Following my consideration on the origins of West Green's Black Boy name back in the summer, Haringey Council has decided to rename Black Boy Lane in West Green.
The Council have called the exercise a 'renaming consultation', but the online questionnaire offers only the ability to choose from a shortlist of two new names. So it appears that the decision to rename has already been taken with only the choice of name left to be decided.
They have issued the following press release.
The council has launched a renaming consultation with residents and businesses located on Black Boy Lane, as part of the wider Review on Monuments, Buildings, Place and Street Names in Haringey – which was launched on 12 June 2020, in response to the Black Lives Matter movement.
The council believes that the names of our monuments, buildings, places and streets must reflect the values and diversity that we are so proud of in the borough. One of the street names that has been identified as not being reflective of this is Black Boy Lane.
Meanings change over time, and the term “Black Boy” is now most commonly used as a derogatory name for African heritage men.
As part of the consultation, the council is asking residents to consider new alternative names that celebrate some of the borough’s most notable influencers, and truly reflect the borough’s rich heritage.
The two names that have been shortlisted for residents to consider are, ‘Jocelyn Barrow Lane’ and ‘La Rose Lane’. The consultation will launch today, Monday 28 September and will run for a period of 4 weeks to Monday 26 October 2020.
Letters will be arriving on Black Boy Lane residents' doorsteps this week, who can respond to the consultation using one of the following methods:
- Online: www.haringey.gov.uk/renaming-black-boy-lane.
- Email:
- bblconsultation@haringey.gov.uk
- Telephone: 020 8489 3797
- By post: Consultation Co-ordinator, The Communications Team, River Park House, 225 High Road, Wood Green, London, N22 8HQ
If Haringey residents have concerns or queries about place, street or building names in the borough, please get in touch. Send your views to Leader@haringey.gov.uk.
Bios:Dame Jocelyn Anita Barrow (15 April 1929 – 9 April 2020) was a Barbadian/Trinidadian British educator, community activist and politician, who was the Director for UK Development at Focus Consultancy Ltd. She was the first Black woman to be a governor of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and was founder and Deputy Chair of the Broadcasting Standards Council.
John La Rose was a publisher, poet and essayist. He founded the Caribbean Artists’ Movement and publishing company New Beacon Books which has a bookshop in Stroud Green. In 1975, he co-founded the Black Parents Movement from the core of the parents involved in the George Padmore Supplementary School incident in which a young Black schoolboy was beaten up by the police outside his school in Haringey.
If you'd like to respond to this post, please consider the sensitivities around the issues before you commit finger to keyboard. Any responses that are not in line with our house rules will be deleted.
Tags for Forum Posts: blackboy lane name change, review on monuments, building place and street names
Can we eventually get the street renamed to
Black Boy-Prince Lane ???? when things have "calmed down".
Once all this fruitless discussion has died down we are going to wake up one morning to find it has been renamed " Ejiofor Avenue " overnight.
And I wouldn't be in the least bit surprised!
Can you please let me know where/when notification was given about the online consultation?
I live on BBL and this is the first that I have heard about it. I would have definitely participated
I was sent an email from the consultation team saying that the second consultation period was now open. There is a link in there to the Haringey Council website with the details of the online consultation (not mentioned in the email) about a quarter of the way down. However, I never clicked on the link: I was advised by Anna on this forum. Any complaints should be marked as such to bblconsultation@haringey.gov.uk. I advised them at the online consultation that residents still weren't being included.
Thanks for that I received the second email too and the paper copy, but no mention of the online consultation. I don't look at the Haringey website on a regular basis
One would nearly believe that they did not want engagement from BBL residents!
No idea about where notifications went from the council, but I did add a post about it over a week ago and linked to that post above on this thread.
I don't access this website on a regular basis either, so l missed your post That will teach me!
This is exactly what I have been trying to tell the council - many residents on the street have NOT received the info and how to participate! But they keep telling me all avenues to engage with residents have been explored satisfactorily.
so here is the online survey - I am still unclear if it is only for Black Boy Lane residents. The yes or no seems to be open to everyone, not just Black Boy Lane or even Haringey residents. The follow up questions are just for BBL residents.
noting, again, that the selected residents who received that in letter form were provided a free return envelope but no answer slip mirroring the online answer choices/data capturing.
This discussion has now become the most commented on discussion since this site began 14 years ago.
© 2024 Created by Hugh. Powered by
© Copyright Harringay Online Created by Hugh