Update on The Green - Winchmore Hill Residents Association

Winchmore Hill Residents Association have responded to the comments on the bike rack area on The Green with a scheme that seems to agree with all parties, see what you think..

Discussion on the Association’s proposals for The Green, Winchmore Hill, under the Residents Priority Fund has continued and we felt it could be useful to explain the background and rationale behind the original proposals.

Historically The Green was a common working area upon which tradesmen parked their carts and carried out their business. 

The eastern part of The Green was almost totally covered by the village pond but at about the turn of the century this was filled in and the whole area enclosed by high railings and laid out inside with paths, seats, flower beds and a fountain as a central feature. 

The section of The Green which is the subject of the Association’s proposals was part of the garden of a large house, Roseville, behind a high brick wall at the back edge of the current pavement. 

Why and how the boundaries were changed we don’t know.

A number of people currently working and living in and around The Green have expressed their concern in recent years on the commercial viability of the shops around The Green and the need to introduce more activity to attract people from a wider catchment area. 

One of the legacies of the N21 Festival and one of the major aims of the now sadly defunct Winchmore Hill Green Traders Association was the introduction of a monthly market. 

It was with this idea in mind and the resurgence of different activities that this area was suggested to be paved to withstand the more intensive use.

In other words the paving was introduced to give another dimension to the possible activities on The Green, limited only to shopkeeper’s imagination, to help The Green to become more commercially alive and not just remain a bland open space providing a foreground to the enclosing buildings which have little architectural merit.

The paving would also eliminate any need for future maintenance which was understood to be a prerequisite of The Priority Fund.  The introduction of bicycle racks of a selected design in this context would have been virtually unnoticed.

However the Priority Fund Panel requested us to substitute the paving with grass in order to reduce costs.  Some residents considered this more appropriate although there were no historical grounds for this.

At this time, because of the change in surfacing, the Association should have reconsidered the overall effects more fully. Owing to the need to lay either a form of paving or reinforce the grass in the area associated with the bicycle racks this element inevitably would have become visually more dominant. 

In our opinion every effort should be made to encourage the use of bicycles and we feel more racks should be provided at all stations. 

In this instance owing to the changed circumstances we are now proposing the removal of the bicycle racks from the area and supplementing those in Station Road as part of the Fund works.

The proposals will therefore now include the retention of all mature trees with thinning and lifting of their crowns, the removal of self-sown saplings and undergrowth, the levelling of the surface and re-seeding with grass. 

The introduction of ground cover in selected areas, the repair and removal of brick edging, the provision of two hardwood seat benches and associated paving and the repair of notice boards.