Over 100 Attend Harringay Public Traffic Meeting

Over 100 locals attended last night's public meeting about traffic in Harringay. The meeting was led by Cllr. Stuart MacNamara who holds the brief for traffic across the borough as part of his Environment cabinet post. He was joined by the key officers from Haringey's traffic team, including Head of Traffic Ann Cunningham.

The unusually high level of attendance was, I'm sure, testament to the severity of the traffic issue we all face. 

A meeting that many expected to be fractious and chaotic was led with a firm hand by Cllr McNamara. By starting with an acknowledgment of the range of feelings brought to the room and managing things effectively to allow ample opportunity for all to be heard, McNamara not only soothed frayed nerves, but also succeeded in running what is almost without doubt the best run public meeting I have attended in this area in over 20 years.

The primary aim of the meeting was to start a process which will review the flow of traffic in  Harringay - described by Cllr Macnamara as having the densest traffic flow in the borough. At this stage the Haringey team's goal was to outline the aims of the project and to get a broad grass roots view of the issues involved.

We heard from residents from all parts of the neighbourhood, including The Ladder, The Gardens, the Woodland Park Area and Hermitage Road/Harringay Warehouse District. By and large the contributions were measured and free from vitriol. As well as hearing about residents' traffic woes, speakers shared potential solutions which included more radical ones such as closing off Wightman Road and looking at re-opening existing closures.

As the meeting began, Cllr MacNamara fed back what he thought he'd already heard prior to the meeting and summed it up by saying that his sense of the local feeling on the issue was a demand for equity. The verbal and non-verbal reactions to this around the room, suggested that he'd hit the nail on the head.

The project MacNamara and the team are embarking on will look at long and medium term solutions, but he also made a commitment to consider short-term solutions to address pleas by locals who consider that their plight cannot wait.

Whilst the process has not yet been mapped out, a commitment was made to connect with every local group who wants to take part and to provide a method to give voice to those not currently represented by a formal group. A series of workshops seems likely to be a key part of the process and we were assured that data would form the backbone of any decision making.

The next step we are all likley to see is a report back from last night's meeting with a clear route map of the way forward. However this is likely to be somewhat delayed. With the general election campaign proper starting next week, councils across the country will be hobbled by election purdah. MacNamara suggested that we're likely to hear more in about six weeks or so. 

I've saved you feeling obliged to sit and listen to two hours of recorded meeting, but I did try and capture Cllr Macnamara's closing comments. Whilst they may not communicate the key messages of the evening, they do perhaps reflect something of the tone of the meeting. (Note the applause at the end!)

I'd like to close by stepping to one side and adding a personal note. My thanks to Cllr MacNamara for finally taking on this troublesome issue, just one year into his new role. It is almost without doubt the issue that has burnt most fiercely in Harringay for at least the last fifteen years. For too long reasonable voices have not been heard. It's high time they were. Last night was a promising start; whilst it would have been impossible to expect everyone to have left the room feeling completely reassured, MacNamara's open style and firm hand on the tiller did mean that most people seem to sense that at last there is a chance for change and for an equitable and effective traffic solution for Harringay.