Long-term measures to stop people using a road leading up to Alexandra Palace as a “race track” will be brought in.
Louise Stewart, Ally Pally’s chief executive, said current enforcement measures on Alexandra Palace Way were “temporary” and would be replaced with a “more permanent solution” – although she was unable to give a timescale for the changes.
The Alexandra Park and Palace Charitable Trust introduced measures in spring last year, which included barricades to prevent parking and fines of up to £100.
They were in response to a “significant increase” in night-time antisocial behaviour and people using the road as a “race track”, according to a report published in March.
During a joint meeting of the Alexandra Park and Palace statutory advisory and consultative committees on October 4, alternatives to existing measures were posed including amending bylaws so that officials could issue larger fines.
Annette Baker, from the Friends of Alexandra Palace, said the “awful barricades” meant there was “no feeling of ‘welcome’ at the palace”.
In response, Louise said: “All of what we have seen are temporary measures fighting something on a temporary basis.
“At some point, we will be able to take stock, review and come up with a more permanent solution.
“We haven’t had the time or resource to do that yet. Part of the solution will be rewriting the bylaws.”
She added: “I don’t have a timescale for you at the moment. It is not my top priority.
“Financial survival of the trust is my top priority, and recovering from Covid. It is part of our financial recovery from Covid not to have to support enforcement officers if we don’t have to.”
When road and parking bay closures were announced last May, Louise revealed they would cost the trust “in excess of £60,000”.
Issues of lighting around Alexandra Palace Park were also raised. The chief executive’s report to the committee revealed the trust had been “working through the backlog of faulty lights in the parkland”.
Louise said the trust continued to have a problem with two areas of the park, and the solution was “not as simple as changing a lightbulb”.
Cllr Elin Weston (Lab, Hornsey) said two women walking back from the theatre to Muswell Hill recently told her how dark it was.
She they were asked by another woman if she could walk home with them because she felt unsafe.
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