A lively group of local people squeezed into Sweet Tree Café after it closed last Saturday afternoon to discuss that topic of perennial interest in the neighbourhood – traffic! (The neighbourhood that is the subject of this project is the clearly demarcated triangle of roads bounded by the railway, Alexandra Park, and Albert Road Rec.) All those who had ticked the box on the questionnaire (see last summer's neighbourhood survey) saying that they would like to be involved in the project were invited to the meeting. 23 people were able to come along, and we were also pleased to welcome two ward councillors, Nick da Costa and Alessandra Rossetti. It was a very constructive meeting, with everyone so deep in conversation that they ignored the tea that we had provided!
Kevin Stanfield, chair of the local Resident's Association, introduced the meeting, explaining that the neighbourhood survey had flagged up speed and volume of traffic as the neighbourhood issues of most importance to local people, together with the related issues of air quality and the safety of children and pedestrians on the roads ('promoting the success of local shops' was also rated highly, but that is not an 'issue' in the same sense!). We would therefore focus on these issues in the meeting, and as much as possible on measures that would help the whole neighbourhood rather than just individual streets (because what helps one street may impact on another).
I then gave a brief overview of the results of the survey, before the meeting broke up into 5 groups of 5 people each (who as far as possible did not live in the same street) to explore everyone's concerns about traffic in the neighbourhood, and discuss the 5 categories of traffic-calming options that the Council had presented us with. These options were very general, and not tailored to our neighbourhood – specifically, speed humps, one-way streets, restricted access (which prevents traffic from outside the neighbourhood driving straight through it), banned traffic manoeuvres (such as 'No left turn'), and road narrowing (including tree build-outs and large planters as well as building out the pavement). Examples of these were pictured on display boards, together with lists of what the Council considers to be the pros and cons of each (there were some disagreements about these!). Each group also had a map of the neighbourhood, with current traffic-calming measures marked on it.
Very ably facilitated by Alex Papworth (who lives in Victoria Road), the meeting lasted the scheduled 1.5 hours, and concluded with the notetaker from each group (who was chosen by the group) summarising the main points that they had come up with. We did not expect conclusions since we did not have a traffic expert there, and the meeting was clearly a work-in-progress. These interim deliberations have shed light on how we might take these issues forward to a larger meeting of the whole neighbourhood, which will be publicised to every household. A traffic engineer will be present to give input to our discussions.
Just before the meeting broke up, various people proposed further actions that could be taken by working groups before we all get together for a larger meeting. One idea was to monitor air quality in the neighbourhood, another was to create a cycling group encouraging unconfident cyclists, and a third was to count the number of vehicles travelling straight through the neighbourhood, and the direction from which they come/go. Please get in touch if you would like to be involved in any of these initiatives, or have others to suggest (areastudy@alexandraparkneighbours2.org.uk). All local residents are welcome to take part.
Many thanks to those who have expressed their appreciation of the meeting. We would welcome feedback from all participants, and they should shortly be receiving a feedback form.
Apologies to a small group of households in Victoria Road which did not receive the flyer notifying them of the survey – we apparently ran out of flyers, but will print more next time!
Many thanks to Vida for letting us use her café for the event.
As has been said before, residents of neighbouring areas are welcome to use our questionnaire for their own neighbourhoods (will need a little tweaking).
Replies
I lived on Albert Rd close to the Junction with Clyde Rd for about 8 years (I have now moved across Alexandra Park Rd to the Rhodes Ave area where there is traffic filtering and which I assure you is a whole other world. No speeding, noise, hooting, road rage etc) Whilst I lived in Albert Rd I petitioned the council relentlessly to do something. I did traffic counts and i insisted that a camera was placed on Albert rd to monitor the restricted vehicles (lorries). I had to use FOI to get any answers from Haringey as Officers just refused to give out any info. Because they knew there was a problem. The evidence I amassed was conclusive - there was excessive speeding, volume and restricted vehicles on Albert Rd. But there was no 'political will' in Haringey. Hopefully things have changed since I moved away. Incidentally, earlier this year I managed to get an instance of dangerous driving in Crescent Rise successfully prosecuted by the Police. It was caught on camera and I went to magistrate court as a witness. The whole area is not safe for children or any vunerable road user. One council officer (the infamous Tony Kennedy) even said to me that unless someone is killed, Haringey would not take any measures to reduce rat running in Palace Gates.
Many thanks Richard for this. Did I understand correctly that you were successful in getting a camera placed on Albert Road to monitor lorries?
Yes I did. I then had to submit an FOI as Haringey wouldn't tell me what the camera recorded! Needless to say the evidence showed that dozens and dozens of lorries were rat running along Albert Road - even though Haringey officers originally told me there was no issue with restricted vehicles. I will try and find the FOI. This is perhaps 4 or 5 years ago so I may have deleted everything as I just gave up in the end and moved out.
Thanks very much for this, Richard. It is clearly a massive problem if you had to move out of the neighbourhood because of traffic issues! And thank you so much for all your efforts.
I think attitudes in the Council are slowly changing - and in particular they are taking more notice of what neighbourhoods want, partly in response to the mayor's transport strategy which makes this a key requirement. Also because of outcries when the Council do impose measures without consulting properly.
So it is really, really important that our traffic project involves everyone in the neighbourhood who is concerned about traffic issues, and takes account of all points of view.
Here is the original FOI - it covered a period of 45 days
Re: Freedom of Information Act Request ref: LBH/5739816
Thank you for your request for information received on 24 October 2016, in which you asked for the following information as regards the CCTV camera installed on Albert Rd, N22 to record restricted vehicles.
My response is as follows:
1) The camera went live on 5 September 2016
2) The camera has detected 166 vehicles potentially contravening the weight restriction.
3) Of the 166 vehicles detected 113 were actually issued Penalty Charge Notices subsequent to review of the evidence.
4) Of the vehicles detected and not issued Penalty Charge Notices this would be because the vehicle was not actually in excess of the weight limit and therefore no contravention occurred.
5) We do not keep records specific records of vehicle ownership or operators and therefore cannot provide details of this.
Many thanks for this, Richard - that certainly is a lot of HGVs! Good to see that a lot of them were issued with penalty charge notices. Presumably those that weren't included Veolia trucks, though they don't say that.
Also number 5 is Haringey being 'dishonest'. They say they did not record operators or ownership but issued 113 penalty charges. So they must have known who they sent the penalty notices to. My thoughts were that Haringey didn't want residents to know how often their own contractor was breaking local traffic regulations. When I lived on Albert Rd Veolia trucks were racing up and down all the time.
Ah, interesting.
I have found the original reply from Haringey (the findings cover 45 days)
Re: Freedom of Information Act Request ref: LBH/5739816
Thank you for your request for information received on 24 October 2016, in which you asked for the following information as regards the CCTV camera installed on Albert Rd, N22 to record restricted vehicles.
My response is as follows:
1) The camera went live on 5 September 2016
2) The camera has detected 166 vehicles potentially contravening the weight restriction.
3) Of the 166 vehicles detected 113 were actually issued Penalty Charge Notices subsequent to review of the evidence.
4) Of the vehicles detected and not issued Penalty Charge Notices this would be because the vehicle was not actually in excess of the weight limit and therefore no contravention occurred.
5) We do not keep records specific records of vehicle ownership or operators and therefore cannot provide details of this.