Richard Wilson

Since I started highlighting the lack of grit bins in Stroud Green, I’ve had a dozen requests from local residents to get a bin installed in their road.  In fact, residents of Woodstock Road and Denton Road pointed out that their roads used to have a grit bin but the Council took it away a few years ago.

As a result I’ve sent in a request to the new Cabinet Member for the Environment Cllr John Bevan, asking for grit bins to be installed in the following six roads:

• Albany Road
• Oakfield Road (between Stapleton Hall Road and Ridge Road)
• Denton Road
• Uplands Road
• Woodstock Road (near Stroud Green Primary School)
• Mount Pleasant Crescent

At this week’s Full Council meeting I had planned to raise the lack of grit bins and a number of other ways I thought Haringey could improve its preparedness for snow and ice.  Cllr Lyn Weber and I had put down a motion calling for the Council to hold a formal review to find out resident’s experiences and learn lessons.

However, in one of the most childish displays I have ever seen from a grown adult, Council Leader Claire Kober deliberately talked nonsense for half an hour to stop our motion being reached.   Its shocking that the Leader of a Council that is rated the worst in London thinks this is an acceptable way to behave, and presumably doesn’t think the Council has anything to learn from residents’ experiences of the recent snow and ice.

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).

I’ve received notice from the Council that Streetcar are planning to put 3 new cars into Stroud Green.   This is excellent news as I know lots of residents are making very active use of the car club and are keen for new sites.

The proposed locations are:

• The Oakfield Road Bridge (when the current engineering works have finished)
• Nelson Road, near the junction with Ridge Road (see photo)
• Osbourne Road, near the junction with Victoria Road

The formal consultation is planned for February, but if you have any views on these locations then please get in touch and I’ll pass them on ahead of then.  I’m pleased that they have responded to resident’s suggestions of putting car club bays in the roads inside the Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ), such as the Oakfield Road bridge, rather than on the clogged roads just outside the CPZ (see previous post).

The new cars should be in place by June.

Yesterday, we presented Haringey Council will the final results of the Stroud Green Parking Survey.  We got a huge response with over 300 surveys completed either on the doorstep or online.

We started the survey because so many residents in the roads outside the existing Finsbury Park and Crouch End CPZs were contacting us to complain about parking (see post on launching the survey).  The key results were:

• 79% of residents believe that parking has got worse this year
• 61% of residents say they are now in favour of a CPZ , 32% are against a CPZ, and 7% stated no preference.
• 38% of residents say they used to be against having a CPZ but are now in favour.
• 58% of residents believe any CPZ should only operate for 2 hours .

These results demonstrate the urgent need for a proper Council consultation looking at the options for tackling parking problems.  We’ve written to the Haringey cabinet member in charge of parking demanding that he now holds this consultation - and a full review of the existing Finsbury Park CPZ.

As well as setting out residents’ views on CPZs, our letter also sets out other suggestions residents have made to reduce parking pressures, such as:

• Allowing residents who live just outside the CPZ boundary to buy permits to park inside.
• Allowing free parking on stretches of road where there are no houses, such as the Oakfield Road bridge or the covered reservoir.
• Providing dedicated van and truck parking (in appropriate places) for local residents who run vital ‘man and a van’ businesses.

The Council must listen to local residents on parking.

I was really pleased earlier this year when I was successful in getting the overgrown plant beds replanted on the corner of Upper Tollington Park and Oakfield Road (see previous post).  However, a couple a weeks ago it was struck by a vehicle and the wall around the beds was smashed.   According to a post on stroudgreen.org a large white van hit the wall and was half in the plant bed.

I contacted the Council at the time to make sure the repairs were done quickly and have not heard back yet.  However, when I walked past today I saw there were workmen putting the wall back together (see picture).   I know this wall has been hit before – so I hope this isn’t too regular an occurrence.

On 30th April I posted a photo of the cleared-up grot spot on the corner of Upper Tollington Park and Oakfield Road.  Well Laura and I checked out the progress a few days ago, and its looking even better now its finished.

The money for this clean-up came from left-over money in the local neighbourhood fund for 2008/09.  Bids are now in from residents for projects from the 2009/10 fund, and on Tuesday I attended a meeting to look at the proposals.  There are some great ideas to plant trees, install bike racks, hold community events and improve local parks.

Residents can have their say on which projects should get funded at the next Area Assembly, which is at 7.30pm on Thursday 21st May at Rokesly Junior School, Rokesley Avenue N8 8NH.  Come along if you want to find out more.

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.