Monthly Archives: March 2019

Protest – Friday March 22, 8:00-9:30 am

We urge you to join our protest on Friday 22 March and stand up for clean air, environmental justice and the protection of our most vulnerable. The time has come for Donoghue to move on.

As you well know, residents and businesses have suffered for more than a decade from Donoghue’s dust and chemical pollution, noise, work out-of-hours, speeding HGVs, transport of uncovered waste and illegal parking.

For the past two years, Barnet councillors, the most affected residents’ representatives, the Environment Agency and Council officers have been meeting quarterly at the Council to find the best way forward.

Thanks to people speaking up…

  • Donoghue is now a high public interest site for both the Environment Agency and Barnet Council.
  • Alarming findings from an independent monitoring report highlighted:
    • Donoghue breaches its daily tonnage limit.
    • Site samples included traces of unauthorised toxic substances, including asbestos.
    • Donoghue’s methodology for handling and recording waste needed to be improved.
  • Barnet Council conducted a deep cleaning of The Vale and Claremont Road.
  • The Environment Agency placed an air quality monitoring station next to the site – although to our surprise it was prematurely removed on Friday 22 February.

This has put pressure on Donoghue to comply with regulations and resulted in more cleaning and dust suppression mechanisms on site.

On the other hand, very little has been achieved to improve the life quality of directly affected residents and businesses. More worryingly, there has been no news of any relocation site.

Under these circumstances, our frustration has been growing. To make matters worse, residents feel angry and betrayed because of Barnet’s Mayor’s decision to include Donoghue in Barnet’s New Year’s Day parade and the recent consultation on the introduction of width restrictions in Somerton Road.

See the recent media coverage on the situation.

See also: Why Donoghue’s Relocation Cannot Wait

Why Donoghue’s Relocation Cannot Wait

1) It is in everyone’s interest.

  • Donoghue wants to move as the site is too small.
  • Both Barnet and the North London Waste Authority (NLWA) require a fully functional waste management plant to cope with present and future demand.
  • Residents and businesses cannot wait.

2) The site is inadequate for waste management for Barnet and the NLWA.

  • It is too small to properly manage the current volume of waste.
  • The site has no space for the number of HGVs transporting waste and so there is an overflow onto Claremont Road.
  • The site is not coping with current waste needs and will not be able to cope with any additional demand from the Brent Cross Regeneration.

3) The site is in the wrong location and puts at risk our most vulnerable. 

  • The area around Donoghue has changed in the last 40 years and is predominantly residential.
  • The site is blocked to the west by the railway; its only point of access is on Claremont Road. Along this road there are 3 schools (a primary, a secondary and a special needs), 2 playgroups, a nursing home for the elderly, a post office sorting office, 2 churches and a community hall. 4 bus routes also use this road.
  • Donoghue shares fences with a young person’s homeless centre, a social housing development and a children’s playground.

4) The quality of the air we breathe is a hazard to our health. 

  • According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), “Regularly breathing construction dust can cause diseases like lung cancer, asthma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and silicosis. These diseases cause permanent disability and early death. Over 500 construction workers are believed to die from exposure to silica dust every year.”
  • Alex Chown, the Environment Agency’s Area Environment Manager for North London, responding to our concern about the amount of dust in the area, said that what we cannot see is the bigger problem. The visible and invisible dust we all breathe is a hazard to our health.

5) The intensity of use harms our neighbourhood. 

  • This is against national, local and NLWA policies that aim to protect local amenities.
  • In order to prevent this, Donoghue would need to significantly scale down.

6) Our roads cannot cope with the additional load.

  • HGVs are getting bigger, heavier and significantly increasing in number.
  • It is unjustifiable for the Council to spend taxpayers’ money to keep this one business under control and to repair road damages partly caused by its overloading and intensity of use.
  • The Vale repairs alone are estimated to cost over £240,000. We would rather see this money invested in our children’s future.

7) Children need protection. 

  • Children have been speaking up against climate change. Local schools encourage them to walk and cycle to and from school.
  • Lack of action from Barnet Council and the NLWA sends a mixed and wrong message, as it exposes children to very high levels of pollution and terrifying road safety risks.
  • Please do not wait for an accident or casualty before the relocation of Donoghue is taken seriously. 

Mary Bennet

We are so sorry to report the recent death of our friend and neighbour, Mary Bennett, a long-term resident of the Golders Green Estate and for many years an ardent supporter of GGERA and the Memories Group.

We will treasure the many memories she leaves behind. Her funeral is on Monday 18 March at 1:00 pm at All Saints Church in Cricklewood Lane (behind the school).

Mary speaking to Bill and Roger from HADAS (Hendon and District Archaeological Society) after the first archaeological dig at Clitterhouse Farm.

Electoral Boundary Review (Update)

We previously mentioned the electoral review of Barnet Council being carried out by the Local Government Boundary Commission.

The aim of the review was to recommend ward boundaries that mean each councillor represents approximately the same number of voters and to ensure that the ward boundaries reflect the interests and identities of local communities, as well as promoting effective local government.

The Commission has now published its draft recommendations and is inviting comments.  The consultation closes on 13 May 2019.

Have your say now.

The current (blue) and proposed (red) boundaries are shown below.

Police Warnings

The Golders Green Safer Neighbourhood Team have passed on a couple of warnings:

Bogus Callers

Uniforms belonging to British Gas have been stolen. 

If you are visited at your home address by someone claiming to be from British Gas without an appointment, do not let them in without checking with British Gas first on 0333 202 9802.

Keep your door securely shut, and if you have a door chain put it on.

Be aware of cold callers. If you’re not sure who is at your door, don’t open it. If you believe bogus callers are trying to access your home, call police on 999.

Check the identity of the caller by calling the company they are claiming to be from – i.e. gas, electricity, water or police.

Use the telephone numbers listed in your local directory or provided independently by your service provider or online on their website.

Do not use any telephone numbers provided by the caller – they may be bogus.

Catalytic Converters

We have had numerous reports of thefts of catalytic converters that took place in the last month in Golders Green, Childs Hill and Garden Suburb area.

The main function of a catalytic converter is to clean up the exhaust gases from an engine before they exit the exhaust pipe. It is a small piece/filter that looks like a honeycomb that the thieves are usually after.

Cars that have been targeted include the Honda Jazz and Toyota Prius. The converters in these old models are easier to access. Thieves jack up the car and saw the converter end to end in around 60 seconds.

When stealing a catalytic converter the muffler is disconnected, so your vehicle will sound very loud. Toxic fumes will likely be easy to smell. The vehicle should not be driven without the catalytic converter and instead it should be towed to a repair shop.

  • There are anti-theft systems, locks and alarms, which can be purchased online.
  • You can mark the metallic shell of your CAT. This may make it easier to be identified as stolen property.
  • Consider installing CCTV devices. They are also major deterrent and could cost less than replacing a CAT.

At times, these incidents have happened in broad day light. The best prevention is to raise awareness of the issue in your community, to keep an eye on your road and to immediately report any suspicious activities by calling 999.