Crouch End’s Fairfield Gardens is to get new lighting columns as a result of meetings between residents and Crouch End’s Liberal Democrat councillors.

The poor state of the existing lighting was just one of the items on a long list of problems that residents have identified in this short street at the rear of shops that front onto Tottenham Lane. They had organised a meeting with their ward councillors to discuss –

·Anti-social behaviour at night

·Rubbish dumping

·Inadequate rubbish collection/bin provision

·Illegal structures built behind shops

·Poor street lighting

·Cooking smells from restaurants

·Noisy extractor fans

·Blocked drains and much more

Long-term residents of the street had watched the problems accumulate and felt that enough was enough. Lib Dem councillor Lyn Weber asked for Haringey Council’s Neighbourhood Manager to invite a range of officers from different departments to attend the meeting last Tuesday morning at 8.30. Following a tour of the area several actions were agreed, including the promise of new lighting.

“We also want planning and street enforcement to visit offending businesses to ask them to remove a shed in which food is stored as well as looking at some quite serious planning infringements. This area is on the fringes of a conservation area, as well as a residential area, and these problems should never have been allowed to escalate,” said Cllr Weber. “Residents have been very patient but now it is reasonable for them to expect action.”

Cllr Winskill added, “It was a very positive meeting and we are looking forward to receiving a schedule of actions from officers that will lead to improvements to the vicinity. In the short term I have asked Haringey to provide a skip so that dumped rubbish can be removed”.