Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Help Build a Vision for Harringay
Summary
If you haven't got the heart to read this rather long post, just read this:
1. You now have a chance to help build a vision for the future of Harringay to make it the place you want.
2. The Council has said they'll run the project as a genuine partnership with residents. How would you like to be involved?
3. What are the things you'd like to partner with the Council to work on getting changed?
Following the Harringay Online Residents' Priorities Survey and my request to Haringey Council to work with us to build a charter for Harringay, I've had a few meetings with Councillor Nilgun Canver. The latest of these was to prepare a recommendation to the Green Lanes Strategy Group to start working on a charter. That's great news. The objective of this post is to share how I hope to see this going forward and to begin to get other residents and traders of Harringay involved in shaping the place they live and/or work in. So, what's all this about? If you follow the link for Harringay Charter above, you'll see that the idea is based on an initiative by Hazel Blears - which is all part of a Government policy to shift more control to people at a local level.
Many charters may focus on crime and grime, but there is nothing stopping us making a charter which is broader in scope and more ambitious and visionary in intent.
For me the charter can be a catalyst where the people of Harringay agree what should be done to shape our area and form the foundation of making those things we agree happen.
In my view it should be a genuine partnership between the people (residents & traders) and the Council. It should be something we feel a real ownership of and are prepared to take joint responsibility for, rather than having it happen to us.
Where do things stand now?
Nilgun Canver, the chair of the Green Lanes Strategy Group, has agreed to the idea in principle and wants to submit a recommendation to the Green Lanes Strategy Group in September.
I have her commitment that building the charter and executing on it will be a genuine partnership between the Council and the people. For me this means residents and traders being treated as equals throughout the process. Of course we have to recognise that the Council has certain responsibilities and will likely be funding any expenditure. So in the real world, they will be first among equals. But that's the real world.
At this stage those of us who have been discussing the concept would really welcome your ideas about first steps/where we go from here.
How to contribute at this stage
The key issues which I think we should be contributing on now are:
1. Involvement
2. Objectives
3. Opportunities/Hurdles
Other Perspectives
My sense is that we should aim for a visionary piece. We will need to be realistic about what's achievable and timescales. Funding will always be an issue, but if we at least agree a broad sweep of where we want Harringay to be in 5 or 10 years, it will be a canvas against which future execution can be achieved.
We don't need to feel nor be passive partners. It seems that every week the Government is introducing new legislation to enable people to have real influence and take real control at a local level. I'm amazed at how far they're going. We could also consider options like a development trust for the third place that's been discussed on the site.
My point is that there are many structures and processes that are in place for us to achieve all sorts. We will only be limited by our imaginations, our willingness to get involved and take ownership for our own area..........and of course the effectiveness of the way the initiative is run.
The next Green Lanes Strategy Group Meeting is on 23rd September. Any input we have will need to be collated prior to the meeting. So if we have the discussion and express our ideas over the next three weeks (i.e. by 14th September), I will contract to collate any views expressed here and get them passed on in good time.
If you'd rather talk to the Council directly, you can contact Dasos Maliotis, Neighbourhood Manager at Dasos.Maliotis@haringey.gov.uk.
If you haven't got the heart to read this rather long post, just read this:
1. You now have a chance to help build a vision for the future of Harringay to make it the place you want.
2. The Council has said they'll run the project as a genuine partnership with residents. How would you like to be involved?
3. What are the things you'd like to partner with the Council to work on getting changed?
Following the Harringay Online Residents' Priorities Survey and my request to Haringey Council to work with us to build a charter for Harringay, I've had a few meetings with Councillor Nilgun Canver. The latest of these was to prepare a recommendation to the Green Lanes Strategy Group to start working on a charter. That's great news. The objective of this post is to share how I hope to see this going forward and to begin to get other residents and traders of Harringay involved in shaping the place they live and/or work in. So, what's all this about? If you follow the link for Harringay Charter above, you'll see that the idea is based on an initiative by Hazel Blears - which is all part of a Government policy to shift more control to people at a local level.
Many charters may focus on crime and grime, but there is nothing stopping us making a charter which is broader in scope and more ambitious and visionary in intent.
For me the charter can be a catalyst where the people of Harringay agree what should be done to shape our area and form the foundation of making those things we agree happen.
In my view it should be a genuine partnership between the people (residents & traders) and the Council. It should be something we feel a real ownership of and are prepared to take joint responsibility for, rather than having it happen to us.
Where do things stand now?
Nilgun Canver, the chair of the Green Lanes Strategy Group, has agreed to the idea in principle and wants to submit a recommendation to the Green Lanes Strategy Group in September.
I have her commitment that building the charter and executing on it will be a genuine partnership between the Council and the people. For me this means residents and traders being treated as equals throughout the process. Of course we have to recognise that the Council has certain responsibilities and will likely be funding any expenditure. So in the real world, they will be first among equals. But that's the real world.
At this stage those of us who have been discussing the concept would really welcome your ideas about first steps/where we go from here.
How to contribute at this stage
The key issues which I think we should be contributing on now are:
1. Involvement
- What does an equal partnership mean to you in this context?
- How would you like to be involved?
- Would you like to just leave it to existing residents' groups to work with the Council on your behalf or would you like the opportunity for more direct involvement?
- If you'd like more direct involvement, how might that be organised so that things work effectively but your voice is heard and given due weight?
- What has/hasn't worked for you in the past in influencing what happens locally?
- Any ideas about how we structure the management of the process - both building the charter and executing on it?
2. Objectives
- What should the objectives of the charter be?
- What should its scope be? Should it be more focussed on crime & grime issues or should it be broader, more visionary?
3. Opportunities/Hurdles
- What opportunities do you see for this project?
- What are the potential barriers? How can we overcome them?
Other Perspectives
My sense is that we should aim for a visionary piece. We will need to be realistic about what's achievable and timescales. Funding will always be an issue, but if we at least agree a broad sweep of where we want Harringay to be in 5 or 10 years, it will be a canvas against which future execution can be achieved.
We don't need to feel nor be passive partners. It seems that every week the Government is introducing new legislation to enable people to have real influence and take real control at a local level. I'm amazed at how far they're going. We could also consider options like a development trust for the third place that's been discussed on the site.
My point is that there are many structures and processes that are in place for us to achieve all sorts. We will only be limited by our imaginations, our willingness to get involved and take ownership for our own area..........and of course the effectiveness of the way the initiative is run.
The next Green Lanes Strategy Group Meeting is on 23rd September. Any input we have will need to be collated prior to the meeting. So if we have the discussion and express our ideas over the next three weeks (i.e. by 14th September), I will contract to collate any views expressed here and get them passed on in good time.
If you'd rather talk to the Council directly, you can contact Dasos Maliotis, Neighbourhood Manager at Dasos.Maliotis@haringey.gov.uk.
Tags for Forum Posts: area assembly, area forum, consultation, harringay charter
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Rachel Fisher on
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Hi again - ok I'm up for this, and would be happy to facilitate an offline version of this with Michael and Hugh. From what I understand what we're trying to brainstorm initially is an engagement strategy and process.
From work I've done in the past, this is best when the 'activist' ie people who have been replying to these posts, can set out the methodology and then the engagement with everyone is what the process provides.
So it seems to me that what we need to do is get a session together that would start to think about the process we would want to undertake (bearing in mind limited resources etc). I've not read the Haringey Statement of Community Involvement - but I'll download that and read it over the weekend.
We could formulate something similar - and perhaps even hijack and area assembly to run a full on consultation (does anyone know how big the area is for our area assembly? I'm assuming it's bigger than the Harringay defined in this site).
This then could be posted on this site for comment by all of the other HOL users and updated. I guess we need to balance speed of decision making with inclusiveness (not at all easy).
Finally, as we're thinking about all this can I suggest that we keep a focus not only on what we want for our high street and residential roads, but also what the likely effect these actions will have on the neighbouring areas.
Crouch End is lovely, but a lot of people and traders have been displaced in that process which causes some understandable anxiety - we need to make sure that the things we love about this neighbourhood aren't damaged in the process of making it better.
Small and simple interventions are often best (and easiest to achieve). Just having a consistent signage policy would make an enormous difference, as would the aforementioned divided recycling / litter bins.
The bigger ideas like setting up a social enterprise in one of the disused shops is an amazing one, but if we want to come together to make that happen, we need to be aware that it will limit other things we can do.
I have a sneaking suspicion that we're not high up Haringey's priority list - we're not a poor enough area to need serious regeneration investment, nor are we Highgate at the other end of the spectrum (though this site is doing a lot to change all that!)
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Permalink Reply by Eddie Finnegan on
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As for "hijacking an area assembly to run a full-on consultation" - steady on there! The Area Assembly covers the wards of St. Ann's & Harringay. Quite often residents of St. Ann's who actually attend their Area Assembly every three months complain that already too much time is devoted to issues pertaining to Harringay only. My earnest suggestion would be that, before any talk of "hijacking an Area Assembly", all "activists" for a Harringay Vision should familiarise themselves with their Area Assembly by attending a few sessions, thus hopefully 'making it their own'.
Our next Area Assembly session (see Events) will be this coming Monday evening,
1st September, 7.30pm at St. John's Orthodox Church hall - corner of Wightman & Frobisher Roads. Issues for forthcoming meetings were proposed by residents attending previous meeting at Terront Road in May.
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Point taken about 'hijacking an area assembly'. I think what I meant was more along the lines of using the existing local authority channels to consult on the charter. Though I suspected that the Area Assembly would go further than the area defined on this site.
I've attended area assembly meetings in the past, I'll do my best to get to the one tomorrow evening. Thank you for the information.
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Permalink Reply by Geoff Amabilino on
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The Council will probably want to use their 'existing channels' to consult, however I think that a meeting run by local residents' associations - with LBH reps present - would be a good way forward. I am a member of Woodslands Park RA, and we have been asked by LBH Neighbourhood Management to consult with our membership in advance of the Green Lanes Strategy Group meeting on 23 Sept. where the charter will be on the agenda.
Problem with GLSG and Area Assemblies is that the agenda is controlled by the Council, and it would be good to ease the balance at least a little in the residents' direction.
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Permalink Reply by dan burgess on
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This sounds really interesting Hugh. I'd like to get involved. I think a bigger vision for the area is key, something ambitious but simple to understand which anyone could contribute to through basic, hyper-local initiatives through to more challenging and progressive changes. We're entering critical times in terms of the need for transition as a society/nation/world so this sounds like a great opportunity to be part of that change at a local level. count me in - have experience in facilitating, idea generation, communications, sustainability and cake-baking(i find cake has a key role in the process of change ;-)
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Permalink Reply by Duguneek on
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Great idea Hugh and I'll be giving my observations to Geoff who is representing Woodlands Park Residents' Association.
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