Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Haringey to be given up to £10 million to improve buses
Haringey has been selected as one of three London boroughs that will benefit from £30 million to improve its bus network.
Lewisham and Southward in south London are the other boroughs chosen to take part in TfL’s Better Bus Partnerships programme.
The money will be divided between the boroughs over the next four years. The aim of the programme is to improve bus journey times and reliability, making services easier to use.
To secure the funding, boroughs had to submit proposals outlining how they would use the money to improve bus services. The successful boroughs proposed schemes aiming to cut journey times by up to 30 per cent.
TfL will now work closely with the successful boroughs throughout 2026 on design and planning, with delivery expected to begin in 2027. Full details of the schemes will apparently be shared by the boroughs in the coming months, subject to consultation and engagement.
The initiative, called the Better Bus Partnership, was launched by TfL in July 2024 to improve London’s bus network and encourage more people to travel by bus.
The money is in addition to the £80.85 million of funding already claimed by London’s boroughs this year from Local Implementation Plans – the ordinary financial support they receive to improve transport schemes from the Mayor.
According to Haringey, the new funding will transform public transport links in Wood Green and North Tottenham as the borough gears up for the London Borough of Culture 2027 and UEFA Euro 2028 games at Tottenham Hotspur.
Great news for that part of the borough, but, whilst Harringay's Green Lanes and the Ladder lie mouldering, it does show where priorities lay. I note that whilst the substance of Haringey's press release refers to work in the north and east of the borough, Mike Hakata's quote references hoped-for improvements on Harringay's Green Lanes. I assume this is imagined as the same sort of 'magical' knock-on effect of evaporation that Mike recently claimed that the Ladder School Streets provide for the rest of the Ladder.
Thank you to Southwark News for flagging this.
Tags for Forum Posts: traffic
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by neil
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Does anyone have any insight as to why Green Lanes Red Routing has been ruled out ? Lobbying ? Cost ? It seems fishy to me given the importance of 29, 141 and 341 routes and the war zone that Green Lanes is for cyclists. Even a timed bus lane North and South during rush hours would be a huge improvement!
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter
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THIS funding announcement sounds nice, but may be less positive than the headline suggests. A cautious interpretation may be that the council may be given some money, not more than £10 million and not if the offer is later withdrawn.**
If the council does receive some money for this purpose, then it won't necessarily be spent in the way intended, especially given that this council now teeters on bankruptcy.
- The five-figure cost for the (controversial) street name change was un-budgeted, but the council let slip that it would be met from "existing budgets". We were never told which budget suffered the subtraction nor the cost of the (unnecessary) name-change. The subtext, is that budgets are more flexible than the council pretends. The street name-change cost may have been relatively minor, but there was a more relevant example involving larger sums during the pandemic:
- During the Covid crisis, the council were given a large sum for the purpose of improving cycling infrastructure in the Borough, but much or most of this was siphoned off for other purposes. The reduction in the effective sum available was visible in the 100m (only) stretch of Highways' cycle lane by the north-eastern side of Finsbury Park. For a long time, the lane was marked by one pole at each end. It has since been filled in with more poles but it serves to illustrate the reduction of funding available and Highways' chronic lack of regard for cyclists. (These poles offer similar protection as vertical paint).
- Haringey PR boasts that £10,000,000 is secured.
- ** Council PR previously bragged that they had "secured" multi-million pound funding from TfL for the Crouch End Liveable Neighbourhood Scheme. The scheme received so little support from the council—especially lacking from the previous Cabinet Member for Highways—that TfL then unsecured (withdrew) their offer.
- Haringey Council's accounts are in terrible state. Were such a sum to be provided, then it would be tempting to nibble at. Or take bites from.
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I thought the Crouch End scheme was abandoned because it was a total disaster that completely gridlocked the area while outraging residents, and the council subsequently disowned the (now ex-) officers responsible for its creation on the mythical grounds that they’d failed to explain how wonderful it was to people stuck in traffic jams.
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I'm told they've been hammered by the cost of social care. Care home fees have rocketed since the evil hedge funds got the claws into that sector, ditto vets.
A bit old but good reporting as ever by Byline https://bylinetimes.com/2021/09/08/the-great-social-care-gold-rush-...
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Haringey funds have also been hammered by the council's own sledgehammer:
The Leader won't go into detail about the eight-figure sum they lent to a business some time ago that they have not yet recovered, another the eight-figure sum lost on property* wheeling and dealing and of course, normal council waste.
*i.e. the background to my information rights Tribunal case where council conduct may be now be considered at the Court's Upper Tier Tribunal. The council went to extreme lengths to conceal information from the public.
(N.B. I'm ready and willing to lavish praise on Haringey Council and will do so at the first significant available opportunity)
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I see this pattern so often in Private Eye, where a government body, NHS trust for example, tries to conceal wrongdoing or corruption by using the court system. Rotten Boroughs in the Eye is so depressing I often feel the need to cancel my subscription.
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Neil, I'm not disagreeing with you, but in the above case it is me who is using the court system to try to uncover the phenomena you mention.
Four years ago, Haringey Council stonewalled over my FoI requests (made via WhatDoTheyKnow dot com, free to use and which I recommend).
Haringey Council's secretive conduct was largely to be expected, but I was disappointed with the Information Commissioner's response. The ICO were wrong to have believed all they were told by the council, publicly and privately (in a "Closed" bundle). The ICO practically rubber-stamped the council's refusals.
One can always try to challenge the ICO at the First Tier Tribunal, which is what I did. The council repeatedly engaged in industrial-strength delaying tactics. The Information Rights Tribunal came through with a solid judgement: yet the council first tried one Appeal and then considered another. It's as though they had something to hide. The case continues and it will not be covered in the council's Haringey People magazine!
In my view, parts of Haringey Council have slipped beyond democratic control. The current Council Leader is Councillor Peray Ahmet.
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Good to hear. I focussed in on this "The council went to extreme lengths to conceal information from the public." Question is why ? Its public money, they need transparent!
Crouch End town hall was another commercial cluster f*ck i believe ?
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Permalink Reply by Hugh
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Well done for successfully challenging the ICO. It's critical that our various justice systems function as intended.
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Thanks Hugh. At the Hearing, the Judge said he had spent four days reading the material. An independent Judiciary is one of this country's greatest strengths. Long may that continue.
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Permalink Reply by Sarah
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Has anyone heard anything about the proposed Red Route for West Green Road?
Or have the people who park inconsiderately and clog up the buses won?
I regularly go to yoga in Crouch End. I started walking there because the buses were so unreliable. It takes an hour but at least I know how long it will take. But I got injured recently and can't walk that far without pain. I feel so stuck on the east side of the borough now.
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