Richard Wilson

Great news for the many local residents who want action on parking: the consultation on whether the Finsbury Park Controlled Parking Zone should be extended north is due to to start on 19 November.  The consultation will extend as far north as Ridge Road, and including all the roads inbetween that are not already in the CPZ such as Mount View, Granville, Quernmore, Ferme Park, Stapleton Hall and Oakfield Roads.

This consultation is something Katherine, Ed and I have been pushing hard for – after we did a survey of residents which indicated many people in this area were now in favour of a CPZ.  I’ve helped the Council to recruit volunteers for focus group of local residents to help design the consultation questions, which was a very successful event.  There will be two separate consultation documents – one for people outside the CPZ asking if they would like it extended, and what hours they would like.  The other will go to everyone inside the existing CPZ asking if they would like the rules and hours of the zone changed.  Many residents are pushing for the CPZ to be divided into a smaller inner zone with long hours, and outer zones, with minimal hours.

This consultation will follow hot on the heels of the Crouch End CPZ consultation, which has been very high profile.  This consultation extended east from the centre of Crouch End as far as Ferme Park Road.  The results of this consultation will be available soon.

Roads that are north of Ridge Road and east of Ferme Park Road (Nelson, Inderwick, Mayfield, Denton, Uplands) are left out of both these consultations.  Understandably some residents here are concerned about the risk that parking pressures will soar if the CPZ boundary moves closer.  I’ve asked the Council how quickly a new consultation could be organised in these roads if residents demand it – and have been told that it could be possible in the 2011/12 financial year.

A further complication is that the Council are about to start a review of the costs of resident and visitor parking permits.  I’ve been told that proposals will go to the November cabinet.  I’ve written to the Labour cabinet member in charge of parking saying that a hike in charges will only heighten cynicism about the councils motives in extending CPZs, and should be avoided.  Parking controls should be there to help residents, not as backhand source of revenue for the Council – and we will scrutinise any proposals on charges to make sure they are fair.

A few weeks ago I was contacted by a woman cyclist who spent two days in hospital with a fractured skull and broken collar bone after hitting a pothole on a local road in Stroud Green.  She was an experienced cyclist and was wearing a helmet, but was knocked unconscious after hitting a pothole under the Parkland Walk bridge on Mount Pleasant Villas.

This story has made me re-double my efforts to make our local roads safer.  Top of my list is of concerns is Inderwick Road, which is in a very steep and in a very poor state.   It is part of the London’s cycle route network and cyclists are directed towards the road by signs and cycle maps.  A large number of cyclist whizz down the steep road and I am worried that potholes could cause another serious accident.

The Council wont do a blanket inspection for potholes – but will only patch holes that are reported to them.  Earlier this month I reported nine potholes on Inderwick Road, which have now been filled, but when I walked up the road today there were more potholes that had been missed or had been created since then.  The road is covered in grit that has escaped from these holes – the Council say they have received 12 complaints about potholes in the last year and put in at least 16 pothole patches.

I’ve been lobbying Haringey to properly resurface Inderwick Road for years to make the road safer and stop these endless patching. I’ve demanded a meeting with a senior highways officer on Inderwick Road so I can put the case for sorting out the road (the pavements and lampposts need action too).  This meeting is happening in two weeks.

Like many councillors I’ve spent the last few weeks reporting all the potholes I can spot on our local roads.  Its a pretty thankless task – sometimes you think it would be easier to send in a list of all the places that don’t have potholes.  So far I’ve reported them on Granville, Inderwick, Nelson, Stapleton Hall and Mount View Roads (this photo is from Mount View).

Of course, the current rash of potholes has been caused by the snow and ice, and the Lib Dems have pressed the Council to do a special survey to identify these new holes.  However, the Council have refused to go out and find the holes themselves and instead say they will only fill them if they are reported by residents or councillors.

I think this neglectful policy is absolute madness, as it gaurantees some potholes are missed and not repaired.  The Council has a duty to keep our streets safe and potholes are incredibly dangerous for cyclists and motorcyclists.  Its not acceptable for Labour to just decide potholes are not a priority.

The long term solution is for the roads with the most potholes to be completely resurfaced.  It’s such a waste of money to keep patching-up roads where the surface is completely worn out and crumbling away.  I’ve called time and time for these roads to be resurfaced – but too often the Council refuse to act, even though it would mean saving money in the long run.

I was out and about in the ward at the weekend and was really pleased to see that the grit bins that I had complained about (see previous post) had been filled, and that some residents had made use of the grit on their pavements and front paths.  I’ve also sent people who live near the grit bins on Mayfield and Inderwick Road a letter with the number to call to get the Council to refill the bin next time its empty.

However, it struck me how few of the hill roads in Stroud Green have a grit bin at all.  I couldn’t see one at all on Uplands, Denton, Albany or Oakfield Roads, and these are all quite steep and difficult when its icy.   So please contact me if you think your road needs a grit bin, and you and your neighbours would make use of it.  The Council’s website says that “suggestions for new sites are welcome”, so in theory this shouldn’t be difficult to sort out.

I also think the Council should do more to make residents aware of grit bins.  I suspect many people don’t know what the yellow boxes are for or are not sure if the public are supposed to make use of them (which they are).  Recently a Stroud Green resident emailed me a link to this website that promotes the use of ‘disused’ grit bins for community recycling.  Most of the ‘disused’ bins are in Haringey – so it seems some enterprising residents are using the bins for other purposes (probably because the Council doesn’t actually put grit in them very often).

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.

This week I’ve been helping to deliver our local Stroud Green FOCUS leaflet, which is a great opportunity to spot problems that need sorting on local roads.  For instance, I’ve reported this graffiti at the top of Inderwick Road near the junction with Ridge Road (see picture).

Of course, you also see all the problems you’ve raised with the Council but which they’ve failed to take proper action on.  Sticking with Inderwick Road -I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve raised the appalling condition of the roads and pavements.  Bizarrely, the Council have taken half-action by replacing the pavement on one side of the street (but not the other), and re-tarmacing the northern half of the road (but leaving the southern half).  The result is to make the unrepaired sections look more obvious – its like cleaning one pane of a window but leaving the other pane dirty.

I’ll keep up the battle for the Council to finish what they’ve started on Inderwick Road.  I hope they remove more than half the graffiti.

Like many local people I today noticed the offensive and racist graffiti that has appeared on the fence round the building site to extend Hornsey Girls School.   I immediately contacted the Hornsey ward councillors (the school is just outside my ward) to see if they were aware.  They were – and have already reported it urgently to the Council.

I believe the Council are supposed to remove offensive graffiti within 24 hours, and this is pretty nasty stuff so I hope it is dealt with ASAP.  This must be pretty depressing for Inderwick Road residents as the fence has only been up a week or so, and there will be worries that this will keep happening during the long period of the building work.