Richard Wilson

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.

One of my very first posts was to announce that the Council had agreed to replant the very overgrown plant beds on the corner of Upper Tollington Park and Oakfield Road.  This neglected corner of Stroud Green Ward was looking a mess – so I asked for some leftover ‘neighbourhood’ money to be used for a clean up.

A couple of weeks ago I got a call from an officer from the Parks Department saying that the work was going to start soon.   At the weekend I checked out what was happening, and as you can see its already looking a load better and they haven’t even planted anything yet.  The plant beds are much bigger than I thought and the area feels quite spacious now.  I’ll try to take another photo when its finished.

This must be the third or fourth overgrown area that Ed, Laura or I have managed to rescue from Council neglect.  If you know of any other grot spots that need action please contact us.

A resident recently complained to me about the state of the raised flowerbeds on the junction of Oakfield Road and Upper Tollington Park, which are very overgrown. Rubbish often gets caught up in them I agree that they are a bit of an eyesore.

The flowerbeds on Stapleton Hall Road by the launderette were in a similar state until a few years ago – but we got the Council to completely replant them using money from the local area assembly budget.

I’ve asked Council officers to look into doing the same for these beds as well – and the initial response is positive. If you have any views on how you’d like this area improved then please contact me.