Lib Dem councillors have called for a full scale scrutiny review of the operation of CCTV in the borough following serious concerns raised by both Labour and Lib Dem councillors at this week’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee. The Labour councillor responsible for crime, Cllr Nilgun Canver, faced tough questioning, even from her Labour colleagues, over the management and performance of the CCTV camera network in the borough.

In a series of questions on the issue, Cllr David Winskill (Lib Dem, Crouch End) who has long campaigned against the poor use of CCTV in the battle against crime in the borough, raised concerns over the failure of the CCTV system in Muswell Hill and the lack of direct links to the CCTV control room.

Cllr David Winskill comments:

“There is clearly a complete lack of joined-up thinking within the Council over getting the best use from CCTV. There is widespread confusion, and inadequate performance on a range of technical and operational issues.

“For this reason, I have now asked the Chair of the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee for a full scale review of the operation of CCTV in Haringey as soon as possible in the next municipal year. We must have a clear plan to get things working properly.”

Lib Dem Crime and Community Safety spokesperson, Cllr Ron Aitken adds: “Until the CCTVmess has been sorted out Haringey should look at other measures that are simple and cost effective and offer shop owners peace of mind.

“I will be writing to Cllr Canver to suggest she offers officers’ time to work with local councillors to encourage shop keepers to adopt the Rapid Radio network.”

Labour controlled Haringey Council is failing to reply to Freedom of Information requests within the legal requirement of 20 days.

To mark the anniversary of the introduction of the Act, Liberal Democrat Focus Editors and councillors have highlighted the fact that in Haringey four out of ten requests are not answered on time.

Councillor Neil Williams, Leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition group on Haringey Council says:

“This abysmal performance reflects the Haringey Labour Council’s commitment to open and honest government. This is simply not acceptable. This Act is to enable people to quickly and easily access information about how their Council is run.This is yet another example of Labour failing the people of Haringey.”

The Lib Dem councillor for Crouch End, Ron Aitken, has written to Haringey Council asking what assessment has been made by Haringey Council with regard to the impact of the expansion of Coleridge School on to the TUC site on junior school places in the area.

The issue was raised at meeting last week (Thursday 6th December) with Cllr Aitken by parents at other schools in Crouch End and Hornsey, who have pointed out that there are vacancies for junior places at nearly every school in the area – and claim that the Council has not addressed this problem in its plans.

Cllr Aitken says that it is essential that all sides in this consultation have their concerns listened to and responded to by Haringey Council.

Cllr Aitken (Crouch End) comments:

“Although there is general agreement that Crouch End needs extra infant school places the picture is much less clear regarding Junior Places or Years 3-6. Therefore I have raised this issue with the Council as it obviously affects the whole funding picture regarding the Council’s plans and is an issue that needs to be addressed.”

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.”

At last night’s Haringey Council meeting, the opposition Lib Dems announced they were appointing two councillors to the Alexandra Palace Board.

Until now, the Lib Dems have not taken up their positions on the Board due to concerns about its constitutional position, powers, and structure. Despite promising to address these, Labour have never done so.

Lib Dems say that while all councillors should be entitled to information on what is happening at the Palace, this has been consistently refused. Over the last four years, the Lib Dems have made numerous requests for information on the accounts, and most recently on the nature of the unsuccessful bids. The Labour Council have consistently blocked or delayed answering.

Incredibly, in 2004, Councillor Bob Hare was refused access to the accounts which he had asked to see within the statutory open period (see note 3).

Recently, the Lib Dems have become more and more concerned at the process the Labour-run Board has set for the sale of Ally Pally. In particular, it has become increasingly clear that the timetable and approach were not set to ensure the best result for the charity but rather to fit with the Haringey Council elections in May.

It is as a result of these concerns that the Lib Dems have made two appointments to the Board, Councillor Bob Hare and Councillor Wayne Hoban (note 4).

Councillor Bob Hare comments:

“Lib Dems have always argued that there is an inherent conflict of interest for members of the Council sitting on the Alexandra Park and Palace Board which the Labour Council have never satisfactorily resolved. The resulting arrangements have not served either the Council or the Alexandra Palace and Park charity well in recent years.”

Councillor Wayne Hoban adds:

“There are major decisions to be taken in relation to the Palace, and Lib Dem members must be in full and immediate possession of the facts. We have faced consistent obstacles in recent years to requests for information about affairs at the Palace. Labour have run the Palace at a very low ebb, and repeatedly mismanaged and missed vital opportunities to get the building working properly. With that track record, the decision on the sale of the lease is too important to leave to them.”

Councillor Neil Williams, Leader of the Lib Dems, also says:

“The challenge to Labour is that they will now have to provide information that has been unacceptably withheld. All councillors should have been entitled to information on what is going on. Having to drag this out of the Council using Freedom of Information requests, or by referring matters to the Charity Commission, is a slow process. That is why we are joining the Board at this time.”

Notes1) Haringey Council is the corporate trustee of the Alexandra Park and Palace Trust, which is a charity. The Board is a sub-committee of the Council, to which the Council have devolved all of the Council’s powers in relation to APP. While in complete agreement with the transfer of powers to a sub-committee for day to day decision-making, the complete transfer of powers brings with it fundamental questions including:

Who are the trustees?

Who takes the major decisions?

What involvement and responsibilities do the nearly 50 members of the Council who are not members of the sub-committee have?

2) The Council previously agreed it would seek the directions of the courts on these questions of trusteeship, but has failed to do so, instead preferring to obtain repetitive advice from the same legal chambers.

3) In 2004, the annual statutory period during which the accounts of the Council and the APP Trust were open to examination fell in the period immediately leading up to the November fireworks display. Councillor Hare was asked if he would change the date of his requested visit to the week following the fireworks, and was given an undertaking by the General Manager that he would be able to see the accounts then. When he arrived, he was refused access on the grounds that the he was outside the statutory period.

4) Councillor Wayne Hoban is Deputy Leader of the Lib Dems, and has been on the APP Statutory Advisory Committee since being elected to the Council in 2002 , he was also Deputy Chair of the Committee last year.

Councillor Bob Hare has been Lib Dem spokesperson on Alexandra Palace since 2002, attending nearly all meetings of the Board, also of the Statutory Advisory and Consultative Committees.

Last night (Monday 9th January), the Lib Dem Deputy Leader in the London Borough of Haringey called on the Council’s Labour leader to support his letter to the District Auditor calling for an independent audit of The Bridge New Deal for Communities.

The call follows months of investigation by Cllr Hoban after concerns were raised with him by residents back in May that the £50.1 million project was being managed poorly.

Since then he has attempted to acquire satisfactorily audited accounts from Haringey Council and the Director of The Bridge NDC who, whilst insisting that the accounts had been fully audited, were unable to produce them. Following a fruitless Freedom of Information request, Cllr Hoban was left with no alternative but to refer his concerns to the District Auditor.

Residents’ concerns were reiterated at a meeting attended by Cllr Hoban of Suffolk Road Residents’ Association, where he was disturbed to hear the Director of The Bridge NDC project inform resident freeholders that funding for an ongoing programme designed to bring their homes up to the Government’s Decent Homes Standard had been withdrawn because “the Government had clawed back the money.”

Apparently a programme of works had been agreed for both council tenants and freeholders. The cost of these works was to be funded through a 75% government grant and the NDC.Phase 1 had already been completed and phase 2 had been started to the point the contractors were already on site; the pilot home was nearing completion and several council tenants were to have their new double glazed windows installed on Monday 14th November.

Last night, an oral question tabled by Cllr Hoban to the executive member for housing concerning this issue was not heard due to filibustering by Labour councillors.

Cllr Hoban comments:

“It is clear from the high level of dissatisfaction from residents in the NDC area, evidenced by a 600 strong signed petition to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister asking for an independent investigation, that there are some serious questions to be answered concerning the way in which Haringey Council are managing the delivery of this £50 million programme. Nothing less than a fully independent forensic investigation of the NDC accounts will do to reassure residents and councillors that the funds are being spent appropriately.”

On the day that the Government announced that the national DNA database has over three million entries, new figures revealed by Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson, Lynne Featherstone MP, shows that there are 139,463 people who have a DNA profile on the national DNA database (NDNAD) who have not been charged or cautioned with an offence.

Commenting Lynne Featherstone MP said:

“This is an intolerable infringement of liberty and personal privacy.

“There is no purpose or justification for keeping the DNA record of anyone who is not charged with an offence. We cannot be absolutely certain that there will be no misuse of the DNA Database. There are no real safeguards in place to control it.

“With the growing concern about racial profiling and disproportionality in criminal investigations, the need to keep innocent people on the DNA Database is questionable.”

Note – Hansard 20 Dec 2005 : Column 2890W

DNA Profiles

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people who have not been charged or cautioned for an offence have DNA profiles stored in the police national database; and if he will make a statement. [34330]

Andy Burnham: There are 139,463 people who have a DNA profile on the national DNA database (NDNAD) who have not been charged or cautioned with an offence.

This figure comprises: 124,347 people who have a DNA profile on the NDNAD who have been arrested and subsequently not been charged or cautioned with an offence. This information was provided by the Police Information Technology Organisation (PITO) and obtained from the police national computer (PNC) which is linked to the NDNAD; and 15,116 volunteer sample profile records retained on the NDNAD.

A volunteer sample is a DNA sample taken from an individual in relation to the investigation of an offence for elimination purposes and not as a result of the individual having been arrested in connection with an offence. The volunteer must give written consent to provide the sample; and can also volunteer to have their DNA profile held on the database by providing separate written consent for this. Volunteer samples may be taken from, for example, the victim of a crime, a third party, a member of a population identified for an intelligence-led screen or from an individual at their request.

The problem of inadequate rubbish disposal facilities for residents in Risborough Close, N10, which has created a rubbish blackspot in the area, is to be addressed by Haringey Council following pressure from ward councillor Gail Engert and local MP Lynne Featherstone.

The properties have had no proper storage facilities and as a result bags – which are left out in the open – are often attacked by vermin before they are collected and the contents allowed to spew out. The problem is further exacerbated as very often bags are split when collected and the contents, which can include dirty nappies, are strewn about the estate. This, the Council acknowledges, poses a serious health hazard.

Councillors Engert and Featherstone have both been urging Haringey Council to thoroughly cleanse the area and find an effective long-term solution to the problem.

The Council has responded stating that it had previously contacted the managing agents for Risborough Close and agreed to share renovation costs in order to house waste storage units.

However the managing agents decided not to carry out the agreed renovations and now following the Lib Dem pressure, the Council has written to them warning that they will be served with an enforcement notice if they do not provide suitable waste containment.

Cllr Engert (Muswell Hill) comments:

“This is a litter black spot that the Labour-run Council has failed to deal with effectively so far. However I am pleased that action is being taken and a solution to a problem that has caused so much misery is being addressed.”

Cllr Lynne Featherstone MP comments:

“We will be keeping pressure on the Council to deliver on their promise to ensure this problem which has created a serious health hazard to local residents is resolved “

Martin Newton, Lib Dem councillor for Fortis Green, is demanding answers as to why residents in the area were left without water for over 12 hours on Wednesday, with many local restaurants and shops forced to close.

Following a water mains burst at approximately 13:30pm, Thames Water were phoned to report the fault. The company said it was aware of the problem and that it would take ‘some time to fix.’

After returning from a meeting, later that evening, Cllr Newton again phoned Thames Water around 22.15pm to ask about progress, and what emergency procedures were now in place to cater for vulnerable residents given this was still unresolved. Thames Water responded that they had a register of vulnerable people who would receive some alternative source of water, and the problem was due to be fixed by midnight. However, supplies were not restored until around 02.30am.

Cllr Newton is concerned that there seemed to be no measures in place to look after vulnerable residents, both young and old, who were not on Thames Water’s own register.

Thames Water said they would be grateful to have details of any vulnerable residents that were known to Cllr Newton so they could arrange assistance. However there seems to be little evidence of attempts by Thames Water to inform residents or businesses of the problem, or to provide some general stocks of bottled water. This, Cllr Newton says, is unacceptable, especially as Thames Water was aware that the problem would take many hours to fix.

Cllr Newton says that these problems were further compounded by a power failure on the Broadway. He says he hopes that Thames Water will address some of the concerns he has raised immediately.

Cllr Newton (Fortis Green) comments:

“It is not acceptable that vulnerable residents and businesses were left without water for this length of time. The additional power failure over parts of Muswell Hill Broadway, forced many shops, including the Post Office, to close at this busy time of year. Shops and restaurants not only had to close, but the cut in electricity supply, may have seriously affected refrigerated and frozen stock.

“I hope that Thames Water act on the issues I have raised so vulnerable residents can be reassured that everything possible will be done next time Thames Water cut their water supply.”

Residents living in Church Crescent could see an ice-free winter on their road after local Lib Dem councillor for Muswell Hill, Jonathan Bloch secured the road’s inclusion on Haringey Council’s gritting schedule. He has also had assurances that the road will also have a grit box installed.

The issue was brought to the attention of Cllr Bloch by local residents living on the steep-side of the road off Muswell Hill. They have complained that because the road is narrow the lorries never grit the southern end. Furthermore, the road had a grit box until 12 years ago when the old one was removed but never replaced.

Cllr Bloch is pleased that the road is to be included on the gritting schedule. However along with fellow Muswell Hill councillor Gail Engert, he is pressing Haringey Council to ensure the grit box is installed as soon as possible in preparation for the harsh winter predicted.

Cllr Bloch (Muswell Hill) comments:

“I am pleased that we have secured this road much needed winter gritting. However the Council must ensure a gritting box is installed immediately to make it easier to keep the pathways and road ice-free this winter.”