Present:  Fay Cattini, Sandy Critchley, Donna de Wick, Polly Hope, Nicholas Morse (Chair), Philip Vracas, Rupert Wheeler

Not present:  David Donoghue, Tim Lowe, John Twomey, Megan Williams,

We went through minutes of last meeting:

Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Party:

John Twomey is the Society’s representative on the organising committee, but was unable to be at this committee meeting. The next committee meeting is too near the party, so it was agreed that we need a meeting in the next week or so to talk through details i.e. food, Society’s donation, wrist bands, asking for contributions, leaflets (clearly identifying contributing sponsors of  the party), the area where we will leaflet. 1000 invitations have been ordered. A catchement map has been circulated to help with distribution.

Agreed that Nicholas will email John and say we need a special committee meeting to talk through details.

Donna reported that Innovision have said they would like to contribute something to the party.

Christ Church gardens:

Nicholas received an email from Eleanor Jones asking fora contribution from the Society to support the design efforts of the garden design shortlisted candidates. Nicholas will email Eleanor to try and clarify what is needed i.e. do we give the sum requested or one larger cheque to the overall winner.

Filming:  A donation was received for recent filming in Princelet Street.  

Innovision event:

Donna reported that Innovision had their hearing yesterday. Matt Marchant attended and spoke on behalf of Society. Despite the fact that 4 objections had not been withdrawn, Innovision were granted their licence. Sandysaid because of our meetings with them, they had increased their security presence from 3 to 5; they are providing 10 toilets for 500 people (whilst Trumans only have 2 for thousands); they are setting up a radio scheme between all the bars in the area.

Nicholas asked Rupert to approach Chris Dyson to represent us with Trumans Brewery and said that if Innovision can do these things for a special event, Trumans should be encouraged to do the same for their regular operations.

Donna said that Innovision will offer us some sort of tickets as residents and indicated that they will support our street party in some way.  Agreed to ask Matt for a copy of what he said at the hearing and use this to write to the Council to ask them to improve what they do in the Brick Lane area.

Baishaki Mela:  This was approved by the Council who said they did not receive any petitions in time.

19 Princelet Street:  Nothing to report.

Illuminated sign on 10 Heneage Street:    Nicholas will ask Megan if she wrote to Council.

Planning matters:

212 Brick Lane:   Sandy said their licensing application for 3.30am was rejected but she has seen a planning application from them asking for the same hours. Agreed that Sandy will write a letter of objection.  At the hearing the Council, police and environmental health all spoke against. It was quite clear that they take on board objections from local residents.

76 Commercial Street:  Philip has submitted planning permission for a new shop front.

124 Brick Lane:  They are asking for late night openings and also outside seating. Agreed that Philip will write on behalf of Society to object.

Fruit & Wool Exchange:

Rupert said we were successful in getting the Pavilion replaced with a better security fence and they should put that into the revised application. Philip Vracas said we are waiting to see a copy of the written reasons for the deferral. It was agreed that committee want to meet with Exemplar and Rupert will contact them to arrange a meeting.

Nicholas emailed Peter Boisseau to say The Society had no objection to his roof terrace.

Crossrail:

Rupert said this is an ongoing matter and he is waiting to receive a copy of a sample of the documentation that we will receive from another area to see what we will have to deal with in Spitalfields.

A.O.B.  Nicholas said he is opening his garden on 19 May from 10am for Open Gardens Day. We hope it will go well. If it does, this may encourage others to open their gardens.

Tennis:  Eleanor asked if we wanted to continue with hiring the school tennis court. The Society will first see if there is a demand from members for this. Nicholas will email Eleanor and say this is what we are going to do and if it goes ahead, Donna will manage it on our behalf.

Date of next Executive Committee meeting:  Wednesday, 30 May.

In past years the Spitalfields Society has made a block booking of the Christ Church school tennis courts so that members could benefit and use these during the summer months.

The Society’s Executive Committee wishes to know if members are interested in continuing this service, so that if there is sufficient demand the school can be approached and bookings made.

Please can you email Donna DeWick with your views?

From the Spitalfields Society.

Present:  Fay Cattini, Sandy Critchley, Donna de Wick, David Donoghue, Polly Hope, Tim Lowe, Philip Vracas. In attendance: Eleanor Jones

Apologies:  John Twomey, Rupert Wheeler, Megan Williams, Nicholas Morse

Diamond Jubilee Party:   Report of the Jubilee sub-committee meeting - ready to have the “save the date” (Saturday, 2 June) flyers printed and distributed in the neighbourhood and sent out to members at the end of April. 

We welcomed Eleanor Jones who updated committee members on the Christ Church gardens. She said the steering group have s.106 money of £50,000 and hoped to receive s.106 money from the Fruit & Wool development. Philip Vracas has stepped down from the steering group but has confirmed that Elizabeth Banks will judge the shortlisted designs. Fruit & Wool planning permission was deferred and we are awaiting Council communication on the matter.

Eleanor Jones also updated committee members about filming. Agreed that Eleanor will remain the film office liaison.

Eleanor volunteered to continue to deal with s.106 money on behalf of the Society. Since writing to the Council with members’ suggestions for using s.106 she had heard nothing. As agreed previously, the committee agrees that Eleanor will continue in this role in conjunction with a committee member to accompany her at any meetings and when sending emails, she should copy committee in.

Truman’s Brewery event: A meeting with the promoters, Innovision, with members from the Society and SPG and Matt Marchant, a member who lives in Woodseer Street. They gave us an outline of their event. The event will take place at 150 Brick Lane, 27 July to 12 August, from 12.00 til 9pm, everyone out by 9.30pm. One of the main points they made was that during the Olympics, every day will be like a weekend. They took on board Society concerns about having more security to push people away from residential areas. They will have a strong booking policy to stop lots of people just turning up. They want to get their plans through the Council and we asked if they could take our concerns to the Council and police. Although there will be 10 toilets and 1 disabled toilet on their site, members said we should write to the Council asking that we need more toilets in the whole area during the Olympics. Innovision held a further update meeting on 5 April with those in attendance at the first. 

Baishaki Mela: A meeting of Bangladeshi residents was convened to express concern about the negative effect of the Baishaki Mela on local residents and it was decided to ask the London Borough of Tower Hamlets to move the celebrations away from this area.  A petition has been raised andSandyasked members to sign the same.

19 Princelet Street:  Spitalfields Trust has served a notice on 19 Princelet Street giving until September to do work on the synagogue e.g. repair some of the external elevations, cleaning the windows etc. The Society has been in touch with the Anti-Social officer about what goes on outside the synagogue.

SCG: The SCG will not be hosting a Jubilee party but will be joining Spitalfields Music for a celebration in Bishops Square funded by the City o fLondon on Saturday, 23 June. SCG are having an AGM on 4 July at which they will hold elections. They are still opposed to the Fruit & Wool development.

Patrick Streeter is holding a local elections hustings inChrist Church Crypt on 12 April on behalf of Spitalfields Trust.

Illuminated sign on 10 Heneage Street.  They are asking for retrospective permission and in a conservation area. Committee members thought we should object. Megan Williams will write on behalf of the Society. 

Martin Lane (honorary President) has been distributing his letter as we have had a few new members. This is good news.

212 Brick Lane. This will be discussed by Licencing on 10 April at 10am. Sandy Critchley will attend and speak on behalf of the Society.

Fay Cattini had received a letter regarding Electoral review.  No one knew about this and Fay gave the letter to Philip to look into.

76 Commercial Street: Philip Vracas notified members that he had put in planning permission for his wine bar.

Crossrail, Trumans, Licensing: Rupert Wheeler sent the following update by email:

I have pursued the Crossrail issue and now have some information on which we might base our programme to coordinate the independent surveyor on behalf of building owners along the route through Spitalfields. Last week Crossrail confirmed that “the tunneling is scheduled to commence in December 2013 with the eastbound drive from Liverpool Street, generally the schedule of defects surveys will be undertaken no more than 6 months prior to this date, our contractor undertaking the survey will contact you 20 – 25 days prior to the survey to arrange a mutually convenient date to undertake the survey.”

I have spoken to the surveyor at The Morton Partnership and I have agreed to find out very roughly how many properties might be involved so that he can sharpen his pencil and provide us with a quotation that might be offered to owners that will be significantly less than if they were commissioned on an individual basis. I will sort out a message to be circulated to members that will follow on from the message issued last year and will clarify the arrangements and ask them to respond if they are interested. If we get more than just a few, and my informal enquiries suggest that we will, then we can organize things accordingly and get competitive costs agreed.

I am also trying to get a sample of a Crossrail survey used elsewhere along the line so that we can see the standard of survey that “our” surveyor will be responding to as this obviously effects the cost as well.

Chris Dyson is still considering his position with the Truman Brewery as to whether he is in a position to liaise with them on behalf of the Society.

Lastly, Councilor Amy Whitelock knocked on my door last weekend canvassing on behalf of the Labour party. We spoke at some length and she happens to chair the licensing committee and is very aware of what is going on in our area. She would be interested in engaging with us directly on licensing, particularly where conditions need to be attached to the more complex applications.

Date of next Executive Committee meeting: Wednesday April 25th.  Venue tbc.

Present:  Fay Cattini, Sandy Critchley, Donna de Wick, David Donoghue, Polly Hope, Nicholas Morse (Chair), Philip Vracas. In attendance:Martin Lane

Apologies:  Tim Lowe, John Twomey, Rupert Wheeler, Megan Williams.

We welcomed Martin Lane as our New President. He had produced a draft of a letter which he proposed to give to people he knew who were not members of our Society to persuade them to become members. We read through this and made some suggestions.

Neighbourhood watch – no action on this. No one had put themselves forward to represent Wilkes or Hanbury Streets.

Filming: Eleanor Jones will deal with filming on behalf of the Spitalfields Society. She had put together the Protocol and had worked hard on the Society’s behalf to raise donations.  

Crossrail – update pending.

Diamond Jubilee Party:  Sub-committee is: Andy Rider, John Twomey and Ann Hartnett. Date: Saturday, 2 June. As before, we will get Wilkes and Prinelet Streets blocked off. Elder Street are having a party on Thursday 31 May with the Water Poet and local businesses. The committee was emailed details of the party as of now and a “save the day” notice. When this is sent to members, we will ask for volunteers to help with the day. It will be a 1952 theme with activities for the children. Bob the window cleaner will be coming to play and Angela Hartnett & Canteen will do a hog roast. Sandy will speak to Askar Miah about inviting local Bangladeshi neighbours. Nicholas will approach the Taj. There will be an alcohol and non-alcohol bar.

John has asked for £5 per head and it was agreed that Nicholas will email John for a costing. Society are willing to give some filming money for the party and this will be noted on the invite.

Truman’s Brewery:   Due to Rupert Wheeler’s hard work and speaking at the planning meeting, it was noted that 2 applications for restaurants had been withdrawn and 3 had been rejected. .

Fruit & Wool – Philip Vracas had attended the planning meeting and had spoken in favour of the development. He said there were 2 Asian women who also spoke in favour. 3 spoke against – Dan Cruickshank, Peter Boisseau and John Nicolson. The application decision was deferred.

The Council is going to draft a minute giving the reasons of the deferment which will be sent to Society members.

If developers change their plans then the committee will discuss it again.

TuneInn: Donna DeWick said Alan Williams knows the owner and he is going to put pressure on him to change the sign. If there are further developments we will look at it again.

212 Brick Lane:  Sandy Critchley emailed objecting to the hours on behalf of the Society.

Website: up to date, and any addresses have been removed.

Date of next meeting:  We will go back to last Wednesday in the month i.e. Wednesday, 28 March, 7pm.

Minutes of meeting of Spitalfields Society held on Wednesday, 25 January 2012 at 7pm 

Present:  Fay Cattini, Sandy Critchley,  Donna de Wick, David Donoghue, Polly Hope, Nicholas Morse (Chair),  Rupert Wheeler.

Apologies:  Tim Lowe, John Twomey, Philip Vracas, Megan Williams.

Martin Lane, Honorary President, was unable to be here this evening but will come to our next committee meeting.

Members agreed that it was right to have an emergency meeting on 21 December to discuss the licence application for 76 Commercial Street. The following email was sent to Tower Hamlets on 22 December:

At a special meeting of the Committee of the Spitalfields Society last night in relation to the above application it was decided to write a message of support for the continued use of the premises as a restaurant serving alcohol, bearing in mind that it replaces Dino’s restaurant, which also had a licence for ‘on sale’ alcohol until very recently when it was unfortunately surrendered.  It was the committee’s view that a high-quality new restaurant such as number 76 would be an enhancement to that section of Commercial Street, complimenting other high-end restaurants further up the street and improving the environment in what is now a relatively dead, only sparsely residential area.  We would, however, ask for some modification of the opening hours to bring them into line with other restaurants operating in Commercial Street.

And we would oppose the granting of an off-licence in the light of existing problems with alcohol and street-drinking in Spitalfields.

Please note that Philip Vracas, who would be a licensee of number 76 and who is the Treasurer of the Society, was not present at last night’s meeting and had no part in the discussion or vote.

In view of Society writing, Matt Piper had withdrawn his objection. The application was amended in view of Society’s email.

Ward minutes are sent to Executive Committee members and will continue to be.

Neighbourhood Watch: The names of who is involved in Fournier Street will be circulated to the Committee and also if there is anyone representing Wilkes and Hanbury Streets.

Filming: As agreed, Eleanor Jones is the filming liaison and works in conjunction with Society Chair Nicholas Morse. She has agreed to copy Nicholas into any talks with filming people and the Society directly receives all revenue from filming.

Crossrail: If at least a dozen property owners interested in the survey, then Morton Partnership will do it. Agreed that the letter on Crossrail will be re-sent and people asked to sign up to it. Crossrail will contact people and say they want to do a conditional survey on your property. Owners could say I want someone in attendance. We suggest once conditional survey is done, Morton Partnership will inspect the property and make sure Crossrail have analysed properly. Having all the contracts they can look at the different properties together which is better.

The Society has a list of all the properties affected from Brushfield Street to Princelet Street. Paperwork will be assembled and sent to members and then a door drop to non members. Send to everyone on the map saying they can come into the scheme if they join the Society. The Society will have no involvement in the advice. Morton are advising home owners directly.

Diamond Jubilee Party: So far the sub-committee consists of John Twomey, Andy Rider and David Gadd. Agreed that an email will be sent to sub-committee for a planning a meeting soon.   Sub-committee will have to discuss things like contributions and report back to the main committee.

Truman’s Brewery: Chris Dyson will be contacted as agreed at last meeting. Society wants a proper master plan drawn up for the Brewery. We also want adequate notice of planning applications.

Chris Dyson is doing some work for the Brewery and he needs to work out if he is compromised by aiding the Society. We would still want him to act on our behalf.

We need a brainstorming for our members before we see Council, Brewery and Police. We need to hear everyone’s views before we act. Agreed that Rupert Wheeler and Selina Mifsud could meet and thrash out some ideas which we could then put to our members. We can emphasise the positive aspects of having Chris Dyson to represent the Society i.e. he is a local resident as well as being an architect.

When an email was circulated in the community about Public Life, unfortunately the Spitalfields Society long involvement was ommitted from the record. It was agreed that where we can, the Society should work with Spitalfields Community Group but both groups need to acknowledge the other.

Fruit & Wool Exchange: When this comes up in March, the Spitalfields Society will probably disagree with SCG. The Society will need to again explain our position and why we supported the application. The Society has been in communication with the developer who had submitted our letter to the Council. To be verified: if the Society letter was not submitted, the Society will resend it directly to the Council and leave it at that.

The Society will find out the timeline and email our members saying why we responded to the developer in the way we did. To be discussed again at our next committee meeting.

Planning & Licensing: The new 100 bedrooms only hotel, Tune Inn, on Folgate Street, has a protruding sign and neighbours objected but Council say there is nothing to be done. Neighbours are going to write to the hotel saying the Council has violated its own policy. It was suggested she send a copy to the newspaper. Illuminated signs do attract attention of officers.

Exit Bar, 212 Brick Lane, has opened up under a different name. The Society will write and object to 3am opening. Objections have to be in by 9 February (7364 5008).

Website: It was agreed that requests from other people about community events could be posted on our website. Paypal for membership dues will be set up. A membership form will be put on the website.

Date of next executive committee meeting:  Wednesday 7 March at 7pm, venue tba.

Minutes of Spitalfields Society committee meeting held on Wednesday, 30 November 2011 at 7pm

Present:  Fay Cattini, Sandy Critchley (Acting Chair), Donna de Wick, David Donoghue, Polly Hope, Tim Lowe, Nicholas Morse, John Twomey, Rupert Wheeler, Megan Williams

Apologies:  Philip Vracas

1. Election of Chair and Vice C hair:  There had been 2 nominations for Chair – Nicholas Morse and Rupert Wheeler. Rupert declined his nomination. It was unanimously agreed that Nicholas be appointed Chair. There had been 3 nominations for Vice Chair – Nicholas, Megan and Sandy. Megan withdrew her nomination and it was unanimously agreed that for continuity Sandy be appointed Vice Chair. Sandy handed over the meeting to Nicholas.

Sandy had written toMartin Lane inviting him to be President and as she hadn’t heard from him she rang him and he has accepted. It was agreed to invite him to our next meeting.

It was agreed that we will inform members about these appointments and put a short note in about Nicholas and Martin. Committee members are elected at the AGM for a 3 year period but can stand for re-election. There is nothing in the Constitution about how long a Chair/Vice Chair should be in office.

Diamond Jubilee party: John Twomey is heading up a small sub committee: John, Philip, Andy, David Gadd, Ann Hartnett.  John will invite John Critchley to join the sub committee.

Monday and Tuesday will be reserved for the party. SCG are ready to have a joint party. Agreed that it will be a Society party open to the whole community. Anyone coming should be given a wristband. Children will be welcome and it would be good to have a theme – a 1950s theme was suggested.

Truman’s Brewery: Members have to re-submit their objections to the 5 restaurants application by 2 December.

Next step is to widen the debate. We had a letter from Brewery and we will ask for a meeting with them with the police and Council.

It would be a good idea to have one member to deal just with the Brewery. Chris Dyson will be asked to be a liaison between the Council and Brewery on behalf of the Society.

Correspondence with the Brewery will be circulated. The Brewery have knowingly allowed their tenants to break planning and licensing laws. The Brewery had said there are not many restaurants in the area but a map is being produced which clearly shows just how many food outlets there are in the Brewery and the nearby Brick Lane area.

It was really helpful to see this visually.

Crossrail: Morton Partnership has been approached about working with the Society and its members for issues related to property owners 30m along the Crossrail route. This will gives us collectively a more powerful voice with Crossrail and is a more economical way of getting advice. Crossrail will be surveying houses along the route, many of which will be members. They issue all the building owners with a condition report so the Morton Partnership would review everyone’s report when they have been done. They will visit houses and assess reports, 1-1 ½ hours for each house, and say whether it is accurate and relevant and other concerns that owners might want to act on. The Society has identified at least 50 houses in the area, so about 20-30 may be members. Cost of that is £150-£200 per house. It is advice not insurance. If members had further concerns they would then employ Morton further.

An exact costing will be produced.  

Pat Jones is looking into legal aspects so that the Society is not liable for any advice and is simply arranging services for members.

Filming: Eleanor Jones is acting as liaison on filming matters. A regular report will be produced.

Licensed premises:  A spreadsheet going through the Council website finding out about licensed premises and their hours of operation is a work in progress. This is for committee use. Committee members will assist in compiling information for the spreadsheet.  The initiative is being led by Megan Williams

Historically, off licences sprang up because restaurants did not serve alcohol but now most restaurants are licensed. There is now no justification for a proliferation of off licenses. People now buy alcohol and stand outside drinking from plastic cups.

Megan said that104 Brick Lanehave taken down their façade.

A query arose as to the difference between late night refreshment and licensed for alcohol.

The two Council officers in charge of licensing are Kate Oliver and Colin Perrins.

It was noted that there is no joined up thinking by the Council when it comes to planning i.e. there are 2 new hotels almost opposite each other in Folgate Street– The Rookery and Tune Inn.

Anti-social behaviour:  James Warwick, Rupert Wheeler and Sandy Critchley went to a meeting with the police. The focus is more on drugs than alcohol. Police argument is that these operations in Brick Lane will have a domino effect on surrounding area.

Agreed that the Society will draft a letter to Andy Bamber asking for more “No street drinking” signs for our area.

Minutes of the Ward Panel meeting will be circulated after the next meeting.

Nicholas Morse is talking to Matt Piper about starting up a Neighbourhood Watch.

Date of next committee meeting:  Wednesday, 25 January, 7pm.

Minutes of meeting of Spitalfields Society held on Tuesday, 26 October 2011 at 7pm

Present: Sandy, Fay, David, Philip, Megan, Nicholas

Apologies: Polly, John, Donna, Rupert, Tim

Sandy took the Chair and welcomed Megan and Nicholas to their first committee meeting. Agreed that they will be sent minutes for the last quarter’s meetings.

Planning: 73 and105 Brick Lane have dismantled their shop fronts and are now wanting to put in for restrospective planning permission. Agreed that if necessary we can enlist the help of non-members to monitor and object.

New Chairman and Vice Chairman: We discussed the procedure for electing a new Chairman and Vice Chairman. Agreed that members will send their nominations in the next 2 weeks and then we will vote at the next committee meeting, this will be sent out as an email. Agreed that the role of the new Chairman will be to facilitate and look after meetings and make sure action is taken. This could mean bringing in other Society members.

Fay agreed to continue as Secretary for the time being and Philip agreed to continue as Treasurer. Position of Honorary President was discussed and Martin Lane was put forward and this was agreed.

Police meeting: The recent meeting with the police and LBTH was reported. The new Police Inspector said he would be putting more police around Brick Lane but he is often under staffed and if an emergency occurs officers are called away. Agreed to have a concerted two week campaign and during this period to ask all our members to note incidences of anti-social behaviour and take photos so that we can send these with a letter to the Mayor of London and the new Police Commissioner. Members agreed that anti-social behaviour was aggravated by off licences in and around Brick Lane and a list will be compiled of off licences and the hours they are meant to operate.

We will ask members to continue emailing John Critchley with their complaints. SCT will be informed of our campaign and ask them to also send evidence to John C. Ward Panel meeting minutes will be brought to the next committee.

Communications: A Facebook site, website and Twitter are set up for The Society. The Hanbury Street noticeboard needs to be updated showing our website address etc.

Diamond Jubilee: Agreed to contact Tower Hamlets about our street party. Agreed to set a sub committee.

Fruit & Wool Exchange:  A letter was written on behalf of the Society. The Committee thought no further action was necessary.

s.106 money: A copy of Eleanor’s letter re s.106 money will be filed in Committee correspondence, and a letter of complaint about Allen Gardens will be sent to The Council.

Shoreditch Station: There is an exhibition at the Rich Mix this Saturday, 12-1pm.

Christ Church gardens:   There is a meeting this week of the steering group to discuss Christ Church gardens (the public part). Philip Vracas will be there for the Friends of Christ Church and Eleanor Jones for the Spitalfields Society. The Society’s view is that the whole of Christ Church gardens should be a green space.

 Filming:  Eleanor Jones is serving as filming liaison officer for the Society, and Nicholas Morse will be the liaison on the Executive Committee.

 Crossrail: In principle we agree to fund an initial survey and will discuss at the next meeting.

 Next committee Meeting: Wednesday, 30 November

Minutes of the Executive Committee meeting of Spitalfields Society held on Tuesday, 27 September 2011 at 7pm

Present: Sandy, Fay, Donna, David, Tim, Rupert, Philip

Apologies: Polly, John

AGM: We went through and agreed the AGM agenda and which will be emailed this to committee before emailing it to members. The Chairman’s report is being worked on and a list of what will be mentioned was reviewed. The Spitalfields Life blogger will be invited to the AGM.

 s.106 money. As Eleanor Jones, previous Chair of the Spitalfields Society was working on this issue before her resignation, she will write the letter to the Council about this. It was agreed that any meeting with the Council with Eleanor should also have a committee member present. Handover meetings with regard to the Christ Church garden matters are planned with Eleanor.

Tennis court: The Society is waiting for an invoice from the school. It seemed that this year there were more families using the court.

Finance: Draft accounts have been prepared which will be ready for the AGM.

Crossrail: A draft Crossrail update was circulated which will be amended and sent to committee so that it can be sent to members. It is thought to be a good idea for members who are affected by the Crossrail tunnelling i.e. properties 30m either side of the tunnelling line, to get the Crossrail survey checked. Crossrail have got this wrong before. Next steps for residents include:

1. Have a structural engineer to look at these surveys and say if they are accurate
2. As Crossrail have not gone inside properties and the structural engineer will need to do an internal survey, it will be expensive for individuals.

It was suggested that Society engage and pay for a structural engineer to do the exterior survey and individuals pay for an internal survey. The Society could recommend that members use the same engineer to do the surveys and 2 names were put forward – Brian Morton and Ward Cole.

People need to have advice on their Settlement Deeds with Crossrail, the same legal document for everyone, but people may need advice on what the impact of that is on them. It might be that legal advice which may cost £2K will be the same advice for everyone. The Society should be there for all the people on the route and be ready to use their funds to protect the community. A Crossrail update will be sent out to members. It was also agreed that The Society should print off copies and deliver it to residents in Princelet, Wilkes, Fournier and Brushfield Streets andPuma Court.

Planning: The Society has been consulted on major developments e.g. Bishopsgate Goodsyard. A list of planning applications will be circulated to the Chair.

Jubilee street party: Agreed to get a date fixed very soon and book Princelet Street. It would be good to combine with other local groups.

19 Princelet Street: Patrick Streeter is running a campaign about this property and Susie Symes has reported them to Charity Commission. Susie is opening the synagogue more.

Website: This is up and running and looks very good. We need a small sub-group to make sure this is kept up to date. We are now also on Twitter and the idea of a recruitment drive with local businesses was proposed.

Constitution: The old and proposed new Constitutions have been sent to members. At the AGM a few amendments will be outlined. The draft Constitution was sent to a few solicitors and received some minor corrections.

Agreed that Executive Committee minutes should be sent to members.

Elections: Nine of the committee members have been proposed and seconded i.e. Sandy, Donna, Polly, Fay, John, Rupert, Philip, David and Tim. Two new people have been nominated and seconded i.e. Nicholas Morse and Megan Williams. So there will be no need for ballot papers. As from next year under our new Constitution a third of the committee will need to resign, although they can stand for re-election.

It was agreed that some nice flowers will be presented to Eleanor (which committee members will pay for). Wine and nibbles will be provided post AGM by The Society, and a contribution will be made to the cost of any helpers at the meeting.

Anti-social behaviour: Agreed that Society should write to the new Police Commissioner.

The Executive Committee will meet at 6pm to have a pre-AGM meeting.

Apologies for the AGM received from Chris Dyson, Alan and Lyn Williams and Donna DeWick

The Spitalfields Society was heavily engaged with the Crossrail project from 2005 when the latest route for the project was published and Crossrail Bill was programmed to go before Parliament. The Society became the local focus in the area for the campaign and was joined by many local resident and business groups such. The Society also worked very closely with the council in lobbying for environmental and social improvements to the project, petitioning Parliament on behalf of many local building owners and submitting representations before Select Committees in the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

The two main objectives of the campaign were:

1. To stop the proposed construction of the enormous shaft in Hanbury Street from which tunnels would be bored eastwards and westwards from Spitalfields.
2. To obtain a realignment of the route that would avoid the tunnels going under the historic core of Spitalfields.

The campaign was dramatically successful on the 1st objective to the extent that Crossrail eventually abandoned the central tunnelling strategy and opted to tunnel the entire route from each end. The main tunnelling shaft in Hanbury Street was subsequently downgraded to an access shaft, then later downgraded to ventilation shaft and eventually abandoned altogether. This revision was the single largest and most dramatic change made to the project plan throughout the entire route and was the result of a very impressive and sustained campaign involving a great many local people from all parts of the Spitalfields and Banglatown community.

However, we were less successful on the 2nd objective as we were unable to obtain a change in the route. The local community is now faced with having to protect itself against the potential damage that may be caused by the enormous scale of the tunnelling operation that is set to pass through the area over the next few years.

The tunnelling project

The tunnelling will comprise the construction of 2no. 6 metre diameter tunnels passing under the area at a depth of about 30 metres (to the top of the tunnels). The line runs from Liverpool Street Station, curving up towards Brushfield Street and the old market buildings before bearing east to run under Commercial Street, past Christ Church and under Wilkes Street, and running east directly along Princelet Street before passing under Brick Lane and on to the Chicksand Estate towards Whitechapel. The date for the tunnelling is still not known but it is believed that it will pass under Spitalfields in about 2 years’ time (check this).

The settlement deed

Owners of buildings within 30 metres, in plan, of the tunnels are entitled to protection, mitigation and compensation where appropriate under the terms of the settlement deed. This deed can be inspected on the Crossrail website (type in “settlement deed” in the search facility) and can be obtained from Crossrail on proof of ownership of a qualifying building. The Spitalfields Society has a large scale map of the tunnelling proposals that defines the 30 metre zone if people be in doubt as to whether they are deemed to be affected and therefore qualify for the settlement deed.

The settlement deed has been the subject of much debate and lobbying from affected parties, including the Society, but remains a fairly standard document. It sets out the procedures for assessing the condition of affected properties, mitigating measures, compensation procedures in respect of any damage caused and repairs required. Crossrail require building owners that are entitled to a settlement deed to apply for this deed at least 10 months before the start of any tunnelling or construction that affects their building. However, as Crossrail are unable or unwilling to confirm when their operations will effect buildings in Spitalfields owners are advised to apply immediately.

The deed is supposed to be a straightforward document that building owners should be able to understand without further legal advice. However, owners may nevertheless require advice on whether to enter into the deed or not and on the implications. The Society is keen to follow up its earlier work on Crossrail by engaging further legal advice that can be made available to members in a coordinated fashion so that they do not each have to engage such advice. How this is to be achieved, administered and funded is subject to the nature of assistance that owners may require and this will be investigated over the forthcoming months. In the meantime we are ready to assemble questions on the deed from members who have obtained and read their deeds, prior to completing them, so that we may start to brief legal advice on the scope of legal work that might be required.

Survey procedures

Crossrail have made a crude assessment of the extent to which properties along the route will be affected by the tunnelling process only where these properties are statutorily listed. This assessment comprised an inspection of the front elevation as seen from the street and a desk top study of the effect on ground levels of the tunnelling. They concluded that the ground will subside by about 2.5 centimetres along Princelet Street, for example, but the effect on individual buildings will be negligible as all adjacent buildings will subside by a similar amount.Crossrail are due to make an internal inspection of all properties along the route within the settlement zone before tunnelling commences. This inspection is essentially to record the condition of the properties so that the extent of subsequent damage can be verified, and of course to protect themselves from false claims.

A number of properties along the route through Spitalfields are known to be extremely fragile. It may be that Crossrail will seek to install some protective measures in such buildings to attempt to contain the damage predicted by the tunnelling. In any event owners of historic or otherwise fragile buildings would be well advised to engage a structural engineer to accompany the Crossrail surveyors and/or engineers on their inspection to firstly, at least verify their condition survey and secondly, to review the validity of their assessment of the impact of the tunnelling on the building.

Again, as with the settlement deed, the Society is investigating whether we might not engage or promote the use of a single engineer that might represent members in this matter on a communal basis to avoid expensive repetition, ensure constancy and to engage Crossrail on a more professional and influential basis. Again, how this is to be achieved, administered and funded is currently the subject of negotiations with suitable structural engineers.