Liveable Crouch End: Haringey Council trial of traffic closures cost £187,177
Middle Lane, which was closed to through traffic as part of a Liveable Neighbourhoods trial. Picture: Sam Volpe - Credit: Archant
Running the Liveable Crouch End trial closure of Middle Lane and Weston Park cost almost £190,000 according to figures released by Haringey Council under the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act.
Traffic at the bottom of Hornsey High Street where it meets Middle Lane. Picture: Supplied - Credit: Archant
In response to a request from local man David Orford, the town hall revealed the two week trial cost £187,177, excluding VAT.
The council said: "This included internal and external staffing costs, traffic signs, concrete blocks and bus gate, Traffic Management staff to operate the gate, security, parklets, events, traffic surveys, on-site perception surveys, on-line questionnaire, data analysis and reports of trial findings (sic)."
Last week Cllr Kirsten Hearn, the council's environmental chief, told this newspaper she "understood the concerns" of Crouch Enders who had been upset over the scheme - which saw Middle Lane closed to all through traffic except buses and partial closures of roads including Hillfield Avenue and Weston Park.
Cllr Luke Cawley-Harrison, (Crouch End, Lib Dem) told this newspaper it was difficult to criticise the money spent on the trial, but said he would have liked more spent on publicitiy. He added: "It would have been difficult for the council to have done this without doing a trial, they would have been going in blind with whatever design they came up with and we could have had all kinds of traffic problems.
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"For me the big positive of the trial is we have more people now engaged. More people who will now want to offer opinions. But what I would have liked is to have seen more spent on engagement beforehand."
Cllr Cawley-Harrison said he was calling for the consultation into Liveable Crouch End generally, as opposed to just the trial, to be reopened.
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It is understand the council will consult further in early 2020, while in response to a separate FoI request, it revealed it had delivered 12,000 leaflets to homes in the project area two weeks ahead of the trial.
David said he had made the request because "the council need to remember that they exist to serve the public".
Ann Cunningham, the town hall's head of operations, said: 'We are committed to Liveable Crouch End and will be developing concept designs in the New Year, building on the results and feedback from the trial. We have committed to working on the project with local people and so we are gathering as much information from residents as possible to ensure that their views are represented in future plans." It added the trial had "provided valuable traffic data".
The council was awarded £4.8m in a grant from Transport for London which goes towards the scheme.
The council also revealed it will release the results of the consultation over the trial on December 13.
