Local issues

A few local issues of concern. And please – add your voice! If you share any of these concerns, please take a moment to notify the relevant party or authority as well. All it takes is a handful of people taking pride in their neighbourhood to make real change happen. Most of the issues below have links to web pages or email addresses you can use.

This is really important. A single person reporting an issue won’t get much movement on it, as they tend to be discounted and ignored. A load of people voicing their concern makes a difference! Devonshire Hill deserves decent streets, not crumbling shabby infrastructure.

Drop us a line at info@devonshirehill.org.uk if you have any comments or suggestions, such as other important local issues that need to be added to this list.

Haringey Council

• OVER. The development at 500 White Hart Lane went ahead despite neighbourhood concerns. A few concessions were extracted, though many of them were never enacted despite being promised. (fixing the lane to the east of the development, and the pedestrian crossing)

• OVER. There should have been a pedestrian-controlled “puffin” crossing at White Hart Lane, near Fenton Road and the ASDA petrol station. It’s becoming increasingly difficult and dangerous to cross, traffic levels have been rising because of the petrol station, the road has poor visibility because of the curves at that point, and there are no nearby crossings except for a rather dangerous-feeling pair of bollards near the Screwfix.
  In the end, a crossing was installed west of the petrol station and the flats. But it's an uncontrolled crossing.

  • Haringey's website says to call in for crossing requests, but a phone call yielded a “you have to send an email” response. Email sent to frontline@haringey.gov.uk on 23 February 2016 requesting that the council consider a proper crossing at that point. Automatic response received, indicating that the suggestion has been assigned reference WK347026. Response eventually received - there isn’t enough money, and not enough injuries have occurred recently. Pedestrian safety isn't something to be looked at proactively, it seems.

• NOT SOLVED. There is a single yellow line on White Hart Lane to the west and east of the Haringey Football Ground bus stop opposite the Selco. When the weekly carboot sale occurs, customers park along the southern edge of White Hart Lane, making it impossible for cars and buses to pass. The result is very dangerous – vehicles drive the length of the painted ghost island just to get down the road. Traffic is congested and blocked for considerable distances up and down the road. For safety reasons, Haringey Council should signpost the section of road, banning parking on this single yellow on weekends.

• PARTLY SOLVED. The owners of 500 White Hart Lane, occupied by the Build-It yard, must repair the dangerously tilting spiked fence on the western side of the lane linking White Hart Lane to Devonshire Hill Lane. Haringey were notified via the “report dangerous structures” form on 22 February 2016; generic automatic response received. The middle section of the fence, shown below, was repaired in mid March 2016. Other sections of the fence have not been touched.

• NOT SOLVED. Drivers tend to accelerate and zoom when entering the section of Devonshire Hill Lane which has grassy verges (between about 106 DHL and 156 DHL), since it feels wider. Traffic calming measures could be put in place to discourage this dangerous behaviour. Alternatively a meeting to decide whether to ask the council to drop the speed limit to 20 mph, to discourage cross traffic caused by people bypassing White Hart Lane, would be better.

• NOT SOLVED. Widespread traffic issues, parking issues and increased general dumping of rubbish (unwanted purchases) appear to be arising from the weekend car boot sales at Haringey Football Ground.

• NOT SOLVED. The grassy verge at Devonshire Hill Lane between 106 DHL and 156 DHL is council property but mowed infrequently. The ditch that was installed is permanently full of tall grass.

• PARTLY SOLVED. The wooden fenceposts for the drives on the north side of Devonshire Hill Lane between 126 and 132 DHL are rotting, disintegrating, and two have fallen over. Haringey notified of the issue on 22 February 2016. Eventually one of the two posts was repaired.

• NOT SOLVED. The pedestrian footpath, formerly known as Ash Path, which connects White Hart Lane and Devonshire Hill Lane, is strewn with rubbish and dog mess and not tidied frequently enough. Haringey's Waste Management Team were contacted via their street litter bin form on 25 February, requesting a bin be placed at the north end of the footpath. (one right at the south end would be good too, but there’s already one by the bus stop)

• NOT SOLVED. There is insufficient lighting at the north end of this footpath, where it meets Devonshire Hill Lane. This area is extremely dark at night. Haringey notified of the issue on 22 February 2016. Obtained a generic response on 29 February, indicating that the location is on a list for consideration.

• PARTLY SOLVED. The footpath needs resurfacing. Its tarmac is broken and and crumbling, exacerbated by tree roots. This makes it difficult for people with buggies and wheelchairs, and also leads to a general sense of decrepitude which encourages casual littering and flytipping. In fact, the condition of public spaces such as this footpath contribute a lot to the overall sense of pride and respect accorded to a neighbourhood, consciously or not.

• Haringey Council notified of the issue on 26 February 2016. The next week the north end of the path had a couple of asphalt patches installed, but the really rough section of the path below wasn’t touched, oddly enough. Ideally the entire footpath should be resurfaced, not just patched in a couple of places, though I imagine the council will be reluctant to want to do so. In mid May 2016 the worst section of the path, shown below, was resurfaced. Rough areas of the rest of the path have not been touched.

• • SOLVED. Damaged bollard at the corner of White Hart Lane and Fenton Road - crushed by car. (reported 4 March 2016, HC-303375) Repaired.

• NOT SOLVED. More generally, virtually no notice is provided to local residents when developments are proposed.

Homes for Haringey

• SOLVED. A wall has collapsed at the north end of the pedestrian footpath linking White Hart Lane to Devonshire Hill Lane. Rubble and rubbish are strewn about. This wall is in the back garden of a house on the east side of the lane (in Devonshire Hill Gardens), and is Homes for Haringey’s responsibility to repair. They have been contacted by email (repairs@homesforharingey.org) and they responded that the site will be inspected on 1 March 2016. No further action was taken. Follow-up email sent on 4 March. Response was the repair will be moved to 21 March. That date came and went, and the fence remains a rubble-strewn mess. Some of the rubble was tidied at the end of March. The fence was finally repaired by 18 April 2016.

• SOLVED FOR NOW. There is graffiti tagged onto the same wall, further south. Homes for Haringey were contacted on 24 February 2016 via repairs@homesforharingey.org and they said that their anti-graffiti team will attend on 26 February. Issue remains unresolved as of 9 March. A further 5 graffiti tags have appeared since. The graffiti on the Homes for Haringey fences were painted over the first week of April. There is now graffiti on the Spurs-owned wall, however. Huge bout of graffiti appeared Friday July 1, running extent and footpath, and covering most of the Spurs-owned wall on the western side. Reported to Homes for Haringey on 3 July. It was cleaned up beautifully a week or so later. Even the Spurs' brick wall was cleaned. Excellent work!

• NOT SOLVED. Most of the wall/concrete fence lining the eastern side of the path (owned by Homes for Haringey) is in very poor condition. The older concrete panels are disintegrating, exposing lengths of rusty metal bar. This contributes to a general air of shabbiness which encourages littering and antisocial behaviour.

Virgin Media

• NOT SOLVED. There has been a damaged cabinet in front of 165 Devonshire Hill Lane for some time. The door can swing open, exposing the innards to weather and vandals. Damaged cables would shut down TV service for anyone relying on Virgin Media. Virgin Media notified on 29 February 2016 using their response form. No reply received; no action has been taken. Phoned in report June 2016. Still no response.

Transport for London

• NOT SOLVED. The operators of the W3 bus, Arriva London, frequently cancel bus services mid-route, forcing customers off the bus. This practice is called “curtailment by service controller,“ and is supposed to happen as a last resort in case of congestion. In theory curtailment avoids delays elsewhere on the route, but it seems that operators may use the technique to misleadingly make their operations seem on time to Transport for London (buses can arrive at the depot on time when they don't have to stop for customers), at the expense of users. It's habitual for W3 eastbound buses to be curtailed in the early evening, abandoning customers in the middle of nowhere – White Hart Lane/Fenton Road.

  • TFL have a complaints form, and we should notify them whenever these incidents occur. Curtailment is particularly frustrating when a driver doesn't issue transfers for those who need it, or when the bus behind isn't notified and thus doesn't stop to collect passengers. It's even worse when you get kicked off twice, eg: travelling eastbound from Alexandra Palace Station and getting thrown off one bus at Wood Green Station and then off a second bus at Fenton Road.

• PARTLY SOLVED. The bus shelter at the north side of White Hart Lane/Fenton Road (Haringey Football Ground, stop WX, stop ID: 48935) was removed in December 2015 after it was damaged by a speeding car. As noted above, this is a common stop where users are thrown off the bus and made to wait in the rain for the next W3 to come along. Complaint sent to TFL using their complaint form on 1 March 2016. On 15 March they responded, saying the shelter was removed because of a “road accident” and will be replaced within the next 4-5 months. As a side note, the developers behind the proposed tower block complex at 500 WHL have kindly promised to replace this bus shelter if the proposal goes ahead; a few thousand pound investment that clearly demonstrates the deep respect they hold for the community.

Longer-term issues with no specific responsible party.

• Absence of general amenities in the area.

• Absence of retail shops in the area. Between White Hart Lane and Green Lanes there are almost no neighbourhood shops of any kind. (the ASDA petrol station WHL/Fenton Road, and the corner shop at the Crossway being about the only exceptions)

• Difficulty in obtaining medical services. Few surgeries in the area, and many nearby are not accepting new clients.

• Poor transportation links in general. The neighbourhood is roughly equidistant from the nearest stations – Wood Green, White Hart Lane, Silver Street, Alexandra Palace, Bowes Park.