Environment Report July 2026

1. Haringey Parks Department – General
The Association has emailed Chris Cavalier, as it has not heard anything back from him since the walk around with Cllr Cathy Brennan on Monday 9 February 2026. He had promised to send an “improvement plan” for Muswell Hill. If no reply is received during the summer, this will be taken up with one of our new councillors.

Some of the items discussed during the walk around, and to be addressed by the Council, are:

• Blaenavon Park, at the top of Eastern Road: the rose beds require attention, and new roses are needed to fill in the gaps.
• Midhurst Gardens: the rose beds require attention, and new roses are needed to fill in the gaps. Some of the stone edging also needs replacing.
• Fortis Green Road raised beds: both require attention.
• Pocket Park: the main outstanding issue is the uneven pavement, but currently this is not within the remit of Parks.
• Sitting area at the top of Muswell Hill: this whole area, and the path down to the Parkland Walk, needs a lot of work.
• Grove Lodge Gardens: clearing the path and, in the long term, improving the whole area.

2. Pocket Park
Christine Morris, a member of the Association, continues to look after the park and make improvements, including planting new plants and tidying up. The hot weather has been challenging, particularly for watering the plants, as the water butts do not have enough water to cope. Fortunately, the caretaker of the house next to the park has offered to help and has been using his hose to water the plants, for which the Association is extremely grateful.

The uneven paving is the main item to follow up with Haringey Council through our new councillors.

3. New Tree at the Muswell Hill Bus Terminus
As previously reported, the planting of the tree was rejected by TfL due to “the impact of sightlines and the area being extremely constricted”. This is another item to be followed up with our new councillors. Cathy Brennan is following this up.

4. Rubbish at the Muswell Hill Bus Terminus
There is a lot of rubbish in the planted areas which needs clearing up. This has been seen close up when using the tap on the roundabout to water the flower boxes. There is a large black rubbish bin, but it is often overflowing. TfL is responsible for this space, so the Association will need to go through Haringey. Cathy Brennan is following this up.

5. New Bench – Eastern Road Green Space
The bench has been installed with a plaque saying:

“The Ed Scott memorial bench. This bench, funded by the Muswell Hill & Fortis Green Association and local residents in 2026, replaced the original Ed Scott bench, installed in 1988. Ed Scott was an active member of the Association.”

6. Muswell Hill Broadway Flower Boxes and the Trough
The new geraniums were planted on 12 June, and watering has taken place on some weekends using the tap on the roundabout. Last week, four plants were stolen from the boxes and have been replaced.

Thanks to Zoe’s MHFGA Instagram post, the manager of Rainbow Pre-school offered for the children to water the plants every week until they close on 17 July 2026, which the Association gratefully accepted.

The trough plants were badly hit by the heatwave, and the majority have died. A new start will be made, with new soil and drought-resistant plants.

7. Colney Hatch Lane Beds
Haringey Council has recently mown the grass.

8. New Trees on the Broadway
The Association has written to Dan Snell of Haringey to say that the new trees on the Broadway and Fortis Green Road urgently require watering. The irrigation bags on some of the trees have been checked and are all empty. It is known that the trees were watered in early May, but it is not clear whether Haringey has been back since.

The Association flagged up with Haringey Council last year that it has insufficient water bowsers, with just one for each side of the borough. Jonathan Popper, Tree Officer, has been in touch about the watering of the new trees, and the Association is planning to ask shops to water the tree outside their premises.

9. Street Bins etc.
The Association has raised with John Crawley the suggestion from Anji Jones, a member of the Association, that the bins on St James Square should be replaced, as they are in a poor state and inadequate. John Crawley will make enquiries, although expectations are not high.

10. Grove Lodge Gardens Path and Ancient Woodland
As outlined in item 1 above, Chris Cavalier is due to let the Association know what work the Council can carry out on the path and woodland.

11. Taps for Watering the Pocket Park, Flower Boxes and Colney Hatch Lane Beds
We wrote to Chris Weston, the CEO of Thames Water, concerning the work she has carried out to transform Pocket Park and asking whether Thames Water could install a tap at the park.

We received a reply the same day saying that Thames Water is unable to support every request, and that it has specific criteria for its funding, which currently focus on projects linked to water and the environment, and water and healthy living. Thames Water also said that it cannot support funding new standpipes.

12. 100 Woodside Avenue
Following the organised tour of the development in mid-March, the Association was expecting to hear back from Haringey with new public tour dates, but nothing has transpired.

The large wheeled rubbish bins near the Cranley Gate have not yet been removed. Cathy Brennan is following this up with the Council, as it had promised that they would be removed once the development was complete.

13. Veolia Contract
Members may have seen in the press that the Veolia contract has been extended following a new tender process. The Association thinks this is good for the community. In its experience, Veolia does a good job and responds well to reported issues.

We understand that the new contract puts the onus on Veolia to deal with rubbish in urban green spaces, which should be of benefit.

14. Weed Treatment on Footpaths etc.
There appear to be many more weeds than usual on the pavements and in the road gutters. The Association has not seen any weed treatment this year.

The Haringey website says that weed treatment is carried out three times a year: April/May, July/August and October/November. The Haringey “report it” service has said that the May treatment was carried out in half of the borough wards — all those wards in the east of the borough, and none in the west. The Association will be following this up further with the Council.

15. Police Matters, from Ward Panel Discussions
Both the Muswell Hill and Fortis Green safer neighbourhood teams are short of a PC. Muswell Hill has lost PC Jonathan Eldred, who has retired after nine years in the town. Many will have seen him on his bike around Muswell Hill. The number of abstractions continues to be at a high level.