Haringey Liberal Democrats have called for urgent action from Haringey Council to sort out its ‘street scene’ services after they were given the thumbs down in the latest Audit Commission report.

The report rated the service as “poor” and gave it a zero star rating. In particular, the report criticised the failure to make improvements in the three years since the Street Scene service was established. The Audit Commission also warned that the majority of the key indicators for cleansing, collection, lighting and recycling are in the bottom quartile of performance compared to other councils.

The report went on to highlight concerns over whether or not Labour councillors were up to the job, saying “councillors’ commitment, in terms of continued investment and the securing of external funding remains uncertain.”

Liberal Democrat leader Lynne Featherstone comments: “Once again an outside, independent report has severely criticised Haringey Council’s failure to provide decent local services and rated it as one of the worst anywhere in the country.

“Labour’s repeated claims that services are OK and they just need to improve the PR of the council have once again been shown up by inspectors as being out of touch with reality.”

Note:
The Council’s Street Scene Service incorporates a number of previously separate service areas within the Environmental Services department including:

• Waste Management (Street Cleansing, Refuse Collection and Recycling);
• Highways Management (Street Lighting, Highway Maintenance, Traffic Engineering, Road Safety Education, Traffic Management Orders and Controlled Parking Zone design);
• Parking (Parking Management and Parking Operations – including on street enforcement and ticket processing); and
• Street Scene Support (Management and Administration).