And we’re off! Once more into the breach. Today’s first visit – to my newly up and running constituency office; for now above the Three Compasses Pub in Hornsey High Street. And at last phones and computer systems are up and networked and running. It has been rather a challenge to set up two offices and try and make sure nothing and no-one slips through the net whilst in transit from doing everything under my own roof at home as it has been for the last nine years.

Later, I’m at the opening of a little five-house development by an Irish Housing Association, Innisfree, and then am guest speaker at their AGM. Funnily enough really, as I campaign so often against infills and backland development (squeezing new housing on small patches of open land in already built-up areas)! But this is a rare example of a site for which – although there was a campaign against this development – it is hard to argue against, as it is small houses with gardens for social housing. Two of the houses had disabled access – and as about half the cases that walk through my surgery door are to do with housing shortages – this is a development I can live with.

Campaigning against backland development is one of my passions, as I believe the damage being done in the long term to quality of life is severe. However, those are always against greedy developers trying to maximise profit from inappropriate locations at local peoples’ expense. Regrettably, the planning system is blind to those sorts of sentiments. We are absolutely desperate for social housing in Haringey. There are about 17,000 residents in Haringey on the housing register yet only about 349 homes were built last year by Housing Associations.

Anyway – in the evening I was the guest speaker at their AGM and I was greatly impressed by the warmth and atmosphere, and indeed success, of this Housing Association. I deal with many Housing Associations and – believe me – they are variable in their standards. Sometimes I feel that the lousy ones put residents in a position where they feel powerless. The council can always turn round and say ‘not me gov’ in response to complaints, so there is then all too often no pressure that can be effectively applied to the Housing Association to improve its act except in the rare cases of an actual breach of legal terms.