Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Significant Changes Proposed for Harringay in Local Boundaries Review - HAVE YOUR SAY
The Local Government Boundaries Commission (LGBC) has proposed significant changes to the ward boundaries for Harringay.
Currently parts of Harringay are contained within three wards, Harringay, St Ann's and Seven Sisters.
The polling districts map included in Haringey's submission. Harringay Ward is comprised of the 4 'HA' dsitricts, St Anns, of the 4 'ST' ones and Seven Sisters of the 'SS' ones. The full map is online here.
The recently tabled proposals would see the number of Harringay wards reduced by one. Two completely new wards would be created, dividing Harringay into North and south with some non-Harringay adjuncts on the eastern borders. The precise location of the north south divide is unclear at the moment. According to the map in the report (attached below), it would be along the garden fence line between Allison and Hewitt. According to the online map, it would be between Seymour and Warham Roads. (I'll drop a note to the responsible office and check which is correct).
The proposals also see the namer Harringay wiped from the local government map for the first time in 130 years. The northern ward would be Ducketts and the southern one Manor House.
The LGBC gives the following explanation for the mounting of the review:
An electoral review examines and proposes new electoral arrangements for a local authority. A local authority’s electoral arrangements decide:
- How many councillors are needed.
- How many wards or electoral divisions there should be, where their boundaries are and what they should be called.
- How many councillors should represent each ward or division.
When carrying out an electoral review the Commission has three main considerations:
Improving electoral equality by equalising the number of electors that each councillor represents.
- Ensuring that the recommendations reflect community identity.
- Providing arrangements that support effective and convenient local government.
Our task is to strike the best balance between these three considerations when making our recommendations.
The review process started last year. A consultation which ran from the end of November to the start of February invited views on the future. Only 11 submissions were received (including one from yours truly):
- Haringey Council
- Haringey Council Political Groups
- Haringey Labour Party
- Haringey Liberal Democrats
- Local Organisations
- Crouch End Neighbourhood ForumLocal Residents
- Six local residents
- Anonymous
- One submission
This was a predictably very low submission rate. This gives the Council's view undue weight. And, according to the Commission's report it sounds like this is just what happened they've been heavily influenced by the Council's submission, including the removal of the Harringay name from the local electoral map. In the west the Crouch End Forum submission provided an influential counter-weight to the Council. Sadly no organisation made a submission from Harringay.
My view on the proposals is that they do have some merit. The previous set-up used Green Lanes as the dividing line and included parts of areas to the east of Harringay that have little identity or practical unity with our area. My own submission focussed on this aspect.
It is positive that Harringay is now only divided into two wards. The boundaries aren't perfect, but they aren't wholly wrong either. However, I'm unsure about the wisdom of dividing the Ladder in two.
There is now a further consultation period where you can have your say on the proposals. If you do intend to comment (and improve on the 0.003% resident response rate last time), I think it might be helpful if comments relate back to the LGBC's intended objectives, as stated above:
- Ensuring that the recommendations reflect community identity.
- Providing arrangements that support effective and convenient local government.
The full and summary reports are attached below. The consultation runs until 5th August. You can add your comments here.
I'll certainly be objecting to the name for the southern part. It seems daft to use a name for an area that's in Hackney! I can't think why the Council are STILL trying to shed the Harringay name. I'm not sure yet whether I'll comment again on the boundaries themselves: the problem here is that any suggestions made to any one boundary will need to be compensated for somewhere else. So it becomes very tricky.
I would urge you to have a say.
Tags for Forum Posts: boundary review, harringay name, local government boundary review
- Attachments:
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Web_Haringey_Draft_Report_0.pdf, 3.9 MB -
Haringey Summary sm.pdf, 285 KB
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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The proposals were made by Haringey Council. I’ve had it confirmed to me that this is seen at the highest level as a way to design out the marginal nature of Harringay ward.
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Permalink Reply by Zena Brabazon on
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Hi Hugh and Harringay on Line
I sent my letter to the Boundary Commission yesterday, opposing the changes. I want to let people know and will post the letter on HoL. Just giving you the heads up before I go off to my surgery.
Zena
Zena Brabazon
Cllr, Harringay ward
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Thanks Zena. Do you know if either of your less visible colleagues have also made a submission?
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Zena, As a result of an email reply I received from Cllr Sarah James, I looked at Haringey Labour's submission on this. As I'm sure you know, they support the proposals wholesale (and I imagine are the authors).
Given the changes to the Harringay wards, did they not consult you and the other 8 councillors with parts of Harringay in their wards?
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Permalink Reply by Renee on
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Hello
thanks for the discussion! Does anyone know how this will affect the politics? At some point there was a discussion that part of Islington was supposed to become part of Haringey (however renamed) and the effect would have been to pit Diane Abbot and David Lammy against each other and one would have to decide for either/or? Personally I am very happy to have David Lammy as my MP and want to keep it that way, would the boundary changes affect this potentially? It is hard to work out for me how the proposed changes translate on the ground.
Thank you
R
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The overall council boundaries of Islington and Haringey are unchanged, the review is on the disposition of wards within each council area.
There's a separate review of Parliamentary constituencies, which proposes changes to Islington North (Corbyn) and Hackney North & Stoke Newington (Abbott).
The proposed Tottenham constituency boundary is unchanged in the south and middle of the constituency, there's only a change north of Lordship Lane, so anyone in Harringay won't lose Mr Lammy's services.
If you play about with the 'Existing Constituency' and 'Proposed Constituency' toggles on this map you'll see what I mean.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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That’s really useful Gordon, many thanks.
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I’ve just heard from Gina Adamou. She’s confirmed that she has also made a submission.
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Having made my own submission, I've heard back from th LGBC. They said that final recommendations are expected to be published on 3 December.
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In his email to me, the officer gave some information I wanted to check. During the ensuing email exchanges, he mentioned a large number of applications. I asked if he was referring to Haringey or the whole of London. His reply was as follows:
There are three principal areas which attracted large numbers of objections, the Harringay Ladder, Alexandra Park and the Rathcoole Gardens area (in that order of numbers). A few relate to other parts of the Borough.
So, well done Harringay!
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