Lib Dems have expressed their dismay as Labour councillors in the London Borough of Haringey last night voted down an attempt to keep the spread of vehicle crossovers in check across the borough. Labour lead member Brian Haley directed his fellow councillors to ignore the Liberal Democrat suggestion and rejected a call to improve practice on this issue.

Lib Dems have growing concerns that the number of dropped kerbs is increasing across the borough as more and more households apply for permission to park their vehicles in their front gardens. The Lib Dems feel that this amounts to a creeping demise of pavements and believe that the Council has been too slapdash in its handling of applications for crossovers, with little coordination between council departments.

Councillor Martin Newton comments:

“There are clear guidelines laid out to decide when it is appropriate to grant permission for a crossover, and Labour have not been following them. There are clearly times when dropped kerbs are appropriate – for disabled access; if the applicant has an environmentally friendly electric car that requires recharging, to take two examples – but to simply grant permission to each and every application is simply not good enough.

“We need to protect pedestrian rights of way, not to mention the dreadful environmental effect of too many vehicle crossovers. Labour need to take action on this while we still have some pavements left. However, it is extremely disappointing that are choosing not to do so.”