Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Removing traffic barriers in Gardens, Hermitage Rd - reported position of Labour candidate in St Ann's ward
There's been lots of HOL coverage of the strange goings on in Labour's St Anne's ward selection process, which resulted in three new candidates (e.g. see this summary & 48 page discussion).
However, one aspect has received rather less attention, which is that the new Labour Candidate Ali Özbek has been quoted in the press as wanting the removal of both the bollard that stops through traffic (& through traffic jams) through the Gardens, and the closure in the middle of Hermitage Road that does the same there:
"Ali Özbek of Med - Chem Pharmacy on Green Lanes said that business rates in the area almost equalled rates on Oxford Street. Mr Özbek said “From a business perspective, among the most significant problems of Harringay Green Lanes are the high level of business rates and parking problems.
... In a meeting last month, I informed Tottenham MP David Lammy that in the area we have got 1,000 votes and three major issues.
...The other two matters in the area are the barriers on Hermitage Road as well as St Ann’s Road where customers are not allowed to turn towards Green Lanes. This prevents the area receiving more visitors. Mr Lammy said he would not open the barriers."
I've received no sign (so far) of any Labour literature in the ward, nor is there any hustings I am aware of. I have no information if this is the view of all the new Labour candidates in the ward, or just one of them.
This is a pretty important issue for many voters in the ward, with Labour a clear winner (Liberal Democrats second) in the last local elections.
Tags for Forum Posts: 2014 elections, Labour party, gardens, hermitage, local elections, traffic
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Well it used to be that councillors were here to represent people who are resident in the ward and they had ties in to fellow residents, not businessmen. If you start electing businessmen and property developers to the council, what do you expect?
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Permalink Reply by michaelw on
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I disagree - the only practical solution for transport in a densely populated city like London is a policy of traffic reduction. Restrictions on resident parking facilities should be reflected in the planning conditions of both St Anne's Hospital & Arena redevelopments, as they have been in many places across this country & beyond.
If you do wish to plan for increasing traffic volumes, that will naturally lead to development & implementation of proposals such as an 'inner north circular' through Manor House or Turnpike Lane (see this post), and then schemes to 'upgrade' the radial routes through widening etc. As has been shown in the past, such schemes would then generate more traffic & more pressure for new roads.
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Well i won't be shopping at Med-Chem Pharmacy ever again if thats what Mr Ozbek thinks of residents. We already have to suffer speeding cars on our streets. Imagine what it would be like if he got his way. The Boycot MedChem Campaign has begun. And i wont be voting Labour. Ill be telling Mr Lammy that too.
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Permalink Reply by pamish on
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IIRC Mr Ozbek owns a piece of land somewhere within that protected triangle. Might this have some bearing on his thoughts on the bollards, as well as his encouraging more people to drive to him when buying their new toothbrushes?
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Being relatively new to the Gardens, I had heard stories about the volume of traffic before the bollards were put in, about the accidents, houses shaking and so on. But it was when I saw these photos that the reality came home to me. And these photos were not even taken during rush hour! I was also interested to hear that the situation was caused by the three road closures on Hermitage Road which forced the traffic into the Gardens. I thought these photos would be interesting for others who, like me, didn't live through the traffic difficulties - and that they would also act as a reminder to those who did.
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Permalink Reply by ThaiDi on
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Thanks for bringing this up. I think Hermitage Road falls in the Seven Sisters ward (right?), so this would be something for voters there to look out for in the campaigns of their local candidates.
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Strategy needed to avoid spreading the votes across too many parties.
I just got my postal voting papers so the complete list should now be easy to find.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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This proposal not only would impact on the people living in The Gardens but those trying to get down Green Lanes. Before the bollards, every Garden road spewed traffic on to Green Lanes at each junction. It was chaos and you could sit on a bus forever while the traffic moved nowhere. It also lead to drivers cutting up the Ladder roads to simply a avoid the gridlock.
I don't live in the Gardens but I am horrified that this ridiculous proposal is being out forward. What planet does this man live on!
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Well the closure of the Gardens pushed a lot of traffic onto the north of the ladder that would other wise have been more evenly spread. Now that they have their lovely new streets I'm sure they could open it up again and not have any worse a problem than anyone else. Certainly the traffic jams depicted in the photographs they used above from 2001 are now common place, admittedly at rush hour, on many ladder roads whilst the Gardens have gone from 851 cars an hour to virtually none.
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Permalink Reply by ant on
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Hi Phil, where did you hear that suggestion form the "traffic engineers" about displacement, i'd be very interested to see it if there's a public doc somewhere? The only thing i'm aware of them telling us (i can dig up a link) was that after the bollards the only measurements they did where within the Gardens area and St Ann's, and they did no traffic measurements at all anywhere else so couldn't tell what happened.
Would be interested in seeing those Stanhope counts too, and exactly where they were taken?
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