Forum topic: Notes from Palmers Green Ward Forum

The following is a brief outline of some of the points raised at the Palmers Green Ward Forum on 8th February.

There is another summary, by Sarah Dodgson, on the Enfield Voices Facebook page, produced as part of the Enfield Voices Citizen Journalism initiative.  There is also a video recording of the meeting made by Francis Sealey that he live streamed on Facebook(which not everyone can view - I'm one of those who can't, so I'm relying entirely on the notes I made at the meeting).

Attendees

• Councillors Ahmet Oykener and Mary Maguire were at the meeting, along with three of the four members of the Palmers Green Safer Neighbourhoods Team (Metropolitan Police Service)
• There were around 15 members of the public (not all from Palmers Green ward).

Safer Neighbourhood Team briefing

• Burglaries up, robberies down.
• Weapons sweeps carried out in Tatem Park.
• Use of Criminal Behaviour Orders has been effective in reducing drug dealing associated with particular retail premises near Green Lanes.

Crime/Anti-Social Behaviour

• Gun incident at Marina restaurant - many police officers in attendance (Safer Neighbourhood Team unaware of this)
• Fly tipping
  • Oakthorpe Road a particular blackspot. 
  • Rubbish in some mews alleys is blocking fire exits from flats above shops.
  • Council usually remove fly tipping quickly when notified
• Several fires deliberately started in Broomfield Park.
• Question: Have later opening hours of Lodge Drive car park resulted in any problems?
• Promised additional street lighting near MacDonalds was never installed, so that the route from the car park is poorly lit.

Controlled parking zones

• Residents in Windsor Road and Elmdale Road are organising petitions for CPZs. When they have gathered enough signatures, the petitions will be submitted to the Council, after which the consultation process will begin [This point was corrected on 15 February using information provided by Cllr Mary Maguire]
• The Council will consult residents in neighbouring streets before any decisions.

Cycle Enfield/Green Lanes road layout changes

• Bus stop boarders:
  • Do passengers have priority over cyclilsts?
  • Potential risk for partially sighted passengers
  • Signing for cyclists is inadequate
  • Mary Maguire undertook to investigate these questions.
• At least one stop line for cyclists missing
• Hazelwood Lane junction with Green Lanes
  • Complaint that the narrowed end of Hazelwood Lane is causing congestion
  • Counter argument that the narrowing has reduced danger to pedestrians walking along Green Lanes
  • Under the original Cycle Enfield proposals Hazelwood Lane would have been entry only*, but this iShe dea was abandoned because of objections from members of the public
  • Council considering removing some parking spaces to ease congestion
• Pedestrian lights near Lodge Drive junction take too long to turn green
• Complaint that no pedestrian phase planned for the Green Lanes/Hedge Lane/Bourne Hill junction
• Give Way lines on side roads set too far back, meaning that motorists can't see when it will be safe to enter Green Lanes**
• Oversized vehicles delivering to Sainsburys were persistently parking in the cycle lanes.  The point was made that it is not appropriate to use such large lorries to deliver to small shops.
• Cars were persistently parking in the cycle lane near Ruth Winston Centre.
• Funding has now been made available and the main carriageway between Barrowell Green and Hedge Lane will be resurfaced
• Some discussion about the scope for planting more trees or other greenery.

Redevelopment of the Fox

• Mary Maguire said that the Fox developers were due to meet LBE planning officers that day
• She suggested that discussions had focussed on the amount of affordable housing to be built
• A new planning application likely before the end of February, followed by another public consultation
• The Fox would probably go before the planning committee on 11th April.

Shopping parades in Green Lanes

• A general discussion took place about empty shops, poor choice of shops and the failure of shopkeepers and landlords to maintain the appearance of retail units and the flats above them.
• Ahmet Oykener said that some thought was being given as to how to improve the high street economy and its appearance in Palmers Green.  He was hoping to set up a meeting with Peter George, Assistant Director for Regeneration.  It was suggested that they should walk along Green Lanes to appreciate the problems.

 "Meeting the Housing Challenge in Enfield"

• The title of a briefing that Ahmet Oykener had given to the over 50s Forum in the morning.
• Print-offs of PowerPoint slides provided
• More than 50% of council housing lost through right to buy
• 3387 homeless households/10,000 homeless people in Enfield
• LBE has restarted building new council flats after a 30-year gap
• Landlords charging extortionate rents for emergency overnight accommodation
• LBE has set up its own fully-owned company to buy up properties to house homeless families (Housing Gateway) - this saved £2.5 million in 2016/17
• Meridian Water: Barratts deal fell through because they didn't want to uphold the position they had stated when bidding - affordable housing the main issue.  Now hopeful that talks with a second bidder will succeed.  Meridian Water can't be compared to the Haringey Development Vehicles as it involves new housing, not large scale redevelopment of former council estates.

Footnotes

*At the meeting it was stated that Hazelwood Lane was to be one-way, but I think this is incorrect - only the junction with Green Lanes would have been one-way.

**My view is that having the lines set back is good, showing that pedestrians and cyclists travelling along Green Lanes have precedence over cars emerging from side roads.  When a driver sees there are no pedestrians or bicycles coming, they can then move forward to the end of the road and wait there.