Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
More Cold Weather stuff from Haringey
The attached briefings for Councillors gives a little more on Haringey's thinking on their approach to responding to this cold snap.
Tags for Forum Posts: grit, snow
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Briefing1WinteMaintenance-1.pdf, 60 KB -
Briefing7Jan2010.pdf, 48 KB
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Elin on
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Does anyone know why at least two of the ladder roads were closed when I walked home from the pub at midnight last night? They had red-and-white tape across them.
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Permalink Reply by matt on
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I spoke to two Safer Transport Team (I think they're called) personnel who were in the 'ladder' area yesterday and told them of the problems on the hilly ladder roads. They may have arranged the closures.
Also asked for Falkland Rd to be gritted as it's meant to be a priority as a school road. They got on their radio to make the request but were told unsurprisingly that low grit supplies were being kept for priority 1 roads.
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Permalink Reply by Stuart on
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There was an orange barrier in the middle of the road at the bottom of Effingham last night - though it wasn't clear if had just been put there by a resident or someone more official. It did seem to do the job of dettering most cars.
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Permalink Reply by AndyBarron on
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I think it was "official" - saw what looked like a council van setting it up about 7ish and then heading off down Green Lanes, presumably to do other roads?
Unsurprisingly though, the barrier only last a short while and before long cars were driving up the road again. This morning I notice that the barrier had been moved and the tape cut. Guess some people think they know better!
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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Seems like all Ladder roads were closed by the Council last night. They now seem to have reopened most of them and put up icy road warning signs - all well and good except when those who brave the conditions slide into parked cars.
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Not sure I get the logic to this decision. The Ladder hill roads are like ice rinks I imagine that well represented amongst those who choose to use them will be those drivers who overestimate their abilities. Young men probably make up a good proportion of that group. And they choose to open the roads again on a Friday night? Like I said, I don't get it.
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I believe that there is discrimination between areas in Haringey, shown clearly on HC's own site. Why should residents in Highgate, Crouch End and Muswell Hill get higher preference than residents in Harringay?
For example, Cholmeley Road in N6 is listed as a Priority 1 road for gritting, as is Cholmeley Crescent. Cholmeley Crescent is a flat road! Neither have bus routes, but do have very wealthy residents.
Cholmeley Road has a salt bin too, as well as getting P1 status, yet there are no grit bins for any of the ladder roads and all are either P2 or P3.
Allison and Hewett Roads in N8 are at least as steep as Cholmeley Road but are listed as P2 roads. We have no salt bins, and haven't even seen a grit van for coming on to two weeks now. Our roads are near on an inch thick in ice in places now. Old people can't get out and about, the policemen we saw earlier on beat fell over when they walked down the road, so the elderly and frail have no chance, and yes, there are plenty of older, and mobility impared folk on our roads who will be house bound.
Should an ambulance, fire engine or police vehicle try to attend any of our homes, they would be unable to, at least on Allison and presumably Hewett too.
Why do HC deem roads in Highgate as higher priority than roads in Harringay? Perhaps we deserve lower levels of service in their mind. Certainly, this is a disgrace in my mind. The end of almost every ladder road is sheet ice onto either Wightman Road or Green Lanes, leaving by car is very dangerous; one must hope the car can stop on sheet ice before crashing into a vehicle on the main road. Ability to leave home and use cars is a must for some of us. Coming back is no fun whatsoever and is indeed near on impossible.
I called HC in the day today and I was assured that all roads in the borough would be gritted when I spoke with HC's front line services. However, they were not. So I have called the out of hours emergency number this evening and have expressed my significant discontent. I have also offered to raise this discrepancy with my MP, councillor, the Chief Exec and North London News, if Haringey do not ensure that their contractor, Enterprise, get to our roads before any longer. Why should we be bound not to use our cars, or to hardly be able to walk down the road without breaking a leg, when others in the borough are able to move freely? Certainly, I drove through roads in Islington this evening, and all but the most minor roads seem to have been regularly gritted. Even the worst roads in Islington have had grit over the past week or so, as they are all pretty easy to drive or walk down. Temperatures were fairly fixed between here and there at least tonight, so Islington can cope, but HC cannot.
I would encourage every resident in the ladder to call HCs out of hours service, and to demand that the gritters visit, or at least leave us regular piles of salt for us to do the gritting ourselves. If we all pester them, maybe we can become P1 too, and maybe we can get the same service that other areas in the borough have had through this cold spell.
The out of hours number that I used for Haringey tonight is 020 8489 0000, as in the main switchboard number, which diverts out of hours.
If anyone needs my reference number from the complaint I have made to HC, I will be happy to supply it.
HCs PDFs on gritting policy, priority classifications, and grit bin locations are published here: http://www.haringey.gov.uk/index/environment_and_transport/roadsand...
I took the liberty of saving these just in case HC see fit to change them by Monday (yes pigs might fly!). I will certainly use these to lodge complaints with all aforementioned parties including the invaluable North London News team on Monday, if we've not been gritted tonight!
Maybe, this subject of discrimination between areas "served" by Haringey Council should be part of a new topic - Hugh, if you see fit to move this post, please feel free. I added it here because it seemed to fit with the subject of bad weather, but to me it is a larger concern in general (Highgate and Muswell Hill get nice flower gardens, better cleaned roads, prettier round-abouts, and higher priority and quality of delivery for almost every civic service that HC provide. This is a mere example of our area being treated as poorer and less worthy cousins in my mind.). -
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Of course you're welcome to start a conversation on the topic Joe. I'd welcome careful consideration of the issue. I imagine if ones looks at where expenditure goes, I wouldn't be surprised to see a greater per capita spend in the eastern part of the borough. This too is supposition, but a discussion supported with empirical evidence would be good.
(In terms of moving conversations, all that Liz and I can do is the same as you - copy and paste). -
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Permalink Reply by alistairj on
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This sign was in place this afternoon and gone this evening - road still extremely icy...
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