Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Proposals to strip councils of absolute power in street renaming
Street artist/graffiitist is not in favour (image via @vivyouvell).
Double-checking some of my historical research to meet a publication deadline, I happened across a paper by Policy Exchange contributor, British-Ethiopian, Zewditu Gebreyohanes.
Protecting local heritage: How to bring democracy to the renaming of local streets (attached below) considers how streeet naming is currently imposed on neighbourhoods in what is very often a heavy-handed top-down process. Haringey's Black Boy Lane incident is considered. She concludes with some proposed amendments to legislation.
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Protecting-local-heritage-21.pdf, 3.3 MB
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by David Clark on
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That looks interesting. I would also be interested to know how new buildings are named. So for example in Haringey Rosa Luxemburgh House has recently opened, with Walter Tull House to follow. I have no issues with these names in themselves but would be interested to know who decides the names of new buildings and on what basis. Does anyone know ?
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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I suspect that building names like house names are, in effect, a private matter. I suppose whether the council chooses to seek local views on them is another matter altogether.
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The mention of Black Boy Lane is below. It's a simple but devastating critique of the moronic agenda of one man with too much power and shows clearly why the law does need to change to stop this sort of thing happening ever again. Uncle Joe Ejiofor, where are you now?
"Haringey’s Black Boy Lane attracted publicity in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests because of the—erroneous—assumption that its name was a reference, nowadays considered derogatory, to men of African or Caribbean heritage. In reality, the street is thought to have been named this, centuries ago, after either King Charles II (so-called due to his swarthy complexion) or after local chimney sweeps, who earned this nickname across the UK (as did mine labourers) because of the blackened faces their profession gave them.
In spite of this, Councillor Joseph Ejiofor, the Labour Leader of Haringey Council, has claimed that “changing the name of this road is [the] first step” towards “eradicating racism, prejudice and discrimination”.
The proposal has experienced significant push-back by locals for a number of reasons. Several Black Boy Lane residents of ethnic minority origin have opposed the name change on the grounds that, contrary to the council’s official statement, they do not find the name offensive; indeed, even a Labour Councillor (Eldridge Culverwell, who is of Zimbabwean descent) has denounced the move as “nonsense” and has argued that renaming the street could even be counter-intuitive as it could give rise to the belief that “all Black things are bad”.
Haringey Council received a deputation in December 2020 from two residents on Black Boy Lane, Anna Taylor and Ian Jackson-Reeves, who raised the following key points, among others: that the council had not undertaken a thorough consultation, with the first phase of consultation limited to a single letter sent to residents during the summer “which a number of residents did not receive due to some people’s addresses being missed off the list”;30that the council had failed “to engage with residents who were elderly or otherwise hard to reach”; that in focussing around “ideology” the council had given “insufficient consideration” to the “practical realities” of the name change, including the “time and effort” required for residents to change their address everywhere it has been listed, especially given the consideration that “most people worked long hours and did not have the time to undertake the various tasks involved”; and that the money required to facilitate the name change could be put to far better use “supporting those most in need”.
Ironically, La Rose’s family has also objected to the use of his name on the street, whilst the George Padmore Institute of which La Rose was Founding Chairman released the following statement: “We feel the renaming proposal, in the way it has been conceived and is being carried out, is not one which John himself would have supported, nor is it in tune with his vision of the importance of people having access to and knowledge of all their history so that they can then make their own independent judgements. It is clear that the renaming proposal was not serious because (a) John La Rose’s closest family and friends were not consulted in advance, and (b) the biographical note presented to residents about who John La Rose was, and why he should be honoured in this way, was flimsy, shoddy and tokenistic. We also understand that there is a considerable cost in changing the name of a road and we feel that, at a time like this, when there are so many other more urgent calls on the Council’s finances, it is inappropriate to be spending money in this way.”
In spite of all this, Haringey Council has persisted with the street renaming proposal and on 15th January 2021 announced that “phase two of the consultation is open for a period of approximately of [sic] 5 weeks from Friday 15 Jan to Friday 19 February. The council has written directly to residents of Black Boy Lane who have been asked to consider ‘La Rose Lane’ as an alternative name”. No estimate of the costs that would be incurred as a direct result of the renaming—including the costs to residents of updating their addresses on all official documents—was disclosed anywhere in the council’s public statements on the proposed name change or in the online consultation survey. The council’s lack of transparency, combined with its seeming unwillingness to respond to the concerns of those who will be affected by the name change, highlights some of the issues surrounding street name alteration. Somewhat tellingly, and to the frustration of locals, the council removed some street signs in January even though the consultation on whether the street name should go ahead was ostensibly open until 19th February 2021.This raises questions as to the council’s commitment to upholding the wishes of locals."
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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I wonder how this would work. When I was in planning I briefly took over the street naming and numbering service for Camden Council while the person who usually did it was on maternity leave. The emergency services asked us to consider renaming one of the dozens of streets called Camden something or other as it was causing real confusion when they did call outs. In the end it didn’t happen but I can’t imagine two third of residents would have agreed to the change because of the inconvenience to them even though it would have been a positive benefit to Police, the Fire Service and Ambulances.
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Unless the roads literally had the same name surely that problem could be solved with better training for the emergency services and dispatch teams.
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The problem is when they get an incomplete call, but be sure to pass on your thoughts to the relevant authorities
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That's a universal problem.
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True, but ‘There’s a fire a 250 Pemberton…’ is a lot easier to track down than ‘There’s a fire a 250 Camden…’
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22-year old right wing think tanker writes a short piece to counter the prevailing trend at the time. A culture warrior.
Legatum Institute? Policy Exchange? Restore Trust? This young woman is employed to write and promote dog whistle pretend policy. Best ignored.
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A little thought about the source and motivation of the piece renders 'analysis' a bit redundant. At least the post's title is in keeping though.
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