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Permalink Reply by Lindsey Berthoud on May 15, 2014 at 17:13

Innovative lighting sounds great - I loved having the lights in the tree by the gym at Christmas. And I'm all for greening & artwork. 

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Permalink Reply by Leigh on May 15, 2014 at 21:21

Wow - ice berg bins. What a great idea. I'd be interested in encouraging more cycling by introducing intelligently planned cycle ways. The only alarm bell with the above is that well thought out planning of the kind that enhances sustainable transportation is rarely low cost - although when done well, brings its economic rewards in the longer term - alongside the social and environmental.

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Permalink Reply by Richard McKeever on May 15, 2014 at 21:48

Really interesting opportunity.

It may be out of scope for this funding - or it might connect with the changing behaviour / reducing travel strand...

...but I'd love to see an empty shop space in Myddleton Road turned into a workspace hub. Somewhere with desks to use and maybe shared resources like computers, a photocopier, printers, fast Wi-fi for online conferencing and a meeting room with decent coffee etc. Having a good place to work and meet locally could mean many journeys into the city could be avoided - with the added benefit of connecting-up local people who might contribute to shared projects and new enterprises.

A further advantage would be to have a space in the neighbourhood that, outside of working hours, could be used for other community projects - supporting people get online, or like the amazing 826 Valencia project in San Francisco a creative writing support centre for school students as outlined in this video below:

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Permalink Reply by Leila Nicholas on May 15, 2014 at 22:05

Great ideas! Particularly greening the street, art works and the iceberg bins. It would be great to have a focus on reducing the litter problem.

In response to Richards comment about 826 Valencia Project, a similar example closer to home is Hackney Pirates: http://www.hackneypirates.org/our-story. They do great stuff connecting creative people and children.

I look forward to hearing about the ideas that develop from this.

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Permalink Reply by Stephen Frost on May 16, 2014 at 17:08

Really good ideas suggested so far and would be happy to see any of them pop up on the road. Anything that starts to get across the idea that the street is actually meant for people would be great - I love the road but it is rather dominated by car parking at the moment. Might be a bit controversial but stealing some of those parking bays (in a reversible way) to make a bit of space for whatever ideas make it in the bid could be a plan.

A few other random ideas to throw into the pot:

- around the time we first moved to Bounds Green there was a nice little list of things to do on Myddleton Road up on the community noticeboard (link here) - there could be a way of developing this idea in to a few temporary and very local Legible London style boards highlighting the things to do on the road or within walking/cycle distance? Depending on the design it could also incorporate a bit of history about the street or local art...

- creating some clear zones for people to stop and chat with a bit of clever colour on the pavement, benches, a bit of greenery and maybe even some street play equipment (or a hopscotch grid or two).

- talking bins or singing ones? Not as innovative as the iceberg idea but apparently has worked elsewhere and adds to the idea of this being a playful area

- this might be a question of space but making the road two-way for cyclists is meant to be a good way of encouraging mode shift

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Permalink Reply by Matthew Clark on May 16, 2014 at 17:21

Going be each theme, here are some ideas:

 

More efficient/flexible use of space

Encouraging pedestrian footfall and increasing dwell times and spending

- more amenity space, benches, public art, innovative lighting, iceberg bins could fit here too.

Enabling two way cycle flows (also fits under Changing behaviour/managing demand)

- moving balance of street from parked cars to cycle and walking flows (could be temporary trial, semi segregated contra flow cycling west to east or peak time only)

- more cyclists change balance of street from car dominated to people dominated (and encreased stopping/spending en route - evidence in London Councils research)

Infrastructure and assets fit for the future

- electric car club bays including an electric van for business use (in partnership with Zipcar etc to encourage take up of EVs and reduce car ownership, releasing parking spaces and reducing car use), this also ticks the Changing behaviour/managing demand  and Intelligent systems and management boxes too.  There is evidence on how car club use of EVs is positive in awareness raising and other benefits (Carplus annual survey 2014)

- Transport departure board on Bowes Park bridge, providing train, tube and bus departure information (integrating journey planning), currently if there is a problem at Bowes Park you have to go to the platform to find out, there is also a flow people to and from the tube in difficulties (very inefficient!).  Few if any examples of this actually being implemented in London in an integrated fashion.

- Implementing wifi at Bowes Park station, making stations fit for the 21 Century, improving connectivity

Lots of things to think about...

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Permalink Reply by Kate Franzmann on May 18, 2014 at 20:00

What excellent ideas.  I wonder if themed artwork on Myddleton Road could follow the passage of the New River underground.   If it started from the Wood Green area it might even draw in curious people who were not even aware of the existence of  Myddleton Road.

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Permalink Reply by Liz Wright on May 19, 2014 at 9:22

Yes! A vibrant place that hums with colour, singing bins, play and conversation -  a street that is people friendly and not dominated by cars - the balance moving to pedestrians and cyclists; more amenity space.  The environment - adding colour to the street. I like the idea of creating some clear zones for people to stop and chat and street play equipment... places for adults to play and read with children- an outdoor book area for adults and children to talk about and share books. Also workshop hubs which might be cross generational - older and younger people sharing skills.  Talking/debating area - to encourage conversation between people... colourful signs which advertise that the purpose of the street is to explore ways in which local people feel able to make connections with each other across the generations.  A box in the street for posting responses to this initiative to encourage further communication - the idea that the project is part of an exploratory process that involves locals. The work of the strategy group is inspiring!

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Permalink Reply by Stephen Frost on June 5, 2014 at 19:20

Hi Toby - did the Regeneration Team manage to get in an expression of interest by the 1st June deadline?

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Permalink Reply by Toby Nation on June 5, 2014 at 22:11

Yes indeed. Thanks to some good work by the various members of We Love Myddleton Road we came up with some great ideas for Haringey Council to submit an expression of interest.

It was great to hear so many good ideas from everyone - we'll keep this forum updated when we hear back from TfL.

Thanks to everyone who helped.

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Permalink Reply by Stephen Frost on June 6, 2014 at 20:16

That's great news - good work everyone involved. Fingers crossed for some useful/positive feedback.

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Permalink Reply by Stephen Frost on August 7, 2015 at 20:07

There might be a better place to put this but if a similar bid ever comes along then this would go high on my wish list for Myddleton Rd:

A 'parklet' that turns a parking space (or a couple if they are going spare) into a bike park/seating/green space. The first one in the UK has just gone in near Old Street supported by Sustrans > http://www.sustrans.org.uk/news/busy-london-street-reclaimed. There's quite a few pictures on Twitter if you follow the links but here's one that captures it well: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CJAMJuNWsAAMlpc.jpg.

There's a few spots on Myddleton I can imagine this working as part of a trial...

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