The Scruffy South (of Winchmore Hill Green)

By Root Streetwise

Having seen the responses to my earlier piece about the bike rack proposed for ‘The Green’ I took a stroll over the weekend to refresh my memory.

Few places in North London are better loved than Winchmore Hill Green, but little is perfect, and the local Residents’ Association thinks an uneven area of rough grass/ivy and trees along the southern edge doesn’t make the best of the area.  True, but whether their bid to the Enfield Residents’ Priority Fund for the money to make changes appropriately reflected the atmosphere and tradition of the place is another matter.

The nub of their proposal was to replace grass with: “…paving and sets in interesting patterns…”.  Ouch!  The Green is essentially an area of domestic architecture, grass, trees and shrubs; a relatively soft landscape, and it’s hard to see how harsh, intricately patterned paving would have blended, especially since there is a board fence behind part of the area which would stand out starkly. 

And is it a good idea to increase water run-off with all that means by way of adding to flood risk?  London needs its water-absorbing places having lost so many in recent years to paved front gardens.

Best not to pave it then, but the ground is uneven and needs levelling. Not much, and not everywhere, which is just as well because the existing trees will not be fans of changing ground levels.  Nor is grass, a prairie plant, the best ground cover under trees, but here, in a popular public place adjacent to roads, it needs to be retained by doing the best that can be done by the choice of grass species and pruning/or raising the canopies of the trees to let in maximum light.

Trees are key to blending The Scruffy South into “The Green’s” buildings and sightlines. Fortunately there is a graceful specimen of the evergreen Holm Oak (Quercus ilex) at the western end of the area which, whilst not an ideal street tree because it shades out the grass, grows very large and drops leaves all year round, does soften the outlines of surrounding tall, out-of-scale modern buildings.

If a reasonable grass sward is to be maintained the rest of the trees should have their canopies raised/be sympathetically pruned to maximise light at ground level. 

Indeed I would fell the juvenile English oak at the rear of the extreme western end and replace it with dark evergreen shrubs – the laurustinus (Viburnum tinus) springs to mind (see left) – to hide the boarded fence behind.

There remains the proposed cycle rack whose harsh outlines would tend to be lost against the dark foliage of the laurustinus. 

Whether it’s a good idea given the underused cycle storage at the station is another matter, but I support it. 

Cycling needs better facilities, and the arguments for fostering it are strong.  Perhaps the question is: “Which of us will set an example by cycling more and driving less?”

Whatever the design choices so much depends on aftercare. 

Mowing and tree care are tasks for the council, but the community should play its part by providing a litter picking and shrub care/ivy removal service.  

A role for the Residents’ Association?