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 Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) on
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"have Wood Green car traffic go up and down Wightman"
William, by 'car traffic' do you mean every wheeled vehicle that isn't a bus or cycle ?
"Just thinking aloud..."
I see. Over here on Wightman we'd suggest thinking in the faintest of whispers or in the most invisible of ink. We'd also suggest you have a very fast getaway car with engine running, just to accompany your thinking.
No smiley face intended. We've been here before, methinks.
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Permalink Reply by William Booth on
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Well, that's what I'm wondering - what has been proposed/investigated properly before? I live on St Ann's Road at a point where car traffic is very fast and would like to see the speed come down, but I recognise that there could probably be more traffic flow if need be (though not while the road is up south of Seven Sisters Road of course). I know the ladder folk are very touchy about traffic but is it really that different if the same volume goes up and down Green Lanes/Wightman in a more even split? I'm not being arsey, I genuinely would like to know what the reasons Wightman is less suitable as a through road are.
Obviously the real answer (as to so many of London's problems) is a substantial reduction in car and lorry traffic in London (like 1/3 or more). But I can't see any politician being brave enough to stand on that platform until we are in a situation like Mexico City.
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Ha, no, as pointed out above I live on St Ann's Road. I use Wightman a fair bit on my bike. What strikes me as the main problem though is not volume of traffic but speed of traffic and too many HGVs. Having said that, that's from limited anecdotal experience and I've no idea what the figures are.
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great news! well done to all involved and thanks for your hard work
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Permalink Reply by JulieB on
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Yes well done Rob, really great to get some investment into the area!
Some of the shop fronts look terrible and really uncared for, as well as some of the flats above them - like we saw when the top of one of them fell onto the street a few months ago!
I too would worry about any widening of the pavements, traffic flow is obviously really bad now so any more restrictions on road must be a bad idea.
Hugh - on the model it looks like GL would be single lane both ways and the bus lanes removed - so is this plan tided in with the traffic control plans that you posted a while ago?
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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It's certainly thinking that comes from the same stable and the practical implications need working through.
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Permalink Reply by ElleCarumba on
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Good to get the money and the proposals for the bridge and trees and general street furniture issues look promising. I hope they sort out some of the general clutter from signage and street furniture and improve the pavements as well.
But should private businesses really get money to improve their shop fronts? And the slum landlords cash to bring their properties above the shops into line with the safety standards that should be legally enforced anyway?
What incentive is there for a business to invest and take care of its shop frontage if their neighbour who can't be bothered/is far too tight then gets a whopping 80pc subsidy from the council to improve their shop?
And how do the businesses who get the money to improve their shops fronts get chosen and how transparent will the process be? The potential for various influential local business people to get their slice of the pie seems very high.
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Permalink Reply by Arkady on
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Though I welcome this news, I tend to agree with your point Elle. Planning, and enforcement should have prevented the shop fronts getting into such a mess in the first place. If public money is spent on restoration then owners of those properties should be legally bound to properly maintain them in future.
I note that Harringay is not a conservation area – has there ever been a move to establish one? Green Lanes and the ladder are a splendid example of late Victorian architecture and should be preserved.
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I think if the shop fronts are being tarted up then it might be an ideal time to start pushing for this. You're absolutely right, there are plenty of wonderful period examples around the area.
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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What happens if a shop front is " tarted up " and then the business changes hands ? Can the new owner / lessee be obliged to maintain the new aesthetic style, or will they just revert to an eye-catching fluorescent poundshop frontage ?
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Those rules can be built into the conservation area guidance. Enforcement is another matter. One of the reasons that I am interested in setting up a Neighbourhood Forum (on my side of the tracks, Stroud Green) is the potential to give that guidance a) democratic legitimacy and b) legal standing.
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