Present:

Mary (Chair), Matthew (Sec), Karen (Treasurer), Friedrich (VC), Chaira, Collette, Claudia, Joan, Fiona, Zoe, Cllrs Bull and Stennett, and Pauline and Sam representing Police.

Apologies including Cllr Adje

Polling Station

The Haven Day Centre has closed so when the General Election was announced there was no polling station ready. Larkspur Close Meeting Room was the alternative found by the Council. However signage was poor and it is not convenient for many people, affecting voting. Cllrs have made this clear to council officer

Roundway and Lordship Lane N17 crossing

TFL have said that the cost of making this junction safe for residents is about £1m. A document detailing the danger to pedestrians has been sent to the council again. It was suggested that we all view www.crashmap.co.uk which shows how many accidents happen at this junction – the answer is lots and lots. The residents group calls on the council to work with TFL to invest in this junction

Lordship Lane bins

Council officers have now prepared a plan to move bins from the pavement to residents’ front gardens. This will involve loss of some hedging between properties, but not fronting the road. Overall the appearance and safety of the road should be improved enormously. The meeting is very glad that the council is taking action on this.

Bike racing

Residents have been annoyed recently by people racing mopeds around the estate particularly late in the evening. This has affected Risley and Waltheof Ave in particular. Police ask that residents try and get licence plate numbers if possible, but take account of their own safety first and foremost.

Selling off council housing

WHL councillors voted against the Council’s plan to enter an agreement with Lend Lease to build new homes. Residents are worried about the disposal of public property and the extent of demolition of existing homes. We are not convinced that the plans are in the public interest and we are sceptical about the strategic direction and the properties that have been chosen.

Police Report

Pauline shared crime stats for a 12 week period for the Tower Gardens area. These are not considered particularly high but did include 20 thefts from motor vehicles and 4 burglaries. There is an upcoming plan to tackle fly tipping.

We also discussed Turnpike Lane area. This has improved since last year but the view is that anti social behaviour has been displaced further up Wood Green High Road. There have been 12 recent arrests for drug dealing.

There was some discussion about the removal of the bench and tree outside the station entrance. This now appears very bare, but the bench was a centre of anti social behaviour and the tree was destroyed by people cutting its bark off with knives. It is hoped that a replacement tree could be forthcoming.

Fly tipping and waste collection

We agreed that fly tipping and littering remain a major problem in the area.

We were very disappointed to hear that Veolia plans to stop free collections of green waste and of bulky items. In our view this will lead to more fly tipping and more burning of waste in people’s back gardens, which will challenge the Council’s carbon footprint plans. We think that more bins are needed. Councillors said they would let us know more information about the Veolia plans.

Next Meeting

We decided to hold the next meeting after the summer – during October.