Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Black Boy Lane Update
Apologies if this has been posted before.
This evening at the Council's Corporate Committee, there was an attempt by Joe Ejiofor, and others to ignore the resident consultation outcome and reinstate the proposal to rename Black Boy Lane. No final decision was taken.
The committee meeting could be viewed online. This item was the final item on the agenda discussed. I don't yet have a link to the video.
Tags for Forum Posts: blackboy lane name change
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Will on
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Given that it was at the time a 'Momentum' Council, the blame must surely fall at Jeremy's door.
He is, after all, Labour's Christmas Tree of Guilt.
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I'm astounded that this is still being considered. It's not the poor consulting or insufficient compensation package that people rejected; it was the very idea that a name change was necessary or even desirable. You have to look hard, with deliberate intent and with a very specific mindset to find any problem with the name of the road. No reasonable person is genuinely offended by Black Boy Lane and in the event that someone can be found who is (It is Haringey after all) then there is no obligation to pander to them..a minority, within a minority, within a minority. Apply that logic to other aspects of life and the stupidity is clear.
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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In May 2022 there are London borough local elections.
Haringey's ward boundaries have changed. There's been substantial population movement. For the usual reasons; and because of Brexit and Covid. Also due to significant new house and flat building. There are likely to be some pleasant and/or nasty surprises for anyone relying on bagging a "safe" Council seat.
For some years, my advice has been to meet councillors and candidates. Ask them questions. Then vote as far as possible for the people you want. So six months to begin speaking to your friends and neighbours. Change is possible.
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Sound advice.
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Black Boy Lane Renaming Letter 6 Dec 2021
Here we go again. Letter dated 06 Dec 2021 pushing yet another consultation hoping for a different answer.
Despite 75% of Black Boy Lane resident respondents of all ethnic backgrounds being against this, the Peoples Republic of Haringey look to push this down our throats until we just get so fed up with it we give up.
The only People that I have found that have made any comment when I have quoted my address have been white people. This appears to be driven by people who have deep-rooted prejudice and want to force this change this on everyone.
I am fed up. I am considering moving or prison for non payment of council tax.
This is certainly not democracy as I have been led to believe it should be.
Beware, it could be your life being messed with next!
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Why assume that this is "pushing yet another consultation hoping for a different answer?"
Instead of making a (once funny) 1980's joke about"the People's Republic of Haringey" why not take a look at what's actually going on now. Which appears to be a genuine attempt to find ways through this issue which build bridges; not further dividing communities.
A much wider issue, of course, which is also being posed in every city and every country where people are making honest attempts to learn, re-learn and face their histories.
Another small but important point. I suggest that local residents affected insist that this will be a consultation of the residents affected. And not the weasel word "engagement" used by Haringey for some years.I assume it may have been a device to get round the Supreme Court's decision setting out how consultation should be conducted. Haringey's well deserved and costly tell-off was one of the achievements of the late Reverend Paul Nicolson.
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If the council people were genuine about engaging with or consulting residents, they might do well to ask residents to suggest a new name for the road.
Of course, there is no categorical evidence that points to colonial/racist etc origins for the name Black Boy Lane (not that I've yet heard, anyway), but also some evidence to suggest otherwise (the "Charles II" hypothesis).
The council would do better to suggest a more neutral name, such as, say, Chestnuts Lane. By suggesting La Rose Lane they are presenting their assertion of the street name's problematical origins as established fact. This is by no means the case.
Their divisive approach could easily have been avoided.
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Interestingly, Haringey originally cited Cecil Rhodes House in Camden as a favourable example of a similar re-naming project then in progress. However, even though Camden Council promoted various alternative names in memory of people from a BAME background, this summer the residents instead chose Park View House for themselves — a neutral name, which was reported locally as reflecting the fact that most of the tenants either didn’t care about or had never even heard of Rhodes, and that they actually preferred their home to have an aspirational name. In the extensive previous thread here on this topic, more than one poster reasoned that in a borough as diverse as Haringey there might just be a few other backgrounds to consider for a new name (such as Turkish, Greek, Kurdish, Irish, Cypriot....) as well as the ones mandated by the Council, so a neutral or geographical name looks far and away the best answer.
Mind you, I also doubt it cost anything like the £180,000 the Council intends to spend on BBL re-naming (“from existing budgets”, so clearly housing, homelessness and social services have all been dealt with) to change a few name plates on a council block in Camden.
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The changing of a street name is more complicated than just a building name that still has the same street and building number.
The post office, the utilities companies, all legal documents that quote the address, street maps, road signs and all the related hassle with the residents for banks, store cards, credit cards, on line registrations etc. are impacted by this change.
My reference to the Peoples Republic of Haringey, was from someone who lived in the area in the 1980s, and I used to think it rather unfair. I am starting to think that they may have a point.
However we, the residents, had been given the impression that the issue had been put to bed, with an overwhelming rejection of the principle by the residents of Black Boy Lane.
Having seen the various reports that were issued earlier in the year, it was clear that, had the hierarchy not changed, the council officers planned to ride roughshod over the consultation process.
The name of the Road predates the rise in the Slave Trade in northern Europe and has no relationship to race. Where as names like Kitchener, Mafeking and other similar names do reflect on the British colonial past, of which we need to put into an appropriate historical context.
I am just fed up with the whole bloody thing that are council initiatives that only seem to make our life more difficult. Has anyone seen the traffic flow on Green Lanes in the evening rush hour. I always found it quicker to walk from Manor House to the Salisbury than take public transport from the 1980s to the present day. These roads are only going get worse with the "traffic management" measures that have a history of making things worse rather than better. I can go through loads of such examples.
I am just finding that the way in which these things are pushed is demoralising and sooner or later we will give up the fight, the racially and politically biased members of this council will win. I could then have to completely review my love of the area and London, and consider an alternative living location.
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The only divisive thing is the attempt to change the name.
There is nothing about it which could be construed as offensive by any reasonable person. If an unreasonable person pretends to be offended in order to progress some kind of critical race theory agenda then we should ignore them. The minority within a minority within a minority should not be allowed to tamper with our local history and culture. There's always someone who'll be offended by something. Doesn't mean we have to listen to them. It would be different if the road was named after Saville, King Leopold or someone of that nature.
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