Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Who are "Healthy Streets St Ann's"?
Shortly before the consultation on the St Ann's LTN closed, I - and presumably others in my street - received a leaflet through the door from a group called "Healthy Streets St Ann's", urging residents to vote for Option A (the more draconian road closures) in the Council's LTN proposals. The leaflet is well-designed, typeset and properly printed; it doesn't appear to have been knocked-up hastily on somebody's PC and printer. There's also a professional-looking website, so presumably there's some finance behind this pressure group, which says it's "a community group set up by residents in 2019".
The one thing neither the leaflet nor the website do is to identify anyone involved as initiating, leading or steering the group, and the only contact information is a gmail address. Obviously, campaigning for something is fine, but without any indication as to who's actually behind it, it lays the campaign open to suspicion that it may not be what it says it is - in fact, unlikely though it seems, it could even be a Council initiative disguising itself as a grassroots movement, rather than the independent entity it says it is. I've no memory of being consulted about the group's creation or membership in 2019, or being asked to join (albeit that I might have missed something), so I wonder which community it represents? Is it two people and a web-designer? Is it a mere handful of the 15,895 residents of St Ann's ward or is it a substantial number?
I'd be very surprised if those involved aren't also members of HoL, so perhaps they'd like to identify themselves now? I realise personal safety is important - nobody wants to be trolled or harassed, and I'm not suggesting anyone gives details that would open them up to this. But in assessing the merits or demerits of a campaign group's arguments, it adds credence to the pitch if the recipient knows a) who's making it and b) that they're not something other than what they purport to be.
So - if you're there, Healthy Streets St Ann's, who are you?
Tags for Forum Posts: low traffic neighbourhoods, st anns ltn, traffic
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Brian Mahoney on
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You're right to ask, Don. I'm not saying it's the case in this instance but often when you scratch below the surface of these 'community' groups you find the red flags of marxism and other subversive groups. Black Lives Matter, Extinction Rebelllion and Insulate UK are all examples of this. They espouse admirable goals which no reasonable person would object to in order to suck people in and then expose them to extremist views. The fact that some of the usual suspects on this forum who seek to censure any non left wing views have piled onto your post means you're probably onto something.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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Permalink Reply by Sarah on
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Yes I guess I do subscribe to the extremist views that black lives matter and climate change is bad. Is it left wing to think so? Does that make right wingers racist climate change deniers?
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I rest my case...
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Well you could do if you had one
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Insert same childish emoticon here...
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Well, you did ask
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In theory I am a member of the group in that I follow their Facebook page and am in their WhatsApp group, though I have never attended a meeting. I just agree with their aims
Instead of viewing it as "Draconian road closures" why not think of it as "more inclusive road layouts"?
As disabled resident who along with 60% of my neighbours doesn't drive I would welcome the changes proposed in Option A.
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To answer some of the points...
Yes, my name really is Don.
I have no relevant affiliations or external memberships to declare, other than that I live in St Ann’s.
Michael - Thank you for the list of links; I’d looked at the website and saw the e-mail address, I hadn’t seen Facebook or the fundraising pages. The (now superseded) HoL link doesn’t open properly on my computer.
I’ve most recently commented (along with Michael A) on both the St Ann’s LTN and the borough’s wider traffic problems in this HoL thread (which I didn’t start) - https://harringayonline.com/forum/topics/st-ann-s-ltn-aka-pedestria...
My point here was that most campaigning organisations - such as Greenpeace, Liberty, The Good Law Project - charities, political parties and others identify themselves in publicity with information on their background and direction or structure, because it puts their views in context, and I wondered why Healthy Streets St Ann’s didn’t. In contrast, for example, Living Streets (an organisation with very similar aims and objectives, and not unknown to HoL members), lists its trustees on its website.
The comments on the print and website were not meant to be derogatory but observations that the level of professionalism suggests the group is on a par with - for instance - the organisations mentioned above, but little information about it was available.
I don’t think a degree of scepticism about organisations is unwarranted: not very long ago, many HoL members suggested that “personal” letters from people promoting Nextdoor in Harringay as an ostensibly community-based online forum (supposedly like HoL) were actually cover for a marketing campaign seeking to monetise personal information. They maintained that Nextdoor wasn’t what it seemed, but let people make up their own minds whether to join.
So what I was calling for was transparency about people who were lobbying for a specific outcome to a Council consultation and seeking to influence the result. It’s not very different from sending out campaign literature in an election, and I’d suggest it's always helpful to know who’s asking for your vote.
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Hi Don, I’m a St Ann’s resident and member of Healthy Streets St Ann’s. We are a group of residents interested in improving street space in the local area, making it safer for kids to play and walk and cycle to school and improving air quality. We are very open to new members and post about meetings on social media. I’m not the most active member but really happy to try and answer any other questions you might have.
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Hi there
I am a member of the group and my wife was one of the cofounders. I think the group has over 100 members, maybe quite a few more than that now. I can claim credit for building the website - although to be honest we’re talking a very small amount of time and money. In comparison to the time given up by the rest of the group it was nothing - my wife probably spends 10+ hrs a week on voluntary local campaigning.
This is my LinkedIn profile - unfortunately I can’t claim to be a professional web developer or undercover agent. Just an accountant…
The wider group is very diverse, and is genuinely just local people who really care about active travel, the environment and people’s health.
For my own mental health I tend to avoid getting drawn into online debate, so apologies in advance if I don’t reply to any follow up questions.
Hope that helps
Michael
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