A quiet lane, with wandering pedestrians, dogs, cyclists, children on scooters, and the occasional bus and delivery van. This is Fox Lane. It is a dreamlike contrast with what used to be a thundering main road, with several thousand polluting and speeding vehicles every day. We are liberated. Instead of cowering in our separate, dangerous rat-run streets, we are now a 'neighbourhood'. A daily nature walk, a history walk or jog of discovery is a revelation, as you pass kids and mums and dads scooting, walking or cycling from school...
Earlier this year a cross-party group from Enfield Council organised an online conference on the subject of cervical cancer awareness. Following the conference the organisers wrote to candidates standing for election as the next Mayor of London asking them to do a short video endorsement of the aims of the conference and of the importance of screening to catch any signs of cancer at an early stage. Rather disappointingly, only one of the candidates sent in a video - Sian Berry from the Green Party
This year Dementia Action Week runs from 17th to 23rd May, with Denim for Dementia day on the Friday. PG resident Matt Wegner is a volunteer fundraiser for the Alzheimer's Society and is keen to get the local community and local groups engaged in raising money to help support people affected by dementia and in promoting a UK-wide campaign to Cure the Care System.
For transport to become environmentally sustainable we need to shift a significant proportion of journeys to non-polluting modes - walking, cycling or public transport. But doing so can also improve our environment in other ways, making it safer, cleaner, quieter, more sociable. A short film, partly filmed in Palmers Green, gives a glimpse of how we can have better streets.
A new children's ward, which opened on 28th April, is the latest of several recent improvements introduced this year by the North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust. Also this week the Trust published details of its new chief executive, as her predecessor started her new job at a hospital in Bristol.
StopPGMerkurSlots have provided some updated information about their campaign against the opening of 24-hour gambling arcade in the centre of Palmers Green.
Enfield Council has revealed that the future location of its well respected archives and local studies centre will be the ground floor of the Civic Centre, where there will also be exhibition spaces for art and archive artifacts. The news was revealed at a cabinet meeting last week which reviewed the council's ongoing programme to streamline and improve services. The move of these and other services out of Thomas Hardy House (better known as the Dugdale Centre) has provoked controversy.
Candidates from eight parties standing in the mayoral and London Assembly elections next month have taken the London Patient Protection Pledge, stating that if elected they will fight to take back the NHS surgeries that have fallen into the hands of a giant US corporation and oppose any other takeovers by profit-driven private corporations. Evidence from a survey of more than 8,000 practices shows that patient satisfaction is lower across four out five key indicators when they are run by limited companies rather than traditional GP partnerships.
Commissioned every year by Trust for London and WPI Economics, London's Poverty Profile provides evidence and insight on poverty and inequality in London. This year's report looked at the distribution of health impacts, as well as considering how work, living standards and wellbeing have been impacted. It shows that London has been hit particularly hard, both in terms of citizens' health and its economy, compared to other parts of England. It also reveals that those living on the lowest incomes in the Capital have been disproportionally affected.
Enfield Dispatch has published statements from four of the candidates standing in the London Assembly election for the Enfield & Haringey constituency.
Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation are calling for the ultra-low emissions zone (ULEZ) to be extended to cover the whole of London in order to improve the health of sufferers from asthma and other lung diseases. They say Sadiq Khan's planned extension of the zone to the area within the North and South Circular Roads would leave 360,000 asthma sufferers exposed to harmful air. The Green candidate for mayor agrees with the charities, but the Conservative candidate has said he would cancel even the currently planned extension
The campaign against a 24-hour slot machine arcade planned for Green Lanes is moving into a new phase, following success in applying for a review by the council of the 'bingo' licence that was granted to Merkur Slots in December. The review will be discussed by Enfield Licensing Committee on 16th June. Ahead of the review there will be a four-week period - 21st April to 18th May - during which interested parties can make further representations.
