Richard Wilson

I was really pleased earlier this year when I was successful in getting the overgrown plant beds replanted on the corner of Upper Tollington Park and Oakfield Road (see previous post).  However, a couple a weeks ago it was struck by a vehicle and the wall around the beds was smashed.   According to a post on stroudgreen.org a large white van hit the wall and was half in the plant bed.

I contacted the Council at the time to make sure the repairs were done quickly and have not heard back yet.  However, when I walked past today I saw there were workmen putting the wall back together (see picture).   I know this wall has been hit before – so I hope this isn’t too regular an occurrence.

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.

Well there is space for quite a lot  more it seems.  On Tuesday night I attended a meeting to decide which of the bids made to this year’s local neighbourhood budget could be progressed.  Two local residents had put in bids for trees in their street – Upper Tollington Park and Quernmore Road.

The Council’s arboriculturalist has found there is space for at least a dozen extra trees on both those roads.  This highlighted to me how badly our area has been neglected since its Victorian heyday.  Many of our local streets have empty tree pits (see picture left from Stapleton Hall Road) and many more tree pits have been tarmaced over.  Apparently, some of these tree pits can never be refilled because wires and pipes have now been placed under them.  The empty pit outside the ‘Instanbul Supermarket’ on Quernmore is an example of this.

So I am really pleased that we were able to approve a small budget for tree planting on these roads.   And our Area Assembly chair Cllr Lyn Weber (Crouch End Ward) was successful in badgering the Council to put in some central funding to plant trees in these roads as well.   With a bit of time we may be able to turn our streets back to the tree-lined avenues they once were.

On 30th April I posted a photo of the cleared-up grot spot on the corner of Upper Tollington Park and Oakfield Road.  Well Laura and I checked out the progress a few days ago, and its looking even better now its finished.

The money for this clean-up came from left-over money in the local neighbourhood fund for 2008/09.  Bids are now in from residents for projects from the 2009/10 fund, and on Tuesday I attended a meeting to look at the proposals.  There are some great ideas to plant trees, install bike racks, hold community events and improve local parks.

Residents can have their say on which projects should get funded at the next Area Assembly, which is at 7.30pm on Thursday 21st May at Rokesly Junior School, Rokesley Avenue N8 8NH.  Come along if you want to find out more.

One of my very first posts was to announce that the Council had agreed to replant the very overgrown plant beds on the corner of Upper Tollington Park and Oakfield Road.  This neglected corner of Stroud Green Ward was looking a mess – so I asked for some leftover ‘neighbourhood’ money to be used for a clean up.

A couple of weeks ago I got a call from an officer from the Parks Department saying that the work was going to start soon.   At the weekend I checked out what was happening, and as you can see its already looking a load better and they haven’t even planted anything yet.  The plant beds are much bigger than I thought and the area feels quite spacious now.  I’ll try to take another photo when its finished.

This must be the third or fourth overgrown area that Ed, Laura or I have managed to rescue from Council neglect.  If you know of any other grot spots that need action please contact us.

A resident recently complained to me about the state of the raised flowerbeds on the junction of Oakfield Road and Upper Tollington Park, which are very overgrown. Rubbish often gets caught up in them I agree that they are a bit of an eyesore.

The flowerbeds on Stapleton Hall Road by the launderette were in a similar state until a few years ago – but we got the Council to completely replant them using money from the local area assembly budget.

I’ve asked Council officers to look into doing the same for these beds as well – and the initial response is positive. If you have any views on how you’d like this area improved then please contact me.