Harringay online

Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

John McMullan has made this proposal in various places. Maybe there’s an extended discussion of it in this forum somewhere, but what I’ve seen is scattered around the threads. In any case, I think it’s time to try to move this in the direction of concerted action, so here are my 2p.

We should begin a campaign to close Wightman Road to through traffic, along with complementary traffic controls at certain points on the rungs of the Harringay Ladder (exactly what and where these additional controls are would depend on the particular points at which Wightman is cut). This would eliminate through traffic from the Ladder, except on Green Lanes itself.

These roads are residential. The area has a combined population of over 10,000 (the population of Harringay Ward, most of which is the Ladder, is estimated at 13,700). We need to take this action in order to make the streets safe for children; to make the street a place of neighbourly interaction; and to make the air cleaner and healthier. Children should be able to walk to school and to parks; cyclists should have a safe north-south route through Harringay (Wightman would become that route).

Some further points:

·         Road traffic reduction – don’t see this as a NIMBY proposal to chase traffic elsewhere: one of the aims should be to reduce road traffic overall. Roads accommodate traffic. There is ample scientific evidence that an increase in road capacity simply increases traffic, until at some point congestion chokes off the increase - at which point, highway planners call for more roads, leading to a spiral of ever-increasing traffic. What we see in the Ladder today is part of that spiral: several years ago, the Haringey council took two steps to reduce traffic congestion on the Ladder by making it flow more easily: it made all the rungs of the Ladder one-way, and it allowed pavement parking on Wightman to effectively widen the Wightman roadway. Both of these increases in road capacity have led simply to more traffic and faster traffic – the streets that are less safe for children, the air that is more polluted.

·         The reverse is also true: a reduction in road capacity reduces traffic, overall. Somebody will rightly complain of increased traffic congestion, somewhere, as a result of cutting off traffic through the Ladder. But a reduction in road capacity will mean that overall traffic in north London will be reduced, and that will good for air quality, for child safety, for the safety of pedestrians and cyclists generally, and for the reduction of greenhouse gasses. Some may say that it would be better for the government address these problems in a comprehensive way, but such comprehensive treatment of the problem is, at best, slow in coming. By taking this local action, we can make a small contribution to the overall reduction of the problems caused by road traffic, and at the same time show public support for more comprehensive action.

·         Half-way measures don’t do the job. Speed bumps slow traffic a bit, but are not sufficient to make the road safe. 20mph limits are nice, but there are no resources to enforce them.

·         Whole Ladder: if you cut traffic on any one of the Ladder’s rungs, you just push it to another. For that reason, the Ladder needs to act together as one community.

·         Other neighborhoods: for reasons discussed below, cutting off Ladder traffic might well reduce traffic in adjoining neighborhoods. More importantly, cutting off Ladder traffic should be seen as one step towards making the borough of Haringey a continuous quilt of safe, healthy, traffic-calmed neighborhoods. It builds on the work done by residents of the Gardens and other neighborhoods in recent years, and we should hope that it is followed by similar actions in other neighborhoods.

·         We cannot know exactly what the effect on traffic in other neighborhoods will be – traffic engineering studies of the question would be helpful, although even there we note that such studies are far from an exact science: it may be necessary to experiment!

·         Cutting routes through the Ladder will probably increase traffic on Green Lanes, but it will also help that traffic flow better. Most of the traffic to and from Wightman on the rungs of the Ladder crosses one or both lanes of traffic in Green Lanes. The constant merging in of traffic at several points along Green Lanes and the turns across Green Lanes traffic slow the north-south flow, including the buses. While Green Lanes would certainly continue to be congested after cutting off Ladder traffic, the near elimination of cross-traffic should improve the flow.

·         Much of the cross traffic is coming to and from St Ann’s Rd and the various roads feeding through St Ann’s (Woodlands Park, Black Boy Lane, etc.). It also passes through a handful of short, heavily traveled residential streets on the east side of Green Lanes: Salisbury Road, part of Harringay Road, and Alfoxton Avenue. Similarly, to the north of the Ladder, much of the traffic on the Hornsey Park Road/Mayes Road is to or from Wightman; to the south, the same goes for much of the traffic on Endymion. By eliminating the Ladder routes, many of these trips that now cut through the adjoining neighborhoods would probably not take place.

Tags for Forum Posts: traffic

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Hi Paul,

Sorry for the delayed reply, I've been really busy.

The Residents' Association was set up 7 years' ago, and it's members are from the N4 end of Wightman Road (from Seymour Road up towards the park).  We set up by going round knocking on doors, putting leaflets through letterboxes, getting interested people to ask their neighbours ... 

More recently, we had a sale on Saturday 11th May at Stroud Green library, partly to advertise ourselves and encourage new members (also to get some funding for expenses).  There were notices on local trees, in Moka, and the library.  It was also advertised on HoL.  

You say you lived on Wightman Road, and I'm sorry you missed out on the discussion about the traffic.  This was not just brought about by us, but also local councillors were behind it, and David Lammy. 

The general feeling of residents living here since the speed bumps and 20 mph limit were put in place is that it's quieter, it's easier to park, to cross the road, and safer for older people and children.  This is the first time I've heard that it's more dangerous for cyclists.   However, if we can get it closed to general traffic (personally I'm doubtful) then perhaps a cycle route could be established, as there seem to be few cycle friendly roads around here.

The Residents' Association has also set up a neighbourhood watch, and established a friendly and supportive community on a horrible road.  If you still live on Wightman Road and are interested in the Residents' Association my email address is sameighan@blueyonder.co.uk   If you're somewhere else in Haringey and want to join a Resident's Association, contact Haringey Federation of Residents' Associations, which has been going since 2001 info@haringeyresidents.org   There may be one in existence near you, or you can help set one up.  (There are currently 180 local residents' associations across Haringey.)

I hope this is useful

Susan

  

Thank you Susan. Yes, let's start the campaign!

Here's an inspiring example from the borough of Wandsworth.

Hi Frederick,

Thanks for your response, sorry for the delay getting back.  If you want to get in touch about this

my email is sameighan@blueyonder.co.uk

Susan

Has anyone suggested making Wightman Road one-way before? Might be a stupid suggestion but would ease traffic and would allow wider pavements/more trees etc.

The council would love to make it one way, but two lanes... This is a bad idea.

If Wightman is, say , North to South, where does the South to North traffic go ?

They were going to make a new road on the other side of Green Lanes.

Also as an FYI, for a similar previous proposal on this - see the attachment at the bottom of this post to close Wightman Road to through traffic by placing five sets of gates at various points along its length.

It's a very nice proposal, though it's missing your gate at Frobisher Road. Kids should be able to cross safely to Ducketts Common.

Not just nice, it came from a serving police officer, albeit in a personal capacity.

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