Richard Wilson » phone cabinets

Walkabout secures action on street nuisances

Richard — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 15:19:33 +0000

Today I did a walkabout with Stroud Green’s new ’street enforcement officer’, which was originally planned for earlier in the month, but delayed due to the snow. It was a great opportunity to find out what progress he has already made and to point out some of the many problem issues that residents have raised with me over the last few years.

The officer had already sorted out one issue I’d raised with him, which was the builders at a house on Mount View Road who had spread all over the pavement, forcing pedestrians out into the road. Enforcement action was taken a few days ago, and when we visited today the site was immaculate.

One favourite issue of mine which I also raised was the very many phone cabinets with missing doors in the ward. I showed him a cabinet in Denton Road that I’d alerted the Council to in August (see summery picture) - but which still isn’t fixed. The enforcement officer agreed to take action with Virgin Media – who appear to be the villain in not maintaining their street furniture very well.

One area we spent alot of time talking about was the Ferme Park Road shops, where residents and shopkeepers are unhappy about rubbish bags sitting around in big piles waiting to be collected by the Council’s binmen Enterprise. This will be a tricky issue to solve due to the contract with Enterprise which apparently allows them to collect the rubbish whenever they like rather than at set times.

Haringey Lib Dems have long campaigned for officers to be based out in the wards, so they really get to understand and take responsibility for their patch. From what I saw and heard on this walkabout, this strategy should work with this new local officer.

Further outbreak of missing doors

Richard — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 21:50:11 +0000

My post last month ‘what happens to all the missing doors?’, on the amount of phone cabinets on our streets with missing doors, generated lots of comments. Councillors from as far away as Tottenham and Lewisham commented to say its also a problem in their area. According to the comments, the doors and cables inside are often stolen – and sometimes the doors are removed after they break and wont shut.

Today I reported these further missing phone cabinet doors on Albany Road near the junction with Mount View Road. I don’t know if you can tell from the photo, but the wires and gadgets inside are all shiny and brand new – so it seems strange that the phone or cable company would just leave it like this.

It all still seems a bit of mystery to me how these doors keep disappearing. Nobody ever seems to see it happen.

What happens to all the missing doors?

Richard — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 21:52:17 +0000

I’ve recently been reporting a number of telephone exchange cupboards with missing doors (see picture). Not only are they pretty ugly without the doors but it leaves all the wires exposed and presumably vulnerable to damage.

This prompts the question as to why do the doors go missing in the first place? One suggestion is that people could be stealing the doors to sell as scrap metal. This seems ridiculous – but you do read about high metal prices causing these kinds of thefts.

This box on Ossian Road near Ferme Park Road was fixed a few days ago after I reported it to Haringey Council. I’ve also reported another one in Denton Road. If you spot any please contact me and I’ll try to get them sorted. Also- please contact me if you have a better explanation as to why they go missing.