Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
We the residents decided to reopen the roads, says Council
How about this for damned cheek. The latest councillors' briefing explains that the Ladder roads were closed last night (Thursday) at the request of the police. It goes on to say that they've been reopened this evening (Friday) after consultation with the residents.
Has anyone been consulted?
See full briefing attached,
Has anyone been consulted?
See full briefing attached,
Tags for Forum Posts: grit, gritting, ice, snow
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Briefing_8January.pdf, 47 KB
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by james walsh on
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Grrr.
Them pesky council folk !
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Permalink Reply by Steve Hatch on
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Bit cheeky! I'd be in trouble for that sort of thing, under the misdescriptions act.
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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Indeed you would be Steve. I've just learned that what they describe as a consultation was apparently "lots of emails to the highways department". I'm sorry but I don't give that much credence. I find it highly unlikely that lots of people know Highways email address let alone would be moved to email them direct about this issue.
At this stage that part of the briefing strikes me as inaccurate. What's not clear to me though is why they should put out such a story. Any ideas?
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Emails defintely from residents or from people who just drive through?
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Not sure actually - just "e-mails" but I assume residents since it's what they used to justify the description of "consultation". Definitely worth our following up on to see if we can find out what happened.
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Permalink Reply by Henry North on
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Its the usual council hogwash
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It's the usual consultation process for Haringey - do what they like and say that they asked someone, somewhere, in a vague kind of way ;-)
Difficult for them to consult with anyone to be fair though, but it seems pretty standard from Haringey to be so fickle as to close and open a road within a few hours, while it's still dangerous, impossible to get from one end to the other, and while they still haven't gritted to even attempt to improve the situation.
I didn't actually know our road was closed - it was open yesterday morning but impossible to drive up, even in a 4x4, so it may as well have been closed to all but those who need to crawl along to a safe(ish) parking spot. I took the tube in to town, and it was very tricky walking down the hill in very sturdy walking boots. I didn't see the "in" end of our road at GL as it's over the hill from us this morning, but dug my car out as I needed to use it. I managed to get onto Wightman with a bit of help from very slow driving (and careful braking). Happily, Wightman was abnormally empty even though it was perfectly ice free. I did see all the "down" ladder roads en-route towards Finsbury Park had some very make shift closed or "diversion" signs up, and I assumed that these were erected by residents rightly wanting to warn the usual through traffic, as they were pretty unprofessional looking, although after seeing so many, started to think they might have been official - certainly wasn't going to try getting down any of them anyway given the state of our road! Coming home tonight, I saw that the roads were open with slippery surface warning signs (where do they dig this wording out from, should have been more like “don’t even bother”, and people were trying to use the flatter ones. There was also a fire engine along Wightman, so I hope nothing was too wrong there, but guess that someone might have got a car stuck or something.
We had a very small quantity of very old grit (I see why it might be called rock salt, as it really is a rock now, and needs a hammer to return it to grit), and my wife sprinkled some down at the very end, so I could tuck my car in on our road (wrong way, yes, I admit this may seem to be becoming a bit of a habit, but I was moving slowly, and there wasn't a lot of choice ;-)). Managed to get just past a disabled space, and stopped there before traction was finally lost. It’s amazing what some grit can do – imagine, if they actually put some down, then we could all move about in safety, rather than slip, slide and have mobility impaired folk left house-bound!
As far as I can see, if roads are hilly sheets of ice, where people are apparently crashing into parked cars, and with people falling on their back sides as they slip and slide, then it is irresponsible to leave the road open, or to re-open it if it was closed. There is no point in this road being called "open" for sure, given that it's completely impossible to get from one end to the other. There isn't even any point in trying, so slippery surface signs are frankly a very bad joke.
Roads in this condition are dangerous. They shouldn’t be left in this state, and it’s outrageous that they even got this bad, so come on Haringey, start thinking clearly, show the ladder some salt. Stop wasting time putting both stupid and misleading signs up when it’s plain for anyone to see that these roads are impassable and need to have the ice cleared for both cars and pedestrians to use, and stop pretending that you consulted with anyone that lives here!
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One of our builders pointed out that there are some large yellow council type bins with rock salt in them near Turnpike Lane.
Is it worth contacting the council and posting a list of their locations on here?
Some willing and able residents could fill a few buckets and apply to a stretch of pavement near their homes, especially outside elderly or less abled neighbours houses etc. (obviously we won't get the whole Ladder done) but it might reduce the topples and visits to A&E.
I would be happy to do a few runs on Monday/Tuesday and drop some off to residents if we all get a bit of organisation going... I can imagine it could be quite fun in a 'stiff upper lip' kind of way.
I have a shovel in my car and I am happy to sponsor the cost of a couple of dozen buckets too!
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Permalink Reply by Justin Guest on
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This links to the council's web site and indicates where grit bins can be found.
http://www.haringey.gov.uk/index/environment_and_transport/roadsand.... It looks like there is only one in the whole N4 area! Also given is a phone number to request one is placed where you suggest. I did this a few days ago for Pemberton, Lets see this time next year if I got lucky... Tel 020 8489 5637 or 020 8489 3266
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Thanks for that useful link, I know from the builder that the turnpike lane ones were fairly full.
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Permalink Reply by Malcolm on
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This is clearly mad - either the road is passable and safe, in which case it should be open, or it isn't in which case it should be shut.
Whether or not there were emails to the council should have absolutely nothing to do with it.
Can someone get onto the highways department and find out what assessment they've done before re-opening the roads?
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