Lib Dem councillors in Muswell Hill will be hoping to make it three victories out of three when Haringey Council’s planning committee makes a decision on a controversial planning application for 30 Muswell Hill, N10.

Lib Dems say the application to demolish the current Edwardian house and garden and erect 12 grey and aluminium flats is the latest in a recent spate of planning applications over the last couple of months that have sought to build on green space.

Cllr Jonathan Bloch (Muswell Hill ward) has campaigned with local residents to ensure that planning applications at 1 Tudor Lodge, Grand Avenue and The Cornerways, Ellington Road, N10 were rejected because the Lodge was in a conservation area, while The Cornerways development was overbearing and out of keeping with the area.

This latest application in Muswell Hill has received over 300 signatures of protest from local residents with whom Cllr Bloch has been working closely.

The Lib Dems are concerned that developers have seen Haringey as an easy target for large profitable developments.

Cllr Bloch, the Lib Dems’ new planning spokesperson, believes that while there is a need for more housing in London, developments must not be to the detriment of the area and local residents.

He says that these three applications typify the kind of aggressive developments that Haringey Council has in the past failed to prevent. He is hopeful that the residents of Muswell Hill will get a third victory that will send a clear message to developers.

Cllr Bloch comments:

“The Lib Dems have had great success in the past at stopping unsuitable applications in the area. However in the last couple of years there has been a noticeable rise in applications, particularly in Crouch End and Muswell Hill.

“We will continue to work with local residents to show developers and Haringey Council that aggressive development will not be tolerated.”

Following months of campaigning, Lib Dem councillors from Haringey and Islington last week secured an agreement from both councils on a project to provide parking bays for local shoppers on Stroud Green Road. Lib Dems say the move should provide a boost for local traders in Stroud Green Road by proving more short term parking spaces.

Stroud Green Lib Dem Councillor, Laura Edge has been working with Lib Dem colleagues in Islington on the issue, as Stroud Green Road forms the boundary between the two boroughs. Meetings with traders, officers from both boroughs and representatives from the Finsbury Park Business Forum and Finsbury Park Partnership have been held to work out a scheme.

The project proposes to install new pay-and-display bays on two sections of Stroud Green Road. Islington Council, which is responsible for the south western side of the street would install parking bays on the stretch of road opposite Ennis Road and Perth Road, while Haringey Council will put two pay-and-display machines between Perth Road and Tollington Park.

The plans are subject to resident and traders’ approval as well as consent from Transport for London’s Bus Priority Unit, which is responsible for maintaining bus traffic flow.

Lib Dem and Stroud Green Councillor Laura Edge says:

“I am very pleased that the two Boroughs have agreed on a way forward. Now we need to consult carefully over the scheme, which could provide really valuable short term parking, which will be a boost for the shops.

Local Lib Dems have welcomed the success of Cllr Wayne Hoban in securing a hefty 8.4% swing from Labour in the Tottenham constituency in the General Election. The result puts Cllr Hoban in a clear second place in the constituency, with a substantial increase in the Lib Dem vote. He warned Labour at the count that the result would lead to further Lib Dem gains in the area.The Lib Dems pushed the Tories into a distant third, with the party suffering a fall in their share of the vote.

Wayne Hoban comments:

“I am delighted with our solid progress in Tottenham, and it bodes well for future elections. Having a Lib Dem MP in Lynne Featherstone in the borough will also be a tremendous boost for our campaigns in Tottenham. My heartfelt thanks go to everyone who gave me their support.”

Lib Dem Council Group Leader Neil Williams adds:

“Wayne deserves hearty congratulations on his result. There has been a substantial leap forward for the Lib Dems in Tottenham in a very short period of time, and it shows that the Tories are a distant third everywhere in Haringey.We now have many new voters and lots of new helpers recruited in the area. I’m confident the result means we can elect our first Tottenham councillors at next year’s local elections.”

Lynne Featherstone and Haringey’s Liberal Democrats have been celebrating their extraordinary win in the general election on Thursday.However they did not have a complete break from campaigning, as Ms Featherstone’s campaign team got together to stuff over 1,000 invitations to a thank you party for all those who had helped throughout the campaign – and to work their way through the hundred of messages of congratulations pouring in.

Lynne Featherstone’s 15% swing was one of the big stories of election night – and was one of the largest swings to any candidate in the country.The area has not had a Liberal or Lib Dem MP since the early 20th century. The result confirms the Tories as ‘also-rans’ in the area with a sharp drop in the vote for their candidate.

Lynne Featherstone comments:

“I am still stunned by our success, and offer my heartfelt thanks to all the local people who have given us their support in this election. There is a great deal of work to do. I will be a hard-working MP in tune with the concerns of local people.”

Lib Dem Council Group Leader Neil Williams adds:

“This result is the culmination of ten years of hard work by Lynne and the local team. It is also very good news for the team on the Council. The results clearly show we are on course to gain seats in areas such as Wood Green at the next council elections, where there is a very real prospect of Labour losing control of the Haringey Council.”

Lynne Featherstone has said that important local issues will be her priority in the coming weeks, as she gets down to work as Hornsey and Wood Green’s new Member of Parliament.

Lynne is to attend her first meeting her 61 colleagues in the enlarged Lib Dem Parliamentary party at Westminster today. She has said that schools, mobile phone masts, the future of Hornsey Town Hall and the Red Gables centre are her immediate local concerns.

Lynne Featherstone comments:

“Although the phone has not stopped ringing and the result is still sinking in, there are important local issues that need immediate attention.

“I will be pressing for a retreat from Haringey Council over the controversial plans to close the Red Gables family health Centre in Crouch End.

“I will work to get the law changed so that residents get a proper say on mobile phone mast applications in future.

“I also want to bring all sides together over the future of Hornsey Town Hall, and will be pressing Haringey Council for a ten-year plan of action to properly address the school places problem, in the borough.”

Bookies have slashed odds on Lib Dem candidate Lynne Featherstone achieving an astonishing victory in the Hornsey and Wood Green constituency next Thursday.Bookmaker Ladbrokes opened betting on the hotly-contested seat early last week, offering of odds of 3-1 on Lib Dem candidate Lynne Featherstone to win.These odds have however been steadily dropping, with the Lib Dem challenger now priced at 6-4.

The bookies have also confirmed the Tory candidate as out of the race, offering very long odds of 33-1 against. The Lib Dems say it is another sign that they are in with a strong chance of victory, with a lacklustre campaign from Labour and a Tory candidate who has publicly admitted he has no chance of winning.

Lynne Featherstone comments:

“It’s certainly shaping up to be a very close finish between the Lib Dems and Labour here. People have been very positive about our campaign for fairer taxes and pensions, a better health service and more police on the streets. Iraq, and the local MPs backing for war, keeps coming up again and again.”

In their campaign for a direct bus service between Crouch End and Highgate, the Liberal Democrats have launched a text poll for local people to register their support or opposition to the idea. Mobile phone users can text LIBDEM BUS YES to the number 60300 if they support the bus route, or LIBDEM BUS NO if they do not.

Lib Dem GLA member and chair of the Greater London Authority’s Transport Committee Lynne Featherstone hopes the poll will put pressure on London Buses to look at providing a direct bus link as it reviews services. Ms Featherstone says that the lack of a direct bus link between the two centres is a constant issue in her mailbag, and would provide a vital missing link in local bus services.

Lynne Featherstone comments:

“I hope our text poll will help to keep the pressure up on London buses over the issue. Many people have already signed our written petition, and the text poll makes it even easier to respond. We need a better bus service between Crouch End and Highgate, as the existing routes simply don’t connect the two centres.”

Note: Texts to the poll cost 25p + your standard operator SMS costs

In a week in which Lynne Featherstone has made education a key theme of her campaign, the Lib Dem candidate and local councillor has uncovered an extraordinary blunder which has left residents in Muswell Hill missing out on vital additional school places in the area. St James’s Primary School in Muswell Hill has missed out on money needed for its expansion after Haringey Council appeared to submit figures to the Government showing there as a surplus of school places in the area.

In a letter to Ms Featherstone on the funding bid from Education Minister Stephen Twigg, he writes:

“The bid did not demonstrate the need for additional school places. In fact, the information presentedshowed there were surplus school places available. Officials subsequently contacted London Diocese to explain that the information submitted was incorrect.”

Ms Featherstone has described the revelation as “extraordinary”. Local parents and Lib Dem councillors have been warning for several years about the growing shortage of primary school places in the west of Haringey. Lib Dems say that Labour has done too little, too late to sort out the problem, and has had to resort to a panic expansion programme.

Cllr Featherstone comments:

“I find it extraordinary that we have a local school ready, willing and able to expand, and that this has been the result. Given that this was in the 2003/4 bidding round, these places could well have been available by now, and much heartache would have been avoided. Haringey must take responsibility, as the bid has been wrecked.I hope the school will be bidding again, and if elected I will be making support for it one of my top priorities.”

In the vital battle for the Hornsey and Wood Green constituency, Lib Dem candidate Lynne Featherstone enjoyed a barnstorming week as she was joined on the campaign trail by three of the party’s senior MPs.

Lib Dem President Simon Hughes, Local Government Spokesperson Ed Davey, and Parliamentary Party Chair Matthew Taylor, all visited Haringey last week and canvassed local voters with Lynne and her team.

Lib Dem party president Simon Hughes canvassed in Hornsey, before joining Lynne on a walkabout in Crouch End. Simon Hughes comments:

“I was hugely impressed by the positive feedback on the doorstep, and I predict this result is going to be one to watch on election night. At the moment, it is too close to call between Lynne and Labour, with the Tories nowhere.”

Lib Dem councillor Lynne Featherstone has condemned Haringey Council for another disgracefully bodged consultation – this time over the installation of a skateboarding facility in Priory Park (Muswell Hill ward). Local councillor Lynne Featherstone is furious that ward councillors were not even consulted about the big money scheme, which is against official guidelines, especially so for a scheme that may cost around 176,000.

Now, local residents are up in arms about the plans which involve concreting over part of the picturesque bowling green in the heart of the park. Lib Dems have long backed skateboarding facilities, but their efforts to help the Council come up with workable schemes have consistently been rebuffed. Another Lib Dem councillor David Winskill (Crouch End) offered to work jointly with the Council over the provision of much needed skateboarding facilities – but the Council refused to let him participate in their working group. Lib Dems say that the badly thought out scheme could have been avoided if there had been consultation with local residents.

Lib Dem councillor Lynne Featherstone comments:

“There has been no consultation with local people. We will also be asking Haringey Council why I and other local councillors were not consulted about this. Many local residents are amazed that there can be a plan to remove the bowling green without a proper consultation. We need skateboarding facilities, and we have offered to help – but the Labour Council has, as ever, gone about things in an underhand way – and this is the result. We now need a full and proper consultation.”