Richard Wilson

I got back from holiday recently to discover that the Stationers Park children’s playfort has been badly vandalised – and twice set on fire.  I took a look on Sunday (see picture) and have contacted the Council to demand an urgent meeting with the Head of Parks to find out what is going to be done to improve security – and to repair or replace the fort.

Its terrible that this popular play feature has been ruined during the middle of the summer holidays.  When I visited the park was full of local kids and families.  Local residents are rightly very angry and the Hornsey Journal has run the story on its front page.

But what makes me even angrier is the complacency of the Council.  Local residents have been warning Haringey for months that their decision to scrap the Parks Police has left the green space vulnerable once the local Safer Neighbourhood police team finish their shift.   I’ve had numerous complaints about the Council and police not taking action when kids break into the park at night, causing disturbance and noise for residents of Mayfield Road and Denton Road.

Yet with all these problems to sort out Haringey decides to hold a self-congratulatory ‘green flag’ ceremony in the park this week.

After years of lobbying, the Council have finally written to confirm that Denton Road will be resurfaced next month.  This is long overdue as the road surface has been disintegrating for years, making it increasingly dangerous – particularly for cyclists.  I’ve written to the Council several times since I was elected asking for action on Denton and other substandard roads.

According to the Council letter the works will last from the 6th till the 8th July and will involve the full closure of the road.  Residents will be asked to move their vehicles away – or face having them towed to nearby roads (given the short notice the Council gives residents this is bound to cause problems for residents who are on holiday).  I’ve contacted the Council to ask them to confirm they have told London Buses about the plans so that W5 passengers can be warned about diversions.

Its great news that the Council are at last taking action.  However, the Council’s continued underinvestment in roads means that they are actually deteriorating faster than they are being repaired.  Last year the percentage of minor roads in Haringey that were officially substandard increased to 10%.  I challenged the Labour councillor in charge of roads about this at the last council cabinet meeting (16th June) - but just got a waffley response about road repairs being ‘cyclical’.

Everything seemed to have gone a bit quiet on the Streetcar front – so I asked the Council for an update.  The consultation on the sites for cars ended at the beginning of February (see my previous post: Streetcar comes to Stroud Green – at last).

I got an update from officers a few days ago.  The good news is that the Council has listened to the many residents that suggested moving the proposed bay for 2 cars from Stapleton Hall Road to the Oakfield Road bridge.

The bad news for those keen to use the car club is that the Council won’t even start consulting on the alternative Oakfield Road site for months yet.   This means that only the Denton Road and Victoria Road bays will be installed this year – cutting by a third the number of cars that will be available in Stroud Green ward.   The Denton and Victoria cars should be in place from mid June.

As a result of the Council’s slowness it could be another year before we have Streetcar bay in the centre of the ward – if the Oakfield Road site is approved.   But the reason for this delay may be economic:  Across the Borough about half the proposed Streetcar sites have been dropped - allegedly because the recession has hit car club use.

I’m really pleased that after years’ of nagging by some of my council colleagues, Haringey has at last agreed to let a car club to operate in the Borough.  Car clubs are a great alternative to car ownership, especially in an area like Stroud Green where there are pretty good public transport links.  In the long term they might reduce our acute parking problems.

Boroughs like Islington and Camden have had them for years.  In fact. my colleague Ed Butcher is a user of Streetcar already, because he lives so close to the border with Islington.  You can find out more about how they work at the Streetcar website.

The council are proposing to allow 6 cars to be parked in pairs at 3 sites in the ward.  They are:

• Denton Road, by the junction with Weston Park
• Stapleton Hall Road, by the junction with Quernmore Road
• Victoria Road, by the junction with Stapleton Hall Road

A number of residents have suggested that the Stapleton Hall Road site is not good due to the heavy parking pressures – and that the Oakfield Road bridge would be a better site as it is just inside the CPZ.  I have relayed that suggestion to the Council.

If you have any views on any of these locations then please contact me, or email the Council directly at  consultation {at} haringey.gov(.)uk before the consultation ends on 5 February.