CROUCH END NEIGHBOURHOOD FORUM 2025 AGM

SATURDAY 29th MARCH 3.00 – 4.30 PM

UNION CHURCH & COMMUNITY CENTRE downstairs hall, Weston Park N8 9PX

Do come to our Annual General Meeting. Now is a good time to get involved – we still need more committee members, is this you?

In addition to reporting on key issues and developments in Crouch End we’ll be electing a new Executive Committee (details below), and looking at —

• How could a Crouch End vision shape up? Can we upgrade the town centre’s inadequate pavements, improve transport, or plant a few more trees and secure better stewardship of heritage assets?
• Examining the long awaited Hornsey Town Hall’s struggle to be born – will it herald the Crouch End cultural quarter? Has the recent sale affected the scheme?
• And discussing ideas for the Crouch End Neighbourhood Plan, including design guidance, setting objectives and policies for the town centre, the local environment, local heritage, and local housing priorities – can we get hold of the  £600,000 of Neighbourhood Community Infrastructure Levy funds?

 (Image: a future Crouch End? Credit: WestonWilliamson architects)

*To help us manage numbers please register for a free ticket through Eventbrite (but you can still fetch up on the day). All are welcome at the AGM, hope to see you there.

Agenda

3 PM  WELCOME
3.10  Hornsey Town Hall report and FAQs
3.30  AGM business – including nominations for the Committee (see below)
3.40  Neighbourhood Plan – a vision for Crouch End; presentations of objectives, ideas, and policies for housing, local economy, environment, heritage and design, social and community, transport
4.30pm  END

Nominations for 2025 Executive Committee

All Crouch Enders can contribute whether they live here, work here, carry out business here, are in education here, or own property in the area. Members of local societies and associations are welcome.

Name: Robert Jackson
Address: Glasslyn Road
I have been a resident of Crouch End for over 20 years, and before that lived just over the hill near Archway. I am now retired, having previously worked in the computer industry for nearly 40 years. I have been the Treasurer of the Neighbourhood Forum for the past nine years. I am also Chair of my local Resident’s Association, and I am a committee member and trustee of CREOS (Crouch End Open Space), a local charity whose purpose is to conserve the Crouch End playing fields, so I have a particular interest in protecting the green spaces in the neighbourhood.
Rob Jackson is currently Treasurer of the Crouch End Neighbourhood Forum.

Name: Mark Afford
Address: Elder Avenue
Statement: Resident in Crouch End for 30 years with a son schooled at Coleridge and Highgate Woods, my interest in CENF stems from a passion for the local area and a belief in local civic engagement. An active member in establishing the Neighbourhood Forum, I hope to continue a pragmatic advocacy of all things Crouch End. My interests are in planning and the built environment, and I possess an MSc in Historic Conservation. I have no political affiliation and have been a Committee and steering group member of CENF since its inception, representing the group on a number of Haringey council committees.
Mark Afford is currently Chair of Crouch End Neighbourhood Forum.

Name: Janet Sutherland
Address: Elmfield Avenue
Statement: I would like to continue on the Forum, doing what we can to help engage Crouch Enders in planning the future for our wonderful neighbourhood. I have lived in the area since 1980, with a career in housing, with a great interest in neighbourhood planning, neighbourhood renewal, effective community engagement, urbanism and housing for older people.

Name: David Blackman
Address: Carysfort Road
Statement: I have been a Crouch End resident for nearly 20 years and have been a member of the CENF Executive Committee for the last two years. I am keen to remain a member in order to help the forum’s work delivering the Neighbourhood Plan and have a particularly strong interest in how it can be a vehicle for promoting the sustainability of Crouch End town centre and local housing provision. By profession, I am a freelance journalist with a specific interest in the built environment and public policy.

Name: Sue Cooper
Address: Crouch Hall Road
I have no relevant professional qualifications but with both parents being architects I think an awareness of my built environment is in my DNA. I moved into Crouch End a few years ago and have loved discovering its architectural history, its creativity and its combined urban and green sense of place. I am a resident representative on the Hornsey Town Hall construction steering group and have been a member of the CENF committee for the last year. I would like to continue to be involved in the development of this wonderful area for its local residents and independent businesses. I practised as a barrister for 30 years before being appointed a district judge. I have now retired.

Name: Andrew Buchan
I lived in Highgate, Highbury and Finsbury Park until 1994. I first came to Crouch End in 1984 to lecture to the Arbours Association formerly in Weston Park. I fell in love with CE and resolved to try and live here. I was lucky enough to buy a house in Aubrey Road and a flat for my mother in Fairfield Road. I take a keen interest in local politics and the development of our community. I have been a member of Muswell Hill Golf Club since 1980. I co-wrote its 125 History. I took a sabbatical from the Bar to set up and run a green company which recycled used cooking oil and turned it into BioDiesel for Viola our local refuse collectors at the time. I would like to do what I can to help.

Name: Will Chan
Address: Haringey Park
Statement: I have been a Crouch End resident for 10 years. We moved to the area because we love the community spirit, green spaces, the independent shops and restaurants on the high street. Over the years, we have made many friends in the area and have also convinced many others to move to Crouch End. Many local businesses have suffered immensely due to Covid – I think the Forum has a huge part to play to encourage Crouch End residents to shop locally so our town centre continues to thrive in the future. I am also an Architect by training and am keen to bring my knowledge in town planning to help ensure the historic character of Crouch End is respected so Crouch End continues to be an attractive and desirable place to live, work and visit.

Name: Nick Hobbs
Address: Coleridge Road
Statement: I wish to stand for the CENF executive committee. I have recently moved to Crouch End and am keen to get involved in the community. For me, civic engagement in the local area, like with the role which the Forum plays between residents, businesses and the council, is really important. Helping positive new ideas flourish while preserving the things which drew people to the area in the first place are all part of that. I would bring to the Forum legal experience, both from the public and private sectors, and of working for or with central and local government.

Name: Marcus Adams
Statement: I have been a Crouch End resident for 25 years. I am an architect, urban designer and masterplanner and also specialise in community engagement. I am Managing Partner of JTP and I have led/been involved in successful town centre regeneration and visioning schemes across the UK and internationally including include Hebden Bridge, Winchester, Maidenhead, and Scarborough, and internationally in across Europe. I believe that any initiatives should be grounded by genuine engagement by all stakeholders and residents including the young, and I can bring an extensive experience of different processes. I am also a believer that investment in public realm drives confidence in a place and attracts investment. The centre of Crouch End is dominated by traffic with negative impacts on quality and air quality. Stewardship and curation also has an important role to play.

Name: Charles Kingsley
My interest in being part of the AGM for the Crouch End Community Forum is an embodiment of my 25 years of experience advocating for regenerative communities. I have split time between Portland Oregon and Brighton and London and we are in the process of finding our home in Crouch End after previously doing a full eco restoration of a home in Queens Park.
I have trained as a strategic planner and facilitator and organisation development consultant. From participating in the community forum last year I feel like I can bring a keen advocacy for cultivating shared visions and managing community expectations with steady updates on plans, time frames and next steps. In my work leading and facilitating community development I’m acutely aware of the need to demonstrate progress and community events that can lead to identifying shared priorities and enlisting people to help make visions get translated to results the community can be proud of. Greening of the high streets is a particular passion and feels like it can serve to rejuvenate both our local ecology and a more vibrant business and pedestrian community.

Name: Fergus Redican
Address: Crouch End Hill
Statement: I have been a Crouch End resident for 4 years. I grew up in a small village in Ireland and was attracted to Crouch End when looking for a London home as it has a nice familiar welcoming villagey feel, with lot’s of nice local parks, cafes and amenities. Having grown up in a family highly involved in our local committee of the country-wide Tidy Town’s project in Ireland I’ve learnt to appreciate the impact that local guidance can have on means to maintain and improve local communities and their surroundings. I have an interest therefore in getting involved in local projects or committees to help maintain the character & economic sustainability of the area I live in; I’ve been attending many CENF meetings over the past year and would be interested in becoming an executive committee member.

Name: Tony Silverman
We moved here in August 2015 from East Finchley. I believe there will always be ways local citizens can make a difference, even more working as part of the CNEF. For example a few years ago I put a detailed road scheme to Haringey that would improve traffic flow around the Clocktower whilst also providing massively more public space that might be used for pavement cafes, buskers and such like. Haringey Planning directed me to the Project Manager for Major Programmes – Highways who supported the project and I have had subsequent correspondence about funding. I’m also keen that live music in Crouch End venues should be supported by licensing authorities and have responded to a public consultation on the subject. Another project I have been supportive of is the initiative to make the field in Shepherds Cot a Village Green. No doubt there are many other projects the CNEF could be interested in and, as appropriate, contribute towards.