Monthly Archives: Dec 2005

Cranford Way concrete batching plant

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Here’s the statement I gave at the public inquiry this week into the proposals for a concrete factory in Cranford Way, Hornsey:

As Member of Parliament for Hornsey & Wood Green, the western side of the application will affect many of my constituents, who have made it plain to me – as I am sure they will also do to you, that they believe, and rightly in my view – that should this inquiry overturn Haringey Council’s decision to refuse planning permission it will mean that their quality of life will be greatly diminished.

Whilst there are issues of noise, pollution and ecology – I leave those to be argued by experts as to their calculated impact and to local residents as to their perceived impact but to speak to the areas where I have more specific knowledge – the Mayor’s strategies and traffic.

I want to start with the opening statement from Queen’s Counsel for the appellant.

The opening thrust of the statement was about the importance of sustainability and how the Mayor of London supports this scheme.

I have not seen the letter of support from Mr Livingstone. I would very much like to see exactly what his words of support actually are – not just that his plan supports movement by freight – but his words on this specific application. There is a substantive difference between the Mayor writing and saying ‘I support London Concrete’s application’ and the appellant claiming he has the Mayor’s support because the Mayor’s strategies for London recommends moving freight from road to rail. I believe that Joanne McCartney, the GLA member for Enfield and Haringey – who I spoke to on Wednesday morning – believes that the Mayor does not specifically support this scheme, and will be making a statement later today.

I would like to see what support the applicant actually has over and above the publicly stated strategic guidance for transport in London to see raw materials transport by freight rather than road – which if you will excuse me saying – is a no-brainer.

Having spent four of the last five years as a London Assembly member, prior to being elected to Parliament to represent Hornsey & Wood Green in May this year, I am well aware of the need to move from road to freight. It is the right strategic approach to planning. And it is indeed part of the Mayor’s strategy for London.

However, the nature of a strategic framework is such that it needs to be applied locally subject to local conditions. And I am sure the Mayor of London did not intend that this would give rise to a concrete factory in the midst of residents, schools and children walking to school.

And I am sure that the Mayor of London if he were fully cognizant of the local situation and came to see it for himself (an invitation he failed to respond to from myself) that the benefits of bringing aggregates in by rail three times a week will be completely undermined by the dis-benefits of the hundreds of HGV journeys per week it will spawn in the heart of this high density residential area.

As I understand it London Concrete have estimated 56 vehicle movements daily (which is a rate at only 50% of plant capacity). These are huge HGVs totally unsuitable for this location. Moreover, that estimate by London Concrete of the number of vehicle movements is hardly set in stone and in my view is more than likely to rise. Not only is there a history of a planning permissions starting with a particular number of movements and then going back within a short time with an application for more vehicle movements – but when questioned at one of the public forums, the representatives for London Concrete did not even know the size of the vehicles to be used.

It is completely spurious to use strategic intent to argue against local conditions and impact – and that is why the decision of the local planning authority and the overwhelming views of local residents are so important and which will, I hope, hold sway.

During my time as a London Assembly member, for four of the five years I was also Chair of Transport. I don’t believe that the transport study’s findings are accurate based on my own knowledge of the local traffic situation.

I believe that the transport report looked at the turn vehicles will have to make from Cranford Way into Church Lane. However, the report did not look in any substantive way at the turn the HGVs will have to make at the top of Church Lane – virtually doubling back on themselves to go down the other leg of the one way system into Tottenham Lane. This is a nightmare that, if allowed, will cause jams and possible accidents. I believe this particularly dangerous turning point for the lorries needing to exit the area back to a main road is not properly examined in the existing report. Church Lane residents will also have to endure a great impact in terms of traffic, noise, pollution and vibration – which will exacerbate an already worsening situation.

I would expect this, together with the base vehicle movements, the unsuitability of the roads and the other vehicle movements bringing staff and customers, to make this location unsuitable for this type of development.

There are times of the day when I believe that bus journey times in Tottenham Lane will increase substantively – and that is against the strategic thrust of the Mayor’s transport strategy.

Public transport and particularly the swift passage of buses have been and are the major priority in the Mayor’s transport strategy. I believe that the impact on bus journey times will be significant at peak flow traffic times of the day.

Moreover, this is an area with schools and children walking to school. The whole effort to create safe routes to school – a priority of the Council, the Government and the GLA which will be jeopardized and noise and disturbance will plague local residents.

I also have some difficulty believing that London Concrete’s claim that they will only sell and transport concrete within Haringey. Great difficulty – and wonder what happens if for the first year they supply Haringey and then expand their activities for example? What action will be taken then against them?

The working day will be 7am-7pm and include Saturdays. The amenity of the area will be seriously compromised by the operation of the plant.

Economic dangers also exist. Employment in Haringey is a key issue and the local economy is also threatened by this application. The current industrial estate has a few vacant sites. They are unable to fill such sites, as potential businesses do not want to take sites near to the proposed concrete factory. As I understand it, the meat business and possibly already others have stated that they will have to move out.

I leave noise, pollution and ecology – which are all in my view substantive issues where detriment will be caused – to those who know more about those areas and can argue the case more conclusively than I – but those issues to will impact on local residents.

In conclusion, I don’t believe there are any conditions that Haringey could impose that would make granting this application acceptable and ask you as the Inspector to listen to all of the argument and moreover, to use your knowledge of planning to uphold the decision of Haringey Council and reject the application for this inappropriate sitting of a concrete plant.

Whittington Hospital

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Surgery at Wood Green library – from which I exit in order to run to the Civic Centre where the Public Inquiry on the Hornsey concrete factory plan is being held to make my statement. I do my best to make the Inspector understand that he should uphold the decision of Haringey Council to refuse the scheme. Fingers crossed. I rush back to my surgery and continue to try and help everyone who comes to me. Surgery is pretty draining. So much desperation, need and unhappiness. One man sobbed today.

Lynne Featherstone visiting Learn Direct centre, HaringeyI then go to meet the Learn Direct team and HALS – so that I can know more about what is available to skill people up so that they can engage better in work or whatever. Very impressed with the whole team. Clearly Learn Direct is helping raise education and skills for those people who, for whatever reason, missed out on some of their education.

And then last port of call of the day is a visit to meet the Chief Executive of the Whittington Hospital. Ostensibly it is a meeting so that we can meet. But I suspect from the conversation that he had been surprised by the coverage of particular complaints with regard to care that elderly people received when they were at the Whittington. I had written to the Secretary for Health describing the cases as a way of suggesting to the Minister that there needs to be some attention paid to whether these are infrequent occurrences or whether there is nationally any need to review training etc.

I found the Chief Exec extremely easy to get on with and look forward to working closely on health and public health issues. From what we discussed, the Whittington is actually doing pretty well. Forgetting the stars (not my favourite system) they are hitting their targets, they were not one of the hospitals on the recent expose of dirty hospitals and it looks like they will have a balanced budget this year. But even more importantly, I felt that Mr Sloman really cared about delivering good services at the hospital. And in the end – that is what counts the most. It is always down to people and leadership. We agree to meet quarterly to keep updated on all the key issues and hope to be able to attend the opening of the new building in the spring.

Christmas card competition

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Lots of journalists and broadcasters haranguing me to speak on the record or off the record – all desperate for news on Charles. I am not interested in speaking either on or off the record. Charles will stay.

Today is Christmas card day. I launched a Fair Trade Christmas Card competition for school children in Hornsey & Wood Green. Having picked the winner – to be announced next week – they have finally arrived printed and ready. So – hours upon hours of signing and messages on and off for the next few days … The card looks absolutely lovely – but you all will just have to wait.

Events get in the way of me going over to help colleagues in Barnet in their council by-election today – but they still won without me! Superb result – coming from third place to take a Tory seat on a massive swing. Not much of a Cameron effect there! Particularly pleased as many of the people working on the campaign have come over to help me in the past.

Also – update re Jerry Springer DVD issue. This is what Sainsbury’s have sent me as their version of events: “We sell many DVD titles throughout the year and our range changes from week to week based on what customers want and, of course, sales. In the first week that Jerry Springer – The Opera was released, we sold only 111 copies in all stores nationwide and received a high number of complaints from unhappy customers. In the early part of the second week we sold only 21 more copies and received further complaints. Due to these very poor sales figures this DVD would have been withdrawn at the end of the week, but in view of the complaints we had received we removed it a few days earlier than planned.” I’ve told them that I’m surprised and disappointed that they should have been willing to respond so easily and quickly to complaints from a very extreme organisation – and that the different messages they’ve given the media at different times have certainly left some confusion over what really happened and when.

SCRAP BOUNDS GREEN SCHOOLS MERGER

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Bounds Green Liberal Democrats are demanding that Labour-controlled Haringey Council scraps the plans to merge Bounds Green’s Infant and Junior schools and are calling for an urgent review of this decision.

The Lib Dems claim that because the two schools currently spend more than Haringey Council allocates the merger has been proposed.

The schools are also to be further penalised by removing the merger “dowries” that other schools have been given.

John Oakes, Liberal Democrat Focus Editor for Bounds Green ward, said:

“Haringey Council officers say that the overspend can be rectified after a few years. But amalgamation won’t change the basic facts, so it can’t save money.We just don’t believe their projections.

“And there’s no indication that a combined school will deliver better education than the present two-school system – so we are calling for the merger plans to be scrapped.”

Haringey’s merger-proposal financial forecasts are suspect; the National Union of Teachers (NUT) has even offered to pay for an independent study.Haringey’s figures still show the combined school in deficit even when all the “benefits” of merger-mainly a reduction to two-form entry and the loss of one head teacher – have been taken into account. This is because problems 2,3 and 4 above will still remain.

The disruption of merger could well “encourage” some experienced and expensive members of staff to move on, to be replaced by younger, cheaper teachers. But this would not necessarily benefit the pupils and their attainment.

LIB DEMS SECURE GRITTING FOR CHURCH CRESCENT

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Residents living in Church Crescent could see an ice-free winter on their road after local Lib Dem councillor for Muswell Hill, Jonathan Bloch secured the road’s inclusion on Haringey Council’s gritting schedule. He has also had assurances that the road will also have a grit box installed.

The issue was brought to the attention of Cllr Bloch by local residents living on the steep-side of the road off Muswell Hill. They have complained that because the road is narrow the lorries never grit the southern end. Furthermore, the road had a grit box until 12 years ago when the old one was removed but never replaced.

Cllr Bloch is pleased that the road is to be included on the gritting schedule. However along with fellow Muswell Hill councillor Gail Engert, he is pressing Haringey Council to ensure the grit box is installed as soon as possible in preparation for the harsh winter predicted.

Cllr Bloch (Muswell Hill) comments:

“I am pleased that we have secured this road much needed winter gritting. However the Council must ensure a gritting box is installed immediately to make it easier to keep the pathways and road ice-free this winter.”

FORTIS GREEN – LIB DEMS CALL ON THAMES WATER TO INVESTIGATE THEIR EMERGENCY PROCEDURES

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Martin Newton, Lib Dem councillor for Fortis Green, is demanding answers as to why residents in the area were left without water for over 12 hours on Wednesday, with many local restaurants and shops forced to close.

Following a water mains burst at approximately 13:30pm, Thames Water were phoned to report the fault. The company said it was aware of the problem and that it would take ‘some time to fix.’

After returning from a meeting, later that evening, Cllr Newton again phoned Thames Water around 22.15pm to ask about progress, and what emergency procedures were now in place to cater for vulnerable residents given this was still unresolved. Thames Water responded that they had a register of vulnerable people who would receive some alternative source of water, and the problem was due to be fixed by midnight. However, supplies were not restored until around 02.30am.

Cllr Newton is concerned that there seemed to be no measures in place to look after vulnerable residents, both young and old, who were not on Thames Water’s own register.

Thames Water said they would be grateful to have details of any vulnerable residents that were known to Cllr Newton so they could arrange assistance. However there seems to be little evidence of attempts by Thames Water to inform residents or businesses of the problem, or to provide some general stocks of bottled water. This, Cllr Newton says, is unacceptable, especially as Thames Water was aware that the problem would take many hours to fix.

Cllr Newton says that these problems were further compounded by a power failure on the Broadway. He says he hopes that Thames Water will address some of the concerns he has raised immediately.

Cllr Newton (Fortis Green) comments:

“It is not acceptable that vulnerable residents and businesses were left without water for this length of time. The additional power failure over parts of Muswell Hill Broadway, forced many shops, including the Post Office, to close at this busy time of year. Shops and restaurants not only had to close, but the cut in electricity supply, may have seriously affected refrigerated and frozen stock.

“I hope that Thames Water act on the issues I have raised so vulnerable residents can be reassured that everything possible will be done next time Thames Water cut their water supply.”

MUSWELL HILL PRIMARY SCHOOL – COUNCIL AGREES TO PLAYGROUND IMPROVEMENT

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Children at Muswell Hill Primary School will soon be able to play a variety of games at break-time after they, along with Muswell Hill Lib Dem Councillor Gail Engert, successfully lobbied Haringey Council for new markings on the playground.

The children alerted Cllr Engert to the problem this month, during one of her regular visits to their School Council. She was told that three months after their playground was resurfaced, they were still waiting for markings to be painted so they could play games like football, netball and hopscotch.

When Cllr Engert wrote to Haringey Council immediately asking for the issue to be addressed earlier this week she received a response explaining that there had been a delay to securing the funding for the markings from the National Lottery.

This was because the Council had to submit one large bid to Lottery funded Big Lottery Fund to cover all projects they wished to be funded. As some were under review it was holding up the delivery of this simple request.

However, the Council accepted that the funding for this project was not in doubt and following pressure from Cllr Engert agreed to paint the markings immediately.

Cllr Engert (Muswell Hill) comments:

“I am delighted for the children that after three months of waiting they are finally going to get the markings for the playground.

“It is essential that the Council does everything possible to assist children in staying active and the Lib Dems will continue to support and lobby for any projects that do this.”

Haringey Peace Alliance

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Busy bee today! First engagement of the day is 8am to a Haringey Peace Alliance breakfast. (If you’ve not heard of them, this is how they describe their aims: “The Peace Alliance was launched in July 2001 as a local initiative in Haringey. It was the result of a Church–led response to crime in the community. Key partners from the Church, the Home Office, the Metropolitan Police and the Borough Council, as well as local MPs, and community leaders pledged to work together to promote peace in Haringey.”)

Pastor Nims, who started this movement, is just an inspiration and I am really happy to be invited to attend and to speak. Having only been informed I was speaking a couple of days ago and with no time before today to prepare – I rise at 5am to compose my speech and my thoughts. I could have winged it – but I like always to give thought and time to those events that I attend.

I arrive and literally before I can get my coat off we are on. I make my speech. Seems to go down quite well. I think they are used to things in Haringey being a Labour show, with Labour MPs etc, so with me there, there is a kind of ‘let’s see what she says’ sort of atmosphere.

My main thrust is that we should put young people as a priority and that social cohesion (which is the theme of the breakfast) is best achieved by different groups doing activities that interest them – and then the activity is the common interest and the differences are irrelevant. In light of which I have my first stab at upping the ante on the regeneration of the Scout Park – eight acres of wild land in the middle of Hornsey & Wood Green. That was very well received as an idea.

Then it is onto the African Caribbean Leadership Council lunch for the elders. Here is a very large room and Christmas cheer. Very pleasant time talking to various people and a good lunch. Quick speech and then I have to rush off to Parliament. I missed Prime Minister’s questions because of all the engagements so far today – but caught it later. Between the rumour mill around Charles’s leadership and Cameron’s very weak performance – it was a shame not to have been there. I caught the program later and indeed, for all the talk of his first appearance at Prime Minister’s Questions, Cameron’s appearance this time was poor and he failed to make any good points. Worse than that – when it got rowdy – he was pictured basically looking to the Speaker for help to quiet the House. You have to have more balls than that David! And his punch line – something about less of a white paper and more of a white flag – was a) not very good b) clearly scripted. So soon after being crowned too … the House can be very harsh and cruel from what I have seen – and the boy didn’t do good.

As for Charles – well clearly I am not going to put any detail of the private discussion that went on in the Parliamentary Party. But I am under-whelmed by the anonymous briefings. These are difficult times, and I believe that a change of leader would simply be a gift to Cameron – who is already looking weak and in my view likely to be woefully exposed as inconsequential. The spotlight of leadership is extremely tough and I don’t believe he will prove to be the saviour the Tories are hoping for.

If any of the ‘would be’ leaders are responsible for the anonymous briefings then I would not support them as they have not had the courage to challenge in the appropriate way and showed appalling judgement over their timing.

Concrete Factory planning appeal

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The public inquiry into the plans for a concrete factory (batching plant) in Hornsey opens today. I arrive at 10am on the dot. Packed with residents, interested parties and so on – you have to be there for the opening as that is when Her Majesty’s Inspector judges the amount of public feeling and allocates the times for representations to be made by members of the public (and politicians). This is now (after a slow start by Labour) a cross-party affair. We united to fight the original planning application and are now united in fighting the appeal. So David Lammy – who is the MP for Tottenham (Labour) – and I sit together and agree that we will give evidence together. The Inspector allows us to return to make our statements next Friday at 10am. It is in the middle of my surgery – but as it is just down the road at Wood Green library I decide that I can manage both and anyone who comes in the time I am away – my assistant can either note down the case – or if they are disappointed I am not there, they can wait until I return.

After the ‘arrangements’ are all made and the Inspector has delineated the procedure, the two Counsels for each side make their opening statement. It is clear from London Concrete’s side that we are David up against Goliath in terms of the resources they are throwing at trying to get their plans through. His main thrust is that this application is sustainable, the very best way to make concrete and that he has the Mayor of London’s backing – that is the inference. He also infers that it is just the usual nimby’s who are turning out to make a noise about nothing. Hmmmmmmmmmm – don’t like him! Cannot bear it when real concerns and genuine fears are termed as basically an annoyance because they stand in the way of big business!

At lunchtime I go to Cranwood – which is a home for the elderly in Muswell Hill. Children from Tetherdown School are coming in to sing carols to the fold. They have been renovating – and as I walk up the builders are desperately trying to sweep up the external environs. Inside it is newly painted, brand new carpet and just lovely. The residents are brought into the lounge and the children sit on the floor waiting to start. It was absolutely lovely – shining faces and all that. Sentimental fool that I am – always a tear! At the end a bit of socialising. One of the helpers bangs into me and spills the drink being carried. First accident to brand new carpet – like the first scratch on a new car – you know it’s going to happen, it’s only a matter of when.

One of the children, Stefan I think, comes up and asks if he can ask me some questions. Given the focus and intelligence of those questions – definitely a politician in the making.

LIB DEMS LODGE OBJECTIONS TO CONCRETE FACTORY PLANS

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Haringey Liberal Democrats, led by Lynne Featherstone MP, this morning registered their interest to speak in the Public Inquiry into the planning application by London Concrete.

Lynne Featherstone MP was joined this morning by Lib Dem Councillor for Stroud Green, Laura Edge, Lib Dem Focus Editor for Stroud Green Ed Butcher and Lib Dem Focus Editor for Harringay, David Schmitz.

Lynne Featherstone MP and Stroud Green Councillor Laura Edge have campaigned against the Concrete factory plans since the initial application back in 2004 when they both expressed their renewed concerns over plans to build a concrete factory in the residential area surrounding Cranford Way, N8.

Laura Edge said:

“Under the current proposals we would see an additional 56 lorry movements a day, including three to four cement tankers, which are essentially the same size as petrol tankers. Each one of these lorries will be forced to take a left turn onto Tottenham Lane owing to the one-way system and from there either continue down Tottenham Lane or turn sharp right into Church Lane.”

Lynne Featherstone MP added:

“We have fought this application since day one with local residents group GreenN8, and will continue to do so.

“I hope I get the opportunity to speak so I can speak on behalf of the voters of Hornsey and Wood Green.

“I also want to ensure the Planning Inspectorate allows some time in an evening or at the weekend for those people who work during the day to have their voice heard.”