Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Pedestrianising Quernmore Road parade - we need your help!
Hello Harringay,
After being advised by one of our local councillors to get some names behind the idea to pedestrianise Quernmore Road parade, please click on the link and become a part of a positive local community movement .
Don't forget to sign, share and shout about it!
https://www.change.org/p/harringay-council-pedestrianise-quernmore-...
Tags for Forum Posts: Green, Harringay, N4, N8, Stroud, community
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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John, I live close to this area and IMO, it is a candidate for pedestrianising. The reasons are the same reason for creating any chunk of communal space; it might encourage more people to frequent the few local shops with less worry of a truck reversing at them.
There are a few issues that I can see that would need consideration:; there were would be a small parking displacement effect and, how would delivery vehicles cope?
Also, the short stretch of road is on a slope. If these could be addressed, we might have a mini-town centre, bounded by a railway station, a library, a few shops and a bus route and bus stop.
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Permalink Reply by Maddy on
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Had a coffee this morning at But First Coffee - it's run by really nice guys (and they gave me some free cakes as I was the last customer of the morning...)
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Permalink Reply by Matt Bracken on
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Hi John,
Personally, I think making Quernmore parade pedestrianised would encourage people to use the space in a positive way, rather than the open fly tip it currently is used for. I think anyone would be hard pushed to describe it as a nice area to walk through or live in its current state. There is rubbish everywhere, the pavement is dangerously patched together, the slope down to the station bridge is very dangerous - a little money, imagination and community backing could transform this space into something very nice for all to use.
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Permalink Reply by Alexander Smith on
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Pedestrianizing won’t solve the undoubted rubbish problem. This occurs wherever there is subdivision and enlargement of buildings into many flats/units without storage. The current solution is daily, timed collection. Pedestrianization will not mean people suddenly start putting out refuse just before the appointed time. That would remain difficult and onerous for many, and impossible for those in certain circumstances e.g. shift workers. The only real solution now is for a communal bin to be installed at the end of the road to which a collection vehicle would obviously require daily access.
The slope down to the bridge is certainly difficult and has proved dangerous for some, including my elderly neighbour, who once slipped there and broke his ankle. But pedestrianization won’t alter the geography of the site, the whole of which is steeply inclined. To flatten the slope, even somewhat, would entail extending it onto the bridge, an expensive engineering project, and as both slope & bridge belong to Network Rail, it’s them you need to persuade, not the Council, to make any improvement.
The patched “pavement” area you describe is also not public; each patch is owned by the property it fronts. As the shops are now beginning to be converted into homes, I think it’s likely they’ll eventually be fenced off for use as little front yards. You’ll see this has already happened in Wightman Road and many other places where there is this change of use as it gives the inhabitants a little more privacy.
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Permalink Reply by Luci on
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I'll talk to my dad, who lives on Quernmore Road, about your campaign, it sounds like a good idea and it might appeal to him.
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H&H Broadway article:
"Campaigners launch car ban petition for Stroud Green shopping parade"
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Clive, I think the article is a little misleading. It says the idea “appears to have gained grass-roots support” when the petition is open for anyone to sign whether or not they live close by or are one of the few local traders. E.g. signatories include a resident of Cyprus and someone from Corsham who “used to live in the area”; there are others from Trondheim, the Isle of Arran etc. Rather than there being local support for this the opposite may be true, as comments on recent applications here for change of use from shop to residential have been overwhelmingly in favour.
I would be interested in signing a petition against it. Parking displacement from this stretch, where there has been subdivision into dozens of residential and commercial units, would impact unfairly on the adjoining sections of Quernmore & Stapleton Hall Roads.
It would force people to double park in Stapleton Hall Road at its narrowest point and make it impossible for the buses to pass. There would be chaos if the imagined farmer’s market should arrive, though I think it’s most unlikely that any farmers in their right mind would choose to set out their stalls at such a venue. Pedestrianization for such activities would be a waste of money in any case, as councils can close roads temporarily or put in parking regimes for that purpose.
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Alexander, it's such a shame that our community led project has clearly incensed you so much. I can assure you that the vast majority of signatories on the petition are indeed locals as I have spoken to most of them in my shop, but I must thank you for your research into the other locations - our cause is clearly going global!
This idea came from an informal discussion between locals and traders and was never meant to be inflammatory. We all agreed that the area needed some sort of investment/redevelopment and it also became very clear that local residents were concerned that their local shops were slowly closing down and being redeveloped - hence the idea to make an unloved parade into a positive, community focused space.
This is purely at an ideas stage - just a starting point for discussion about how we can improve our local area - so if you have any positive ideas that may help, that would be super. Otherwise, baseless assumptions as to the potential parking situation, or indeed weather farmers would be in their right mind to set their stalls out at 'such a venue' aren't really helpful.
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Alexander, your reply appears to be at best disingenuous. Out of tens of signatories you managed to spot some, who are apparently resident elsewhere (you must have plenty of spare time on your hands, lucky you...), even if quite obviously with links to the area, otherwise it is exceedingly unlikely that they would have been aware of the petition at all. However, it cannot have escaped your meticulous analysis the fact that the overwhelming majority are local residents. I am one of them, and I have had the chance to discuss the proposal in person with some of our neighbours, and everybody I spoke to is, not surprisingly, in favour of trying to restore to its former glory what is left of our local parade of shops.As far as I can see, the only, presumably local, residents who have something against it are you and John D. Not quite enough to claim a lack of grass roots support.
The other observation you make, of positive comments on recent applications for change of use from commercial to residential, misses the point entirely. Nobody asked me, or anybody I know, for our opinion in relation to these conversions, but, if asked, I would have been unable to oppose them, even if I would have preferred them not to be carried out. If nobody shows any interest in these shops, and they remain empty and derelict, then I presume a residential conversion is better than letting the parade turn into a dump. But if the shops can be saved, and this area can get again a small centre to meet around, this is clearly preferable.There is obviously a hunger for it: not only this petition collected signatures very fast, but a few years back, an 'Old Curiosity Cafe', held for 4 consecutive Saturdays in February in the Library, was extremely well attended, pointing to the existence of a desire in this community to meet up locally.
Your last comment, on parking, makes me wonder when was the last time you had a stroll down Quernmore Road. There used to be indeed a parking problem in the area, but this disappeared a few years back, with the introduction of parking restrictions. I have checked this afternoon, there were 7 cars and one van parked in stretch of Quernmore Road we are proposing to pedestrianise (the maximum number of cars parked there could probably be 12, once they remove the skip). All of them could have been easily parked in the stretch of Quernmore Road between Stapleton Hall Road and Elyne Road. Why on earth should their drivers be completely uncivilised, and double park on Stapleton Hall Road? Delivery vehicles could still be granted access, as happens in other similar areas.
Of course nobody claims that pedestrianising this tiny stretch of Quernmore Road is going to solve all the problems of the World, or even just the problems of the approach to Harringay Station. It could, nonetheless, improve, however slightly, the quality of life of a number of local people, at little or no cost, whilst damaging nobody, whatever you may say. It would seem somewhat churlish to oppose this change, if no more substantial objections can be put forward.
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