One thing was clear from our consultation event earlier this year – Crouch Enders love trees. And they want more of them. Some parts of Crouch End possess a high quotient of tree cover, with views of tree lined ridges, well-planted large gardens and avenues of mature specimens, for example planes lining Shepherds Hill, chestnuts along Crouch End Hill, and the cherry blossom of Cecile Park. But there are many places that could do with more. We received several suggestions of streets that could benefit: Tottenham Lane, Dashwood Road, Ferme Park Road, Haringey Park, Rokesley Avenue, Clifton Road. These are just some examples; I am sure there are plenty of others that also fit the bill. We are hoping that when (if) we eventually have our say on how CIL money will be spent, this will be an obvious choice. Trees are relatively inexpensive and easy to plant fairly quickly.

And talking about trees, we need to emphasise the importance of protecting them when new developments occur. Developers must take steps to preserve existing trees, but if a loss of a tree is unavoidable a replacement (or perhaps two) must be provided, ideally nearby. This needs to be enshrined in planning permissions as a matter of course.

Another prominent theme from the consultation was the need to protect our open spaces: not just the big ones such as the Crouch End Playing Fields and Stationers Park, but the small ones too. There are small pockets of green space where developers are only too keen to build on, if they could. We have compiled a register of the small open spaces in Crouch End and we intend to give these protection through our neighbourhood plan.

More generally, the environment is quite well protected by the Haringey Plan. For example, the Crouch End Playing Fields are designated Metropolitan Open Land, giving protection from development equivalent to Green Belt land. The larger green spaces such as the Parkland Walk and Stationers Park are also protected in the Haringey Plan. Our task is to capture the smaller spaces in Crouch End that aren’t mentions. Let us know if you have a favourite small space and we will add it to the list.

The Forum is working on a series of policy options for the Neighbourhood Plan.