Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Council vote last night confirms Blackboy Lane name change
Last night the Council's Corporate Committee voted to change the name of Blackboy Lane to La Rose Lane. The change comes after a drawn out process started by the previous Council leader in 2020.
The vote came after a 'further period of consultation' which ended last month. The report sent to committee last night summarised the vote conducted during the 'further consultation' as showing 78% of all respondents being against the name change, 22% in favour. The voting of Blackboy Lane residents was very similar.
The introduction of the report sent to committee on the issue said
If the Committee decides not to make the Order, (it) would demonstrate that the Council has actively sought local resident views, the majority of whom object to the proposal....
a decision not to make an Order would mean that the name which has been found to be offensive by local residents and visitors to the borough would continue to be in place. The catalyst for the consideration of this renaming was the establishment of the Commission on Diversity in the Public Realm by the Mayor of London. Not going ahead with the renaming at this point would not capitalise on the momentum created by the Black Lives Matter movement
The report to Committee also recommended:
a support package including a ‘voluntary payment’ of £300 and administrative assistance be made available to all households and businesses of Black Boy Lane to minimise any inconvenience resulting from the processes required to reflect the renaming.
I do not currently have details on whether or not this part of the recommendation was also accepted.
The name will change to La Rose Lane from 1st February 2023.
Download the full report from Haringey Council's website here.
I won't go through the arguments for and against as they have already been well-rehearsed on this site.
- main HoL discussion on this issue here.
- last discussion about the reviving of this issue last Novemeber here.
- all conversations about the issue here.
Thanks to Lydia Walter for flagging up an item on Radio London this morning about last night's vote.
Tags for Forum Posts: blackboy lane name change
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Brian Mahoney on
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And that's not the real cost. It doesn't include the time already spent by council staff to document the proposals, organise the meetings and conduct the fake consultation. Nor does it include the time they will now spend forcing this through and handling all the queries from Black Boy Lane residents trying to navigate their way through the coming administrative nighmare of changing their address on every legal document and contract they have.
Then there's the opportunity cost of the work they should be doing remaining undone. You know, stuff like running the Borough and providing the services they're actually meant to be doing!
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Permalink Reply by Christina Davis on
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Well, it was always going to end like this, I fear. The final very ironic cherry on the top is that the La Rose family have objected to his name being used from the very beginning saying he would have hated it and the division it has caused. You literally could not make it up.
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It's a shame that this 'basket case' element of the council couldn't be bought under special measures or something similar until replaced by economically minded people who understand the merits of democracy, and not those with an axe to grind. Seemingly, this is the price we pay for tokenism over competence. Having been in the private sector much of my working life I know that most of these wouldn't have lasted ten minutes in the real world before they were either escorted to the door or given back-room jobs where they could do minimum damage.
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Permalink Reply by Sarah on
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I decided to find out more about John La Rose. From what I'd read so far we should be happy to have a street named after him. I look through the Wikipedia page about him led me here:
https://web.archive.org/web/20050220013915/http://www.chronicleworl...
I'd love to read the whole essay. It got me thinking about how people were furloughed during lockdown, and wondering what creative works emerged.
This excerpt too: https://web.archive.org/web/20061003034944/http://www.thechronicle..... "The struggle against racism and to overcome racial disadvantage" is ongoing.
Oh my long run today I listened to a very interesting podcast. I subscribe to Intelligence Squared, and the episode I listened to today was an interview with Kimberly Jones, a US author and civil rights activist. I think it contains a lot of useful information, particularly for anyone from marginalised groups. https://pca.st/episode/b8190538-6df7-4353-b591-c7f2d26258fc
I'm watching her speech now https://youtu.be/sb9_qGOa9Go
"They are lucky that what black people are looking for is equality and not revenge"
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John La Rose is a worthy person. However the Padmore Institute (the institute founded by John La Rose and Friend) along with his family have openly objected to the use of his name in what they consider to be a waste of resources, tokenistic and a huge disruption for the people in the road concerned.
Some council members suggested that the money could be better spent creating a John La Rose scholarship.
This would be a very fitting tribute to the man. Much better than the proposed disruption to well over two hundred people.
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Unbelievable !! The first twenty three years of my life spent there. So many happy and treasured memories. This decision however brings happiness in my choice of moving out of district.
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