The plan to start parking buses alongside the restaurants in Highgate Village is insane. The bus stands should never have been sited 30 years ago in the middle of the Village on the opposite side of the road from the restaurants anyway – but to propose parking them on the same (south) side as the restaurants … ! The one good thing about the proposals is that fighting them can also mean fighting to get the whole bus station moved to a more sensible location.

So – time to fight them on the beaches I think! Who? Transport for London (TfL). An alternative proposal to solve the issue from the Highgate Society proposes moving the bus stand to the bottom of North Hill. TfL hides behind the cost (£200,000) of extending the route of the 271 to the bottom of North Hill and then they add for good measure that lengthening the route might affect reliability. These are not insurmountable problems. Just for once, Transport for London, think about quality of life. Mayor Livingstone bleats on about the quality of life for Londoners endlessly – but he seems to care less when that quality is for an area like Highgate.

Of course Camden Council is also involved – and I am told that they themselves have so far responded in a very open way to alternative suggestions. Perhaps this is because they dealt with a similar issue with a proposed bus stand at South End Green.

Highgate Village has always been slightly blighted by the bus stand being plonked in the middle. It has also suffered hugely from being split between three local authorities, Haringey, Camden and Islington. Highgate’s issues often don’t neatly fit with the administrative boundaries, but cut across them instead.

We need to involve all local people (from both sides of the Highgate High Street), organisations and local businesses? Surely there isn’t a rush after 30 years for work to begin in November? Let’s use this as an opportunity to improve the ambiance of Highgate Village for visitors, residents and businesses?

The individual shops and restaurants which we all love and which make Highgate so Highgate have a hard enough time struggling against the challenges of chains, the changing parking environment and estate agents. Obscuring many of them behind parked buses is hardly going to help! More positively – moving the bus stands out of the village would improve what should be a central point of the village. Let’s use this opportunity for change to make the change for the better – for our community’s benefit.