Bowes and Bounds Connected
A Community Network for Bowes Park and Bounds Green
Myddleton Road... A Street Worth Fighting For
We’ve spent the last 18 months focusing on making The Step the best it can be but we are now thinking more about the future of Myddleton Road and how we can all work to make it a better place. We don’t want to look backwards, we are where we are, but we need everyone including the relevant people at Haringey Council to share our enthusiasm for this street and, more importantly, the Bowes Park area to be bullish and belligerent about our future.
The potential for regeneration in this curious little “Bowes Park Triangle” of ours is immense. We have the excellent transport links, the availability of relatively well-priced housing and the enthusiastic spirit of a creative community. Look at the massive success of the Myddleton Road Market and how it brought our own community together and drew scores of new people to the area. This was a reason to be proud and must be capitalised on.
So we must ask ourselves why the heart of Bowes Park is a rundown, ramshackle street crippled with high density, low quality housing and the multitude of anti-social problems this brings? We must ask why illegal and ugly shutters out number open shop fronts at a ratio of five to one? Because this Myddleton Road does not reflect the vast majority of people who live in streets and roads that surround it so difficult questions must be asked of Haringey as to quite how the street has been left to rot and decay like this. We know of several people who have wanted to set up a business in the area but couldn’t find a retail space to let so we must ask why in less than 100 metres we have ten “property” companies whose activities contribute absolutely nothing to the local community?
We are not kidding ourselves that the solutions are easy and we know the historical reasons that led to the decline of Myddleton Road as a shopping street. There are probably many issues that we don’t fully understand but we founded The Step because we believe in Bowes Park and want to put back something in to the community as well as trying to make a living here. Without being too big headed we are bloody proud of what we have achieved so far but we want to make it very clear that if Haringey Council is not serious in backing the future of Bowes Park then we will move elsewhere and we will do this soon.
We didn’t open our business because we looked at the area and saw pound signs to get rich quick. We opened The Step because we saw a huge potential for long term regeneration and improving the quality of life here but nearly two years on, the signs are mixed and confused. On the one hand, the rubbish in the street is getting worse, anti-social behaviour is significantly on the increase and the quality of housing on the street is becoming ever more alarming and absurd. This is spreading to other roads in the area, make no mistake about that.
However…the positive news is that we know there are local people who want to invest in Myddleton Road. We know that there are many local people in Bowes Park both old and new who care deeply about the area. We know from personal experience that there are many people considering moving to the area but the ugly and seemingly unloved High Street is a big drawback for them. We have a brilliant street market, beautiful community garden, the Tin Tabernacle and an outdoor gym. In two years time wouldn’t it be brilliant if that last sentence was a paragraph?
So let’s not use the past as an excuse for passing more and more poor quality, high density housing in the area …let us use the future as a reason for saying no, this will harm the people who live here, your proposals are of no benefit to Bowes Park whatsoever. Let’s all of us work together to get that English Heritage money flowing in to Myddleton Road because if managed correctly it will make a world of difference.
It is also vital we engage with the certain landlords on the street because when we have spoken to them they don’t seem to have any idea of the damage they are doing to the Bowes Park community. They also don’t realise the huge potential of the properties they own…by train, we are twenty minutes from the City of London and the same from Shoreditch, the creative centre of London. Bowes Park could and should be the next big emerging area of our capital but a handful of cynical, short-sighted landlords don’t, or won’t, see this potential and have their foot to the throat of Myddleton Road. This is choking the life out of a whole area.
Do we throw our hands in the air and leave the future of Myddleton Road and, more importantly, the wider community of Bowes Park in the clutches of a handful of landlords who live far away from the boundaries of Haringey. We have put too much into The Step to walk away just yet and over the coming months we will be doing absolutely everything we can to put Myddleton Road and Haringey Council in the media spotlight…its blighted and bungled past and present, as well as its future potential.
Because it is a story worth telling and a street worth fighting for.
Let us know what you think by posting on our discussion on the Bowes and Bounds Forum.
Yours in hope
Nell and Mat
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Lindsey Berthoud on
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Will be listening in, 5pm start folks!
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Permalink Reply by Richard McKeever on
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The excellent news report and subsequent robust questioning of Cllr Matt Cooke is available on the BBC iPlayer for the next seven days - Or listen below.
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Permalink Reply by Martin McDonnell on -
Thanks for posting this
M
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Permalink Reply by Anna O'Neill on
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Feel free to call in with those commnets tonight Kari!
Also, BBC London News is looking at filming tomorrow on Myddleton Rd.
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Permalink Reply by Sam Hoggarth on
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Hi Anna,Looking forward to the radio broadcast later today! Great news about the filming tomorrow but will it be in the daytime? That would be a shame as most of the residents will be out at work :(
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Permalink Reply by Anna O'Neill on
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It will be I'm afraid. But at least it is another chance to try to pin down the council about the future of the street and get some of the business like The Step on. Feel free to call into BBC London 94.9 tonight before 7pm to have your say.
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Permalink Reply by Caroline Simpson on
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No its worse than that.
They have not got planning permission at all.
Never had.
They have now applied pretending that there was a living and workspace there before, and applying to upgrade it. No it wasnt there, an old shed was.
Now they have advertised it as a 2 bedroom houselet
You too can object on the Haringey planning website. Dont be scared - just say that you are a local resident and feel that bungalows should not be built willy-nilly in back gardens.
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Permalink Reply by Belsize on
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Sorry if I am repeating info posted elsewhere but...
You can object to the planning application for the 2 bed bungalow that has sprung up in a back garden on 'Myddleton Road here:
http://www.planningservices.haringey.gov.uk/portal/servlets/Applica...
It is advertised to rent as a 2 bed flat here http://www.zoopla.co.uk/to-rent/details/30070559 with no planning permission or local residents consent...
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A reminder that there is another forum thread where people flag up new planning applications.
Please take a look at them, read what others have said and put in your comments to Haringey - whether objections or support. Let's show them that we care about what's happening in the community.
http://www.bowesandbounds.org/forum/topics/building-control-on-mydd...
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Permalink Reply by Carolyn Brown on
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I will be happy to help in any way, let's keep up the pressure and hope a public meeting will be organised soon. Thanks Richard for the names of the councillor, I didn't realise they were still in post as they have being largely silent/absent for some time.
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Permalink Reply by Dharmesh on
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Great blog and blog title Nell. I think the phrase "A street worth fighting for" is resonating around here.
I have a suggestion:
Businesses and shops that reflect the values of the community make a huge difference to the tone and appearance of the street . The step is a great talisman but a heavy weight to bear.
It isn't impossible for new businesses to open we have the smart looking polish deli, the new coffee bar solo way and the nail/beauty salon - the businesses might not be my or your cup of tea but they're preferable to trade/property/junk food suppliers.
I'm suggesting putting together a PDF marketing document/brochure (avoiding the cost that print entails) that:
explains the great potential of bowes park in words and pictures that we all see such as:
great transport links
quirky local history
table tennis
Existing businesses like The step
local market
passionate community interested in businesses such
We also need to make the information to reach landlords easily available so potential businesses don't fall at the first hurdle.
Once we have the copy, the pictures, the contacts/process of potential tenants to progress and is collated in a well constructed document. We distribute it far and wide.
I can help in getting the document out there I work in business development and getting the document/marketing in front of key people, which I'm sure many people will also be able to do within there own networks.
If you think this is an idea worth pursuing. I need are people who can, provide the facts/information, write copy, take photos, someone who can put together assets in a pdf creator/powerpoint. I can help with co-ordination, editing/proof-reading and distribution.
If anyone is interested in getting involved please let me know. Could this be a possible agenda point at the proposed meeting?
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Yes. We know he's supportive of us but his assertion that more enforcement action has taken place in Myddleton Road than anywhere else in Haringey since 2006 - and look at the state of it - didn't do the council any favours.
Glad that Richard reminded us elsewhere that local elections are coming up in Spring 2014. All this discussion is very timely.
Connecting the communities of Bowes Park and Bounds Green in north London.
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