Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Removal of traffic barrier on Eade Road!
Yesterday I walked up Eade Road going towards Seven Sisters Road and I was horrified to see that Haringey Council have removed the traffic barrier that has been there for many years and looks like they are now planning to allow traffic to come through again! (See attached photo)
If this is their intention to allow two-way traffic to go along Eade Road again I am very upset and concerned. The reason it was put up all those years ago was because drivers were treating it as a "rat race" between Seven Sisters Road and Green Lanes, and there is no reason to suggest they won't again - the half dozen "token speedbumps" they've installed on the Seven Sisters Road side only annoys drivers more which means they accelerate between and after them, just as they hit the residential section of the street (see attached photo), and motorcyclists just ignore them by riding along the edge of the road, barely slowing down (personally witnessed twice myself this morning, before 9am on a Saturday)!
There is also nothing to stop drivers from speeding between the now-open barrier and where Eade Road meets Hermitage Road, an area that is populated by many elderly people and young families with children, not to mention those with cats and other pets (see attached photo).
Another issue is that the traffic is regularly backed up along Hermitage Road to where Eade Road meets Hermitage, because of the traffic lights - this is going to mean that Eade Road is going to be full of vehicles waiting for the lights to change to allow those on Hermitage Road to go before they do.
I have been away for the last few weeks, which is why I've only just seen the works - however, as a resident, I don't remember seeing *any* paperwork or information from the Council about their intention. I do remember then doing a traffic consultation last year where I and many other residents objected strongly to the removal of the barrier because of health and safety reasons.
This has really upset me, because allowing traffic to race down Eade Road again will not only pose significant threat to the safety of people and animals (both pets and local wildlife from the New River which flows alongside the road) but will also ruin the neighbourhood as many of the residents here spend time outside the front of their houses talking to each other - something that will no longer be possible if it's choked up with traffic fumes - and will hit the elderly residents particularly hard.
In addition, the state of the pavement on Eade Road on the even-numbered side is appalling - the council replaced all the pavement on the odd-numbered side a while ago then just left the other side in ruin, full of pot-holes, broken paving and uneven surfaces, which poses a safety risk for the elderly those with balance/coordination difficulties and increases the risk of a trip or fall. It also makes it extremely difficult for those in wheelchairs or with pushchairs to use (see photo attached).
Adding to that the amount of overgrown foliage on properties blocking the pavement, vehicles packed half on the pavement and things like wheelie bins blocking the pavement, walking on the road is often the only way to get to where you're going - something which is going to be extremely dangerous if the level of traffic is increased so hugely.
I feel really, really strongly about this issue, but I have no idea what I or anyone else can do about it. The barrier looks set to open this Monday and I am just so upset at the thought of having our safe, friendly neighbourhood ruined!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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Seems very strange. It certainly looks like they're making the road more open. But, given the known sensitivities to traffic in Harringay, it's difficult to believe they'd do this with no consultation. Contact your councillor, Sharon.
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Permalink Reply by Sharon on
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That's a good idea - not done in before but will have a look online to see how to go about doing this. Will also be around on Monday when the sign at the barrier said the works are due to finish, so will see what happens then. Thanks!
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BTW Hermitagers, I found out recently that most of the triangle of land bounded by Seven Sisters Road, St Anns Rd/St Ann's Hospital and Green Lanes was originally built up as the Hermitage Estate. That term was certainly in use for some years in the local press, but I don't know when it fell out of use.
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I don't know too much about the development of the residential parts of that bit of Harringay. When I was doing the Harringay history articles for Wikipedia in 2007, I added a paragraph from a book by Harriet Couchman (Mrs. J.W. Couchman) from her book Reminiscences of Tottenham published in 1909. As I learned at Bruce Castle a few weeks ago, she got a few things muddled up but it gives a nice flavour of the area before development.
One of the things she muddled was the home and name of Mr Sangiorgi. He lived in The Hermitage and not Vale House. As my article of a couple of weeks back relayed, he brought a bit of glamour to Harringay when he married the widow of Auguste Kettner of Kettner's Restaurant.
A big slice of the land was sold for development in 1890 (incidentally the auctioneer was the husband of Harriet Couchman. I think the development was just part of the bigger picture of development in the area. No particular link to Maynards as far as I'm aware.
Hackney & Kingsland Gazette, 25 June 1890
Within a decade the area was being referred to as the Hermitage Estate:
The Times, July 28 1905
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Thank you Peter, really appreciate you replying. I've spoken with some of my neighbours today and it seems a few houses received a letter with information a couple of months ago, but many of us didn't. One of my neighbours has resorted to going up to the workers and directly asking them what's going on to find out, though she let me know that there was a space marked out for the central bollard to be installed (which I'm guessing will be one that can be raised or lowered, as you say to let emergency services through).
Will drop you a message with my email address - and thanks again!
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Permalink Reply by Tina on
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I am very concerned to hear about this happening. It was bad enough 20 years ago before the barriers went up getting out of Hermitage into Green Lanes and the road being driven down like it was Santa Pod. Please say that this barrier removal is temporary and will go back up as it will be very stressful taking the car out once people get wind of it being a cut through .
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I've spoken with a couple of my neighbours on Eade Road and it seems that in the middle of the barriers that have already been installed there is a space marked out to install a post that can be raised or lowered to let emergency services through from one end to the other, which was a huge relief to hear!
I'm just amazed at how many people had no idea what was going on - I've been away for work quite a lot over the last few months so thought I might have missed something, but no-one I spoke to received any information through the door and only found out about it secondhand from people who spoke directly to the workers (though apparently a few houses did receive a leaflet through their door a couple of months ago but it sounds like not all houses were given this information).
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The first we have heard of anything is you putting it out there today. We walked round there earlier and it all looks very nice apart from the barrier missing in the middle.
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Permalink Reply by Alfred Jahn on
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Well done for flagging! I noticed this too and was also very concerned though not living on Eade Road. These traffic barriers are necessary and a blessing for local residents and should not be removed under any circumstances! I have spoken to Haringey Council many times and asked them to look into regulating the traffic in this area better with very little (sensible) responses. Sad.
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Permalink Reply by Rory on
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Interesting to see the consternation when Eade Road might possibly become a bit more like the Ladder and maybe take a tiny percentage of traffic away from the hundreds of thousands of cars we get every week because all the roads around Hermitage and the Gardens have been closed off... Cars are great, as long as they don't go down *our* street. (Sorry for the trolling, but one of the main reasons we on the Ladder get so much traffic and pollution is so you can have your quiet streets.)
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Hermitage Rd also has factories so not only were there cars racing down it there were also huge lorries sometimes one after the other, trying to get out of Hermitage Rd onto Green Lanes is not for the faint Hearted when a lorry is trying to pull into from Green Lanes.
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Could you share that, Peter? Sounds interesting. Especially as Eade Road has been closed for years. I’m very happy to comment on the knock on effect. It’s disgusting and detrimental to my health. I lived on Falkland for years and we’re wioken up nightly by the HGVs that you now avoid. It goes back to the discussion we’ve been having for years. Hermitage Road and the surroundings and the Gardens were closed with no investigation into the impact on the Ladder and now you’re up in arms that you may get a taste of the Ladder’s current traffic problems. A bit NIMBY. But I guess we’re all NIMBYs at heart.
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