Lib Dem councillors are seeking answers to a number of questions regarding the Council’s handling of the skate park project in Priory Park, N8.

Labour-run Haringey Council has left a number of questions unanswered over the past year with much of the project shrouded by a veil of secrecy which has angered ward councillors and residents who have been not been kept abreast of developments despite persistent requests for information.

Lib Dem councillor for Muswell Hill Gail Engert is particularly keen to find out why Haringey Council did not follow up Thames Waters concerns about the structural suitability of the site, made in March 2005, until November 2005.

She says that considering the speed at which these development plans have progressed it concerns her that money has been spent on a development which until November had not been given the all clear.

This latest question came following confusion over the Council’s response to a question at a meeting late last year in which they claimed they had not received a decisive response from Thames Water over the suitability of the site.

However further probing from Cllr Engert has revealed that Haringey Council received correspondence from Thames Water voicing their concerns over the suitability of the site.

She says that the Council’s secrecy and vagueness over this project to-date has bred further concern from local residents who feel, along with their Lib Dem representatives, that they have not been consulted adequately over the development.

Cllr Engert along with Lib Dem councillor for Crouch End David Winskill and Lynne Featherstone MP will continue to lobby hard for residents and ward councillors to be fully informed and consulted on the future developments.

Cllr Engert (Muswell Hill ward) comments, “Trying to get any information from the Council about their plans for the skateboard park in Priory Park is like trying to pull teeth. Not only did they ignore the wishes of local residents, who were against the facility in the Park in the first place, but they are not keeping them informed about developments or their future plans.”