Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Haringey Council Grossly Negligent?
1: Rubbish collection on residential roads at 6:30am on a weekend morning.
2: The state of WoodGreen highstreeet. If Kensignton can stop any further estate agents, then why can't the same be done here for betting shops and pound shops?!
3: The state of the shops/area around Turnpike Lane station, it is always filthy and disgusting. It is also glaringly obvious that some of the shops near the station are just a front for drugs considering the number of people going in and buying drugs!
Anyone have any ideas of what we can do to get them to pay attention?
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by John D on
-
The state of the area round Turnpike Lane station.
At the police/residents' meeting last year, David Lammy said he has a vision for that area.
He just didn't tell us what that vision is.
Meaningless hot air? Surely not
-
Permalink Reply by Sofia on
-
Exactly, "visions" are great, but I haven't heard a peep about the area since that meeting!
-
-
the Council has a responsibility to all residents, regardless of their financial status. What has been the response to your requests to local councillors regarding what shops are in Wood Green? If you have witnessed illegal drug dealing you should inform the police as it is a matter for them.
-
Permalink Reply by Maddy on
-
Perhaps they could buy Boris's redundant water cannons and adapt them for street cleansing
And I agree on rubbish bins - when they 'improved' GL they removed the one nearest our local bus stop, so there is now constant litter on the ground.
-
-
Important to keep in mind Govt cuts to Haringey Council of £170 million in the past 5 years and £70 million over the next three. Enfield has endured cuts of 50% of its budget since 2010. Of course Haringey does itself no favours by acting in a dictatorial fashion, attempting social cleansing and cosying up to property developers. The Haringey App is very useful in reporting street cleaning. When I lived near Turnpike Lane station I was able to get the street rota changed to ensure the bins around the station were emptied more regularly. If you feel the Council is being unresponsive do contact your local councillors...thats what they are there for!
-
-
I've often bemoaned the state of wood green / tpl high street but then I realised that much more often then not I'll jump in a car / train and go to brent cross or cental London instead of shopping locally.
My 'idea' for what we can do (and I appreciate that you may already be doing this) would be to commit to shopping locally for as much as possible. It's all very well complaining about pound shops but unless we're all working to make more interesting shops viable then I for one don't feel like I have much right to complain.
As an aside, what would your solution be to the high street being full of empty / abandoned shops if there weren't any £ stores?
-
-
You make a good point re boosting local shops.
My idea would be to have the same approach Islington Council had in Tufnell Park. Classify it as an area of regeneration, drop the rates and rents for independent local businesses to start up and create a high street full of useful, clean, hygenic shops.
-
-
What is ‘useful’ for you may not be for many other people. Tottenham has many 'useful' shops that serve the local residenst and alos people who come here too!
However, many shop owners need to take responsibility for their contributing to making the place look like a ‘deprived area’! And maybe residents need to get that message clearly across to them!
Examples:
Ozdiller Supermarket (467-469 high Rd N17) on Bruce Grove High Rd - this place got grant funding some years ago to replace a hideous shop front with an attractive new sign and retractable canvas awning in keeping with Council policy guidelines governing shop fronts . This is more important especially since the shop is in the Bruce Grove conservation area . When the canvas awning got damaged because it was not retracted in windy weather, the owner replaced it with an extremely hideous and out of place metallic awning. This is now subject to enforcement action which has been appealed based on ridiculously spurious grounds. I will not use this shop! The area is being dragged down by the operators of Ozdiller!
Bucky’s News (corner of High Rd and Forster Rd N17) - This small quaint building which is locally listed, was just so ugly because it was plastered with inappropriate stuff up until 2015 when a GLA funded, council-led scheme, using You and Me Architects, was undertaken to declutter the shop front and transform it into an attractive asset for our High Rd . The owner recently allowed Money Gram and Ria Money Tranfers to affix promotional stickers all over the scheme (see attached photo) and has started the cycle of ‘visual-clutter-rot’ all over again! The area is being dragged down by the owner of Bucky’s News!
Expa Supermarket (143-145 Philip Lane N15) - this well-stocked and popular, local grocery store replaced the closed Botany Bay pub which in turn had replaced the fabulous Greyhound pub. It had loads of original features before the shop owner ripped them out to replace them with hideous plastic signage and an unsympathetic ‘rustic’ awning, despite the conservation area location of the building and a refused planning application. This was all taken through the planning process and enforcement action is ongoing after the shop owner lost his appeal. You can see that he has completed and is continuing with some restorative works but he is dragging this on and on and on when it comes to the shop front! And the building will never regain its prestige. The area has been ‘dragged down’ by the owner of Expa!These are but a few illustrations. Unfortunately, I can provide quite a few similar cases. East Haringey is NOT Islington! It ain't even Hackney! You can see the visible contrast in standards at any borough border street!
The council has an ongoing fight on its hands. Haringey council was very lax in times when resources were available, with many landlords knowing that Haringey was an ‘easy touch’ for planning matters. The council is continuously cutting staff. Now that resources are severely rationed and e.g social services come before architectural heritage, the situation will be even more challenging.
The council has also decided to tackle the issue by adopting 'aggressive' regeneration strategies to change the demographic make up of the areas concerned. It is all very disheartening and you can understand why some people pick up sticks and move because this process has been years in the making. Sigh....! - Attachments:
-
-
Bucky'sNews2.jpg, 296 KB
-
-
-
I live 2 min away from Expa but avoid it like the plague as I found the staff very unpleasant, bordering arrogance (so I am not surprised to read about the owner's breach of planning refusal mentioned above). It could not be more of a contrast with the corner shop right opposite where the staff is so kind and polite that we make on the contrary every effort to support the owners by buying most of our shopping from there.
© 2024 Created by Hugh.
Powered by
