Lib Dem Crime, Policing and Community Safety Spokesperson Cllr Ron Aitken has appealed for calm following the stabbing of a 21 year old man outside the KO Club in Wood Green at the weekend.

Councillor Aitken attended a meeting with Detective Superintendent Wood who gave an update on the investigation. Members of the Turkish and Kurdish communities met at Tottenham Police Station yesterday to hear what progress had been made on the investigation into the incident.

Councillor Ron Aitken said:

“Knife crime continues to be a serious problem here in Haringey.The police are working hard to engage with local people and we will continue to do all we can to assist them.My colleagues and I are also working closely with Lynne Featherstone MP who is campaigning in Parliament to get knife crime and its sentencing on the Government’s agenda.”

Councillor Ali Demirci comments:

“Speculation as to motive, and about the background of the victim or his attackers, whilst understandable, is not helpful at this time. The police investigation is a robust one and whilst it is in progress people should remain calm and encourage witnesses to come forward. Our thoughts are with the young man and his family.”

Haringey Labour councillors are coming under serious criticism for their refusal to respond to requests to make public the results of the public consultation on the controversial parking schemes they plan to impose on the borough.

Lib Dem councillors and local MP Lynne Featherstone have written to the Chief Executive to demand that Haringey Council make public the results of the consultation on the parking schemes proposed in the London Borough of Haringey, as suspicion over the propriety of the consultation continues to mount.

Labour-run Haringey Council has until now ignored a request that Lib Dem councillors be allowed to see the results. The request was made by Councillor Martin Newton over a month ago. Now the Lib Dems are demanding that residents are also allowed to see the responses to the consultation document, in the interests of transparency.

Lib Dem councillors are also increasingly frustrated by the lack of response to their request to hold an emergency meeting of the Muswell Hill Area Assembly. They had been promised a reply from Labour members by Friday. While chasing the reply, it came to light that Labour’s lead member for Community Involvement, Councillor Lorna Reith, who is responsible for the consultation, is on annual leave until the 16th August, having left before providing a response to her Lib Dem colleagues.

Councillor John Oakes, Lib Dem spokesperson for Community Involvement, comments:

“Labour’s behaviour on this issue beggars belief. Our requests for emergency meetings of the Area Assemblies have still gone unanswered, and it is not hard to see why people have lost faith in Labour’s ability to manage this consultation.

“One solution might be to pass on the consultation to independent consultants. Labour have lost the trust of the public over this issue, and it is perhaps time to consider whether the only way to regain that trust might be to bring in expertise from an external group.”

Lynne Featherstone MP comments:

“I have never seen such an abuse of power as Labour have wielded over the proposed CPZs. A flawed consultation combined with Labour’s refusal to answer to local residents or even let them speak at Full Council means the outcome of the so-called consultation will be under suspicion. All responses must be available to the public so justice can be seen to be done.”

Haringey Labour has terminated the Council’s contract with the company Recycling Works without debate, following a meeting of the Council’s Executive. Lib Dem councillors have criticised the decision, and fear that it may be a sign that Labour are moving away from hand-sorted recycling in preference of ‘co-mingled’ collections, which are far less environmentally friendly.

Recycling Works provide a hand-sorted recycling service, which allows glass to be reused to create new glass items. Haringey Council may now rely more heavily on a so-called ‘co-mingled’ glass recycling service, where recyclable waste is mixed at the point of collection. Glass collected in this way is suitable only for re-use as road aggregate.

Lib Dems fear that Labour are focussing too heavily on overall targets for bulk waste collection, at the expense of the environment. Incredibly, in the report presented to the Executive, there was no mention in the written reports of the environmental impacts of the various options for running the services.

Councillor Martin Newton, Lib Dem joint spokesperson Environment, comments:

“Recycling Works is an innovative Company that is committed to best practice over recycling and has been publicly congratulated for helping to boost Haringey’s participation rates in recycling. They employ local people with an emphasis for getting people off the unemployment register. They have been awarded grants to pilot door-to-door collections for estates in Tottenham. They have also been in talks about collecting recycling from Businesses, including collecting cooking oil to produce ‘Green’ Diesel. This company appears to be a credit to the borough and further ways should be sought to achieve a satisfactory negotiation with them.”

Councillor Bob Hare, Lib Dem joint spokesperson for the Environment adds:

“If the commitment of this Council is to now move further away from hand-sorted recycling and to increase the co-mingled collections, this will have a detrimental impact – it is far more environmentally friendly and energy efficient to re-use glass to create new glass items, rather than using it for road aggregate, which is the end result of co-mingled collections. Labour need to look very carefully at the detail rather than blindly chasing targets without considering the environmental impact. We want recycling to be expanded, but not at the expense of environmental efficiency.”

Cllr Gail Engert has welcomed the first step of progress on the refurbishment of Muswell Hill Library but expresses deep concerns on the lack of detail in the proposal.

To applause from assembled residents at Haringey Council’s consultation’ meeting, Cllr Engert publicly challenged Cllr Lorna Reith Executive Member responsible for Community Engagement, on the lack of real detail for residents to consider and respond to.

Cllr Engert comments:

“What residents really want to know and understand is how the changes are going to affect the choice and availability of their library facilities, so they can have their say.

“The proposals on offer were so lacking in detail it is difficult to see how anyone could be expected to make an informed opinion.

“Sadly, this is the poor quality of consultation that we’ve become accustomed from the Labour administration.For them it seems like consultation is a perfunctory process that they undertake with no real consideration or skill rather than a fantastic and valuable opportunity to engage with the people we serve.”

Note:

Issues of particular concern to members of the public, which were not included at the display at the Library or on the consultation leaflets there:

The measurements in square metres of all the elements in the ground plans (the measurements were only given for the proposed restaurant). This means that it is not evident whether the plans involve a space gain for library use or not.

The fact that the plans involved the sale of two thirds of the car park.

What money was to be raised by the sale of the car park land, and what money would be raised from selling the lease on the ground floor of the library for a restaurant.

Not only was the sale of the car park for development not mentioned in the library consultation, but there is no indication of what a development might involve or look like. It did come out at the meeting that it was for 9 residential units.

Whether the plans involved any more space for books. Residents wanted the current and proposed linear shelf space for books.

The fact that nearby residents had not been told of the consultation, as obviously the building of the library extension and the residential development would severely impact upon them.

Lynne Featherstone, Lib Dem MP for Hornsey & Wood Green celebrated the success of children’s literature this week at a House of Commons reception held by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Libraries and Information Management.

Every year, more and more children take part in the Summer Reading Challenge, undertaken in partnership with public libraries and supported by children’s publishers. This year an amazing 700,000 children are expected to take part across the UK.

“To get more readers, reading more we need to harness the power of public libraries,” said Lynne Featherstone MP, who presented some children’s books to Wood Green library to support the Summer Reading Challenge.

“What’s most exciting is that the range and quality of children’s books is better than ever, and working in partnership with publishers and booksellers, our local libraries can help expand the market. They help children get the reading habit early, and make it possible for parents and carers to give children a huge variety of books.

“I am pleased to support the Summer Reading Challenge and would encourage local children of all ages to visit their local library and take part. I am delighted to present Wood Green with a donation of books courtesy of The Reading Agency’s publishing partners,” said Lynne Featherstone.

Haringey Labour councillors this week voted unanimously to adopt the borough’s controversial Unitary Development Plan, despite heartfelt speeches from local residents and the concerns of Lib Dem Councillors.

Cllr Bob Hare said:

“This is a flawed UDP.While we won a late commitment to review the Housing Chapter, we will be pressing the council to ensure that that work on the housing review begins as soon as possible, and will be playing our part to support all those in the borough who have campaigned and worked on these issues.”

Lib Dem Planning Spokesperson Cllr Jonathan Bloch added:

“This decision leaves the borough operating its planning with a flawed UDP, and exposes us to a greater risk of high developments and shoddy tower blocks with poor infrastructure.The reviews of Open Space and Housing will take up to two years to become fully effective. That’s why work on the reviews must start as soon as possible, so that the borough’s planning can start to use the revisions.”

Angry residents last night watched Haringey Labour vote down Lib Dem attempts to put on hold Haringey Council’s controversial bid to turn the whole of west Haringey into a controlled parking zone. Lib Dem Councillor John Oakes had tabled a motion proposing that the current consultations be suspended in favour of a proper, full and effective consultation to include emergency meetings of the Area Assemblies.

Labour councillors felt the wrath of a packed public gallery at the meeting of the full council, as they refused residents the right to speak on their parking plans. The Lib Dems have condemned Labour for trying their hardest to prevent Councillor Oakes’ motion from being discussed at all, and gave rambling answers to ‘planted’ questions from their own members.

Eventually, to cheers from the gallery, Labour members agreed to Lib Dem demands to alter the agenda so that time was made for residents to hear the CPZ debate.

Councillor John Oakes comments:

“With such huge concern about the CPZ plans, residents were very rightly furious that Labour could act in such an arrogant manner. The consultation on this is widely agreed to be useless, yet Labour keep telling the public that they are giving them what they want. It is very clear to residents that they have not been given the chance to tell Labour what they want.

“Many have not received their consultation forms, and Labour haven’t bothered to consult with local businesses or representatives. The matter has never been discussed at Area Assemblies, and it is very clear why this is. Labour want to push the decision through as quietly as possible. They are not interested in hearing people’s opinions at all. They should be absolutely ashamed of themselves.”

Note – full text of Councillor Oakes’ motion:

This Council:

Acknowledges the very high level of public concern over the current proposals for parking schemes in the borough;

Acknowledges that the level of consultation undertaken by the Council with residents, businesses and elected members of this Council on these schemes has been entirely ineffective and is not acceptable;

Believes that parking schemes need to be seen by residents and businesses as a positive contribution to their immediate local environment, and not as the careless creation of a remote authority greedy for every pound it can get;

Believes that a ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution is not correct, and that proper consultation is necessary in order to ensure that in each area the parking scheme is tailored to meet local needs;

and mindful of the new Statutory Guidance on parking imminently expected from the Department of Transport;

Resolves to suspend the current consultation process indefinitely while this new statutory guidance is pending;

Resolves to further suspend the consultation process until such time as an effective and thorough consultation process has been undertaken in every area affected, to include public meetings in each area.

Proposer:Cllr Oakes
Seconder:Cllr Davies

There was anger with Labour in the council chamber last night, as their environment lead member was forced to admit that £25,000 has been wasted on futile attempts to turn part of Priory Park into a skate park.

Lib Dem councillors have been warning Labour-run Haringey Council for almost a year that the site was unsuitable, and had uncovered that Thames Water had told the council as long ago as February 2005 that the site would not be suitable because ofthe large open drainage chambers situated beneath the concrete area chosen for the sake park. However, despite repeated warnings and questions from Liberal Democrat councillors, Labour denied the problems until recently, when it finally admitted that the plan could not go ahead.

Lib Dem Leader Councillor Neil Williams, who asked the question, comments:

“It is shocking that the council has wasted so much money on these plans, despite being told nearly 18 months ago that the idea was not a runner. It shows staggering incompetence.”

Local councillor Gail Engert, who has been pressing the council on the issue for months adds:

“All along Labour has been in denial about problems at the site, and has tried every trick in the book to stop local councillors getting involved. If they had listened, they could have saved Haringey Council Tax payers a great deal of money. They have also paid lip service to the views of local residents, and it is such a shame for falsely raising the hopes of local kids about the future of the site.”