WE CALL ON HARINGEY COUNCIL TO PUT NATURE FIRST WITH THE NEW STANHOPE ROAD BRIDGE

WE CALL ON HARINGEY COUNCIL TO PUT NATURE FIRST WITH THE NEW STANHOPE ROAD BRIDGE

Started
25 January 2022
Petition to
Mike Hakata (Haringey Council Cabinet Member for Environment, Transport & the Climate Emergency and Deputy Leader) and 1 other
Signatures: 6,207Next Goal: 7,500
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Why this petition matters

We call on Haringey council to come up with a more eco design for the Stanhope Road Bridge that puts nature first and stops more destruction of our nature reserve, the Parkland Walk.
 
Despite strong local objection, and the growing climate crisis, Haringey Council has given the go-ahead to a construction plan on the Parkland Walk which will DESTROY valuable wildlife habitat, including many mature trees. Two of the trees which will be lost are oaks, decades old, providing a home for over 2000 species of insects and animals and a focal point for residents and walkers.
 
The proposed new design is bare, urbanised and currently entirely inappropriate to a nature reserve.  

As well as the loss of habitat and biodiversity it will bring about, the new bridge design raises it to a height which will allow more HGV traffic on the already busy Stanhope Road, increasing noise, traffic and pollution. The council advise this is a legal requirement for a new bridge and they have no choice. We are researching whether there are in fact other options, but if this is the case it makes it even more important that they do all they can to make every other aspect of this new bridge as green as possible.
 
Parkland Walk is a much-loved nature reserve in North London, running along a disused railway.  Used by walkers, cyclists, runners and visitors from all over the world, it’s a wonderful site for birds, insects, wildflowers, trees and wildlife including bats. A hugely valuable asset to the city in the fight against climate change with its tree cover and biodiversity, as well as for the mental health of residents. 
 
But Haringey Council has damaged and eroded its wild landscape.  A great number of trees were felled along the walk in 2021 – the council claimed this was to inspect the footbridges and ascertain whether trees were causing damage.  Clearly this was madness – it meant the many trees which weren’t causing any harm were killed anyway.
 
We successfully campaigned to stop them chopping down more trees last year, but now the council has granted itself planning permission to build a new bridge – a design which is detrimental to its surroundings, and the environment as a whole.
 
While the decaying bridge at Stanhope Road does apparently need replacing, Haringey is squandering the opportunity to build a structure which enhances the walk.  Instead, they hired contractors WSP who are not specialists in conservation and who have come up with a design that fails to reflect its location on a nature reserve. 

It’s shocking.  A project like this on a nature reserve should be undertaken by specialists well-versed in protecting and retaining its natural assets, and who would ensure that works taking place will be carried out with minimal impact on wildlife.  It should be designed to increase biodiversity and habitat with its use of materials and integration of planting. None of this is the case with the plans Haringey have commissioned and approved. 
 
WSP and the council claim the least destructive option for improving access for disabled users and pushchairs is with a huge zigzag ramp at the expense of a vast swathe of habitat – and several trees.  There are, however,  a number of existing viable entrances which could be adapted with no loss to nature. 
 
If additional access IS necessary on the bridge itself we ask Haringey to explore further how they could create a less destructive version, and protect the trees already growing near it.
 
So far the council has been far too careless in its treatment of this wonderful nature reserve – not only in the mass destruction of trees last year, but in the repairs they’ve already made to Upper Tollington Bridge.  On this bridge, all vegetation has been removed, with no measures such as planters or similar to replace it – meaning bees, butterflies and the like have lost essential pollinators.  And further attacking the site’s biodiversity, it’s been resurfaced with self-binding gravel (which they also plan to use on the new bridge) – chosen for its appearance without regard for its impact on insects and invertebrates.

We ask Haringey Council to ensure they don't repeat the same mistakes with Stanhope Road Bridge, and with future repairs and maintenance on the walk.  They have told us that they value the Parkland Walk and want to treat it appropriately, so they need to prove that with a much better plan, -  before it's too late and more wild habitat and trees are lost.

London is losing mature trees and green space at an alarming rate, which is especially unconscionable in the face of climate crisis.  But this affects our community way beyond London – we need trees to absorb carbon, and the shrinking of biodiversity is causing untold damage.
 
We call on Haringey Council to commit to protecting and nurturing the tremendously valuable site of the Parkland Walk nature reserve, and in so doing to scrap the terrible initial Stanhope Road bridge design, and instead create something genuinely green and forward thinking for our beloved wildlife corridor.
 
There is a wonderful opportunity here to add value to the nature reserve, instead of damaging it irreversibly.
 

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Signatures: 6,207Next Goal: 7,500
Support now
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Decision-Makers

  • Mike HakataHaringey Council Cabinet Member for Environment, Transport & the Climate Emergency and Deputy Leader
  • Simon FarrowHaringey Council Interim Head of Parks & Leisure, overseeing this plan