I know this is over the hill but I'm sure this is of interest to many Stroud Greeners. A big row is going on about the local food produce and craft stalls that regularly appear outside Budgens in Crouch End. They are cheap to hire and Budgens more or less runs them as a community resource, and I know they're very popular with local people - home made jewellery, home-produced food, local artists and crafts, photographs of Crouch End, that sort of thing.<br><br>They're on Budgens land and properly administered. Well grumpy old Haringey has decided this is one Budgens initiative it wants to stifle and some overpaid, over-zealous officer has found some by-law or other to enforce against against it. They've been closed down. Budgens is putting up a fight, and getting a lot of support, but even if the stalls do open up again they'll probably be much more expensive to hire, so defeating the whole object. Watch out for imported Chinese jewellery and tacky sweat shirts, not genuine local stuff.<br><br>Do the expressions red tape, pointless bureaucracy and jobsworths spring to mind?<br><br>Anyway, there's a lively discussion on the Other Site here. Thought some people might be interested in how or council approaches the notion of 'community':<br><br>
http://www.harringayonline.com/forum/topics/council-force-closure-of-community-stall-outside-budgens-crouch-e?id=844301:Topic:373925&page=1#comments<br>
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