A red route for Wood Green High Road is up for sign-off on 13 October, and councillors lose their planning call-in from 31 October. Every meeting, 12 to 16 October.

Updated 17 October: the red route was approved on 13 October and takes effect from 20 October unless it is called in. Our report on the decision has the detail. The minutes of full council and the Cleopatra licence review decision were not yet published when we checked.

Haringey Council has six meetings with published papers between Monday 12 and Friday 16 October. Two matter most to people in Crouch End, Hornsey and Muswell Hill:

  • Monday: full council is asked to rewrite how planning applications reach the planning committee. From 31 October, ward councillors lose the power to call an application in.
  • Tuesday: a red route for the High Road in Wood Green, from Turnpike Lane to Bounds Green Road, goes to a cabinet member for sign-off.

A third paper, for Tuesday evening, shows Haringey had 818 empty homes in September. We have written that up separately: Haringey’s 818 empty council homes.

Every paper below is on the council’s meetings calendar. A General Purposes Committee set for Thursday 15 October has been cancelled.

Monday 12 October, 7pm: full council with the Youth Council

Where: Tottenham Town Hall, Town Hall Approach Road, N15 4RY. What: an extraordinary meeting of the full council, held jointly with the Haringey Youth Council. The agenda says priority seating goes to parents and teachers.

Planning committee reform. New government regulations, made on 15 July, take effect on 31 October. They set a national scheme for which planning applications officers decide and which can go to councillors. The council’s report sets out what changes:

  • Officers decide by default. An application only goes to the Planning Sub-Committee if the committee’s chair and the head of development management agree it should.
  • Ward councillors’ call-in goes. So do triggers based on the number of objections. The regulations rule both out.
  • In its place the council proposes a “Gateway Request”. A ward councillor can ask, in writing and before consultation closes, for an application to be considered for committee. The report is clear this is not a call-in and gives no right to a committee decision.
  • Some types never go to committee, including advertisement consent, works to protected trees and listed building consent.
  • The committee stays at 11 members. The new national maximum is 13.

For scale, the report says the sub-committee decided 16 applications in the whole of 2025, all of them major schemes. Officers already decide almost everything. What changes is the route a councillor could use to escalate an application.

Votes at 16. A motion from Cllr Georgia Twigg asks the council to back the government’s Representation of the People Bill, which would lower the voting age to 16 for parliamentary elections. Members of the Youth Council are due to speak first.

Tuesday 13 October, 11.30am: a red route for Wood Green High Road

Where: Alexandra House, Station Road, N22 7TY. Who decides: the Cabinet Member for Climate Action and Transport, at a Cabinet Member Signing.

The report recommends a red route on the A105 High Road between Turnpike Lane and Bounds Green Road, in Noel Park and Woodside wards. It would turn the existing “no waiting and no loading” lines into “no stopping at any time”. The report says no parking or loading bays would be removed.

The consultation figures, from the report:

Stage Responses For Against
Engagement, August to September 2024 196 80 (41%) 116 (59%)
Statutory consultation, 17 September to 8 October 2025 44 18 support, 7 partly support 17 object, 1 partly objects

Officers say most of the 2024 objections came from a belief that parking would be lost, which they say is wrong. The objections in 2025 included concerns about early morning deliveries, too few loading bays, and the road already carrying traffic pushed out of low traffic neighbourhoods. Officers recommend no public inquiry.

The scheme is estimated at £197,000, of which £170,576 is enforcement cameras. It is paid from the council’s parking investment plan, “subject to agreement” of Better Bus Partnership money from TfL.

Why it matters here: it is the High Road most people from Crouch End use for Wood Green’s shops. TfL’s stop data shows the 29, 121, 141, 144, 221, 329 and other routes calling at the Wood Green station stops on it.

Tuesday 13 October, 6.30pm: two scrutiny panels

Housing, Planning and Development. George Meehan House, 294 High Road, N22 8JZ. The agenda covers the empty homes report, the first-quarter finance figures, a resident panel’s review of tenant engagement and housing performance figures.

Culture, Community Safety and Environment. Same building, and online via a Teams link on the meeting page. The panel follows up last year’s review of walking and cycling safety. The officers’ response says the council’s new dockless bike contracts with Lime and Forest include stricter parking controls, more rangers at hotspots and set response times for badly parked bikes. It adds that the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 gives transport authorities powers to license rental e-bikes.

Tuesday 13 October, 7pm: licence review on Turnpike Lane

Where: online, on Microsoft Teams. What: the Licensing Sub-Committee hears an application to review the premises licence of Cleopatra Restaurant & Lounge, 21 Turnpike Lane, N8 0EP, in Harringay ward.

The council’s Noise and Nuisance team brought the review. The officer report says it alleges repeated public nuisance, including excessive amplified music, late-night noise and alleged operation beyond licensed hours. These are allegations. The licence holder can respond at the hearing. The committee’s options listed in the report include changing the licence conditions, suspending it for up to three months and revoking it. The decision is sent in writing within five working days.

Thursday 15 October, 7pm: Pensions Committee and Board

The agenda covers the external audit of the pension fund’s accounts to 31 March 2026 and the fund’s risk register.

Friday 16 October, 9am: £1.7m for music in schools

Who decides: the Cabinet Member for Children, Schools and Families, at a Cabinet Member Signing.

The report asks to accept £1,702,986 from Arts Council England for the North London Music Hub in 2026/27. Haringey Music Service leads the hub for five boroughs and more than 400 schools. The allocation by borough:

Borough Allocation
Barnet £521,436.92
Enfield £486,940.59
Haringey £316,760.70
Islington £202,597.94
Camden £175,249.95

What it means for you

  • If you object to planning applications, nothing changes about how you object. What changes on 31 October is how your ward councillor can escalate an application. If you want one considered for committee, ask them before the consultation closes. Our Crouch End planning news page tracks the local ones.
  • If you drive or take the bus through Wood Green, a red route would mean no stopping at any time on the High Road, enforced by camera.
  • All these meetings are public. Requests to speak or ask a question go to the clerk named on each meeting page.

The red route was approved: see our report on the decision. We will report the licence review decision when it is published.

Sources