Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Our track record in Harringay
Hi everyone,
With the local election soon upon us, I have been reflecting on the past four years of service as your local councillor.
Zena and I have made a dynamic team, working relentlessly together to deliver for Harringay ward – and becoming good friends in the process! We were delighted to be joined by Olly as a new candidate: he has brought new energy, commitment and local government experience to our team.
Looking back on the past four years, this is what we are proudest of delivering:
Making Harringay a great place to raise a family:
- We’ve secured £5 million for the upkeep of South Harringay Junior School and North Harringay Primary School, creating a positive learning environment that contributed to their respective ‘Outstanding’ and ‘Good’ Ofsted ratings.
- We’re securing funding for new playgrounds for our little ones: we've just won a £150,000 Government grant for a new playground in Ducketts Common and convinced the Parks team to apply for a grant to improve the playground in Fairland Park. We’ve also secured self-closing gates at Fairland Park to ensure children are protected from running out onto the roads.
- We’ve delivered new outdoor amenities for adolescents, including the new basketball courts in Ducketts Common, the new Skate Plaza in Finsbury Park, and chess tables in both parks.
- Both Zena and Anna served on the core team that delivered the Mayor of London’s Free School Meals policy across the Borough – ensuring no child went without a nutritious meal during the school day.
Fighting crime and antisocial behaviour:
- We’ve co-designed a Harringay Action Plan with residents that contains Key Performance Indicators to measure the Police and the Council’s progress on tackling antisocial behaviour.
- We collaborated with the Police to secure a dispersal order to stop intimidating behaviour on Falkland Road, arrest an individual who broke into multiple cars, and obtain closure orders on premises used by criminals for the cuckooing of vulnerable people.
- We’ve routinely opposed gambling shops’ applications to operate until the early hours of the morning on Green Lanes, by making representations before the Council’s Licensing Committee and appearing as witnesses before the Magistrates Court.
- We’ve successfully opposed planning applications by entertainment establishments with a track record of causing public nuisance.
Keeping Harringay clean:
- We’ve taken a tough stance against flytipping: we installed a horizontal black bin at a dumping hotspot on Cavendish Road, secured flytipping signage on Mattison Road, and took enforcement action against serial flytippers on Beresford Road and Raleigh Road.
- We asked for a late-night enforcement operation this year which resulted in 21 individuals each receiving a £1000 fine for flytipping on Green Lanes, Turnpike Lane and neighbouring areas.
- We’ve taken action on dog fouling in the Harringay Passage, by securing warning signage, requesting jet washes of the Passage, and have escalated a request for a CCTV camera on the Passage to the Council’s Partnership & Problem Solving Group.
- We’ve established a working group with Haringey Council's Director of Public Health to deliver a plan to address emissions from Green Lanes restaurants’ wood and charcoal-based ovens.
- We successfully advocated for a stronger street cleansing contract from 2027 that is expected to lead to more frequent sweeping of the Harringay Ladder's residential roads.
Delivering safer, healthier streets:
- We’ve resurfaced 10 pavements and 7 roads in Harringay and delivered a sustainable drainage system on Hampden Road to minimise flooding during heavy rainfall.
- We’ve installed 20 new bike hangars in Harringay to increase bike storage spaces.
- We’ve made our roads safer, including by introducing slow road marking and anti-skid surfacing on Endymion Road, improving car visibility at the junction of Allison Road and Wightman Road, and securing funding for a scheme to improve pedestrian and cyclist safety on Green Lanes.
- We successfully opposed the proposed abolition of daily parking permits.
Serving Harringay ward has been a responsibility we have never taken lightly – and we hope residents feel we have earned the trust you placed in us in May 2022. We have taken pride in being accessible and visible councillors, by attending community meetings and swiftly resolving (often complex) resident case work.
There is still a lot more we want to achieve – not least, our plans to deliver segregated cycle lanes on our busiest roads, install living walls to purify the air in the two Harringay schools, and clamp down on rogue landlords.
We would be honoured to be elected to represent you as Harringay's Labour & Co-operative ward councillors on Thursday 7th May.
Best regards,
Cllr Anna Abela – Anna.Abela@haringey.gov.uk
On behalf of:
Olly Bennathan – OllyBennathan@haringeylabour.org.uk
Cllr Zena Brabazon – Zena.Brabazon@haringey.gov.uk
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Neil Ford on
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Thanks Zena and Anna for all the work you have done over the last four years.
You almost always manage to come to LSCP, and those of us who attend regularly get an idea of all things you have done for Harringay be in objections to egregious planning applications, working to solve the pollution to opposing extensions of gambling licenses on Green Lanes. Plus so much more.
In Harringay Gardens we're grateful for bringing the council ASB team, SNT and locals together to deal with the anti-social behaviour of patrons associating with the Corner Cafe, and asking the council housing team to persuade a run-down HMO to fix a broken wall and get the properly painted.
I'm sorry I've sent so many emails about annoying things like piles of , crack-dealing neighbours (!), rubbish, demolished walls and so on. You've always responded with patience and good humour, and I really appreciate that.
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Permalink Reply by Zena Brabazon on
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Hi Neil
Please don't apologise for all the emails. Representing local people means working with them, so being aware of what's happening and liaising with us is vital. The partnership between councillors and residents is crucial, and I have found residents' insights and readiness to report situations hugely helpful in working with the police, the private sector renting team, the ASB team, waste and all the other council services, and holding external agencies and authorities to account.
Zena
Zena Brabazon
Labour and Co-Operative Party CandidateHarringay Ward
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Thanks Zena. I agree, we collectively can work wonders with teamwork.
I really hope the LCSP remains a strong voice in the ward, it's such a great forum.
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Permalink Reply by Nicky on
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As a local resident it's very important for me to have local, active and engaged councillors and much thanks to Anna and Zena for ticking that box big time. They've always been very responsive to concerns raised by us and our neighbours about some of the businesses in Green Lanes, and through regular attendance at the LCSP they've shown how committed they are to improving community safety, building links with council officers on issues from planning and rubbish collection to anti-social behaviour.
In terms of the bigger picture, there are always areas where a council can do better, but Anna's summary of achievements is a timely reminder of the range of responsiblities and some real wins - who would have thought we would get an outstanding ofsted report after the tragedies of Baby P and Victoria Climbié?
Thank you both for your dedication and hard work, and it's good to welcome new energy from Olly. The best of luck on 7 May.
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Good, hard working, councillors are more valuable than people realise. Our Labour councillors, spend long hours working for us. Much of what they do is invisible - doggedly pursuing council officials to get things done for residents facing difficulties; attending licensing meetings to object to extended hours for gambling outlets; making sure that fly tippers are caught & fined. They rarely get the thanks they deserve. So thank you Zena & Anna.
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The area around Green Lanes is particularly tricky. On the Ladder we are squeezed between crisscrossing railway lines and dissected by the New River. The only cross route is the Harringay passage which is too narrow for bikes And Green Lanes is narrow for the volume of traffic it already carries. We are lucky that our stretch is filled with life due to the restaurants & shops but the combination of rigid transport infrastructure, bustling high street and the need for through traffic down a major road, means that it is harder in this area to retrofit bike lanes. It won’t matter who is in charge. The geography won’t change. If it was easy it would have been done.
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stop parking on green lanes, that would enable at least a dedicated cycle lane to be fitted on one side on the road.
"The geography won’t change. If it was easy it would have been done."
I don't agree. Haringey just do NOT care about cycling
Let's not forget a few years ago Wightman road was "redmodelled" and made WORSE for cyclists, with bits "jutting out" forcing cyclists into the middle of the road and making car drivers impatient and trying to cut-in quickly putting cyclists in great danger.
I bet if you got all the people in charge of Haringey and asked them to cycle around the borough for a month, things -might- change
But then again, probably not. Because "car is king" and "parking is king" is their mantra.
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You could EASILY fit one cycle lane on Green lanes. Look at this section with cars parked on BOTH sides on the road.
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Permalink Reply by Barrie Birch on
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Have you considered what the views of the large number of local indepenedent traders would be about customers not being able to park? Green Lanes businesses mostly do not have service roads behind the business so deliverers have to park on Green Lanes
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The belief that businesses require abundant on-site parking to survive is a pervasive myth, often contradicted by urban planning research, which suggests that over-providing parking can act as a financial liability, reduce potential revenue, and undermine customer experience.
While convenient parking is valued, studies indicate that well-managed, efficient spaces are more critical for success than sheer volume. The belief that businesses require abundant on-site parking to survive is a pervasive myth, often contradicted by urban planning research, which suggests that over-providing parking can act as a financial liability, reduce potential revenue, and undermine customer experience. While convenient parking is valued, studies indicate that well-managed, efficient spaces are more critical for success than sheer volume.
Park & Control
Here is a breakdown of the myth versus reality regarding business parking:
The Myth: "No Parking = No Business"• The Assumption: If customers cannot park directly in front or immediately on-site, they will not visit.
• The Reality: High-density, walkable areas often see higher footfall and greater retail success without excessive parking. People frequently travel by public transport or are willing to walk a few minutes from a spot.
https://www.google.com/search?client=opera&q=the+myth+of+busine...
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i cheated and asked my friend ChatGPT. It told me that:
- The link between parking and retail is weak and inconsistent
- Pedestrianisation often improves footfall and experience
- But success depends heavily on context and wider economics
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Permalink Reply by Geoff on
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Anna, just to endorse the positive comments from others in the Harringay Ward. You and Zena have have done incredible work for the residents of the ward in addressing both very serious and irritatingly niggling issues as they occur. Your resourcefulness, persistence in pursuing positive outcomes and your expertise in navigating challenging situations is second to none. At this level - Councillor level - it is always the best person for the job and you and Zena have undoubtedly proven that you have the track record, knowledge, engagement and expertise to continue to benefit the community in this ward. Thank you.
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