Harringay online

Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

This from Haringey Council's website.

Feasibility studies on moving the council's civic and ceremonial HQ to Woodside House, Wood Green High Road N22, are now being finalised. They will be discussed at the council's Cabinet on 15 July 2008.

Woodside House is the former headquarters of the old Wood Green borough council, which was merged with Hornsey and Tottenham councils to become Haringey in 1965.

Plans now being considered would see Woodside House remodelled and extended to provide:

A new high-quality attractive setting for marriages, citizenship ceremonies, naming ceremonies, civil partnerships and other public registrars' services;
A new state-of-the-art council chamber, meetings suite and civic space, open and fully accessible to local people;
A sustainable civic building, contributing to the council's carbon reduction targets;
Improvements to the park around the building.
Said Cllr George Meehan, Leader of the Council:

"The current civic centre is 50 years old. It is increasingly unfit for current requirements and inefficient, with an escalating maintenance bill.

"We have also successfully rationalised our office requirements so we do not need the civic centre space for staff.

"This means we now have a major opportunity to provide new civic facilities we can all be proud of, for years to come.

"We can restore Woodside House to its former glory as a modern civic centre for local people at the heart of Haringey.

"And we can deliver further regeneration benefits by releasing the existing civic centre site for an appropriate development.

"The project would be funded within the council's overall capital programme.

"If the feasibility studies are approved we will be arranging relocation of current users over the course of this year."

Tags for Forum Posts: Woodside House, civic centre, civic centre closure, town hall, wood green

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This link to a Google satellite map of Woodside House shows a substantial site that I never knew about and don't know what it's used for at the moment. There is lots of land. Do the council own this already .....? The buildings look small so when the council says they would be 'remodelled and extended' I'd say they mean substantially (and at great cost).

There's no doubt the current Civic Centre is awful so I'm certainly interested in the new plans.
Thanks for the link Matt. It really shows the thing.
That's the park. The civic centre is on the other side of the road.

Yes it does need updating, it's always on TV for "life of grime" or "most dodgy marriages conducted".
It's the park, but I think Matt's pointing to the building they intend to move to.
This in the Journal today:

Review of £12million new civic centre plan


A watchdog committee will review council plans to spend £12million on a new civic centre in Haringey after councillors criticised the scheme.

Five Liberal Democrat councillors have forced a "temporary reprieve" from Haringey Council plans to sell off the civic centre in Wood Green High Street and overhaul nearby Woodside House.

Councillor Robert Gorrie, leader of Haringey Liberal Democrats, said: "This lavish plan for a new civic centre at Woodside House demonstrates just how out of touch Labour are. With residents squeezed by the credit crunch, they don't want to see the council spending £12million on a new meeting room."

The council's overview and scrutiny committee will review the scheme on August 19 and give recommendations about what should happen next.

The Lib-Dems have demanded the council considers other locations and all residents must be consulted.

They also claim no decision to invest money should be taken until the existing centre is sold off, given current economic uncertainty.

Lynne Featherstone, Hornsey and Wood Green MP, said money would be better spent on schemes to "benefit everyone - not just councillors".

But Councillor George Meehan, leader of the council, said: "These plans mean we can bring Woodside House, one of our landmark buildings, back into full use.
I can't say that I agree with the Lib Dems on this. This was Wood Green Town hall originally.I know a lunch club is losing its premises (can't they be accomodated) but the civic centre is a horrible building...what a place to get married!...whereas the plans will provide a pleasant place for civic ceremonies in nice surroundings and anything which brings an historic building back into full civic use can't be all bad. I've never been to the park but they appear to host a Jazz picnic at the end of August
http://www.woodside-park.org/

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