While we admire and support the Christmas campaigns that we see pop up in December, we also know that help is urgently needed all year round, each and every year. As some people pack away after the festive break, we are still here.
Our support is not limited to a food package, but it leaps beyond - we form connections, we listen and respond to everyone who steps through our doors. We open up a warm, safe, environment which aims to feel like a home away from home.
For us to continue to thrive and grow, and keep supporting as many people as possible, we are asking you to become a Friend of Cooking Champions. Even a donation of just £5-10 per month can make a HUGE impact on the lives of those who come through our doors.
Pop to our People's Fundraising page to donate, and we promise to keep you updated with how your support is making a difference. Thank you, we appreciate you! Team Cooking Champions
Last week saw the first Healthy Streets conference, held appropriately enough in Walthamstow, the location of pioneering Mini Holland and Villageisation schemes. More than 300 attendees were there to explore the connections between public health and transport strategies. Topics covered included health-led street design, re-allocation of road space, behaviour change and measures to improve air quality.
Public health specialists: "Active travel is the wonder drug"
Healthy Streets is.......
Ahead of a speech in London on Tuesday 3rd October to an audience of heritage professionals, Ian Harvey, Executive Director of Civic Voice, has called for an end to the continued cutting of local conservation officers in local government and launched a survey to investigate the impact. The survey can be filled in via surveymonkey.co.uk/r/GYMZLC2
Research by Historic England and the IHBC shows that one in five local authorities now do not have their own conservation officer. Many authorities,.......
The second Quieter Neighbourhoods scheme to be consulted on is for the "Connaught Gardens" QN - the triangular area bounded by Hedge Lane, the North Circular and Green Lanes. The deadline for responses is 22nd October.
I was hoping that Enfield Council's traffic planners would have studied how tremendously effective the "villages" in Walthamstow have proved, dramatically improving the liveability of residential streets by making it awkward, but not impossible, for cars to drive through.......
Enfield Council has relaunched its Quieter Neighbourhoods project (by my count, for the second time) by publishing its proposals for the "Wolves Lane Quieter Neighbourhood". Curiously, however, Wolves Lane itself doesn't even appear on the map on the consultation leaflet - it shows only Melville Gardens and streets to the east - and the suggested changes would only affect a small area around Oakthorpe School and certainly not create a "quieter neighbourhood".
Only three changes are.......
Star Pubs and Bars and the Lateral Property Group have now submitted a planning application for redevelopment of the Fox pub and car park. There appear to be only small changes to the plans that were on show at the public exhibition held this July.
The planning application
17/03634/FUL | Redevelopment of site involving partial demolition of existing buildings to provide refurbished public house (A4) and commercial unit (A1-A5, D2) on the ground floor together with erection of 44.......
The Council is seeking views on reviewing the current street trading policy. Street trading can cover tables and chairs and the display of goods on the pavement. Currently, the policy only permits street trading licences for tables and chairs on the pavement outside restaurants, cafes and pubs in certain designated streets, and the sale of goods from seasonal and farmers markets and the sale of goods from a small number of very longstanding stalls.
Colin Younger, Chair of the Broomfield House Trust, updates us on the progress of efforts to restore the House.Broomfield House Trust members met with Enfield Council officers on 23 August to discuss thinking on a way ahead on the reconstruction of the House and stableyard. This follows structural engineers' re-examination of the House's remains and further cost estimates for potential work.On behalf of the Broomfield House TrustThe Art of Gerard Lanscroonwith ML.......
Minerva's face revealed by trial removal of protective coatingSpecialists have begun trial restoration of some sections of the Lanscroon murals that once adorned the staircase in Broomfield House. If the trials are successful, it is hoped to exhibit sections of the murals at the Dugdale Centre next year.
Tom Organ, Matt Organ and Rita Radovanovich of Arte Conservation with the packing cases where the mural remains are storedConservators working for Arte Conservation Ltd started.......
affordable housing and viability coverThe supplementary planning guidance was issued earlier this monthA new online petition is calling on Enfield Council to follow guidance issued by the Mayor of London which would ensure that companies building large housing projects would no longer be able to avoid the requirement to provide a minimum of 35 per cent of affordable housing.
As part of the Cycle Enfield works, Green Lanes will be closed between Hedge Lane and Hazelwood Lane overnight for four nights, commencing on Tuesday 29th August. The closures will be from 8pm to 6am and will allow resurfacing of the main carriageway. The noisiest work will be carried out up to midnight. There will be no access to Green Lanes from Osborne Road, Windsor Road, Park Avenue and Fox Lane during the overnight closures.
The eventual layout of this stretch of Green.......