Richard Wilson

As well as being the deadline for views on the W3 Bus (see previous post), this Friday is also the deadline for submitting ideas to our local neighbourhood improvement fund for 2010/11.  The way it usually works is that all the feasible ideas go to an Area Assembly meeting for residents to comment on and then local councillors make the final decision based on these views.

In previous years we’ve managed to get a few good little projects approved, such as the children’ s mural on Quernmore Road by Harringay Station and improvements opposite Tesco on Stroud Green Road (see picture of me planting a tree outside Charter Court a few years ago with local residents and representatives of the Council).

But despite the Council’s whopping £3 million ‘communications’ budget there is not enough promotion of the fund, and we don’t get enough bids in from Stroud Green residents.  So I’m trying to drum up interest by contacting individuals and by posting here.  The leaflet and application form for the “making the difference” programme 2010/11 is here.  And if you’re interested in finding out more then please attend the next local Area Assembly meeting which is tonight at 7.30pm in St Mary’s Junior School in Rectoiry Gardens – details here.

And this really could be the last chance for Making the Difference, because if the Liberal Democrats take control of Haringey in May we’re determined to replace it with a bigger and better system of devolving spending down to local neighbourhoods.  We want to give people real power over their local area and to encourage greater participation in local decisions.

At the end of December I was alerted to the fact that there had just been a public exhibition about a huge proposed new development on the Stroud Green Road.  As the image on the left shows the John Jones arts centre plan to put a large 6 storey development on their site.  They are at an informal consultation stage – the formal planning application has not yet been submitted.

The development is on the Islington side of the road, and Haringey don’t seem to have made much effort to get involved in the process.  Councillors such as myself weren’t alerted to the event - which meant I couldn’t advertise it on this website.  So I immeadiately put an email into Haringey Council asking how they were going to ensure that residents on the north side of Stroud Green Road were able to have a say.  This week (5 weeks later) I got a response just directing me to Islington Council’s website and saying no Haringey panning officers had even attended the December consultation event.

Clearly this development would have a major impact on Stroud Green.  Its great to see people wanting to invest in Stroud Green Road, but this proposed building does seem quite tall, given the height of the Victorian terraces surrounding it.  I think everyone should have their say on this development – regardless of which side of the borough boundary they live, and  I will press for wide-scale consultation when the planning application is submitted.

I’ve been contacted by a concerned resident about the murder that took place a few days ago on the Stroud Green Road.  It has been covered a bit by the BBC and apparently there was a police cordon and a very high officer presence at the weekend.  This is obviously all quite alarming for local residents, so I asked for some information from the Council’s Cabinet Member for Community Safety and have got this statement:

At 6.20am on Thursday, December 31st, police were called to an address in Stroud Green Road, Haringey, where a woman aged 40, was found unconscious.  She was taken to the Whittington Hospital where she was later pronounced dead.  Police officers from the Serious Crime Command are investigating.
 
Ms McKinley’s partner has been located and arrested; it is believed that he has admitted to the murder.
 
The victim’s four children are being cared for and supported by Haringey; all appropriate measures to ensure their future safety are being taken.

Obviously this is a terrible incident, but I think its a little reassuring for residents to have the basic facts about what’s going on.

Haringey seems to specialise in old ugly broken railings – and there are a number in Stroud Green Ward that residents regularly complain to me about.  Some, like this battered one (pictured) on Mount Pleasant Crescent by the Larrik pub, are not only ugly and broken, but are completely without purpose and should just be removed.  There is no reason to have a railing to stop people walking out onto a quiet cobbled side street.

The adjacent railings facing on to the busy Stroud Green Road / Crouch Hill junction probably are serving a purpose.  What’s interesting is you can tell which side of this junction is in Islington and which is in Haringey by the quality of the railing:  Islington have nice new black ones – Haringey old grey broken ones.

I’m trying to get eyesore ones like this removed or replaced, but there doesn’t appear to be any budget at Haringey Council for this.  I’ve emailed council officers this picture, arguing they have to take action as the railings are broken – we’ll have to see if that makes them change their mind.

But, I’d welcome suggestions for other metal eyesores to add to my list.  Where are Stroud Green’s ugliest railings?

Great news – my colleague Ed Butcher has been in contact with Islington Council and they’ve agreed for the third year in a row to pay for Christmas lights on the Stroud Green Road.  However, in worst scrooge tradition, Haringey Council is still refusing to pay its share of bringing Christmas cheer to the road (which is on the boundary of the two Boroughs). 

Ed and I launched our campaign for Christmas lights in December 2006 (see picture), and every year we press Haringey to match Islington’s generosity (for example – see last year’s post).  If Haringey joined in, I think we could get lights for the full length of the road, rather than just the Finsbury Park station end, which is what Islington usually provide.

This week, I even raised the issue with the Labour leader of Haringey at our Full Council meeting.  I asked her if she would look into the issue and find out why Haringey wasn’t supporting cross-borough projects like the Christmas lights - but got a disdainful response.  The Labour leadership really give the impression that they are not interested in projects like this – unless they are in their favoured areas.

The Council have agreed to ask a property developer to pay for repairs on a pavement that was left in a terrible state after new homes were built.  The wrecked pavement is on Mount Pleasant Crescent near the junction with Stroud Green Road and Crouch Hill (by the Larrik pub).

The houses were built a few years ago – but a local resident contacted me to complain that the Council apparently hadn’t made the builders clear up after themselves.  As the picture shows, the pavement is virtually non-existent and urgently needs rebuilding.

I contacted the Council, who initially said that nothing could be done.  But after a couple of emails and an investigation by a highways engineer, they changed their mind have agreed the developer should be presented with a repair bill.  I hope that this works, and the pavements can be rebuilt quickly.

Another resident has contacted me about the ugly old railings on this road junction – so I have another battle with the Council ahead.

One of our most visible successes of the last few years was encouraging the Council to replant the beds by the Stroud Green Road and Upper Tollington Park junction (by Nandos).  The area was looking really rundown until it was given a bit of long-overdue attention a few years ago.

However, getting Haringey to maintain these area is always a challenge.  I walked passed earlier this week and noticed the plant beds were getting really overgrown again – with weeds now spreading on to the pavement and pushing up through the gaps in the paving stones.   I’ve contacted the Council asking them to get their gardening gloves on – and to make sure this little green spot gets put back on the maintenance rota.

A resident once dubbed this area the ‘Stroud Green Piazza’ – a nickname which has stuck with Ed, Laura and me.   This is the centre of the shopping and restaurant area on the Stroud Green Road and our Labour-run Council needs to give it greater priority than it currently does.