Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Railway Fields Entrance on Umfreville Road
I live on Pemberton Road and like scores if not hundreds of people who live on the ladder I regularly walk through the passages to get to Finsbury Park. When I hit Umfreville Road the passage stops and I then have to go down to Green Lanes. After going under the railway bridge typically I would go straight back up Lothair Road and cut across to the park, going in the entrance on Endymion Road by the New River.
Why tell us all how you walk to the park you might well ask? Well, in the middle of the route, when you hit Umfreville Road and the passage ends, there is the lovely Railway Fields nature reserve straight in front of you, but with no way in. There is only one way in and out (on Green Lanes), so it's no use as part of a walk from one place to another and hence massively underused. However, there is a disused/possible entrance on Umfreville Road directly opposite the end of the passage, by the old tower in the fields. A project to turn this into an entrance would cost the council peanuts - a nice wrought iron gate to match the one on Green Lanes, a bit of gardening to clear out the passage from Umfreville to the tower and that's about it!
There are really good reasons for doing this: getting better use out of Railway Fields and improving the walk down to Green Lanes for the residents, which could all be done for almost no cost. The only down side I can think of is that the wardens would then have to lock up two gates at the end of the day instead of one - big deal! I asked a warden in Railway Fields about this on Friday and she said something like "oh it would be a bit of a pain to lock up the other gate and we'd have to get more keys cut"! She also said it was always a worry to make sure everyone left at the end of the day before locking it. This would be the same worry if there was one gate or two anyway. Pretty hopeless reasons not to go ahead with a project that would have a very high benifit to cost ratio.
Any thoughts anyone? I'd love to get a head of steam on this and get a proposal to the Council, but it's not something I have any experience in doing. Anyone else interested in this?
Hugo.
P.S. In a more ambitious plan, they would also open the river path between Umfreville and Endymion Roads and build a foot bridge over the railway tracks either on the river path or from within the Railway Fields across to the river path so you could then walk straight over to the park. This quite simple measure would allow you to walk right through to the Endymion road entrance to Finsbury Park from either Hornsey station (along the New River path to Wightman/Hewitt and then down Hewitt, through the passages and then over the bridge and along the last stretch of the new river) or from Turnpike lane, right through the passages and finishing in the same way. However, those plans are much more adventurous and I don't want any grander designs to get in the way of the simple and really cheap plan of simply putting in another gate!
Why tell us all how you walk to the park you might well ask? Well, in the middle of the route, when you hit Umfreville Road and the passage ends, there is the lovely Railway Fields nature reserve straight in front of you, but with no way in. There is only one way in and out (on Green Lanes), so it's no use as part of a walk from one place to another and hence massively underused. However, there is a disused/possible entrance on Umfreville Road directly opposite the end of the passage, by the old tower in the fields. A project to turn this into an entrance would cost the council peanuts - a nice wrought iron gate to match the one on Green Lanes, a bit of gardening to clear out the passage from Umfreville to the tower and that's about it!
There are really good reasons for doing this: getting better use out of Railway Fields and improving the walk down to Green Lanes for the residents, which could all be done for almost no cost. The only down side I can think of is that the wardens would then have to lock up two gates at the end of the day instead of one - big deal! I asked a warden in Railway Fields about this on Friday and she said something like "oh it would be a bit of a pain to lock up the other gate and we'd have to get more keys cut"! She also said it was always a worry to make sure everyone left at the end of the day before locking it. This would be the same worry if there was one gate or two anyway. Pretty hopeless reasons not to go ahead with a project that would have a very high benifit to cost ratio.
Any thoughts anyone? I'd love to get a head of steam on this and get a proposal to the Council, but it's not something I have any experience in doing. Anyone else interested in this?
Hugo.
P.S. In a more ambitious plan, they would also open the river path between Umfreville and Endymion Roads and build a foot bridge over the railway tracks either on the river path or from within the Railway Fields across to the river path so you could then walk straight over to the park. This quite simple measure would allow you to walk right through to the Endymion road entrance to Finsbury Park from either Hornsey station (along the New River path to Wightman/Hewitt and then down Hewitt, through the passages and then over the bridge and along the last stretch of the new river) or from Turnpike lane, right through the passages and finishing in the same way. However, those plans are much more adventurous and I don't want any grander designs to get in the way of the simple and really cheap plan of simply putting in another gate!
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Bethany Burrow Atherton on
-
Thanks for that, Shem - you are probably right about Thames Water (both on ownership and attitude!).
-
Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
-
Finding out who-owns-what, and about Rights of Way is essential for safeguarding public land; as well as for any imaginative new proposals. I'm sure there are reliable plans available showing the boundaries of Railway Fields. Not least because, as I recall, some years ago there were some questions about whether adjacent private owners had encroached on it.
As a general point, it's worth knowing that local councils maintain what's called a Property Terrier.
(Yes, same French derivation as the dog.) This is a record - on paper and now electronically - of what each local authority owns.
Of course, this isn't static. Councils sell off land. And massive cuts now due may accelerate this trend to help balance revenue budgets. The reverse process is also possible. I've mentioned before how the City of London created Riverside Walk on the north bank of the Thames by negotiating with developers.
-
Permalink Reply by HoL Site Admin on
-
Hello Gill
Railway Fields is a local Nature Reserve, managed by the BTCV, entrance (as you know) is on Green Lanes, just before the bridge. Public Access is only on weekdays although they do run special weekend events there and basically if the gate if open, you can go in even if you don't want to pond dip or whatever.
Here is a map and a few blog posts about it.
-
-
And view Liz's lovely photos here.
-
Permalink Reply by Lucy Jaffe on
-
I have always dreamed about a route from the ladder to Finsbury Park without going up to Wightman or down to Green Lanes. A footbridge is not out of the question and would transform this area.
Another route to explore is to open up an entrance to the park at the junction of Endymion and Alroy Roads, which would cut out going up or down Endymion.
-
Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
-
I would like that too but I think the combination of a pedestrian crossing and traffic roundabout is asking for trouble.
-
Permalink Reply by Friends of Railway Fields on
-
Hello all
I have just been reading this discussion with interest as I am not only a Voluntary Project Officer for BTCV, but also involved in setting up the new Friends of Railway Fields group with my colleague Faye (a fellow BTCV project officer).
Having read all of the the things that have been said it seems that access to Railway Fields is something you are all concerned about, along with a few other points that perhaps the Friends of Group could address, for example opening Railway Fields during the weekends.
Both myself and Faye would be delighted if any of you are able to turn up the first Annual general meeting of the new Friends of Group, it is Saturday the 16th October from 11-1. If you are unable to attend this first meeting, not to worry we would still like lots of people to be involved and plan to have many more events and activities.
Our email is friendsofrailwayfields@gmail.com if you have any queries!
Hope to see you on Saturday!
-
Permalink Reply by Justin Johnson on
-
@ Voluntary Project Officer for BTCV (no name seems to appear on your post). I'll definitely try to attend your meeting on Saturday, but in advance of that, could you give us a little background as to what happened to the "old" Friends of Railway Fields? Does the "old" group still exist or are the new Friends a replacement group?
And given the level of interest on HoL, would you be able to feed back a digest of the meeting to this site?
Thanks
-
-
Hi Justin
Apologies, forgot to introduce myself! My name is Abi!
The old group which was started a few years ago stopped due to lack of numbers (no-one turning up to meetings), so we are not replacing it, just trying to revive it! We are really hoping to recruit lots more interested people this time so hopefully that doesn't happen again!
Faye and I are both very enthusiastic and really hope that this comes across, and will help to maintain a good level of interest.
Of course I will put a digest of the events of the meeting on this site, so look out for it! We have started a new discussion about the Friends of Group on this forum, so please get involved!
We are also on Facebook and Project Dirt for anyone interested in keeping up to date with us, and if you would like to be added to the mailing list please email us at friendsofrailwayfields@gmail.com.
Really hope to see you on Saturday!
- ‹ Previous
- 1
- 2
- 3
- Next ›
© 2024 Created by Hugh.
Powered by
