Richard Wilson

Yesterday, I helped out on the Parkland Walk clearing undergrowth before it blocks the path, and building a ‘loggery’ to attract the bugs and insects that are vital to any nature area.  Should you wish, you can see my ‘handy-work’ just inside the Upper Tollington Park entrance to the Walk.  It was great fun and really well supervised by volunteering charity BTCV, who made sure that even gardening novices like myself knew what they were doing.

Halfway through the morning we were joined by some teenagers doing ‘community payback’ who really threw themselves into the task and were really hard working and keen.  This was great to see, particularly as I’ve had complaints from magistrates that there aren’t enough community payback activities organised by Haringey.

I’ve had lots of residents say they would have loved to have joined in, but they weren’t free this weekend.  So I’ll see what can be done to encourage more of these sessions to be set up – and for them to be better publicised to local residents in advance.  There is such huge support for the Parkland Walk locally I’m sure volunteers can play a big role in making sure it is maintained.

My colleague Ed Butcher has been lobbying the Council to do a clean up blitz on Stroud Green Road and the surrounding area for a good while.  The pavements have got very grubby and there has been lots of complaints of fly-tipping on the side roads.  Thanks to this lobbying, and the work of our local Neighbourhood Manager, there will be a programme of activity to clean up the area – and to get volunteers helping out on the nearby Parkland Walk nature area.

This Saturday (13th) residents are being urged to help out with conservation work tidying up the Parkland Walk (the green walk along the disused railway line).  The meeting point is the Upper Tollington Park entrance to the Walk at 10am , and the work to trim back vegetation and create a ‘loggery’ for ‘mini beasts’ will be supervised by conservation officers.  The work runs to 1pm and volunteers may be rewarded with a spot of lunch!

On Saturday morning (10am – 12 noon) there will also be a skip on Albert Road to help encourage residents to properly dispose of any bulky refuse (though unfortunately they can’t accept white goods or electrical items – call 020 8885 7700 to get these items collected).   I particularly pressed for Albert Road to be targeted as flt-tipping at the bottom of the road near Stroud Green Road is a persistent problem that I have raised numerous times.

There will be further cleaning activities during the week, including a dog fouling patrol, and a deep clean of the grubby pavements on Stroud Green Road.  Ed, Katherine and I will be taking part in activities so please join us and help out.

I’m really pleased that, for once, Haringey and Islington Councils are working together to tackle the problems in teh Stroud Green Road area – with help from other local organisations like FinFuture and the Haringey Peace Alliance.  This attention is long overdue – and the challenge will be to keep up the cleaning once all the focus of the ‘Clean Sweep’ is over.

When Ed, Laura and I got elected in 2006 one of our big campaign pledges was to improve the safety at the Oxford Road entrance to the Parkland Walk with CCTV cameras.  The area, which is next to the footbridge over the railway to Finsbury Park, was a well known problem area and was being used as a safe escape route by burglars and muggers.   The CCTV was quickly installed thanks to the support of the local neighbourhood police team.

However, we still get complaints from residents and walkers about prostitutes and drug users sometimes using the site.  Every so often an unlucky walker will stumble upon an unsavoury scene or find a pile of discarded needles.

My colleague Ed Butcher has been on the case speaking to the Council and the Police.   The problem seems to be that the bushes have grown up too much and are obscuring the camera’s view and providing hiding places.   The good news is that Ed has secured agreement for some sensitive pruning and landscaping to the area, which the police think will make a difference. 

This should help cut the risk of stumbling on a scene you’d expect in a gritty US cop show – not on a ramble down a local nature trail.

Over 8 weeks since it was installed on the Parkland Walk, the dog waste bin I mentioned in last weekend’s post still hasn’t been emptied.  And its now 4 weeks since I first started contacting the Council to alert them of the problem.  Its outrageous that Haringey Council is so slow to act.

The bin is at the entrance to the Walk by the junction of Lancaster Road and Stapleton Hall Road – so hold your nose if your strolling by in this lovely weather.

I’ll keep hassling the Council to do their job properly.  Lets hope they aren’t going for some kind of record for how long they can ignore a full bin.

One of things that happens when you become a councillor is people start emailing you pictures of rubbish.  A fortnight ago I was contacted by a resident of Florence Road who was very pleased that the Council have installed new bins on the Parkland Walk, but was annoyed that they weren’t getting emptied.  He sent me pictures of the resulting mess:  a lovely nature reserve blighted by an overflowing rubbish bin and a revolting dog mess bin. 

However, a week later there was still no response from the Council to my request to clean the bins up, and the resident was back in touch with even worse pictures (see above).  Outraged at the blight on the Walk (a disused railway line turned much-loved nature walk) the resident set me a challenge of getting the bins cleared before the busy bank holiday weekend.

Unfortunately, I can only report a partial success.  A parks officer has now added the bins to the collection rota and so they should start being emptied regularly.   But as of Friday, the dog waste bin was still full, which isn’t a pleasant thought given how hot its been this weekend.

Its a shame that even when Haringey Council tries to do the right thing it invariable gets it wrong.  And its very annoying that even when it is alerted to a simple problem with a bin it fails to get it sorted promptly.