Lib Dem Leader Neil Williams has expressed his dismay over the use of emergency powers by Haringey’s Labour-run council. Cllr Williams fears that the rules are being exploited to avoid proper scrutiny of important council decisions, including those over Hornsey Town Hall.

The move follows the publication of papers for the Labour Executive meeting on 21 December, in which no less than seven times, including the proposals for Hornsey Town Hall, are being pushed through as ‘urgent business’. The move follows concerns raised in October, when a one million pounds payment to the Alexandra Palace for the hiring of consultants was also put through by Labour under urgency procedures.

Lib Dem Leader Neil Williams comments:

“I will be asking for a full review of the use of the urgency rules by Haringey. Some of the reasons given are questionable at best. Most importantly, this denies councillors and residents the chance to properly scrutinise all of these decisions – papers are received late, and decisions can’t then be brought to the Council’s Scrutiny Committee. It is not acceptable.”

Lib Dem councillors have welcomed the news that Haringey Council has improved its annually assessed Corporate Performance Assessment Rating from “weak” to “fair”. But the Council’s official opposition say that much more work needs to be done in order to provide a service that is anywhere near the level that residents deserve.

The results, published by the Audit Commission, follow an inspection earlier this year. Although there are some improvements to services, Lib Dems say that when compared with a council like neighbouring Lib-Dem run Islington the rate of improvement is poor.

Lib Dem-run Islington has seen its CPA rating leap from “poor” (one star) in 2002 to “good” (four star) in 2004, while Labour-run Haringey has only moved from “weak” to “fair” in the same period of time. Haringey Lib Dems think that it is not through lack of effort of council staff but through poor and complacent leadership by the weak and divided Labour Executive.

Of great concern is the position of Social Services. Despite huge overspends, the results show no overall improvements, with the service remaining on one star. Equally, while the council’s £5 million PR campaign on its environment services has made little impact on the CPA with the Council scoring ‘weak’ (two star) on this service.

Lib Dem leader Cllr Neil Williams says that Haringey’s score merely confirm the concerns of Lib Dems and residents alike.

Cllr Neil Williams comments:

“Haringey Council staff deserve thanks for any improvements they have delivered. However, the rate of improvement compared to a similar borough such as Lib Dem Islington make sit clear that Haringey is still under-performing, and could clearly learn a thing or two from the Lib Dem council next door.”

Lib Dem councillors in Haringey have welcomed progress being made on traffic calming in the Alexandra area. The comments come following a meeting with council officers and the Council’s Executive member for environment, attended by Councillors Lynne Featherstone (Muswell Hill) and Susan Oatway (Alexandra).

The meeting was to discuss the implementation of the road calming measures to Dukes Avenue and the surrounding area, which were backed by residents following two years of consultation. However, Council officers have been presented with a petition from residents of Rosebery Road objecting to ‘pinch points’ on the road of grounds of loss of parking. Similar concerns have been expressed by residents in Muswell Avenue.The Lib Dems says the challenge now is to match residents’ clear preference for traffic calming following the completion of the consultation process in July, with specific and sensible proposals.

Cllr Lynne Featherstone comments: “The working group of local residents associations has worked closely with local people, residents’ associations and Haringey Council over the past two years to ensure the best way of calming traffic in the area. However many residents are still dissatisfied with the details. We will continue to work with them to try to find a solution. If we fail to do so, I fear the money earmarked for this project may eventually be lost to other areas.”

Labour councillors have not been telling the truth over controversial £1million payments being made to help sell off Alexandra Palace, say Lib Demcouncillors. The payments are for consultants to help turn the Palaceinto a super-casino – plans which now look doomed to failure after theGovernment was forced to slash the number of super-casinos it willapprove.

The payments were rushed through by Labour’s ruling Executive under”urgency” procedures in October, ensuring that they did not receive properand full public scrutiny.

The Liberal Democrats have pointed out thatthere was nothing new in Labour’s sell-off plans which required the use ofurgency powers, and that with proper planning the payments could have beenconsidered by all councillors. Labour used the excuse of ‘urgency’ toblock Lib Dem attempts to ‘call in’ the decision to have it reviewed bythe Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Labour had claimed that the payments were in fact voted through at theOctober Full Council meeting, saying in a recent statement that: “Therequest for funding was agreed unanimously at the last Full Councilmeeting on the 4th October.” [Labour party press release]

However, the Council did not vote the money through. Members at the Full Councilmeeting could not have agreed to any request for funding as the paperworkwas only tabled ‘for information’ rather than for any decision.

Furthermore, the paperwork tabled at the meeting did not specify the£1m which has since been agreed by Labour. If it had, Lib Dems say thatdue to their conflict of interest, Labour councillors who sit on the PallyBoard should not have voted anyway. If a substantive decision on Palaceand Park arose at Full Council, then councillors would have to be advisedthat they would have to consider whether they were acting in their”trustee” or “local authority” role.

Lib Dem Leader Neil Williams comments:

“Labour’s claims about the procedures surrounding the one million poundsprocured for their super-casino plan are entirely false. The facts arethat one million pounds of extra money, without a tendering process, hassimply been signed off by Labour Executive members without givingcouncillors the opportunity to debate on the funding. This is entirelywrong, and the Chairman of the Ally Pally Board in particular, has shown adisturbing lack of understanding of the position.”

Lib Dem Ally Pally Spokesperson Cllr Bob Hare, adds:

“The end result of this sorry state of affairs is that one million poundscould well be wasted. While all this was being rushed through, theGovernment’s controversial plans for super casinos have come spectacularlyoff the rails. The only winners will be consultants, who will be laughingall the way to the bank.”

Lib Dem councillor Lynne Featherstone has welcomed news that Haringey Councilhas responded swiftly to her call for repairs to the uneven paving onBrownlow Road, adjacent to Bounds Green station.

The work currently in progress is the relaying of sections of pavingbetween the station and Maidstone Road. A further order has been made forthe relaying of two metres of kerbs plus some slabs at the Maidstone Roadjunction. The work follows complaints made by Cllr Featherstone on behalfof local residents who were concerned at the deterioration of thepavements and the hazard that this was causing.

Cllr Featherstone has welcomed the news but says that further pavement androad repairs need to be investigated and repaired and she will continue topress for this.

Lynne Featherstone comments:

“I am pleased that this much needed work isunderway so that the pavements will be brought up to an acceptablestandard.However, the Council should not let paving get into this statebefore repairs are carried out.”

Liberal Democrat councillors in Crouch End have unanimously condemned aproposal by Haringey Labour-run Council to close Red Gables Family Centre,which is located in Crouch Hill N8 and provides vital health andwell-being facilities for children and families. The closure would enablethe Council to cut £260, 000 from its budget.

The announcement made at the Social Services and Health Scrutiny Panelcomes just months after the Council announced the closure oftwo day hospitals for people with mental health problems in the area.

Despite Lib Dem Health Spokesperson Cllr Aitken and Crouch End colleagueCllr Peter Floyd voting against the closure on grounds that new children’scentres promised will not be up and running for at least two years, theLabour members forced it through.

There is also fear that the centre, located on a prime site in Crouch Endcould be sold off to a developer for a large capital sum, depriving thewest of Haringey with a much needed facility and leading to yet anotherhigh density housing project in Crouch End. Fellow Crouch End and Lib Demcouncillor Dave Winskill backed the opposition to the closure of RedGables.

Cllr Winskill (Crouch End) comments:

“This is an appalling decision whichis badly managed and has the strong smell of political neglect in thewest. This side of the borough has been crying out for years for decenteducational provision: to create another massive hole for two years in thealready depleted provision is beyond belief.

Cllr Aitken (Crouch End) adds:

“It is yet another closure of vital serviceby Labour. It has been a miserable and uncertain year for vulnerablegroups in Haringey who looked to New Labour to protect them, instead jobsand facilities are to be cut and dedicated staff and carers faceuncertainty. We will continue to fight these closures.”

Lib Dem councillors in Highgate and Crouch End are backing compromiseplans from local residents over tough new parking controls proposed byHaringey Council. The Council is presently consulting on plans which wouldpaint double yellow lines down much of Hornsey Lane, which has concernedresidents living on a road which already has a shortage of parking.

Lib Dem Leader Neil Williams, who represents Highgate ward, has beenworking with the local residents’ association, the Hornsey LaneAssociation, and local campaigner Ralph Crisp, to see if a sensiblecompromise can be agreed.

The Council had agreed to a request from CllrWilliams to put on hold the implementation of the scheme until alternativeplans could be worked out. Hornsey Lane’s six Lib Dem councillors are nowbacking the alternative plans, which would allow parking to continue onparts of the Lane, but also create new breaks which would allow for thebuild up of traffic bottlenecks to be addressed.

Lib Dem Leader and Highgate councillor Neil Williams comments:

“I hope theCouncil will listen to the views of the residents, who have come up with aworkable plan that will improve traffic flow without unnecessarily takingaway parking places. The road is a bus route and a main road connectingHighgate and Crouch End, so we must ensure traffic can flow -but I thinka balance can be struck.”

Lib Dem Parliamentary Spokesperson Cllr Lynne Featherstone adds:

“John Gordon, Ralph Crisp and the Hornsey Lane Associate deserve much credit forthe hard work they have put in to developing their alternative proposals,and I hope the council will adopt them.”

Liberal Democrat councillors in Alexandra ward have welcomed the agreement by the Haringey Council to include the hazardous junction at Winton Avenue and Bidwell Gardens, N22 in its review of traffic calming measures in the area. The agreement was confirmed by the Council in response to a letter from Cllr Wayne Hoban asking for urgent action to be taken.

The news comes following months of pressure from Cllr Wayne Hoban who regularly receives complaints from parents who say that they and their children have to run the gauntlet against ‘rat-run’ traffic to enter and exit Albert Road recreation ground and playground.

The London Borough of Haringey and Transport for London will be undertaking a review of the area to identify where traffic calming measures will need to be implemented in conjunction with plans to widen the A406 road.

Cllr Hoban welcomed the news but cautioned that much was still to be done before any improvements would be agreed.

Cllr Wayne Hoban comments:

“I am pleased that the Council have taken this opportunity to investigate a dangerous junction that is used by many children on their way to school and the recreation ground.

“It is a first step, and we will continue to lobby the Council and TfL until safety improvements are made to this junction.”

Lib Dem Muswell Hill councillor Jonathan Bloch has expressed deep concernat the investment policies of Haringey Council’s pension fund. Hiscomments come after it came to light that Haringey Council has beeninvesting in American oil giant Unocal which continues to work with theBurmese Government.

The military-run Government of Myanmar (formerly Burma) has an appallinghuman rights record with many international organisations calling forsanctions to be brought against the south-east Asian country.

Cllr Bloch says that he will be seeking urgent clarification from theCouncil over their investment policy and pressing for a review of it ifthe response is unsatisfactory.

Cllr Jonathan Bloch comments:

“It concerns me greatly that those investing on behalf of the Council haveinvested in a company working so closely with a Government that has such aterrible human rights record. It is essential that the Council’s stance onethical investment is clarified. I will be seeking this and acting uponthe response.”

Fortis Green Lib Dem councillor Steve Gilbert has expressed his opposition to a controversial planning application to build a huge new building off Creighton Avenue at the site formerly known as Strathlene House.

Haringey Council has received an application to build a 96-room care home on the site, formerly part of Fortismere School, and Lib Dems have expressed astonishment that the applicants appear to want to build on the ‘Metropolitan Open Land’ a the rear of the site.

Lib Dem Parliamentary Spokesperson Cllr Lynne Featherstone and Lib Dem Leader Cllr Neil Williams visited the site with local residents this week, not only to see for themselves the extent of the plans, but also to look at the appalling devastation to trees carried out in recent weeks. Both councillors are pursuing this issue with Haringey Council.

The party has however welcomed strong indications form the council’s planning department that the plans will not get the go-ahead – but has pledged to watch the developments closely and ensure that these responsible for the devastation to mature trees on the site are held to account for their actions.

Cllr Stephen Gilbert (Fortis Green) comments:

“This is a highly sensitive site, and it is extraordinary that any developer should think they might be granted planning permission to build on Metropolitan Open Land. The footprint and height of the new building would be far, far too large, and I will be working to ensure that it does not get the go-ahead.”

Cllr Lynne Featherstone (Muswell Hill) adds:

“I went to see the site myself yesterday, and was appalled at the devastation to trees, with many mature specimens apparently butchered. We will be asking the Council for an investigation and will be pressing for prosecutions if any of the works were carried out illegally.”