24 October 2009. Warren Court, High Cross Road. ___________________________

HIGH SOCIETY ?

One reason given for the (thankfully abandoned) plans to build on the southern end of Down Lane Park was that the location was appropriate for eight-storey blocks because it already had such high blocks nearby.

Perhaps the Planners/Regeneration "experts" think that local people go round with our eyes shut?

To the east of Down Lane Park the buildings on the Chesnut Estate are mostly two storeys, with some three and four storey blocks.

To the south of Down Lane Park, it is true that Warren Court - at the centre of this photo - has nine storeys and a basement. But as you can also see, the flats opposite in Hale Gardens are mostly four-storeys. As are the flats in High Cross Road. With the exception of a five-storey block with shops on the ground floor.

There's another four storey building nearby - part of the hostel complex at 99 High Cross Road, between Monument Way and High Cross Road.

Two years after I took this photo everyone can see the invasive, slab city going up to the East of Tottenham Hale Station. Despite its twee name of "Hale Village" we can see how out-of-place and out-of-scale it is.

Links

§ See the area for yourself by taking virtual stroll with Google Street View. § Click here for my set of photos of 99 High Cross Road. § View the four-storey building from Monument Way using Google Street View.

§ Walter Mentheth Architects designed 99 High Cross Road. Their website describes the problem of "development adjacent to the extreme traffic noise of a main highway". Their solution was to recycle the spoil from the demolished buildings to create a two-storey high "Environmental Noise Bund vegetated on a 65-degree slope" which "shelters the site from noise and pollution . . . ."

Welbourne Primary School in High Cross Road, is also screened from noise and pollution by a bund - a mound. This was made during the construction of Monument Way - also using spoil from the construction work. Without this protection, it would suffer the same problems faced by Earlsmead School in Broad Lane.

What are the implications for air and noise pollution for future residential development on the north side of Monument Way? When we'll have even heavier two-way traffic.

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SPOT THE LEAK

Observant Flickr visitors may have wondered about the large dark blob on the side of Warren Court.

It's not dirt on my camera lense but water overflowing from pipes in the flats. I reported it to Homes for Haringey, the Council's ALMO (arms-length-management-organisation.)

Unfortunately, I had to re-report it in April 2010.