Haringey Liberal Democrats are demanding that Haringey Council schedule emergency meetings of the borough’s Area Assemblies as soon as possible, in order that residents have a chance to be consulted on plans for the controversial parking schemes being planned by Haringey Council across the borough.

Lib Dem councillors have written to the Council to demand that emergency meetings of the Area Assemblies in the borough are scheduled as soon as possible. Large numbers of residents are becoming increasingly angry that they have not been consulted on the CPZ and parking restriction plans, and the Lib Dems are demanding that the Labour-run council include the people of the borough in the decision-making process on CPZs and parking restrictions.

Muswell Hill councillor Jonathan Bloch was amazed that the proposals for the ‘Stop and Shop’ scheme were not on the agenda of the most recent Muswell Hill Area Assembly meeting. He comments:

“This is just one more example of this Labour administration ignoring the people of the borough. It is deeply worrying that council officials did not put this item on the agenda when the last Area Assembly meeting was held on 15 June 2006. It cannot have been inadvertently left off. At the very least, we would expect that residents would get the chance to meet with representatives of the Council’s executive and have their concerns taken on board – they have been denied this chance.

“Also, local representatives of Muswell Hill have had no prior consultation on these plans which is unacceptable – what are local representatives for if they are not consulted?”

Councillor Wilson (Lib Dem, Stroud Green) comments:

“For many local people these new parking proposals have come completely out of the blue.As usual, consultation with residents, businesses and local representatives has been entirely inadequate. There is no point having Area Assemblies if they do not discuss important local issues like parking controls.”

Lynne Featherstone, MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, comments:

“Labour have shown a shocking lack of concern for the views and wishes of the people of Haringey. It is completely unacceptable that residents have not had the chance to debate the proposals at their Area Assembly meetings, but in truth this is just one of the ways in which they have been denied a voice. Labour claim that these parking schemes are for the benefit of the people of the borough – if this is true, why won’t they listen to them?”