petition to the House of Lords, you should be now have received various communications from David Walker, who is the legal clerk for the committee and is responsible for finalising the schedule for the hearings. If you have not yet done so, please confirm your appearance by replying to David Walker’s email asap.

This is important because currently they have scheduled over 40 individuals in the Camden Cutting area to all appear on the same day (Tuesday 13th) which is clearly too many to fit in one day – they have done this because they think many will simply not show up, or will be grouping together, reducing the number of individual appearances. Please confirm your appearance now to help us counter this assumption and gain enough time for us all to make our case without being rushed. You can still choose not to appear on the day if you change your mind later.

4. We need your support! - ACTION REQUIRED

If you petitioned but have now chosen not to appear,  you can give your support or affiliate yourself with the CCG petition. To do so, you need to email David Walker, stating your name, address, and petition number, saying “I do not intend to appear to present my individual petition, and instead affiliate myself with the Camden Cutting Group petition (no. HOL382)”.

If you have not petitioned, but would like to show your support for CCG, please can you respond to this email, using the following template text:

Dear Camden Cutting Group,

As a resident of the Camden Cutting neighbourhood, I confirm my support for the CCG petition to House of Lords (no. 382), and that you are appearing on my behalf to raise issues of concern about the impact of HS2 on our community.

Regards,

<Name, address>

Many thanks,

Jackson, Secretary, CCG

www.camdencutting.co.uk

Mid-August 2016

Hi All,

The Camden Cutting Group (CCG) Committee has been hard at work over the last few weeks so this is a quick note to bring you up to speed and also to share a couple of links and events.

1. Update on Our Activity

CCG is one of the leading ‘HS2 response’ groups in the Euston/Camden area and as such we have been leading and engaging in cross-community group coordination in the run-up to petitioning. We have agreed with other community groups that certain groups will act as ‘lead petitioner’ for a particular issue – CCG will be lead on construction impacts and noise.

In this capacity, we have met with HS2′s petition / negotiation team, to discuss our petition and issues, focusing on construction and noise, with the aim to see if any assurances can be agreed before our House of Lords appearance. We are currently awaiting HS2′s feedback on negotiations, but you can see the CCG ‘petition response document’ from HS2 on our website.

HS2 Promoter Response Document to the Cutting Petition 20160811_PRD_Camden Cutting Group_HoL382

We are also preparing for our appearance with the House of Lord’s Select Committee. The draft Camden schedule has been released, with Camden Council going first on 6th September, and CCG due to appear on the 13th. With each community group focusing on a key ask for the whole area, as well as giving detail on the concerns of their particular geographic area, the hope is to avoid repetition, and build on each others arguments, to create a strong single voice for the Camden/Euston community.

2. HS2 Community Engagement Website

HS2 have launched a new website especially for Euston, and this has a number of updates and studies you can view there relating to key topics for our area such as Hampstead Road Bridge, Material by Rail, and the National Temperance Hospital. They do give the opportunity to provide feedback, so we would encourage you to have a look and, if you have the time, to leave a comment or two.

https://hs2ineuston.commonplace.is

Comment on proposals for HS2 in Eustonhs2ineuston.commonplace.isEuston station will be developed to become the London terminus of HS2. Read and comment on our proposals for making construction in the area less disruptive.

3. Camden Council Petition Preparation Meeting – this Monday

There is a petition preparation evening being hosted by Camden Council this Monday evening (22nd). We would encourage anybody who is appearing at the House of Lord’s to attend. The evening will start at 6:30pm at the Surma Centre, 1 Robert Street, NW1 3JU

http://news.camden.gov.uk/come-to-our-select-committee-preparation-session/?utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_name=&utm_source=govdelivery&utm_term=

Come to Camden’s Select Committee preparation sessionnews.camden.gov.ukCamden are holding a Select Committee preparation session to support Camden residents, community groups, businesses and other local organisations who have petitioned against the High Speed 2 (HS2) Bill in the House of Lords. The preparation session will be held on: Monday 22 August 2016 from 6.30 to 8.30pm at the Surma Centre, 1 Robert Stre…

Regards,

Jackson

Secretary, Camden Cutting Group

 

You can see other Camden petitions on the House of Lords site in groups of 100.

There is a selection of Euston petitions at:

http://stpancraschurch.org/community/hs2-eap/

All community participants at the Euston Community Representatives Group rejected the engagement framework proposed by HS2. You can read the letter we have sent to Simon Kirby here: Simon Kirby letter v5 Final [2741483]

HoL Petitions were due in on Monday 18th April 2016 by 5pm. Here is the link to the Cutting Group’s House of Lords (HoL) petition: HoL CCG Petition Final

APRIL 2016

Dear members,

Apologies for the flurry of emails of late, but with the petitioning deadline less than a week away now we want to provide you with as much support as possible, as well as keep you up to date with current events.

HS2 Noise Insulation Letter

Many of you will have received HS2’s letter this weekend regarding Noise Insulation package. This is their proposed mitigation for the years of noise they will create once construction starts. It is therefore important that you do not ignore this letter and return the form to them to be included for noise insulation survey.

If you have lost your letter, or want to get more information online, please see the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hs2-noise-insulation-around-euston-in-camden

House of Lords Petitioning

The Camden Cutting Group petition got it’s final review last night by the Committee and we will be publishing this on our website tomorrow. We raise almost all the issues we raised to the Commons (as they remain unresolved) as well as noting the lack of progress made with the Camden assurances to date and the extreme lack of engagement from HS2.

For your personal petition, please see the template below drafted by the Camden Civic Society. Your petition can be as simple as a list of the impacts HS2 will have on you, and what you want to ask the Lords to do about this – a simple petition is better than none!

Lobbying the Lords

As mentioned in a previous newsletter, Albert Street North RA have arranged for a lobbyist to work with them on briefings for the House of Lords before 2nd reading next week. see the briefing paper below. They need financial support, as they have pledges so far for some of the costs but not enough yet – if you feel you can donate (anything at all) please email John Neve and Mary Burd.

. Donations can be made electronically using the details as follows, or by cheque to Albert Street North Residents Association to Mary Burd at 100 Albert Street. All monies will be kept in a separate HS2 account for this purpose.

HSBC  Sort Code: 40 07 13     Account 81476327

More Members Needed

The drop-in event held on Saturday at the Ferreira Deli was very successful and we have gathered some 50 extra names for our mailing list. We need more – the more people we can ‘represent’ when we petition the more weight we have, and the more informed the community will be by our newsletters. Do feel free to share our emails with your neighbours and suggest they ‘sign up’ with us for the newsletters by simply emailing us at this address.

MARCH 2016

With the petition deadline just over a week away (5pm 18th April), further support for your House of Lords petition writing is available:

1. Reminder of Camden Cutting Group Drop-in

CCG are holding a drop-in session Saturday 9th April from 10am – 3pm at the Ferreira deli, 40 Delancey Street.  This session is aimed at raising your awareness of the impacts HS2 will have on our neighbourhood and answering any questions you may have before you petition.

2. Camden Council Draft Petition now available online

Camden are taking feedback on their petition – this is your chance to tell them if they’ve missed anything! Read more here: http://news.camden.gov.uk/hs2-camden-publishes-its-draft-petition-to-house-of-lords/

3. Camden Civic Society Petition Workshops and Templates

CCS is holding petition workshops at the West Euston Partnership, 29-31 Hampstead Rd NW1 3JA at the following times:

DAY

DATE

TIME

Saturday

9th April

1-3pm

Wednesday

13th April

10-12

Friday

15th April

3-5/5-7

Saturday

16th April

1-3pm