Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Gasping for air
While traffic volume has risen hideously on Green Lanes since Whiteman closed, are there any air quality checks being done by the authorities?
It's just that we live ON Green Lanes and now keep the windows at the front closed but I'm beginning to wheeze.
Also, when Harringay Green Lanes station closes, will there be rail replacement services that also add to the congestion and wheezing?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jimbo on
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Thank you for saying that. I thought I might be bombarded with snide comments. I do fear for the health of my two young children and am envious of the fresh breeze the Whitemanians are experiencing.
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Permalink Reply by Paulie on
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Good point. And it is now a nightmare for cyclists.
The problem is finding a solution which fairly prevents unnecessary and frivolous journeys (which in effect means making a moral judgment) while allowing reasonable car use. Not sure how you do that but it's got to be considered. Along with banning parking on GL.
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Permalink Reply by matt on
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Jimbo, just got off the phone to a contractor who's popping down our way next week from Oakwood. Warned him about the traffic but his reaction was that the traffic on GL had got better than BEFORE the Wightman Rd closure because he thinks drivers are avoiding the area. So his thinking is that the closure has benefited GL as well.
I went down to GL myself yesterday, once at 1.30/2.30pm & the other at 7.30pm and traffic seemed remarkably normal.
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Permalink Reply by Justin Guest on
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This might be of interest. Some relatively recent NOx pollution information.
This is from before the road closure, and the data for Green Lanes (and Wightman and Turnpike Lane) indicate they are all consistently above EU limits!
Do not forget Jimbo, the Traffic Study that is yet to really get going was initiated primarily because of concerns about traffic levels across the Ladder, but part of its remit is to look at health and general wellbeing- and pollution for me forms part of this. Its certainly a topic I would like to see assessed across the area.
Without in anyway trying to diminish your absolutely valid concerns, the difficulty I have (and this may be just me) is that I find it hard to characterise things like (in my case) the congestion on GL from one week to the next. For me, it is always congested, so I do not see if it is much different today vs pre bridge closure. The question I guess for you is do you not always have to have your windows closed, I cannot imagine that you have it open that often. Is the impact discernable pre and post bridge closure, or is the warmer (spring) weather a factor etc?
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I've lived on the Lane for nearly nine years and know that the traffic fluctuates. It's never good. Unless the food festival is on. But it's obviously busier during peak times and those peak times seem to last longer. Nose to tail traffic is not unheard of but much more prevalent in other times of the day too. Tail backs up to Manor House tube, again, aren't unheard of but build up quicker and more regularly than usual. In my opinion. Anyone who has crawled down the hill on the 141/341/29 recently at three in the afternoon would probably agree. Having said that, the traffic does appear to be moving more freely today, but it's the first time I've noticed that.
Also, I live on the third floor so open the windows a lot for what I hope is a breeze (and that's in any season as I try to disperse my neighbours smoke - but that's another rant)
Any which way, I would like the authorities to take responsibility and measuure the air quality as, even though one accepts that living on such a daft street will inevitably not be good for you, our health is important and if it is being more impacted by the closure of an adjacent through route... Well then, I'll get all cross.
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Permalink Reply by The Harringay Community Group on
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Hi Jimbo, this is Ant from the HCG. We did the air quality study last year that Justin links to.
I've been talking to the council and University College London about re-doing the study this year, given the uniqueness of the Wightman closure, and I'm pleased to say that we have funding for that now and it will be going ahead again to provide a comparison with last years results. That will be for a month starting probably late June, so we should get results early/mid August.You said you're on the 3rd floor, particulate and NOx pollution does reduce with height so your windows shouldn't be quite as bad as down on the Green Lanes footpath. We will have a few spare diffusion tubes so if you'd like to find out what it really is like up there ping me a message and we can put one up outside you 3rd floor window as part of the study.
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Hi Ant,
That's kind of what I hoped would be the case otherwise I would have nailed them shut! Whatever a diffusion tube is, I'd love to have one sniffing the air. Be glad to.
Let me know how to sort that out.
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Ant. Remind me what time of year you did the surveying? I know you talked about it in June and reported in October. I assume July/Aug?
I did a lot of work on exactly this issue as an undergrad, and the time of year (temp/rainfall/sunlight/potential for localised inversions etc) can have a big impact on the results, so removing as many variables as possible will be important in making the comparison as 'valid' as you can.
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The variables thing is very valid for a comparison. But I think we still need to take measurements while the traffic has been affected by the closure of Whiteman. Leaving it til Whiteman is open again won't show what's happening NOW, when there has been a great increase in traffic volume.
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I agree...
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Last year it was done 1st July - 29th. There is an annual local authority monitoring cycle (set be Defra?) which that was set by, this year the date for the monitoring cycle is 29th June - 27th July. But the UCL people will tell us the exact dates to use to provide the best results for comparison.
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