Richard Wilson

One of our local newspapers has written an article saying that Chettle Court in Ridge Road will be the furthest point in Haringey from an A&E, if the Whittington closes.   According to the Hornsey Journal the journey to an A&E from Ridge Road will double from 2 miles to 4 miles, and they have interviewed a range of Chettle Court residents to get their views.

This news should strengthen Stroud Green residents resolve to fight these A&E cuts.  At Monday’s Full Council meeting we made the Whittington A&E the topic of our opposition business.  We argued for decision-making in the NHS to be more open, democratic and accountable, as it is completely unclear to local residents who is making these proposals to close our A&E.

Later on in the meeting I managed to speak on the Whittington and challenged the Labour councillors who say they are against the cut to put that message to the Labour Health Ministers who are ultimately responsible.  Our local Labour politicians are in a difficult situation on this – they try to take the credit for any good news stories about the NHS (such as the new health centre on the Hornsey Hospital site), but say its nothing to do with them when cuts are proposed.  They can’t have it both ways.  Residents in places like Chettle Court deserve better.

After the chaos caused by the snow before Christmas, local activist Katherine Reece and I thought we would check to make sure the grit bins in Stroud Green are full. The bins allow local residents to grit the pavements clear near their home if they wish, and are usually provided in hilly areas.  Our steep streets can be treacherous when icy, and I know many local older people feel trapped in their homes when the pavements aren’t gritted.

Therefore, we were surprised to find the bins at the top of Inderwick Road and Mayfield Road (both at the Ridge Road end) were empty apart from some litter.  We immediately contacted the Council yesterday to ask them to urgently refill it.   I know that the bins at Chettle Court on Ridge Road were empty a few days ago too, and residents were having to keep asking for them to be refilled.

The Council is supposed to check and refill the bins regularly over winter – but it appears this hasn’t been happening.  Obviously main roads have to be a first priority, but the Council can’t ignore entirely the need to keep pavements in residential areas clear and safe.   And it makes sense to give residents the opportunity to do their bit.

Its not very often that residents contact you asking for the Council not to repair something, but that is what happened this week with the smashed wall at the end of Ridge Road.  The wall is outside Chettle Court, at the entrance to the little row of houses called Highbank Way.

The wall is regularly knocked down by cars reversing and turning, and residents are fed up with seeing money wasted endlessly repairing it.  This picture is of me by the wall in August  last time it was damaged.  Since then it has been repaired and now knocked down again.

Residents are also annoyed, because it attracts groups of young people who sit on it – and sometimes it is used as a bench by people drinking alcohol in the street.  In my picture you can see there is a beer bottle sitting on the broken wall.

Therefore, I’ve backed residents calls that the Council’s housing organisation Homes for Haringey (which owns the wall) just removes it completely. Hopefully this will improve the local area and save some public money to be spent on more useful things.

This week Laura Edge and I met with Council officers to discuss a plan to bring the Chettle Court Community Centre back into use – after decades of being left empty.   The community centre is very large (2 floors) and was build to a high standard with a kitchen and disabled toilets, so it is outrageous the Council have squandered this resource for so long.  Laura and I and the Chettle Court residents have made this point to the Council hundreds of times.

However, the Council have now got their act together and have developed a plan to make the community centre a second base for the Stroud Green Children’s Centre.  This makes good sense as the Children’s Centre’s main base is at the opposite end of the ward at Stroud Green School – and the community centre appears to have been designed for small children.

However, in typical Haringey fashion the Children’s Service have neglected to mention this plan to anyone in Chettle Court or to local councillors.  Laura and I had to ask for a meeting after the news appeared in Haringey People.

Whilst everyone supports the centre re-opening, local residents rightly have a whole host of questions:  Where will the entrance to the children’s centre be?  How will security of the block be maintained with parents from allover the ward coming in and out?  Will residents be able to hire the hall – as they used to be able to?

I think this could be great opportunity to develop a really excellent community centre and children’s services that will benefit Stroud Green and Chettle Court.  But Haringey Council need to start talking to local residents!

Details of London Concrete’s plans for a concrete factory on Cranford Way (behind Uplands Road and Chettle Court) went to the Planning Committee this week.   The application to build the factory was originally rejected by the Committee following a huge campaign by residents (backed by Laura, Ed and I) - but the Government’s planning inspector overuled local councillors at an appeal hearing.

However, the inspector did put 44 conditions on the development (many relating to dust and noise)  and on Tuesday the Committee looked at London Concrete’s proposals for meeting these conditions.    Some of the detail is good – the conveyor belt and the lorry loading areas will now be fully enclosed, which should reduce some of the noise and dust impact.  However, some aspects are inadequate, such as the boundary only being surrounded by a chain fence, which will do nothing to contain dust or noise. 

My colleague Cllr Ed Butcher addressed the committee to complain about this and other problems with the proposals.   As usual he was very forceful in standing up for residents concerns, but the committee had its hands tied by the inspector and could do little to change the proposals.  My only minor success was to get a commitment from council officers to look at the safety of the junction of Cranford Way on to Tottenham Lane, because of concerns about the concrete lorries crossing this busy walking route for local commuters to Hornsey Station.  The Committee also pressed the developers to ensure there was a clear phone number for locals to complain to about any problems at the site.

Obviously building a concrete factory in a densely populated area like Stroud Green is insane, and nobody wants to see this go ahead.  But despite the lack of democracy in our planning system, Ed, Laura and I are trying to reduce the impact of the development.

EDF Energy has agreed to put a roof on the electricity substation at Chettle Court on Ridge Road after a seven year old boy climbed in to the site to fetch a football. I asked Homes for Haringey (who manage the Chettle Court housing estate) to urgently make the site safe after the boy’s mother told me about the incident in August, and I’m really pleased that as a result EDF have now said they will take action.

The substation has no roof and is next to an area where children play football. Residents had planted prickly bushes around the walls to discourage children from climbing in – but they said these were ripped out by Haringey Council some years ago. Not only did the child risk electrocution by climbing in, but he could have been trapped – as the substation is like a pit, it is much harder to climb in than out.

It was only because of the Chettle Court Residents Association that I found out about this incident – it goes to show how residents associations can have an impact in making their area safer.