Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
It's bye bye bridge banners as Harringay wins £1.8 million for Green Lanes in new fund bid
Hard on the heels of the successful bid for Round 1 of the Outer London Fund, it has just been announced that Harringay has won £1.77million from the Round 2 bid submitted last year.
The bid was submitted by the Green Lanes Strategy Group with the drive and vision coming in particular from Rob Chau of the Harringay Traders' Association.
The Harringay project was also singled out for particular mention this morning by Boris Johnson when he announced the bid.
The £1.77m will be augmented to almost £2.1m with matched funding coming from local traders. The project focuses on three key elements, most of which echo many sentiments expressed here on HoL
1. Create a new gateway for Harringay - a total revamp of the bridge. Gone will be the banners and the tat and in it's place a stylish entrance to our hood. LED panels and a showcase for local artists will be part of the approach.
2. Improve the public realm at street level - this will focus on a 'mini town square' approach - improving all the junctions that lead on to Green Lanes with better trees, building up the side road headers to pavement level and adding benches. Power points will also be added to allow the development of a street market culture.
3. Improving shop fronts - a limited number of shop fronts will be replaced with quality wooden ones, echoing a more traditional feel. Initial funding will limit the number to 35, but it is hoped that these will pioneer improvements elsewhere. Individual traders will add 20% of the cost themselves
More details on the bid soon. In the meantime some pictures for you to conjour up your imaginations:
Rob summarised his exhilaration with a measured statement of purpose, "The festival has shown just how vibrant our high street can be. We want to help guarantee our competitiveness against other high streets. We just haven't had the funds to do it till now. This is the biggest amount of funding we've seen for thirty years"
Once the dust has settled, a series of consultation events will be held to provide local people with an opportunity for direct input into exactly how the funds will be spent.
You can catch a little on the Mayor's announcement on the BBC news this evening. They're supposed to be coming to Harringay for a few shots and quick interviews.
More soon, I'm sure. In the meantime, well done to Rob and the bid team! Great news for the hood.
Tags for Forum Posts: harringay banner, harringay bridge, harringay regeneration 2012-13, outer london fund
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by gilly on
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My heart does feel heavy at this prospect to Bob. After all the money spent in Finsbury park which I feel was a waste, loved the old homely cafe which could have in my eyes had a make over and have kept its vintage feel with some added comfort... whilst I personally find the new one impossible to sit in as the echoing noise is far to much for me and I miss sitting outside on the benches underneath the trees which could have been embellished with creative awnings or brollies. It has lost its character. I find the childrens playground really uncreative when placed against others I have seen or even Stationers park and the park still lacks evening lighting on the path to the track that houses heathside the athletics club which creates difficulty for children and women in the winter. I could go on.....
I agree with most of what you say Bob and agree about the benches, would be better to have outside cafe seating areas! I would however like to see more trees and creative flower displays on railings and lamp posts etc but not the usual council nusery ones that are plonked together with little thought and with whatevers on offer... a little care and creativity would be fab!
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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There will be a public consultation and I, personally, will be all ears for constructive ideas about specific things that can be done.
Bob, I think "drug dealer chic and in your face money laundering" smacks to me somewhat of tabloid style headlining. I'm perfectly willing to be critical of Harringay in general and Green Lanes in particular, but I think you're being a bit harsh with this.
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Permalink Reply by Duguneek on
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Bob raises quite a few issues... I think money spent on improvements should be lasting changes that our community believes in and these should link to local priorities such as personal safety, sustainability etc. Businesses are here to make money and just need to be helped to make the place feel like an attractive place to be. Sometimes the high street does feel like a giant ashtray has anyone thought of how to encourage the punters go to another area to smoke? I include the bookies of course.
Flashy cars you'll see in Palmers Green, Kensington and so on at least they pay fuel duty and let's increase it to encourage mOre cycling!
Dug
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Are all the shops themselves going to remain the same or will more of a variety be encouraged in?
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Currently, diversity is not on the agenda, although for my money it is of critical importance. It came up as a key issue on HoL's Residents' 2008 survey and remains a leading driver for local quality of life.
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On a gloomy day like this Whats the point comes to mind! Big sigh.... What is the point of so much money being spent on traditional shop fronts if the shops are not traditional? Or am I reading the plans wrong? And really what is needed by many locals is a wider mix of shops to reflect all the cultures that live in our neighbourhood, and a greater variety of goods on offer, do we need so many restaurants?
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Permalink Reply by Arkady on
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Why? Because they will look better. And that has proven links with lowering crime, raising revenue, improving pride in an area, etc. This is a wonderful project. As long as it is linked to strict rules about how the shop-fronts can be changed in future (with severe sanctions for transgressions) I think we should be applauding it.
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I'm not sure that these are the the funds that will be able to drive diversity, but please do keep raising the issue. I'm right with you on that. I think there's room for the restaurants as well as shops that the people who live here need, but I think the Council needs to step up to the plate and deploy its planning powers to influence things in that direction.
A couple of weeks back I was part of group helping to shape the Lifetime Neighbourhoods concept for the GLA's London Plan. In that meeting I had a chat with one of Lambeth's planning team who assured me that the Council can influence the mix of our high streets through 'class orders' (i.e. determining the mix of use classes in a given area, e.g. retail, financial, cafes and restaurants etc).
Those of us who feel the issue is important to us could perhaps do one of two things. At the simplest level we can contact our councillors and ask they raise the issue. Or, any that are particularly moved could perhaps get together for a chat and decide to organise to do something.
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Permalink Reply by Glenn Wallis on
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I was interested to note that a "total revamp" of the railway bridge is mentioned. The bridge belongs to Network Rail, have they agreed to the proposal? NR have started repainting some of the rail over major road bridges at the east end of the Barking - Gospel Oak Line and TfL now have a policy of fixing enamel Overground roundel signs to bridges over roads outside Overground stations and I do not think that they would be very keen on anything else being on the bridge once their logo is on it. Of course the final decision would be Network Rail's, but they don't like to upset TfL if they can avoid it.
Glenn, Assistant Secretary, BGOLUG
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