Richard Wilson

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!

First Capital Connect are planning to cut the hours the ticket office is open at Harringay Station by more than half.  They plan to close the office completely on Saturday and almost 4 hours earlier on weekdays.  The detailed proposals are on the London Travelwatch website.  They plan similar cuts to most other local stations as well - including Hornsey Station.

Our local MP Lynne Featherstone has already launched a campaign against the cuts with a video at nearby Alexandra Palace Station.  I agree with her that reducing the hours that stations are staffed will make them feel less safe, and of course it make it harder to get tickets.  Crime has been a concern at Harringay Station and my colleague Cllr Laura Edge has succesfully pushed for CCTV at the Quernmore Road entrance.

My colleague Cllr Laura Edge at Harringay Station when she was campaigning succesfully for CCTV at the Qurenmore Road entrance

I think we should be trying to increase staffing at stations to encourage more people to use public transport (though that doesn’t necessarily mean staff stuck behind glass screens in offices – but out on the platforms helping passengers!).  I believe this is what is happening at stations that have been taken over by ’London Overground’, so this First Capital Connect proposal seems very retrograde.

I’ve contacted Passenger Focus and London Travelwatch whose job it is to listen to and act on passengers’ complaints – urging them to stop these cuts.  The consultation ends on 3rd February so if you want to have your say then send your email to enquiries {at} londontravelwatch.org(.)uk as soon as possible.  Please also copy your email to Lynne at lynne {at} lynnefeatherstone(.)org so she is aware of how many people are supporting the campaign.

Apparently, Passenger Focus and London Travelwatch have recently been successful in stopping similar ticket office cuts by South West Trains - so this is definitely a battle worth fighting!

My colleagues Ed Butcher and Laura Edge have discovered that Haringey Council has left two properties it owns vacant on Stroud Green Road for several years. They have written to the Leader of the Council asking him to take action to bring these back into use.

One of the properties is the former ‘dash’ drug treatment centre at 80 Stroud Green Road which has been empty for over the year (pictured). The other is shop 20 under Charter Court, which has been empty for several years.

I agree with Ed and Laura that if the Council can’t find commercial tenants they should be looking for community uses for the shops. One idea is that the Stroud Green Safer Neighbourhoods Team could relocate here from the current base outside the ward on the other side of Crouch End Broadway.

But worst of all by leaving the properties empty the Council is helping to make Stroud Green Road look run down and feel less safe – when it should be helping to improve the area.