Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Another Assault on Our Road Use
Just when you thought Haringey Council's anti-residents parking assault had been beaten back a bit.....
Now the Council intends to spend more money it doesn't have on narrowing the borough's roads - including through routes - and further eliminating space to load, unload and park.
This time, the proposals are characterised as a "Kerbside Strategy". When I last looked, "kerbside" was either "road" and "pavement" separated by a kerb, and sometimes "road" and "verge" likewise.
Now, in a deceptively-worded policy trail in a Commonplace consultation at https://haringeykerbsideandevstrategies.commonplace.is, we are asked to accept that parts of "road" are to be made available available for other uses:
"The kerbside is the space that sits on the road next to the pavement. You might currently find cars, trees, cycle parking, or taxi bays here. Well-designed streets and spaces should benefit everyone, not just a few. We are considering proposals for other kerbside uses such as more trees, planting, car clubs, seating and outdoor eating areas and deliveries. "
The consultation that follows does not ask whether you agree to removing parts of the road for the other uses. It just asks questions as to what one would like to see or prefer for these uses. It also asks you to " Suggest locations for things you would like to see prioritised at the kerbside in Haringey." https://haringeykerbsideandevstrategies.commonplace.is/en-GB/map/Ke...
Some may disagree, but you may want to respond to the survey at Commonplace, and/or to tell your councillors that you do not want any further narrowing of roads or reduction of the limited space currently available for loading and parking in busy parts of the borough. The proposed narrowing at Turnpike Lane is a good example of a costly further restriction in an already slow-moving through road.
NK
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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Mark, thanks for the link.
- "New"
- "Proposals"
- "Announced"
Unfortunately, this says it all!
This is the council all over and especially their big PR Team. Overpromising and either underdelivering—or delivering Net Zero, but not in a good way.
Each time the council makes announcements like this, their credibility slips a notch.
The council might improve public trust and confidence if they would instead announce things that were actually completed and delivered.
Instead, there is an endless diet of jam tomorrow.
The CEO & the Leader could effect such a change immediately, but there is no chance of this happening.
——
(I too have noted China's rapid high speed rail network; an investment in infrastructure and an example of how they are beating the USA. Back to the local: there is not a single example anywhere in Haringey of high-grade cycling infra.)
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Permalink Reply by Mark Williams on
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You might be right about there not being a single example of high-grade cycle infrastructure in Haringey. At first, I thought that claim couldn't possibly be true, but I really can't think of a single example. I can immediately recall several locations in Hackney, Waltham Forest, Islington, Camden (not that these places are cycling paradises either, but certainly ahead of Haringey)
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THE council's heart is just not in it. There are isolated examples of poor, broken, disjointed or unconnected pockets of cycling infra.
My personal favourite is at the corner of Woodstock Road and Stroud Green Road N4 (click to enlarge):
Haringey's border with Islington Borough runs down the middle of Stroud Green Road.
Obviously when facing Islington, Haringey's Highwaymen would want to put their best foot forward and to show off the very best that Highways can do.
The likely reason that the Highwaymen designed and commissioned this nonsense, was in order to place an entry in a spreadsheet to show that £00 or £000 was spent on cycling infrastructure.
I regularly walk past their interchange. I should point out that the road markings have faded since this StreetView screenshot of three years ago.
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It took me a while, but I found a piece of cycle infrastructure in Haringey that I like and is of fairly high quality.
Of course, this example is still completely disjointed and by itself is not part of a proper network.
But I like that it's,
- Visually appealing. Planters and attractive materials are used.
- Well sign-posted with the bollard signs
- Easy to see at night due to nearby street lights
- Just about wide enough for cargo bikes (maybe could do with being a bit wider)
- Not blocked by street furniture or car parking
- Not a shared space with pedestrians
- Efficient and direct. I have noticed a trend where even new bike infrastructure includes annoying bends, like this section of CS1, recently changed by Islington Council, which is now much more awkward to use as a cyclist.
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Mark, I agree, though it appears to be only two or three metres in length. At first I thought your Cleveland Gardens image was of the similar but slightly longer cycle route at the north end of Warwick Gardens.
The Warwick Gardens site is improved from my screenshot today of Google imagery from 2014 (below). Then, it featured fabulous card-operated, electric rising-and-falling bollards. By happy co-incidence ;-), a former one-time council leader lived in the road.
At both locations the cycling infrastructure is attractive, but tiny pockets in the council's overarching commitment to the car. In line with PM Starmer, Haringey Council is much on the side of the motorist.
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