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
Intervention by police officers last Wednesday prevented opponents of the Fox Lane low-traffic neighbourhood (LTN) from mounting a protest deliberatedly timed so that it presented a danger to children returning home from school. Last week was National Walk to School Week.
In response to questions from Palmers Green Community, deputy council leader Ian Barnes has provided some updates on the status of the Connaught Gardents quieter neighbourhood scheme plus a couple of points about the Bowes scheme.
Enfield Council has published further information about how it will be assessing the success of the Fox Lane quieter neighbourhood. The consultation period has been extended until 11th July and a webinar to update residents has been scheduled for 26th May. Data on traffic levels and speeds on surrounding roads is currently being collected. There will be further monitoring of traffic levels in the summer. In the autumn the council will be reporting on all monitoring activity and the outcomes of public consultation and will take a decision to either make the scheme permanent or remove it.
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...
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.
In the week that we were all shocked by the killing of a tiny baby by a dangerous driver, we need to hammer home the message of London's former top traffic cop in this interview for Crimewatch Live: 'Don't speed, challenge your friends, your family, your colleagues not to speed, and make it unacceptable. '
A recently published Environmental Statement by the Enfield Society indicates support for measures to reduce car use and encourage walking and cycling, while stressing that the Society 'is careful not to become involved in political debate' and 'will only support schemes where it can be clearly demonstrated that reduced traffic flows in some areas do not significantly increase them elsewhere'. Cycling 'is not just the preserve of young people, it should be viewed as an important mode of transport'. By discouraging car use 'our air will be cleaner, our health better, the burden on the NHS reduced and deaths/serious injuries on the roads reduced'.
An update on the Let's Talk Enfield website has information about extension of trial operation of the low-traffic neighbourhood (LTN) scheme in the Fox Lane Quieter Neighbourhood and announces a new focus on gathering information about the impact of the scheme on people with disabilities and their carers.
Formal consultation for phase 1 of the Connaught Gardens quieter neighbourhood is now under way. This relates to a small one-way system and 20mph zone in the north-western corner of the area designated as a quieter neighbourhood.
Ahead of the start of consultation on a new Walking and Cycling Action Plan, due to be considered by its Cabinet this week, Haringey Council has published a map of 25 low-traffic neighbourhood areas covering the vast majority of streets in the borough. Simultaneously, Haringey has launched the initial engagement phase for the three low-traffic neighbourhoods for which it has been allocated funding by Transport for London, including an LTN in Bounds Green which is adjacent to Enfield Council's Bowes quieter neighbourhood.