Public consultation on proposals to build two new schools and further housing on former hospital land at Chase Farm is being held online. Responses are requested by 7th May.
'We don't want or need to go back to those fume-filled, congested and hostile roads of the past' - the message concluding a letter sent by campaigners to the leaders of Enfield Council concerned about what might happen once the coronavirus lockdown ends. They urge the leaders to to take steps to ensure that, as restrictions are gradually relaxed, high levels of car usage do not return, hindering social distancing and discouraging active travel modes - walking and cycling. Their suggestions include 'pop-up' cycle lanes along corridors for key workers, widening of pinchpoints that present hazards when walking or cycling, and re-allocation of road space at places where queues outside shops make it impossible for pedestrians to maintain safe distances.
The top end of Hedge Lane will be closed for Thames Water work from 29th April to 26th May, though the Yasar Halim store will still be accessible by road from the Green Lanes end of Hedge Lane. Through traffic will be diverted either to the north (via the A10 and Church Street West) or to the south (via the North Circular Road). A temporary one-way system will be in force in the area comprising Park Avenue, New River Crescent, Lightcliffe Road, Windsor Road and Osborne Road.
This week's St Harmonica's playlist, entitled The Lady Sings The Blues, was compiled by Mark Hawkins. The theme speaks for itself! Mark adds: 'While we are without live music at St Harmonica's the live vibe can be maintained by these nine songs with a blues or blues rock background'.
The country's most important medical colleges and charities working in the health field have joined forces to urge people - and especially those in the most at-risk groups - to start using the Covid-19 Symptom Tracker app to provide researchers with vitally important data which will be used to fight the coronavirus. The over-70s and those who have pre existing health conditions appear to be most at risk from the effects of COVID-19, yet they are significantly under-represented in the group of people currently providing data through the app. However, early analysis shows that the illness may start with different symptoms in these groups, such as diarrhoea and confusion, rather than the classic cough and fever.
Missing Friday nights at the Southgate Club listening to the great bands playing at St Harmonica's? Well, we can't do anything about the lockdown, but we can do our best to recreate St Harmonica's in the comfort of your own home.
More than two and a half million users of the Covid-19 Symptom Tracker app are participating in the world's largest citizen science programme and helping researchers discover more about the virus, how it spreads, how to treat it and how to eliminate it. What they have discovered so far shows that the lockdowns in the UK has been effective in reducing the number of people who have symptomatic Covid-19. At its peak on 2nd April, epidemiologists working alongside machine learning scientists predicted that over two million people aged between 20 and 69 fell into this category, but since then the incidence has been falling steadily, down to around 460,000.
'Social distancing' has drawn attention to how narrow many pavements are and what a small percentage of the space on our streets is devoted to walking - which is theoretically at the top of the transport mode hierarchy. London Living Streets has published an important discussion paper about how streets should be re-evaluated in the face of Covid. As the authors point out, the ideas reflected the situation in mid-April, and the situation will undoubtedly evolve. At national level Living Streets is suggesting that we contact councillors with suggestions for reallocating space for people on foot where social distancing is proving difficult.
The UK government's approach to the coronavirus outbreak raises some important questions. As well as the many issues mentioned in a video by Dr Tony O'Sullivan, we have to ask ourselves why the government's criteria for easing the current restrictions differ so much from those specified by the World Health Organisation.
