Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Council Decides to Rename Black Boy Lane
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.
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Tags for Forum Posts: blackboy lane name change, review on monuments, building place and street names
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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Well done. Did you alert them to the significant and voluble opposition to the renaming process by BBL residents?
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Permalink Reply by Adrian Hackney on
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It is not yet certain my reply will not be approved by the moderator, but if it is approved then it will contain a link to this debate.
But one posting on a little used advertising driven website is of little consequence.
What worries me more is the apparent lack of organisation in the opposition to the leader's name change proposal. Several contributors have made powerful statements against the name change, but the anti-petition has been allowed to die.
It seems to me that now is the perfect time to raise awareness. A similar change to the name of part of Havelock Road in Ealing clearly did not have such an awareness campaign. Opposition to the change arose only after it had happened. Response to the "consultation" was negligible.
BBL runs across two wards. Voters opposing the change are being badly served by their councillors. A quick glance at Twitter shows those who are active there seem determined to press ahead with the change. Simply replying to these tweets with the opposite view would serve to raise awareness.
Black Boy Lane even has its own Twitter feed though finding out who knows the password after years of inactivity might be difficult.
And, yes, if I propose organising opposition perhaps I should take on the task, except:
1) I have nothing to recommend me - I am a white middle class heterosexual fully functional athlete baby boomer.
2) I no longer live in Haringey, and when I did it was in the hated West of the borough
3) my record in such campaigns is 100% - For instances, Haringey went ahead and sold Hornsey Town Hall to a developer and changed the use of the Earl Haig despite my determined opposition, and gave up on Liveable Crouch End despite my support.
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Thanks, Adrian. I have no idea how influential TCP is with local politicians. But I was just trying to establish in my own mind to what extant they can deny knowledge of the opposition to the way the name change is being implemented after your comment on their website. I'm now clear that there's no deniability - but also no clearer on how much the TCP matters.
Not your role to organise: I agree.
There is some very active local opposition led by one or two local residents and we should take our hats off to them.
As to local councillors, I know that some of then do oppose the way this change is being forced through very strongly. But, it seems to me that there is an atmosphere of fear in the Haringey party which rather mutes opposition.
Is anyone better informed on the level of local councillor opposition and can update us all?
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Permalink Reply by Stav Aristides on
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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Cllr Noah Tucker remains a councillor and would in the usual way be carrying out his work on behalf of residents in St Ann's ward.
For the record I am no fan of Cllr Tucker. But neither would I rely solely on what appears on the webpages you linked to; nor on the page from Dave Hill's site.
For what it's worth, my approach is to check original sources where possible. For example what somebody actually said. -
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There is a reason that the opposition petition has stalled, it is the same reason why the Council are so determined to push this through during the current crisis.
The original 66 signatures were electronically submitted to the council.
Meeting between households even outside is against Government Coronavirus guidelines. The council have deliberately chosen this period to stifle organised and meaningful opposition. Don't you just love our democracy?
To organise opposition needs knocking on doors and that is exactly what we are not supposed to do during this crisis. In addition, those without computer skills and home internet access are excluded from the process. This specifically impacts the voice of the older residents.
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Permalink Reply by StephenBln on
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..and I thought where there's a will, there's a way.
This thread has been going on since October 2020.. I haven't read every single letter or post written here, but there's was no lockdown in December. So what happened then?
I noticed the council has informed you it intends to change the name (which it can) and given you a choice of two new names.. which it also can. They could have just said: Chestnuts Lane - Basta, and that would have been it. They didn't.
Perhaps a new, non-political name is the answer?
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Permalink Reply by Mavic Starfish on
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Thanks for your persistence Anna, it will be interesting to see what is revealed in the communications and internal emails , and as you say will hopefully set a precedent for any further actions of this nature from the council.
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There is a Council perspective article in the Tottenham Community Press with a Photograph of the road sign. I have just walked the length on my street (Blane Boy Lane) and that road sign has been removed. If a Consultation is in process, then it is premature to remove the road signs.
I had a colleague who used to live in the borough, he called the borough "The Peoples Republic of Haringey". I used to get uncomfortable with this description, but this dictatorial approach makes me review that perspective.
I emphasise that THIS IS MY STREET. I doubt if any councilors that have been maneuvered onto this renaming committee have any personal relationship with my street or impacted by the disruption this will cause.
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Only indirectly related to the thread but very interesting reading...
What Does Colonialism Mean to You? - https://www.areweeurope.com/stories/letters
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JJ B - Thanks. It's helpful to get personal recommendations.
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An interesting observation. When it comes to road signs, there is nothing Colonial about Black Boy Lane, names like Mafeking and Kitchener are specifically about the UK's colonial past.
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