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

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Permalink Reply by JJ B on October 16, 2020 at 19:59

Knee jerk reaction....counter productive use of scarce resopurvces and energy.

Stop...Think...Act.

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Permalink Reply by Colinloves on October 17, 2020 at 0:51

The irony LOL - a school, a place of learning. But person(s), dont want to learn who the school was named after.

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Permalink Reply by Hisky0 on October 18, 2020 at 20:34

It's because Haringey council are completely useless and the elected Momentum Labour crew are even more useless.

They've never been able to make black and white lives better in the borough since they've been in power for tens of years.

So instead of trying something different, redeveloping Haringey, bringing money and jobs in, they're happy with letting the east of the borough continue to be poor and changing street names instead.

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Permalink Reply by Sarah on October 16, 2020 at 17:03

Hi all,

I live near, not on, Black Boy Lane. I work for a different local authority and as you might imagine, most London councils are looking at changing names of streets or buildings seen to be problematic nowadays. Without straying into the politics of it I want to let you know what we've discovered about the practicalities:

1. The final say on any new name rests with the Fire Service. If there is any potential for confusion in an emergency situation, they will say no.

2. There is no charge to change the deeds. The project I'm involved with is the renaming of a building. The local authority is the freeholder. We just need to fill out a form and forward to the Land Registry with evidence from the local authority (handy that it's us) and they will change it at no cost. Now, changing every title in the street will be more cumbersome, but the same principle applies. I would expect Haringey Council to help make this as pain free as possible.

3. Utility bills etc. I'm told utility companies buy address lists from the Royal Mail. I would expect the Council to inform the Royal Mail of the change. It's up to the companies to stay up-to-date regarding your address. Of course your postcodes will remain the same and it's unlikely mail will go astray

We have decided to hold off until the new year though just to avoid any potential confusion around Christmas. Perhaps this is an overly cautious approach, given postcodes and numbering remains the same.

4. DVLA change licence details free of charge when you inform them of an address change.

Finally, because of this and because I read a review in the Hackney Citizen I discovered a book called The Address Book, which I urge anyone with an interest to read. It is absolutely fascinating. I took it on a camping holiday and became that bore who stops every half page to read out some interesting fact. If you need convincing, check out the review: https://www.hackneycitizen.co.uk/2020/07/27/address-book-deirdre-ma...

Black Boy Lane is mentioned in the book and in the review.

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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on October 16, 2020 at 19:08

Many thanks Sarah for this information on the costings for building change-of-name in the Borough you work for.

Seems to me that this needs to be matched-up with what Anna was told, so all residents have access to the best possible agreed information, confirmed by Haringey.

Since this appears to be a priority of the current Council leadership and might be coming to many more streets, the sooner there is agreed hard information the better.

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Permalink Reply by Hugh on October 16, 2020 at 19:22

There is other info out there on costs which I set out earlier in the thread. It shows that there are almost certainly costs involved. But it suggested a more modest cost estimate that Anna has proposed; about £50k.

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Permalink Reply by maidikins on October 18, 2020 at 9:00

Unfortunately, despite the perceived support for not changing the name, the petition has only garnered 48 signatures. In the meantime, the 'For' petition has grown by 5 signatures to 82. The residents' deadline to send in their objections or otherwise to the Council is 26th October 2020. I put myself out there to get the petition set up but if it doesn't receive more signatures than the 'For' petition by that date, the petition will be deleted and not forwarded to the Council. Thank you to anyone who has signed/does sign the petition.