Cllr Wayne Hoban, Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader and Social Services spokesperson, has written to the Chair of Haringey’s Teaching Primary Healthcare Trust (PCT) to express concern that the PCT may have failed to adequately involve and consult patients and the public in relation to planning proposals and decisions affecting the provision of health services on the Hornsey Central Hospital site.

Cllr Hoban has identified that under section 11 (1) of the Health and Social Care Act 2001, the PCT is obliged to involve and consult patients and the public over the Hornsey Central development plans.

Following the unfolding NHS funding crisis, the Trust has withdrawn the original development plans, and approved a substantially different scheme. Patients and local residents, as well as Haringey Council’s Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee, had been consulted over the original plans. However, the new designs have not enjoyed this consultation process.

Cllr Hoban states, “I am seriously concerned that the decision to amend the previous scheme in the absence of further consultation may go against legislation under the 2001 Act. The Hornsey Central Hospital site is one of our local treasures, and it should be used to provide much-needed healthcare to local people.

“The Liberal Democrats and I are concerned that the latest plans are more to do with balancing budget books than with addressing health needs, and the lack of consultation with patients and residents is concerning.”

As the big day looms, local Fortis Green Councillor Matt Davies (Lib Dem) explains that he is very close to raising his £2,000 target in charity donations for Amnesty International.

On the 23rd April, Cllr. Davies will take part in the London Marathon, alongside thousands of other runners. Cllr Davies completed the marathon in 2003 in aid of the Terrence Higgins Trust and raised over £1500. He set himself a target this year to raise at least £2000, and is excited to have raised very nearly enough to beat that amount.

Cllr. Davies comments:

“I was delighted by the generosity of local people and councillors from both parties when I ran the marathon last time. So this year I have set my target higher and I hope that people will be able to help raise money for Amnesty International by sponsoring me. I am very near meeting my target – a huge thank you to all who have given money to what is a very worthy cause.”

If anyone is able to sponsor Cllr Davies in raising money for Amnesty, they can do so by visiting www.justgiving.com/matt4amnesty.

Residents of Risborough Close, Muswell Hill, can breathe a sigh of relief as pressure from Lib Dem councillors has secured a new refuse store. The previous storage area was woefully inadequate, resulting in large and unsightly amounts of rubbish bags piled high. These would often split, leaving rubbish lying strewn around the paths and the area immediately outside the building.

Muswell Hill Liberal Democrat Councillors Lynne Featherstone MP, Gail Engert and Lib Dem candidate Sheila Rainger took up the case when a resident contacted them with stories of having to walk through rubbish including condoms and dirty nappies. Haringey Council contractors Accord, who organise and carry out rubbish collection across the borough, were not clearing this loose rubbish up, resulting in build-ups of waste that were deemed a health and safety risk.

Councillor Engert comments:

“I am delighted that the new rubbish storage area has finally been built. Haringey Accord has also agreed to make more regular collections of refuse from the building, and we hope that this will at last put an end to the problems.”

The area where rubbish used to be kept will be cleared once new bins are delivered for use in the new refuse storage area.

New figures revealed by Liberal Democrat London Spokesperson, Lynne Featherstone MP, show that there has been 342 London post office closures in the last 3 years.

Ms Featherstone is calling on the government to put in place a realistic policy saving local post offices from closure, hitting local communities unnecessarily.

Commenting Lynne Featherstone MP said:

“The future for London post offices looks gloomy.”

“It is time that the government realises the seriousness of this problem.”

“The government needs to come up with concrete plans to provide for the long-term future of Royal Mail. So far, only the Liberal Democrats have a realistic plan which will save the post office network.”

With crime a key concern in the local elections, Lib Dem candidates in Bounds Green are calling for action over the safety of Imperial Passage, a walkway connecting Bounds Green to Alexandra Palace station. Local Lib Dem candidate John Oakes has already raised the issue with the local police neighbourhood team leader, who has promised to step up foot patrols on the Passage and discuss with Haringey Council how safety can be improved.

Lib Dem candidates Ali Demirci and John Oakes have met local MP Lynne Featherstone on site to discuss safety, after residents raised the problem of poor lighting during the party’s canvassing in the area. They have also written to local residents asking them what other safety measures could be put in place.

Lib Dem candidate John Oakes (Bounds Green) comments:

“I am pleased that the police have agreed to step up patrols in Imperial Passage, but we also need to look at other measures, such as better lighting. It was good to have local MP Lynne Featherstone visit the site with us, and we will continue to press for more to be done to improve safety.”

With just over two weeks to go until Haringey’s historic local election on 4th May, Lib Dems say that their strong message ofworking with the police to tackle crime, putting the environment first and listening to local residents is proving popular with local residents.

With a discredited Labour council in power for 35 years, and national newspapers tipping the Lib Dems as potential winners on 4th May, the party says it can take power from Labour as it has done in many other urban areas, such as Islington, Liverpool and Newcastle.

The Lib Dems have been campaigning on the key issues in their positive plan for the borough:

Environment: introduce a recycling scheme for businesses and give residents larger green boxes

Council Tax: Bring Council Tax down towards the London average by tackling Labour waste, such as the £11 million squandered on the ‘Tech Refresh’ Project

Crime: Get the borough’s CCTV working and keep local police stations open

Listening to residents: hand more power to neighbourhood assemblies and create a special forum for Highgate

Education: End the annual school places crisis with a proper ten year plan and full consultation with local parents

Health: Put health services first, not profit when deciding how to use the Hornsey Central Hospital site.

Lib Dem Leader Cllr Neil Williams, which is seeking re-election in Highgate comments:

“Local people are responding well to our manifesto and our ideas for Haringey.We have a great team that is putting forward a positive agenda for the borough. As in the General Election here, Labour is once again floundering, and they are paying the price for years of waste and infighting.With the Tories off the political map, there is a very real chance we will be able to put our positive agenda into action after 4th May.”

Labour-led Haringey Council refuse to answer a Freedom of Information Act request for details of departure of key management figures, say Lib Dems

Labour-led Haringey Council continues to restrict access to information surrounding the departure of key management figures in the aftermath of the huge £10.6 million Tech Refresh project overspend.

Councillor Wayne Hoban, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrat Council Group, submitted a Freedom of Information Act request asking the Council to ‘Provide full details of the terms under which the previous Tech Refresh Project Manager had left the project and the employ of Haringey, to include any financial payments which may have been made in connection with his departure.’ The request was refused, raising suspicions that the matter had been swept under the carpet.

At a meeting to discuss the Audit Commission’s report into the Tech Refresh fiasco, it was confirmed that neither the previous Council Chief Executive nor the previous Tech Refresh Project Manager had been interviewed by the Audit Commission during its investigation into the huge IT overspend.

Cllr Hoban states: “I find it unbelievable that the Audit Commission should not seek to interview such key people during the course of its investigation into this huge council overspend. They both played an absolutely central role in respects of key decisions made which led to huge IT project overspend and they both left the council’s employ following revelations of the huge overspend without reasonable explanation.It is clearly an unacceptable and unsatisfactory situation.”

Cllr Hoban comments: “Not a single person has been held responsible for this fiasco. £10.6 million pounds has been wasted, and local taxpayers will want to know who is to be held accountable.

“This Labour run council has clearly chosen to adopt exactly the same strategy it followed after Lord Laming’s damning inquiry into the Climbie tragedy, where no senior manager of Executive member was held responsible or was disciplined despite evidence of huge management failures. Haringey residents deserve better. This Labour-run council is unwilling or unable to accept responsibility for its failures. Residents have an opportunity to vote for a more transparent and accountable council by voting Liberal Democrat on May 4th.”

Local Lib Dem MP Lynne Featherstone is urging that a meeting cancelled by the Government on the funding for improving Fortismere’s school buildings should go ahead without delay. A meeting has now been scheduled for May 10 th, and follows dismay expressed by the MP that an original meeting, between Fortismere Governors, Lynne Featherstone MP and the Government scheduled for 25 April had been cancelled on the explicit instructions of the Cabinet Office.

Ms Featherstone says that the Cabinet Office, on learning of the details of this meeting, specifically instructed officials to cancel the meeting because of the ‘purdah’ period during the local elections. However the meeting is parliamentary business which should not have to wait because of Government sensitivities over Haringey’s political future.

The meetings is even more urgent now that following meetings between Fortsimere and the Council, Haringey wants the Governors to sign up to an agreement which, outside of the very welcome, but not nearly enough £2m extra funding from the Building Schools for the Future Fund, asks that Fortismere agrees to sell some of its assets to provide capital funding to fill in the funding gap created by the Council’s low allocation to the school from the BSF fund.

Lynne Featherstone said:

“I am hugely concerned that Fortismere may be forced to sell off some of its land – so that it can afford to rebuild or replace its 6th form block and other sub-standard buildings. The offer of £2million extra from the BSF fund is welcome – but it still leaves Fortismere at a substantial financial disadvantage if the buildings are to be replaced. Selling off green space should not be the price that Fortismere has to pay to provide decent school buildings.

“The Building for the Future funding is supposed to address the failing condition of school buildings. And whilst the criteria used to allocate the BSF funding quite rightly prioritises deprivation, I am hopeful that at the rescheduled meeting with the Government and governors ofFortismere and myself now re-arranged for May 10 – we will be able to convince the Government to agree to this vital extra funding.”

Note:

Purdah is the term given when civil servants and local government officers and not allowed to be seen supporting any political party. In local government it is called approximately a month before elections and means that local government officials are not allowed make announcement that could be interpreted as supporting one political party.

Residents in Hillfield Park, Muswell Hill, have complained to Haringey Council following receipt of an official council letter that threatened them with a £5,000 fine unless they provided information regarding the ownership of their land.

Apparently around 1,500 such letters were sent out to Haringey residents demanding personal information on the ownership of their land within 14 days, or risk “summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £5000”.

A cover letter, which was not originally sent to Hillfield Park residents, explained simply that ‘The Council is required under legislation to prepare a Public Rights of Way Definitive Map”, but no further detail was given as to which right of way was in question, angering residents.

Councillor Gail Engert, Liberal Democrat councillor for Muswell Hill, comments:

“This is just another example of the Council not thinking about its residents. Many who received this letter would have felt very threatened; not to mention the rude tone the Council has used. It would have been very easy to have explained the reasoning behind the demands, and Haringey Council should have done this.”

New figures revealed by Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson, Lynne Featherstone MP, show that 24% of citizens who have a DNA profile on the national DNA database (NDNAD) are from ethnic minority communities. However, less than 8% of the UK population are from an ethnic minority background.

Commenting Lynne Featherstone MP said:

“These figures are deeply worrying.

“We need to find out why people from ethnic minorities make up nearly a quarter of the non-charged and non-cautioned DNA profiles on the database. We need to examine on what basis DNA samples are taken.

“With the growing concern about racial profiling, the over-representation of ethnic minorities on the Database is extremely worrying.”

Note:

The figures were revealed in a Parliamentary Question asked by Lynne Featherstone MP. The full text of the PQ is:

Lynne Featherstone (Hornsey and Wood Green): To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of the 2nd March 2006, Official Report, Column 954W, on DNA profiles, if he will break down by a) police force area andb) ethnic origin those who have a DNA profile on the National DNA Database and whose ethnic origin is known?

For a full breakdown of figures by local authority, download this Excel spreadsheet.