Great news – the Stroud Green Road will definitely be getting Christmas lights again this year. Ed, Laura and I first started pressing for festive lights at Christmas 2006 – because we thought it was outrageous that the Stroud Green Road was missed out just because it is on the boundary of two different London boroughs. The campaign obviously caught people’s imagination because we sent this photo of me trying to redecorate the road to the local papers and it made the front page that Christmas!
Our lobbying was successful and lights went up for the first time for Christmas 2007, thanks to Islington Council stumping up the cash. However, Haringey Council refused to contribute, despite the north side of Stroud Green Road being in Haringey Borough, and we were worried that if Haringey refused to pay its way again this year the lights wouldn’t go ahead.
The latest good news is that council officers have now confirmed that Haringey will make a contribution and the lights will go ahead. It seems the local regeneration agency FinFuture helped broker a deal.
Unfortunately, I’ve also heard that the lights will only go half way up the road again (from the railway bridge to Upper Tollington Park). This is a shame as a number of people contacted me last year saying it would look much better if they went the whole length of the road up to the Old Dairy. However, with Stroud Green Road often getting ignored by Haringey, I am pleased that everyone is starting to work together – even if progress can feel slow.