Latest news for local residents
Watering Street Trees
Two new trees have been planted – near 34 Glasslyn Road and 34 Tivoli Road. They will need watering over the summer so we’d be really grateful if residents near the trees could keep an eye out and water them if it is dry. The tree at the top of Glasslyn Road that was removed by UK Power Networks should be replaced in the late autumn.
Traffic Monitoring
You may have noticed that traffic monitoring devices have recently appeared in Glasslyn and Montenotte Roads. The traffic flows are being measured as part of a Borough-wide initiative to introduce more ‘School Streets’. These are streets where traffic is prohibited during certain hours of the day when children are arriving at or leaving school. There are already such streets in operation outside most primary schools in Haringey, but it looks as though this feature is being extended to secondary schools too.
If there is a proposal to turn Montenotte Rd into a school street (and perhaps Glasslyn Rd too), there would be a formal public consultation before it is implemented. It would obviously raise lots of issues for residents here, although if you live in a school street you are usually exempt from the restrictions. We will be monitoring this closely.
School Playing Field
We recently published an article on our website (https://gmtra.org.uk/highgate-wood-school-playing-field/) about plans to bring the school playing field (the one below the allotments) back in to use for sport and athletics. This would mean fencing off the sports area leaving a path connecting Montenotte Road to Wood Vale.
We are aware that there is divided opinion on this. Residents may have received a flyer recently from a protest group called ‘Keep Field Open’ who wish to keep the field open for general public use and dog exercising. On the other hand, some residents support the plans as it will put the field back into sports use, which will be of great benefit to the pupils of Highgate Wood School.
The school is thinking of holding a public meeting at some point to present its plans. However the funding of the scheme and timetable are still unclear. They are aware that they will need planning permission to erect fencing on the field.
We’ll keep you in touch with further developments. You can read more on this here >>
Hornsey Cricket Club – Tennis courts
You may have noticed developments on the tennis courts adjacent to the Hornsey Club’s Tivoli Road entrance. These are Padel courts – a ball game, similar to tennis but played on a smaller, enclosed court. The courts are apparently temporary and as such were assumed by the Club and the operators to be exempt from planning restrictions. Haringey planning department have however determined that the structures do require planning permission, and the Club is apparently working up an application. It remains to be seen whether Haringey will take enforcement action when the 28-day grace period allowed expires at the end of this month.
Perhaps the most regrettable consequence of this development has been the summary displacement of the Crouch End Tennis Academy which has been run by Mark Penketh and his team for over ten years. Many local children and families have been disappointed by the loss of this much appreciated facility and the sudden cancellation of the planned summer holiday programme.
Sports Hall
Meanwhile the Club’s efforts to develop a sports hall on the tennis courts site continue. For an update see the SOSN8 website.
The Phone Mast
We are not aware of any further developments on the planned phone mast on the Hornsey Club field. The developers have deemed permission to build the mast following the Council’s failure to send their notice of rejection within the 56 day statutory time limit. So we have to expect it will be built at some point. You can read the full story here https://gmtra.org.uk/phone-mast-correspondence-summary/
GMTRA Annual Meeting
We are planning to hold our annual meeting for members in October – we’ll let you know the date as soon as possible. If you might be interested in joining the committee – or have any issues you would like us to take up – we would love to hear from you. Email us your comments >>