Tag: The Roundway

Minutes of Tower Gardens Residents Group meeting: 15 May 2018

Minutes

Meeting of the Tower Gardens Residents Group

on Tuesday 15 May Larkspur Close Meeting Room

Present:

Mary (Chair), Matthew (Sec), Friedrich (Vice Chair), Fiona, Tom, Claudia, Thea, Dick Tomlinson, Zoe, Ruth. Apologies: Councillors, Chiara, Karen.

Meeting of the Tower Gardens Residents Group on Tuesday 15 May Larkspur Close Meeting Room

Present:

Mary (Chair), Matthew (Sec), Friedrich (Vice Chair), Fiona, Tom, Claudia, Thea, Dick Tomlinson, Zoe, Ruth. Apologies: Councillors, Chiara, Karen.

Crime and Antisocial behaviour

Drug dealing with white Audi car parked near the gates of Risley Ave allotments
Caravan parked on Risley Ave near jct with Waltheof Ave, apparently being used for dwelling.
Homeless men sleeping near Turnpike Lane and Wood Green stations – does the Council have staff who are able to help them?

Littering and fly tipping

The whole estate is covered in fly tipping and since the introduction of the charge for green waste bin this has also increased. Fewer than one in ten properties have the new bin.
There is also a lot of dumping at bins, e.g. Gospatrick Road, including food waste, on a daily basis.

Conservation Area Issues

Nairita, the Council’s conservation officer, is leaving to go to a new job. We are waiting for the publication of new Conservation Area Appraisal for Tower Gardens from the Council. Date unconfirmed at present. It is hoped this will reduce the home ‘improvements’ that contravene the guidelines.

Unsafe driving

There is much evidence of unsafe driving including many collisions on the Roundway, Westbury Ave and other local roads. We need more traffic calming measures including cameras and speed traps.

Elections

Cllr Ejiofor is the new leader, replacing Clare Kober.
Councillors asked to provide more information at the next meeting. The meeting congratulated our councillors on their re-election.

Tree Planting

The Council has planted six new trees that we requested on the western branch of the Roundway. Further funding is now available from the Greener City Fund with deadline of 18 June and Matthew has the paperwork.

Tower Gardens Park

This is quite overgrown and not well used and there is a fear of antisocial behaviour including drug dealing. There was a discussion about a need for a strategic review of the park. Dick Tomlinson said that the council was seeking funding to prune the large plane trees. Zoe presented the idea of a friends of the park group.

Upcoming Events

Matthew is opening his garden for the National Garden Scheme on Saturday 7 July.
Ruth is organising the Tower Gardens self guided tour as part of the London Open City/Open House weekend on 23 September.
Please keep an eye on the Tower Gardens Facebook page for updates.

Date of Next Meeting
Tuesday 3 July at 7 pm

Minutes of Tower Gardens Residents Group meeting: 20 June 2017

Minutes

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.

Minutes of Tower Gardens Residents Group meeting: 11 November 2016

Minutes

Present: Mary Kalemkerian (Chair) Matthew Bradby (Sec) Karen (treasurer) Friedrich Ernst (vice chair).
Cllr Bull, Cllr Stennett, Cllr Adje, Pauline Syddell, Met Police.
Simon, FIona, Claudia, Ruth, Natalie, Collette.

1. Traffic

There has been a high incidence of speeding on the main roads around the estate and also speeding on mopeds within the estate itself.
Residents are recommended to phone the police non emergency number 101.
Action Matthew to draft letter to Joanne McCartney and David Lammy about pedestrian crossings over Lordship Lane and other traffic calming.

2. Crime

Pauline gave a list of the crimes that have been reported on the estate over the summer.
These are mainly car crimes and some burglaries.
Everyone is recommended to make sure there is nothing visible inside their car when parked.
Use timers for lights in the house and make sure all doors and windows are secure.

3. Anti-social behaviour

Police have stepped up action at Turnpike Lane station in the wake of summer shootings.
There are currently 10 dedicated officers combating drug and other crime, and new CCTV cameras.
Turnant Road continues to have antisocial behaviour problems, probably connected with the New Moon pub.

4. Littering and dumping

There is a problem with the entrance to the alleyway on Waltheof Ave, near the junction with Lordship Lane. The fence is in a terrible condition and there is often dumping there, and opposite it.
There is a continued severe problem with people keeping wheelie bins on Lordship Lane, and not putting rubbish in the right bin. There are piles of trash on the street all the time.
Action – Gideon is pursuing a long term solution to this issue which is a blight on this major road.

5. Ward budgets
We are waiting to hear further from the council tree officer regarding planting of new trees on the Roundway near the junction of Risley Ave.
There was discussion about further applications for more funding – the problem is identifying people with time to manage the process.

ENDS.

Date of next meeting – to be organised in the Spring.

Minutes of Tower Gardens Residents Group 2016 AGM

Minutes

Wednesday 22nd June 2016 at 7 pm
Meeting Room: Larkspur Close off Fryatt Road.

Present:

Mark Kalemkerian, Philippa Snoaden, Matthew Bradby, Friedrich Ernst, Gladys Nichols, Kathleen Nichols, Claudia Neil, Ava, Chaira Contrino, Colette Kirkbride, Philippa Snoaden, Sebastiao Schoning
Cllrs Anne Stennett, Charles Adje, Gideon Bull
Chris Bell from Homes for Haringey
Pauline Syddell – Met Police and PC James Fulton

Apologies – Ruth Crowley, Jennifer Kirk, Fiona.

Introductions

Last years’ minutes
These were circulated and agreed.
Accounts
These were circulated and agreed. It was noted that we had been successful in getting a £2000 grant from Haringey Council ward budgets – £1500 of this is for trees. Other money for website and also for community clean up.
Matthew will contact the Council about tree planting this autumn.
Matthew will contact Sarah Hayes from Cleanup UK to arrange a date for further clean up of the estate.
Elections
The following were elected as full committee members:
Mary Kalemkerian (Chair) Matthew Bradby (Sec) Karen (Treasurer) Friedrich Ernst (Vice Chair); other members Chaira Contrino, Claudia Neil, Philippa Snoaden, Colette Kirkbride.
Policing and antisocial behaviour
PC Fulton and Pauline Syddell gave an update on local news and also about Neighbourhood Watch.
Matthew reported that anti social behaviour at Turnpike Lane station had got worse recently; Pauline indicated that there would be new cameras and that police were aware.
Rubbish and collections
It was noted that Veolia had missed a lot of collections recently in Gospatrick Road; other areas have been alright. When collections are missed this leads to an increase in street dumping.
We recognised there were two issues – dumping by residents on the street, and fly tipping that may be by traders/landlords/construction jobs.
Everyone is encouraged to report missed collections, dumping and fly tipping.
Controlled parking and traffic
Some residents were experiencing problems parking outside their house – e.g. in Risley Avenue and Gospatrick Road. The process for extending a CPZ was discussed.
Residents are very concerned about traffic, particularly speeding on the Roundway and Lordship Lane, and the junction between them opposite Sainsburys. The Council has asked TFL to look at this but there is no funding for an additional crossing here. There is currently no safe crossing between north and south side of Lordship Lane anywhere near the junction.
Resolution: that this meeting is very concerned by traffic conditions, particularly speeding, on the Roundway and Lordship Lane junction and asks for traffic calming measures to be taken by relevant authorities.
AOB
We discussed having another clean up and celebratory event during the summer holidays.
This would focus on Waltheof Avenue and Waltheof Gardens.
Dates to be discussed. E.g. Morning of 23 July

The meeting concluded and Chris Bell gave Matthew relevant paperwork to complete for registration with the Council for the forthcoming year.