Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Can you help me Petition the Council about Hornsey Town Hall?
I've written loads of explanation here (bit.ly/myhthinfo).
This is what I thought to ask people to sign:
Join us in campaigning to save Hornsey Town Hall
After over ten years of broken promises, Hornsey Town Hall is still empty.
Mountview have postponed their occupation (due last month) for another two years.
This is almost certainly because they cannot raise the money they promised to bring with them - we don't know, almost all the facts are held in secret between Mountview and the Council.
If Mountview drop out or overstretch themselves and go bankrupt, the Council will claim they have no option other than to sell it off.
Meanwhile we're losing the £100,000/yr that Hornsey Town Hall (HTH for short) has earned in the recent past as the venue for series like BBC's 'The Hour' or ITV's 'Whitechapel'.
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We want
1) The Council to ask Mountview to become the 'anchor’ tenant occupying almost the entire rentable space.
2) To charge Mountview a reasonable rent because we want them back in Crouch End.
3) The upcoming £4m Lottery grant to be used to complete the repairs/refurb as planned by Mountview, saving the 1930’s lift and restoring/reproducing the original electrical fittings if possible.
4) The rental income eventually spent on subsidies so Crouch Enders can use our own Town Hall for our own purposes.
5) The large, rear car park (left lying empty for more than a decade) to be brought back into community use.
6) A new body to manage the campus on our behalf. The shadowy 'Creative Trust' formed to do that have been dormant for years - few here even realise they exist.
7) Full disclosure of ten year's worth of secret documents/emails etc the Council have not published concerning our Town Hall so that we can verify claims of no alternative.
8) Money raised from the sell-off of the Citizens Advice Bureau that was earmarked for HTH to be spent re-upholstering the Council Chamber seating so we can use it/rent it out.
9) Free/subsidised use offered to the Crouch End Festival Chorus, the Crouch End Festival, the Crouch End players and any local group that wants to use it.
10) Every penny spent on the Town Hall to be spent locally where possible. Things like jobs, materials, food etc to be drawn from nearby, or at least from Haringey.
We call on the people of Haringey to support us and stop the privatisation of our public assets if a way can be found for community use. Otherwise, what will be next to go?
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Questions:
What do you think of it?
Should we approach well-known local people first, so I can put:
Join (insert names here) in campaigning to save Hornsey Town Hall
How many signatures do I need in order to get the Council to abolish the Creative Trust and form a new body that will find new people to hire it out to pay it's way every year, end the secrecy and get local people permanently involved again?
What else should I do?
Can you please join the 'Hornsey Town Hall' Facebook group?
Tags for Forum Posts: Crouch, End, Hall, Hornsey, Town, petition
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Chris Setz on
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Why thank you Sally - to have support from such a distinguished journalist is a real boost!
I discovered in helping revive the 2012 effort that many local people remember the Crouch End Festivals you orchestrated with affection - creative, representative and inclusive community occasions, free of hype. Your organising skills, ably demonstrated in arranging for the Broadway to be pedestrianised, continue to inspire me. I for one want to see that feat repeated not only in Crouch End, but in Harringay too - reclaim the streets!
I expect the Hornsey Town Hall Facebook group to exceed 100 members soon, days after it was formed, so the signs are good the local people are as engaged now as they were last time. I've organised an informal meetup/picnic on HTH Green on 16th August and would be glad were you able to be there and contribute in any way you see fit.
Thanks again - appreciated.
Chris.
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Permalink Reply by sally mustoe on
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many thanks for your fulsome comments Chris see you and I hope very many like-minded Crouch Enders on the Green on 16th August what time? have you got musicians, local groups, Dunn's etc involved yet?
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Thanks Sally - the informal meetup/picnic is at 4pm, 16th August for an hour, or longer as suits. I have thought about laying things on, but wonder if the real gold is simply in the networking rather than the spectating? We're going to need a lot of help from a range of local people if we're going to have the positive effects we all want.
For now, the only explicit purpose of the group is 'for those interested in Hornsey Town Hall' and the immediate aim is to raise awareness in order to attract members.
I note that LBH seem proud of their 'success' the response they gathered to a consultation (over the borough-wide imposition of a 20mph limit) that attracted 5,000 responses. Presumably they reagrd that as a very high number.
Given that there are 11,000 voters in Crouch End and probably 50,000 in the HTH catchment area, how many members of the HTH FB Group do you think we need to be credible?
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if the main aim is networking, may I make 2 suggestions? there should be copies of the petition to be signed at the picnic and by passers-by also it would be very helpful if people would wear an identifying badge of some sort (I know a source of very cheap pins which could be utilised when the petition is signed_)
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Thanks Sally - very helpful. How many signatures will we need to be credible?
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Hi Chris - as far as I know, the Council bought it in 1937 with the express intention of housing the Electricity Showrooms - they retained the same architect (R H Uren) and it was completed in 1939.
The same artist (A J Ayers) that had designed the other bas reliefs opposite did the sculpture 'Spirit of Electricity' on the facade:
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Hi Chris - thanks - are these photos yours and how recent are they?
Also, what sort of info are you looking for?
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I'll see what I can do Chris but it probably won't be quick enough for you. I presume you want details of materials used and how it looked so you can reinstate?
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well done Chris S for getting this going and thanks to the other Chris for the appalling pix I thought I attended all the meetings but don't remember this interesting film
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Film Sally? Not sure what you are referring to...
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see above film/video/whatever
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Very grateful for any more details of the extent of the damage and your solutions.
I'll try to make sure they're preserved so that, when someone in future asks, what was it like in 2014, they'll be able to look at your photos at least, and some of the documentation on the history of the place I'm helping compile.
What preventative maintenance would you recommend?
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