Cloudesley Association Update – Additional Update November 2017

Prior to the weekend, we felt it was necessary to send out a further update on a few key matters:

1. Protest THIS WEEKEND in Cloudesley Square

Please find attached a document that the Celestial Church of Christ has sent to local MP and councillors.

You will see that the Celestial Church of Christ intends to hold a protest on Sunday morning between 11am and 12 noon (notably on Remembrance Sunday).

The police have been advised in case it gets out of hand and there will be a security guard on hand.

2. The Church – Progress Update

Please see below an e mail from Susan Speece on the events of this week.

"Thought I would just send you a brief update of events this week since the Diocese took back possession of the church.

Gutters/drains
I'm hoping that residents of the square saw that we had the gutters and drains cleared out on Wednesday. A total of 42 bags of leaves were cleared away. Our contractor will be coming back to install some grills to stop vegetation accumulating.

Trees
I know trees are of great concern to the square and I have booked Custom Cutters to look at the trees to re-specify the works next Tuesday. Andrew Stuart from Islington Council also attended yesterday and I'm hoping he can help speed up the permissions for the tree cutting so we can get any works needed before the end of this year.

Other works
I am arranging for other minor works to be carried out, including removing the pile of slates that has been there for, I believe, a decade.

Gas cylinders
I have arranged for some of these to be collected on Monday afternoon by Calor Gas.

No access to property
We have stipulated that nobody is allowed onto the premises unless either Kevin Rogers or myself is present so you are likely to see me around quite a bit.

Security
Our security guard left Wednesday morning. I'm very pleased he was there on Tuesday evening as there was a visit from the former tenants requesting access – a total of six cars hung around the square for a couple of hours. I think Otto, the guard dog, was enough of a deterrent.

Potential squatters were also deterred on Wednesday by the presence of various contractors.

Caretakers/guardians
Caretakers moved into the church late Wednesday morning. A very pleasant young couple who will stay for just over a week before we install guardians to live in the property. Contractors will be on site starting on Monday to fit out areas for guardians to live. Once we have our 'permanent' residents we will let all the residents know, meanwhile, if anybody should ask what's going on, please pass on this information.

Goods and chattels
The Celestial Church of Christ (CCC) have asked to collect their possessions tomorrow, Saturday 11 November. Islington Council have granted emergency parking suspension around the west side of the square and I apologise for any inconvenience this will cause residents. I hope it will be short term pain for the morning and then it is over and done with. There will be two removal vans packing up the goods to take to a storage facility – those of you who live in the square will see that there is a vehicle there today to pack and remove about one third of the goods. The CCC will also be arriving tomorrow between 9.30 and 11.30 to collect the items they have requested. I image it will be an emotional day for the CCC.

We will have a security guard and dog in attendance tomorrow. My colleague, Kevin Rogers, will be present and I may be there.

I have been keeping the local police updated and their message is to call 999 should any problems occur tomorrow.

As long as it isn't information overload, I will send updates during the first few weeks to keep you informed of progress.

If you have any questions, or concerns, do get in touch.

Kind regards.

Susan"

3. Christmas Carols in Lonsdale Square – 12th December

The Lonsdale Square residents association has once again kindly invited us to join them at their annual Christmas Carols event. For those who haven't been before, it is a lovely Dickensian evening of carols in the four corners of Lonsdale Square starting at 7pm on 12th December. Please put the date in your diaries.

4. Dirk's Christmas Lunch – Correction

As some of your may have spotted in our last update, Dirk's Christmas lunch in the Crown will be on Saturday 16th December (not 18th!)

5. Residents Meeting

We will be in contact over the next couple of weeks with a date for our next residents Association meeting (which we hope to hold in the school, if possible).

If you are aware of any event, consultation or news item that you would like us to include in our next newsletter, please let us (or your street rep) know.

As ever, if you know of any neighbour who is not on the Cloudesley Association e mail distribution list, please pass this e mail on and/or ask them to provide me with their contact details so that they can be kept in the loop.

Amanda and Florence
On behalf of
The Cloudesley Association