Here is a summary of the main issues that the Residents Association has been dealing with in the past year.
Streetscene
Sadly we have lost two street trees this year. The tree outside 4/6 Tivoli died and the Council has reduced it to a stump. The newly-planted tree outside 34/36 Glasslyn has also died and been removed. This should be replaced in the new planting season, but unfortunately the council has informed us that it will not replace the Tivoli tree as there is no tree funding for this part of the borough.
We are pleased to see that the gullies in the road continue to be cleaned regularly by the Council, most recently on 10 September. Broken drain covers have also been replaced. The white lines in the street have had a fresh coat of paint.
Hornsey Club Padel
We continue to monitor planning applications in our area for developments that affect residents at large, and there is no doubt that the key one this year has been the application by the Hornsey Club to establish four new, covered padel courts on the site of the old tennis courts. The Club, along with its chosen operator Smash Padel, submitted its planning application in March, and the Council has finally in the last fortnight made a decision to refuse permission. Many residents had expressed their concerns about this proposal, in particular with regard to noise, traffic/parking implications and the visual impact of the covered courts (bearing in mind the location is Metropolitan Open Land). GMTRA recognises that the Club needs to flourish, but we thought that the proposed scheme was over-ambitious given the site constraints and proximity to residents, so therefore we felt it necessary to submit an objection. We wait to see what the Club will do next.
Highgate Wood School
Two school-related issues were live last year: the proposal to develop the ‘upper field’ for school sports, and the proposal to make the bottom of Montenotte Road a ‘School Street’. During the year we have heard nothing further on either of these proposals.
Our relationship with the school remains cordial, and students have been generally well-behaved in our streets.
Website/communication
We continue to maintain the GMTRA website and we send out newsletters to update residents on matters of concern. A reminder that the website includes a directory of recommended local trades people, which residents frequently seek via the street WhatsApp group.
Neighbourhood Watch
Crime incidents in our neighbourhood are fortunately relatively infrequent. We did have a spate of parcel shelf thefts from vehicles but these now seem to have abated. An attempted vehicle theft was thankfully averted by quick reactions from nearby neighbours.
We continue to attend attended quarterly ward panel meetings, where local residents meet with the Crouch End police team and help to set their priorities. The police tell us that the dominant crimes in Crouch End (shoplifting and mobile phone thefts) are starting to wane, partly through some good undercover work by our police team. Shoplifting and vehicle-related crime remain their priorities.