Richard Wilson

Since I started highlighting the lack of grit bins in Stroud Green, I’ve had a dozen requests from local residents to get a bin installed in their road.  In fact, residents of Woodstock Road and Denton Road pointed out that their roads used to have a grit bin but the Council took it away a few years ago.

As a result I’ve sent in a request to the new Cabinet Member for the Environment Cllr John Bevan, asking for grit bins to be installed in the following six roads:

• Albany Road
• Oakfield Road (between Stapleton Hall Road and Ridge Road)
• Denton Road
• Uplands Road
• Woodstock Road (near Stroud Green Primary School)
• Mount Pleasant Crescent

At this week’s Full Council meeting I had planned to raise the lack of grit bins and a number of other ways I thought Haringey could improve its preparedness for snow and ice.  Cllr Lyn Weber and I had put down a motion calling for the Council to hold a formal review to find out resident’s experiences and learn lessons.

However, in one of the most childish displays I have ever seen from a grown adult, Council Leader Claire Kober deliberately talked nonsense for half an hour to stop our motion being reached.   Its shocking that the Leader of a Council that is rated the worst in London thinks this is an acceptable way to behave, and presumably doesn’t think the Council has anything to learn from residents’ experiences of the recent snow and ice.

I was out and about in the ward at the weekend and was really pleased to see that the grit bins that I had complained about (see previous post) had been filled, and that some residents had made use of the grit on their pavements and front paths.  I’ve also sent people who live near the grit bins on Mayfield and Inderwick Road a letter with the number to call to get the Council to refill the bin next time its empty.

However, it struck me how few of the hill roads in Stroud Green have a grit bin at all.  I couldn’t see one at all on Uplands, Denton, Albany or Oakfield Roads, and these are all quite steep and difficult when its icy.   So please contact me if you think your road needs a grit bin, and you and your neighbours would make use of it.  The Council’s website says that “suggestions for new sites are welcome”, so in theory this shouldn’t be difficult to sort out.

I also think the Council should do more to make residents aware of grit bins.  I suspect many people don’t know what the yellow boxes are for or are not sure if the public are supposed to make use of them (which they are).  Recently a Stroud Green resident emailed me a link to this website that promotes the use of ‘disused’ grit bins for community recycling.  Most of the ‘disused’ bins are in Haringey – so it seems some enterprising residents are using the bins for other purposes (probably because the Council doesn’t actually put grit in them very often).

Details of London Concrete’s plans for a concrete factory on Cranford Way (behind Uplands Road and Chettle Court) went to the Planning Committee this week.   The application to build the factory was originally rejected by the Committee following a huge campaign by residents (backed by Laura, Ed and I) - but the Government’s planning inspector overuled local councillors at an appeal hearing.

However, the inspector did put 44 conditions on the development (many relating to dust and noise)  and on Tuesday the Committee looked at London Concrete’s proposals for meeting these conditions.    Some of the detail is good – the conveyor belt and the lorry loading areas will now be fully enclosed, which should reduce some of the noise and dust impact.  However, some aspects are inadequate, such as the boundary only being surrounded by a chain fence, which will do nothing to contain dust or noise. 

My colleague Cllr Ed Butcher addressed the committee to complain about this and other problems with the proposals.   As usual he was very forceful in standing up for residents concerns, but the committee had its hands tied by the inspector and could do little to change the proposals.  My only minor success was to get a commitment from council officers to look at the safety of the junction of Cranford Way on to Tottenham Lane, because of concerns about the concrete lorries crossing this busy walking route for local commuters to Hornsey Station.  The Committee also pressed the developers to ensure there was a clear phone number for locals to complain to about any problems at the site.

Obviously building a concrete factory in a densely populated area like Stroud Green is insane, and nobody wants to see this go ahead.  But despite the lack of democracy in our planning system, Ed, Laura and I are trying to reduce the impact of the development.