Highways - Having my say

On the road to improvement - the results

Last summer we gave you the opportunity to Have Your Say about the Highways improvements in 2008-09 and 2009-10.

Thank you to everyone who responded. We got 3518 postcards and emails. And because you took the time to fill in your address and age we know that we got them from a wide range of people across the whole borough. The youngest person who responded was age 8 and the oldest person was over 90.

There were a huge range of opinions and all the comments you made have been passed on to the highways department. But two options were clearly more important to you. You want the council to prioritise fixing potholes and pavements. The third and fourth options were easing bus route congestion and cycling pathways.

Since then the council has announced it will invest an extra £200,000 in repairing potholes from April 08.The additional money will see the council's spending on pothole repairs almost double.

Cabinet Member for Environment and Conservation, Cllr Brian Haley, believes the additional funding will enable the council to make substantial improvements to road conditions across the borough.

He said:

"The extra £200,000 will enable us to repair more potholes more quickly, and I hope that people will notice a substantial improvement to the quality of the roads around Haringey."

The council will also be setting up a 24-hour phone line from April to enable people to report the locations of potholes more easily - leaving messages out of hours - and so speed up the repair process.

In addition, it will be exploring a range of other options to make it easier for residents to report potholes.

Cllr Haley added:

"If we're going to repair potholes efficiently, we need people to tell us where they are. So it's important that we make the process of reporting potholes as easy as possible for residents across Haringey.

"The new 24-hour phone line should help us achieve that aim, but we will also look at further options to make sure we can make year on year improvements when it comes to fixing potholes."

The final results were:

Pothole repairs	43%
Pavement replacement	41%
Measures to ease bus route congestion	27%
Cycling pathways	26%
Improved Street lighting	24%
Measures to ease traffic congestion pinch points	24%
Road Resurfacing	23%
More pedestrian Crossings with traffic signals	22%
Road safety improvements	19%
Road Safety education in schools	17%
Traffic Calming	15%
Traffic Islands (pedestrian refuges)	10%
Cycle stands/cycle parking	8%
Cycle sanctuary(refuge)	5%

You let us know which you thought were the three most important areas to prioritise spending on highways by returning the postcard inside the July 07 issue of Haringey People or by sending an email with your priorities from the list to haveyoursay@haringey.gov.uk.

Some residents told us their views. The Have Your Say team were out and about in the borough asking residents to have their say in June 2007.

Paul Derchienberg - on Tottenham High Road Roads are good but people come during the night and dump rubbish. They come from other boroughs – they don’t live here. I think our priorities should be for children and older people so I would say: I - Cycle refuges N - Road safety education in schools P - Improved street lighting
Mrs Jean Holloway - on Hornsey High Street It’s noticeable that there are more crossings. The kids dashing across the road without using the crossings is worrying. Road safety education for teenagers wouldn’t go amiss. N - Road safety education in schools
Valentina Zena - on Green Lanes Cycle pathways because people have to cycle and there isn’t much room for them. Easing bus congestion is a good idea as well. H - Cycling pathways M - Measures to ease bus route congestion N - Road safety education in schools
Mrs Pauline Dobre - on Tottenham High Road The road surfaces are getting worse, especially in central London. There seems to be roadworks everywhere at busy times of day. They should work when it’s not busy. B - More pedestrian crossings with traffic signals N - Road safety education in schools P - Improved street lighting
Rufus Potter - on Alexandra Park area Kerb separation for cycle pathways makes them effective. F - Road resurfacing I - Cycle refuges N - Road safety education in schools

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We will use the information when the council is planning how to spend its own budget on highways investment and when we put in our bid for funding from Transport for London.  The results were published in the November issue of Haringey People.

Cabinet Member for Environment and Conservation, Cllr Brian Haley, said:

“Road and transport issues clearly affect everyone living and working in Haringey, so we feel it’s important that our residents should have more of a say in how we spend out money in these areas.

“Of course we will continue to invest heavily in all areas to ensure that motorists, cyclists, pedestrians and public transport users receive the best possible service.

“But we pledge to spend more money on those aspects which you feel are most important.

If you have a problem that you want to report or a specific issue please send an email to Streetscene@haringey.gov.uk or write to: Street Scene, Haringey Council, Level 1, River Park House 225 High Road, Wood Green London N22 8HQ.

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