Southgate Town Centre

Sunday 11^th May, 10.30am – 1.30pm at the green beds beside Southgate Station

Join the Journeys and Places team on Sunday 11^th May to learn more about the Southgate Vision Masterplan, help improve the greening of Southgate through participating in some community planting outside Southgate Station and attend the official launch of A Portrait of Southgate Art Trail, comprising of 28 mosaic artworks curated by local residents as part of the Curate Enfield public art programme.

Programme of the Day

10.30am – 11am - Welcome and Opening Remark

11am – 11.45am - Artist-led tour of A Portrait for Southgate

11am – 1pm - Community Planting

11.45am - 1.30pm - Refreshments and exhibition

Look forward to seeing you there

We are delighted to announce the arrival of some new and beautiful public art in Southgate!

A Portrait of Southgate arts trail is inspired by Southgate’s unique heritage and celebrates the colourful mix of people and their stories, who were either born in Southgate or have made it their home. There are 28 mosaics in the trail, which are installed on the former hanging basket posts along Chase Side. Each mosaic is a unique design referencing a specific topic of historical note or cultural significance.

A Portrait of Southgate is commissioned by Journeys & Places, as part of the Curate Enfield public art programme and is supported by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and Arts Council England. Curate Enfield is a grassroots initiative, giving residents and communities across Enfield creative agency to create their own public art commission for their town centre or high street. To date, Curate Enfield has produced murals in Palmers Green and Enfield Town; and a sculpture in Angel Edmonton.

A Portrait of Southgate is created by artists Alex McHallam and Liz Tiranti. The artists visited local community groups to collect stories and anecdotes about Southgate’s history and local characters. Local people participated in practical mosaic workshops delivered at the Southgate Club, St Andrews Church and Durants School.

Local residents Jane Maggs and Poppy Kanu were recruited as ‘Public Art Champions’ and supported by artist Dan Maier to develop the concept and themes for this public art project, and worked closely with officers from the Journeys and Places team to select the sites and the artists for this public art commission.

About the Artists: Alex McHallam MA and Liz Tiranti MA.

Artists Alex McHallam and Liz Tiranti work chiefly with the art of mosaic and community engagement is at the heart of their practices. Both artists have strong connections to N14: Alex grew up in Southgate and attended a local school; while Liz attended Southgate College and has family in the area. Further information can be found on the following links

https://alexmchallamartist.com/ Instagram: @alexmchallam

https://www.liztiranti.com/. Instagram: @liztiranti

We will provide further information on the stories and inspiration behind each mosaic in the near future.

The Southgate Vision Masterplan has been well underway in the last few months. One of the most crucial aspects of preparing the masterplan was a programme of meaningful community engagement.

Throughout the process the Journeys and Places team engaged a diverse range of community members, from Southgate's young people to residents and local business owners, with more than 450 people engaging in events and the online survey.

The report presents the approach to engagement with the community and findings from the process, conducted from Wednesday 13 November to Sunday 15 December 2024. As part of the engagement, residents and other stakeholders were invited to share their views on three key areas across the Town Centre; the station and transport interchange, Ashfield Parade, and Chase Side.

You can find the full report on the right-hand side of this page under Southgate Community Engagement Report or you can follow the link below:

Southgate Community Engagement Report

Thank you to everyone who took part in the statutory consultation on the Traffic Order TG52/1535 relating to the Ashfield Parade Parklets. Anyone could make an objection or representation in writing within the period from 11 February to 11 August 2024. Following a review of the feedback received, a decision has been made to make the Traffic Order permanent.

Enfield Council is delivering this project with the aim to improve key routes for people walking and enhance the public realm using greenery and public art to transform Southgate Town Centre. Following engagement with the local community and businesses, the Council’s Journeys and Places programme has delivered two parklets on both sides of the road. Alongside improving the public realm, they were delivered to attract and welcome more diverse groups of people to Ashfield Parade including families, women and young people.

A document containing the response to objections has been published on the project page and can be viewed here.

The Notice of Making can be viewed here.

The Safer Neighbourhood Team, together with the Journeys and Places Team and the Met Police has organised a Walk, Talk and Do in Southgate Town Centre to take place on 14th March.

This is an opportunity for local women to share their views and experiences with officers about any area of the Town Centre they may feel vulnerable in.

The activity will include walkabouts to different areas of the Town Centre as well as the opportunity to share suggestions on how the Town Centre can be made safer.

The event will take place at The Southgate Club (17 Chase Side, N14 5BP) from 3-7pm on Friday 14th March.

The Journeys and Places team partnered with Open City, a charity empowering young people to have a role in shaping places where they live, to run a series of workshop in Southgate’s primary schools. Titled “re-Imaging Southgate”, these sessions provided an opportunity for local young people to develop ideas for the future of Southgate, as part of the community engagement programme on the Southgate Masterplan Vision.

Over the 2day workshops, Year5 and year6 students from West Grove, St. Andrew’s and Walker primary schools developed proposals for future improvements to pedestrian and cycle experience, seating, planting, things to see and do, and built models to present their ideas to improve Southgate.

A final exhibition of the students’ models took place on 7^th December at St. Andrew’s Church, as part of Southgate Town Centre Christmas celebration.

A Christmas event took place on Saturday 7^th December in Southgate to celebrate the launch of the Pocket Park and the rain gardens, the latest projects delivered by the Journeys and Places team in the Town Centre.

The Enfield Choral Society performed festive tunes at St. Andrew’s Church, where an exhibition featuring models built by Year 6 students at St. Andrew’s, Walker and West Grove primary schools showcased their visions for the future of Southgate.

The event was also an opportunity for local people to share their thoughts and ideas to inform the development of a longer-term masterplan vision for Southgate Town Centre, which will be presented back to the community in April.

We have been engaging the Southgate community in conversations about the opportunities and challenges for the town centre over the past few years. Through the Council’s Journeys and Places programme, this has led to a series of interventions across Southgate having been delivered in 2024 as the first step in developing a Masterplan Vision for Southgate. We now want to engage residents and businesses in the next phase of this conversation and hear from them about what them want to see in the future for Southgate, to improve the public realm, encourage active travel and enhance the everyday experience of the Town Centre for residents and visitors.

Your views will inform the Southgate Masterplan Vision. This will define a long-term plan of improvements for the Town Centre focusing on public realm and transport facilities to improve the everyday experience of Southgate and create a more vibrant, greener and healthier town centre. Please read through the engagement boards and share your views with us.

There are a number of ways you can get involved and share your views.

Activity	Date / time
Take the survey to share your ideas for the future of Southgate	Closing Sunday 15 December 2024
Join the webinar to hear more about the project and ask questions Join at https://tinyurl.com/Southgate-webinar	6pm on Tuesday 19 November 2024
Speak to the project team and share your views at the community drop-in session at the Southgate Club, N14 5BP	4pm - 7pm on Wednesday 27 November 2024
Join us for the Southgate Christmas celebration and to launch the Chase Side rain gardens and Pocket Park Celebrate these interventions that have enhanced the high street, brought more greenery to the area, and provided space to sit and rest. You will also be invited to share your views on the Southgate Masterplan Vision. Meet at Southgate Pocket Park, Station Parade, N14 5BJ (Outside Southgate Nando’s). The event will carry on at St Andrew’s Church, Chase Side, London N14 5PP.	2pm – 5pm on Saturday 7 December 2024

We look forward to hearing about what the local community wants to see in the future in Southgate online or at one of the events above. A summary of what we hear from local residents and stakeholders through this engagement period will be published early next year and will inform the Southgate Masterplan Vision which will be developed and published later in 2025.

The Journeys and Places team at Enfield Council has partnered with Open City, an educational charity empowering young people to have a role in shaping places where they live, to run a series of workshops in primary schools in Southgate. The workshops are part of an ongoing community engagement programme to inform the development of a new masterplan vision for Southgate, a cohesive strategy of place and transport interventions to re-imagine the everyday experience of the Town Centre.

The first workshop took place across 7,8 and 9 October at St. Andrew’s Primary School where 30 Year 6 pupils were guided on a walkabout through the Town Centre and then invited to share their concerns and ideas for future improvements.

Their proposals covered a wide range of topics, including greenery, play spaces, accessibility, colour and lighting and were presented to Enfield Council officers using drawings and physical models.

We will soon be engaging the community on the future of Southgate. We will be sharing more information with residents and on this project page in the coming weeks.

We are nearing completion of the Chase Side rain gardens and Pocket Park. These interventions have been implemented by Enfield Council's Journeys and Places programme in Southgate to enhance the high street, bring greenery to the area and provide space to stop and rest as well as for families and young people to spend time with each other.

Pocket Park

The Pocket Park is located adjacent to the Southgate bus interchange. Natural oak felled trees from Epping Forest were carved into seating units and stepping logs and installed in Southgate’s Pocket Park last week. They include text and icons that celebrate the significance of Enfield Chase (the royal hunting ground) in the history of Southgate Town Centre.

The Council’s contractors are now adding new plants and wildflowers to the green area as well as making the space accessible by lowering the kerb at two locations. Work will continue for the next two weeks with completion expected by mid-November.

Local community members will be involved in planting flowers and shrubs in the Pocket Park on 11 November 2024.

Rain gardens

There are three rain gardens that have been installed along Chase Side. Two have now been completed with plants, and the third will soon be completed and planted by local community members on 29 October 2024.

Next week will also see two new trees being planted in the rain gardens. Some final details, including bench armrests and interpretation boards, will be installed in mid-November.

The rain gardens will contribute to managing flood risk and purifying the water coming off roads and footways. They will also create a habitat for biodiversity and offer a place for people to sit and rest.

We will provide a further update as these interventions are completed.