The relaxation of national planning guidelines has created a ‘gold rush mentality’ among developers in the Couch End and Hornsey area, local Lib Dem councillors have warned.

The Lib Dems say that controversial planning applications in Crouch End are becoming a more regular feature at monthly council planning committee meetings, and are often pushed through against the wishes of local residents.

Cllr David Winskill, as far back as August 1999, asked Haringey to produce an overall development plan for the area so that large unwelcome planning applications could be dealt within a framework that would give much more weight to the views of local residents and the needs of the community. Cllr Winskill has written again to the Labour council to see if resources can be found to produce a local plan for the area.

The Lib Dems have voiced their concerns about three controversial planning issues currently under consideration. The party says that Crouch End is suffering from unimaginative over-development, and has highlighted three proposed schemes:

Oakfield Court – Haslemere Road

This Tuesday’s Planning Committee is likely to turn down an application for extra units. Local residents have produced some compelling planning reasons for not allowing visually intrusive additions to an existing block but are concerned that the developers will appeal or submit a modified application.

Local Lib Dem councillor Ron Aitken comments:

“We hope that the developers will get the message and not appeal against the decision or make any further applications”

British Telecom development – Crouch End Hill

Following the collapse of the council’s CPZ proposals for Crouch End, the Lib Dems are urging Barclay Homes to drop any plans for restaurant and bar use on the site. Instead they are supporting Barclay’s application for six flats in the restaurant space.

Local councillor David Winskill comments:

“The traffic implications for local residents would be truly horrendous if the restaurant were to be developed. We are also asking Haringey and the developers to carefully review traffic implications if the fitness centre and supermarket plans are taken further. We hope that this time Haringey will directly engage with the local community from the very beginning if there is a new application.”

Texaco Service Station – Tottenham Lane

The Lib Dems believe the controversial application should be turned down.

Cllr David Winskill comments:

“Crouch End has become a honey pot for developers over the years. This development has demonstrated just how greedy they have become and are prepared to totally disregard the views of local residents and steal sunlight from primary school children. I believe Haringey, despite the officer’s report, has grounds for turning this application down and pushing for a much smaller scale project on this important landmark site.”

Commenting on the planning laws generally, he went on:

“Overall, planning laws have drifted far too much towards developers. In Crouch End this has created a gold rush mentality which has had a very serious affect on the community. All too often the council tries to push unwelcome development through. The area needs a local plan. I will be writing to the Labour lead member to see if resources can be found to produce one.”

Interactive road signs in Haringey could reduce the amount of accidents in the borough, according to Cllr. Lynne Featherstone.

The Lib Dem councillor for Muswell Hill has suggested the new signs, which flash up reminders of the speed limit when traffic approaches too fast, for Cranley Gardens in Muswell Hill – a speeding black spot on which the Lib Dems have campaigned for a long period.

Although interactive signs have not been around long enough for official statistics, Ms Featherstone says that the feedback from road safety officers in the South West is that residents have noticed a reduction in speeding. As a result, local communities have claimed that their quality of life has been improved – as have drivers who claim it is useful to be reminded of the speed limit in certain areas.

Cranley Gardens is an area that suffers from speeding problems. It has one sharp bend and residents’ parking makes visibility for drivers very poor.

Lynne Featherstone comments:

“We need to take action on speeding in Cranley Gardens. Instead of the Labour councils blanket approach of CPZs and road humps to all traffic problems, it is time to explore more imaginative ways to deal with traffic issues in Haringey. This is certainly one idea that should be considered as a serious option.”

Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader Wayne Hoban has expressed disappointment that Haringey Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee rejected a ‘call in’ of the Labour council’s controversial decision to agree to negotiate with the existing provider over another year of concerts in Finsbury Park – without the need for an open tendering process.

The move was rejected on technical grounds following concerns about the process from Lib Dem councillors, and complaints from local residents about the scale of events in the park, the damage to the environment and the misery caused to local residents.

Lib Dem Deputy Leader Wayne Hoban, who brought the issue before the council, expressed disappointment that the council had not reconsidered the decision, in view of residents’ concerns.

Wayne Hoban comments:

“It is very disappointing to see that the Labour council will not think again, and will not be pursuing an open tendering process for this in the coming year – especially given the sensitivities of the issues, and complaints from local residents about damage to the park. Local people should be properly consulted and all contractors must be kept on their toes by facing open competition.

“While we have failed to stop the council’s plans on this occasion, we will be considering how best to take this matter further. At least one outcome of the meeting was that the committee agreed that the Environment Scrutiny committee will be looking in to this matter – and we will make sure that it does.”

Liberal Democrat councillors in Muswell Hill are asking HSBC to think again over plans to close the bank’s popular local branch in Priory Road, at the foot of Muswell Hill.

The closure, which is planned for the end of February will not cause any job losses but local Lib Dem councillors feel it will cause huge inconvenience to many local residents and threaten the viability of local shops and businesses.

Cllr Ross Laird, Leader of the Opposition and local councillor, comments:

“It is very sad that HSBC wants to shut the branch. This will have a detrimental effect on local shops and businesses and will hit the aged and disabled worst as they will now have to travel up to Muswell Hill or Wood Green instead.

“The surrounding area has a large number of elderly residents who appreciate the range of facilities on their doorstep. I am working with local businesses and residents to see if we can persuade the bank to think again, or at least maintain a cash-point facility in the area.”

Liberal Democrat councillors were expressing satisfaction this week, following Labour backing for their motion condemning the Government’s controversial ‘bed-blocking’ proposals.

The Community Care (Delayed Discharge) Bill has been the subject of much condemnation since it was unveiled in the Queen’s Speech in September 2002. The bill plans to end bed blocking by fining councils’ social services departments who did not provide enough care homes and facilities for those patients ready to leave hospital but still in need of care.

However, on Monday night the Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader Wayne Hoban put forward a motion calling for the Government to “change this damaging legislation and requests the Leader to write to the Secretary for Health, expressing the Council’s opposition to the plan.”

After initial attempts by the Labour Group to filibuster the motion failed, they finally supported a motion by the opposition that condemned the actions of their own Labour Government.

Cllr. Hoban comments:

“I am glad to see Haringey Labour for once speaking up for local services.If a department is struggling due to under-funding, then it needs to be provided with more support and more money. It should not be punished with financial penalties.Social services nationally are under-funded by approximately £1 billion. The Labour Government’s new plans would cost local authorities a further £100 million a year.”

Lib Dem Parliamentary Spokesperson, Lynne Featherstone, went on to express disappointment at the lack of support from the borough’s two Government Ministers, David Lammy and Barbara Roche – now seen to be at odds with the local Labour council

Lynne Featherstone comments:

“The silence of Haringey’s two Labour MPs speaks volumes as to where there real loyalty lies. We are a community attempting to rebuild services following a couple of turbulent years. Our representatives in Parliament seem far more interested in furthering their careers than doing what’s best for this community.”

However she reflected the delight of the Liberal Democrats at being supported by the Labour run council on this decision:

“I am pleased that Labour swallowed their pride and followed our lead. This vote shows just how far the Government has lost touch. Even their local group has lost belief in them.”

Note:The Lib Dem motion was as follows:

Commmunity Care (Delayed Discharges) Bill

Proposer:Wayne Hoban
Seconder:Lynne Featherstone

This council notes that the estimated cost to each household in Haringey would be almost £11.00, as a direct consequence of the Government’s plan to introduce this bill.This council also notes that implementation of this bill will:

• Seriously undermine efforts to establish good working relationships between local authorities and health authorities
• Establish a new system of bureaucracy with no benefit to patients
• Divert essential resources away from the provision of services
• Distort priorities and the treatment of patients

It will not address the long-standing problem of insufficient capacity in the care system, or provide much needed resources for additional residential care places. Indeed, as a consequence of this bill, the 15,780 households in Haringey identified as vulnerable will be exposed to increased pressure through diversion of funds to pay fines incurred through delayed hospital discharges.

This Council also perceives that the Government’s offer to provide £100 million to help cover the cost of fines incurred is an admission that the cross charging plan is wrong both in principle and in practice.It will introduce yet more bureaucracy and expense as money is transferred from the NHS, to local authorities and back again in the form of fines.

This council calls on the Government to change this damaging legislation and requests the Leader to writeto the Secretary of State for Health, expressing the Council’s opposition to the plan.

Haringey Liberal Democrats have raised new concerns about the Labour council’s controversial PFI for schools, following a major new report criticising PFI schools as “significantly worse” than their publicly financed counterparts.

The report, published this week by the Audit Commission, disclosed that traditional funding delivered, on average, better schools buildings as well as showing that construction and the running of schools have “varied widely, with no clear difference between the two types of funding.” The report also criticised the technical quality of the schools, falling below the standards of traditionally funded schools.

The report comes after a turbulent year for Haringey council with regards to schooling. The Liberal Democrats unearthed the alarming extra costs, to the tune of £3 million per year, that the council would endure after the initial 3-year honeymoon period of PFI. Also there was controversy over £2 million given to the council to bail them out after a number of unseen PFI costs were discovered.

Barbara Fabian, Lib Dem Education Spokesperson, comments:

“This is a worrying report. From the start we have asked the Council for proper consultation and transparency on PFI – but we didn’t get it. Since then we have seen soaring costs, delays and disruptions to schools during term time and little improvement in school performances.”

“I think it is time that the Labour council faced up to some home truths about PFI. In the last 12 months we have seen Capita fail to produce on their promises to improve the education system while still happily taking more money,”

“What concerns me even more is that after seeing the failure of PFIs in secondary schools, the system may end up being imposed on primary schools.

Local Lib Dem candidate in the Tottenham by election, Neville Collins, was this week been joined on the campaign trail by some senior figures from the party. London Member of the European Parliament Sarah Ludford, former London Mayoral candidate and Transport for London board member Susan Kramer and Lib Dem GLA member Lynne Featherstone all joined the Neville Collins campaign in the election on Sunday.

The Lib Dems are campaigning hard, following their spectacular gains in the local council elections last May, when the party took 12 seats from Haringey Labour and wiped the Tories off the council.

Baroness Sarah Ludford comments:

“It was a pleasure to help Neville in the Tottenham campaign. Labour have run Haringey for 30 years and have a record of failure. Another Labour councillor won’t make any difference, and electing Neville Collins will send Labour a strong message on 23 January.”

Cllr. Ray Dodds, the Lead Member for the Environment, announced during the state of the borough debate that the plans to introduce a CPZ in Crouch End have been dropped.

Liberal Democrat councillor Ron Aitken paid tribute to the campaign mounted over the past few months by local residents. Haringey Council received dozen of letters objecting to the imposition of the CPZ as well as a 950 signature petition.

“Without the hard work of local people it is likely that we would be facing the prospect of an unnecessary and unwanted CPZ,” comments Cllr. Aitken.

Fellow Liberal Democrat councillor for Crouch End, David Winskill, has called on Haringey to launch a full review of its consultation process to examine the timeliness and quality of the information offered during the process. He has called for local residents’ groups and councillors to be invited to contribute to the review, so lessons can be learnt for the future. He went on to say that there are some hot spots of parking problems in the area, and many local businesses have expressed concerns over haphazard parking in the Broadway.

“I have already requested a meeting with council staff and the Crouch End Traders’ Association to review parking around the Broadway.We should also set up a Residents’ Parking Forum to monitor any changes in parking patterns when the BT development opens,” comments Cllr Winskill.

Note:

The Liberal Democrats have previously called for better use to be made of Hornsey Town Hall car park during shopping hours at the weekend in order to ease parking issues near the Broadway.

Haringey’s Labour run council has been unsympathetic and unapologetic in its treatment of local residents over the controversial distribution of wheelie bins in the borough, according to Liberal Democrat Shadow Environment Spokesperson, Bob Hare following Monday’s full council meeting.

The comments come after Environment Lead member Cllr Ray Dodds’ failure to answer a question put to him three times by Cllr Hare (Highgate) as to whether or not the council was going to place information about the choice of wheelie bin size in an updated letter to residents.

Lib Dems have expressed their anger that the council is foisting the huge bins on residents without proper consultation, when a smaller bin would often be much more appropriate, less intrusive, and better for the environment. Government studies have shown that wheelie bins that are too large are a major barrier to recycling and waste minimisation. Cllr Hare revealed information that in Tottenham, where residents have already had wheelie bins foisted upon them, just 68 of the 18,000 bins issued were of the smaller size.

Bob Hare comments: “I gave Cllr Dodds a number of opportunities to give a straight answer to my question. He simply repeated that every household would receive a standard size bin and they would review the situation in four weeks. By then, it would be too late for the council to change more than a few bins.”More…

“Trying to shout down the Lib Dems in council meetings and avoiding these problems is not going to solve this issue.”

While Cllr Dodds did agree to Lib Dem demands to allow the three sizes of bin to be shown in the exhibit caravan touring the borough, Cllr Hare remained dissatisfied:

“Simply putting the bins on display is a small step in the right direction, but few will see them in the council caravan. The council should be putting information through the doors of residents, especially those who worry most about the new bins – the disabled and the elderly.”