It’s great to see a large company like Veolia putting something back into the local community.  Many of the Veolia volunteers I spoke to lived locally and used the Parkland Walk, so were delighted to have been able to help improve the area.

However, even this big event only cleared a short section between Oxford Road, Upper Tollington Park and Stapleton Hall Road.  That’s why as local councillors we’ve also awarded a small £500 grant to the Friends of the Parkland Walk to help organise more volunteering sessions to try to clean up the Walk (see previous post about the small grants).  I hope this volunteering push can bring people together and really make a difference to the Walk.

The Cafe has proved hugely popular with local Stroud Green residents both as customers and volunteers.  Local people have really bought into the FoodCycle concept of reducing waste, protecting the environment and providing nutritious food.   It’s also great to see the historic Station House being used by the local community.  

The Cafe is open every Friday lunch time and serves delicious and good value vegetarian food.  Details are on the FreeCycle website.

Projects that got the go-ahead in Stroud Green were:

• £3,500 for Mind to recruit and train volunteers to help out at their centre on Stappleton Hall Road (see cafe in picture).
• £500 for the Friends of the Parkland Walk to help clean up embankments and cuttings on the Walk.
• £2,500 for Farnefields Court Residents’ Association to create a community garden (with another £2,500 of match funding levered out of Homes for Haringey).
• £3,000 for Stroud Green Residents Association for new seats for people waiting for the W5, tree planting and other improvements.
• £3,000 for Friends of Stationers Park for new community picnic benches.
• £750 for the Friends of Stroud Green Library for a new noticeboard and signs.

Well done to all these organisations for putting in bids and working so hard to improve our area.

I raised these concerns at the meeting, and Council officers have now agreed to revise the timetable, and think they could have the new CPZ extension up and running in the new roads by September.  This would mean having the final statutory consultation in April/May, and if no big issues are raised during the consultation, the signs and road markings could be put in place during August.  Obviously this still leaves a long gap – but its great news that we’ve been able to reduce it by 2 months.

However, on the hours of the CPZ officers continue to believe that 12pm – 2pm is the best slot, as this fits in-between other CPZs (the Crouch End ones are 10am-12pm and 2pm-4pm) and will make it easy to patrol.  They aren’t convinced that people moving their cars between CPZs will be a big problem as this hasn’t happened in noticeable numbers in other areas.

I also raised a whole range of other issues, such as the need for visitor parking and loading bays for our local shopping parades, the Stroud Green Library and the two churches on Stapleton Hall Road.  I’ll keep scrutinising their proposals as they are developed – so please contact me if you have any concerns.

If the expansion goes ahead as expected the following roads will now be added in to the Finsbury Park CPZ:

• The whole of Addington, Albany, Elyne, Quernmore and Ridge Roads
• The rest of Stapleton Hall Road, Mount View Road and Oakfield Roads (which are currently only half in the CPZ)
• The remaining part of Ferme Park Road (south of Ridge Road) – with the road north of Ridge Road going into the Crouch End CPZ.

Apparently 69% of respondents wanted parking controls for the minimum 2 hours a day.  The Council are suggesting 12 noon to 2pm – but at the meeting this week some residents wanted different hours, so the officers are going to look at this.  The Council will now draw up detailed proposals showing where all the parking bays will be – and there will have to be a short ’statutory consultation’ on the final plans.  With this further work, the Council have said it will take until November for the new extension to be implemented, which means residents will have to suffer several more months of parking difficulties.

The consultation inside the existing CPZ seems to have got more mixed results, with an almost 50/50 split on whether the hours should be reduced or not.  But the Council are proposing to create  a small inner zone near the tube station to try to deal with particular problems in Woodstock, Perth, Ennis and Oxford Roads.  I’ve asked officers for an urgent meeting to look at the detailed results – to make sure they are fairly representing the views expressed.

During 2009 Ed Butcher and I surveyed several hundred people about whether they wanted the CPZ (see picture) and got a very similar result.  Its a shame its taken the Council well over a year to catch up – but this is a big victory for those residents who have been pushing for a CPZ for all these years.

This new application follows a very similar previous application last summer, which was rejected by the Council following scores of objections from local residents and from me.   The planning officers agreed with us that local gardens should be protected, and that the development was too large and intrusive for such a tiny site, and would damage residents’ enjoyment of their gardens (see previous post).

However, these new plans try to get round these objections by sinking the house into a hole to reduce its relative height.   Today, I’ve sent in an objection to the Council, arguing that the proposal is still unacceptable, because of the loss of garden space and because the proposal is still to large, tall and close to the boundary of people’s gardens.  The Council’s reasons for refusing the first application still stand for this second one and I hope that officers will reject these plans again.

To have your say, please comment on the application on the Council’s website.

As I posted back in October the café has opened by innovative charity ‘FoodCycle’ who aim to bring together volunteers, surplus food from local supermarkets and idle kitchen space to create cheap and nutritious food (More details on the FoodCycle website).  The launch was supported by local councillors through a small start-up grant from the ‘Making the difference’ programme.

I’ve had lots of reports from many different people that the café is a big hit with local residents and has been attracting a good number of customers.  I hope this success means it will be able to eventually extend its opening hours so that more people can access it.

The café has now closed for Christmas and will re-open on Friday 7th January.

This consultation is something Katherine, Ed and I have been pushing hard for – after we did a survey of residents which indicated many people in this area were now in favour of a CPZ.  I’ve helped the Council to recruit volunteers for focus group of local residents to help design the consultation questions, which was a very successful event.  There will be two separate consultation documents – one for people outside the CPZ asking if they would like it extended, and what hours they would like.  The other will go to everyone inside the existing CPZ asking if they would like the rules and hours of the zone changed.  Many residents are pushing for the CPZ to be divided into a smaller inner zone with long hours, and outer zones, with minimal hours.

This consultation will follow hot on the heels of the Crouch End CPZ consultation, which has been very high profile.  This consultation extended east from the centre of Crouch End as far as Ferme Park Road.  The results of this consultation will be available soon.

Roads that are north of Ridge Road and east of Ferme Park Road (Nelson, Inderwick, Mayfield, Denton, Uplands) are left out of both these consultations.  Understandably some residents here are concerned about the risk that parking pressures will soar if the CPZ boundary moves closer.  I’ve asked the Council how quickly a new consultation could be organised in these roads if residents demand it – and have been told that it could be possible in the 2011/12 financial year.

A further complication is that the Council are about to start a review of the costs of resident and visitor parking permits.  I’ve been told that proposals will go to the November cabinet.  I’ve written to the Labour cabinet member in charge of parking saying that a hike in charges will only heighten cynicism about the councils motives in extending CPZs, and should be avoided.  Parking controls should be there to help residents, not as backhand source of revenue for the Council – and we will scrutinise any proposals on charges to make sure they are fair.

The initiative has been supported by local councillors through a small grant from the Making the Difference programme.  The aim is to stop food being wasted and to provide cheap and healthy food to whoever wants it.  I visited the manager last week to find out about the preparations and how it works.  They work with local food retailers including Budgens, M&S and Sainsbury’s. They collect their surplus produce and use it to provide hearty meals that are prepared and served by local volunteers who themselves gain valuable training and practical experience.  They also plan to hold healthy eating initiatives at the café, such as nutrition workshops and cooking lessons, providing local people with better knowledge about eating well.  I suggested they also promote the history of the building they are in and the parkland walk nearby – which were central to the development of Stroud Green.

The café will be open 12 noon till 2.30pm every Friday.  Please try it out.

The planning department’s judgement is on the Council’s website and it is clear that the 41 objections and the petition did make an impact.  I’m pleased to see the points from my objection and from the Stroud Green Residents Association were included in the report – it shows that determined local action can make a difference.

As the department’s report says, allowing this development would have set a precedent across the Borough that would have allowed garden areas to be broken up and developed.  So these objectors in one corner of Stroud Green have helped to protect gardens across Haringey – Well done!