Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Significant Changes Proposed for Harringay in Local Boundaries Review - HAVE YOUR SAY
The Local Government Boundaries Commission (LGBC) has proposed significant changes to the ward boundaries for Harringay.
Currently parts of Harringay are contained within three wards, Harringay, St Ann's and Seven Sisters.
The polling districts map included in Haringey's submission. Harringay Ward is comprised of the 4 'HA' dsitricts, St Anns, of the 4 'ST' ones and Seven Sisters of the 'SS' ones. The full map is online here.
The recently tabled proposals would see the number of Harringay wards reduced by one. Two completely new wards would be created, dividing Harringay into North and south with some non-Harringay adjuncts on the eastern borders. The precise location of the north south divide is unclear at the moment. According to the map in the report (attached below), it would be along the garden fence line between Allison and Hewitt. According to the online map, it would be between Seymour and Warham Roads. (I'll drop a note to the responsible office and check which is correct).
The proposals also see the namer Harringay wiped from the local government map for the first time in 130 years. The northern ward would be Ducketts and the southern one Manor House.
The LGBC gives the following explanation for the mounting of the review:
An electoral review examines and proposes new electoral arrangements for a local authority. A local authority’s electoral arrangements decide:
- How many councillors are needed.
- How many wards or electoral divisions there should be, where their boundaries are and what they should be called.
- How many councillors should represent each ward or division.
When carrying out an electoral review the Commission has three main considerations:
Improving electoral equality by equalising the number of electors that each councillor represents.
- Ensuring that the recommendations reflect community identity.
- Providing arrangements that support effective and convenient local government.
Our task is to strike the best balance between these three considerations when making our recommendations.
The review process started last year. A consultation which ran from the end of November to the start of February invited views on the future. Only 11 submissions were received (including one from yours truly):
- Haringey Council
- Haringey Council Political Groups
- Haringey Labour Party
- Haringey Liberal Democrats
- Local Organisations
- Crouch End Neighbourhood ForumLocal Residents
- Six local residents
- Anonymous
- One submission
This was a predictably very low submission rate. This gives the Council's view undue weight. And, according to the Commission's report it sounds like this is just what happened they've been heavily influenced by the Council's submission, including the removal of the Harringay name from the local electoral map. In the west the Crouch End Forum submission provided an influential counter-weight to the Council. Sadly no organisation made a submission from Harringay.
My view on the proposals is that they do have some merit. The previous set-up used Green Lanes as the dividing line and included parts of areas to the east of Harringay that have little identity or practical unity with our area. My own submission focussed on this aspect.
It is positive that Harringay is now only divided into two wards. The boundaries aren't perfect, but they aren't wholly wrong either. However, I'm unsure about the wisdom of dividing the Ladder in two.
There is now a further consultation period where you can have your say on the proposals. If you do intend to comment (and improve on the 0.003% resident response rate last time), I think it might be helpful if comments relate back to the LGBC's intended objectives, as stated above:
- Ensuring that the recommendations reflect community identity.
- Providing arrangements that support effective and convenient local government.
The full and summary reports are attached below. The consultation runs until 5th August. You can add your comments here.
I'll certainly be objecting to the name for the southern part. It seems daft to use a name for an area that's in Hackney! I can't think why the Council are STILL trying to shed the Harringay name. I'm not sure yet whether I'll comment again on the boundaries themselves: the problem here is that any suggestions made to any one boundary will need to be compensated for somewhere else. So it becomes very tricky.
I would urge you to have a say.
Tags for Forum Posts: boundary review, harringay name, local government boundary review
- Attachments:
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Web_Haringey_Draft_Report_0.pdf, 3.9 MB -
Haringey Summary sm.pdf, 285 KB
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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Except in those days the most northern area of Stokie was called Woodberry Down. We’re neither Woodberry Down nor Manor House.
Hey, I’ve got a great idea for what to call a ward that is principally Harringay. Wait for it ...............Harringay!
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Permalink Reply by andy thomas on
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I live at the top end of the Ladder and frequently shop & eat out both in Turnpike Lane and in Harringay Green Lanes, at the southern end of the Ladder. Looking at the proposed new Ducketts ward, which runs east-west, I realise I very rarely venture east of Green Lanes - West Green Rd, the Gardens, St Anns Rd, etc - and only go through these very different areas en route to somewhere else.
So for myself, at any rate, my essential existence is geographically within the Ladder as a whole and Ducketts ward would only cover the northern half of it. It just doesn't seem logical to split the Ladder across two wards.
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Permalink Reply by Ben on
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Yes and I often use particular things up at your end in turnpike lane. so I suppose what this shows is how we all use the proposed areas differently, but we all use them, so why divide them at all.
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Permalink Reply by Peter Cosmetatos on
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Same here.
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Permalink Reply by Alison P on
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Tris, what do you see the differences between the north and south of the ladder as being? Genuine question - I live pretty much bang in the middle and I can’t see it myself. Personally I’d rather not bisect it, though like others I do like the fact that the new arrangements would stop using GL as a divide.
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Thanks Tris. I’ve always lived in the middle of the ladder and use both ends pretty equally - south for travel, Finsbury Park, the lovely Arena - and north for Wood Green. So for me the ladder really is a whole and splitting it seems counter-intuitive. But I suppose that’s the challenge with trying to divide areas up, what seems a meaningful location to one person makes far less sense to the next.
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Permalink Reply by JoeW on
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It looks like the Ladder was split along Allison Road in the early 1900s:
url reference: https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/531287/188756/12/101109
Any north-south split on the Ladder is going to be fairly arbitrary though - residents of one "rung road" will generally have more (issues) in common with residents of the next rung than they do with residents to the east of Green Lanes.
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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I suppose the one good thing is the proposed names eliminate the current confusion between Harringay and Haringey.
( But making things worse between Manor House and not Manor House. ).
Just an excuse to waste money re-branding, re-printing and re-signing.
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Do you think the ward name has any currency beyond local council elections and who is your councillor?
Ward names are really only used by ward residents. One would hope the vast majority can cope with the complexity of distinguishing their ways name with their borough’s name.
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So why do you so often do you feel impelled to correct Harringay/Haringey posts in here ? ( with which I approve )
" To keep it simple Harringay is the neighbourhood, Haringey is the borough. " I quite often have to explain the difference to people living outside London.
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