Haringey Lib Dems have welcomed news from Haringey Council that they will be extending the range of items that will be collected under the door-to-door recycling scheme. Residents in the area covered by the expanded scheme will soon be able to put cardboard and plastic in their green boxes for collection.

The announcement follows three years of persistent pressure from the Lib Dems for recycling improvements. The party pledged in their 2002 local election manifesto to press for an extensive door-to-door recycling service in the borough.

The extension to the current door-to-door green box scheme will include, in addition to the cardboard and plastic, mixed paper and green garden waste and comes two years after Haringey Council bowed to pressure from the Lib Dems and extended door-to-door recycling. However, since that success the council’s official opposition has continued to lobby the Council to provide the recycling services that the residents have asked for.

In the last two years Lib Dem successes have included securing a review of recycling and waste minimisation in the borough by the Council’s scrutiny committee and launching a Lib Dem recycling factsheet with all the contact details and information on the subject that the Council has failed to provide. Additionally, individual councillors have worked hard to secure more recycling facilities where local residents want them.

Lib Dem environment spokesperson, Cllr Bob Hare and Muswell Hill councillor Lynne Featherstone are pleased with the Council’s long overdue decision to extend the scheme to include plastic and cardboard.

Cllr Bob Hare (Highgate) comments:

“I am pleased that the Council has woken up to its responsibility and persistent Lib Dem pressure. I hope that they have learned from the debacle of the green box roll out two years ago and residents will be properly informed of changes to the service.”

Cllr Featherstone (Muswell Hill) adds:

“I have received many letters complaining about the Council’s poor recycling services in recent years, and I am pleased that the Council is finally listening to these complaints and starting to take action.

“There is still much that the Council needs to do to reverse years of neglect on this issue, but it is a step in the right direction and we will continue to press for the comprehensive service that we have been lobbying for.”

Commenting on last week’s local government financial settlement, Lib Dem Leader Cllr Neil Williams (Highgate) says:

“I am pleased that the Government has effectively told councils like Haringey that they can longer have the sort of massive tax increases they have pushed through in recent years.

“However, any extra money is really a ‘sticking plaster’ to get Labour through the general election campaign.Even so, local residents are still very likely to face Council Tax bills at least 30% higher than at the last local elections.”

Lib Dem Finance spokesperson, Cllr Stephen Gilbert (Fortis Green), comments:

“Behind, the scenes, the Government is pressing ahead with a revaluation of Council Tax bands. Because of huge house price increases in recent years, we are very likely to see almost all Haringey properties rise massively up the grading scale.

“The whole system is a shambles, and only a complete rethink, with a local income tax, would give local residents an equitable and stable system with manageable levels of local taxation.”

Note:For more about the Lib Dem alternative to Council Tax – a local income tax – see www.axethetax.org.uk

Liberal Democrat councillors have expressed concern after figures were disclosed that 23 council staff had been dismissed on disciplinary grounds in the last 6 months. The figures are from an analysis of official council information carried out by the Liberal Democrats.

The Liberal Democrats analysed the in-house audit figures presented to Haringey Council’s Audit and Finance Scrutiny Panel in October.The analysis shows that between 1st April and 30th September, 23 members of staff were sacked, with 42 more receiving warnings, eight of which were final written ones.

According to Lib Dem finance spokesperson, Cllr Stephen Gilbert the amount of dismissals and warnings shows the continuing severe problems with many parts of Haringey Council.

Cllr Gilbert comments:

“Despite paying such high Council Tax, residents in Haringey are continuing to receive poor services. The fact that the council has had to sack so many staff on disciplinary grounds just shows how much work there is still to do to get the council into shape.”

Liberal Democrats in Haringey have chosen local councillor and Deputy Leader Wayne Hoban as their Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for the Tottenham constituency.The choice of a successful local campaigner is a boost for the party with a General Election expected next year.

Wayne Hoban stood in the Enfield & Haringey GLA constituency in June of this year – and topped the poll in the Hornsey and Wood Green area. He stood at the last general election in neighbouring Southgate, and overturned a previously safe Labour ward when elected to Haringey Council in 2002.

Mr Hoban is a superintendent radiographer working in the National Health Service. In recent years, he has also been a co-ordinator of the radiography service to the United Nations mortuary in Bosnia, Croatiaand Kosovo established by the UN International Crime Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

Wayne Hoban comments:

“With Lynne Featherstone in Hornsey and Wood Green, and myself in Tottenham, we now have a complete Parliamentary team for the borough. I am very much looking forward to campaign in Tottenham in the coming months. Labour, both nationally and locally, has promised much for the area, but has never delivered.”

Lynne Featherstone adds:

“Congratulations to Wayne on his selection. I have worked with Wayne for ten years now in Haringey, and he has always played a vital role in our success. We are looking forward to the challenge of repeating our success in the west of the borough in Tottenham, which has been just as badly let down by Labour.”

Notes:

Wayne Hoban is the deputy leader of the 16-strong Liberal Democrat group on Haringey Council

In May 2002 he was elected to Haringey Council, winning a previously safe Labour seat in Alexandra ward. He served as Lib Dem health spokesman before becoming deputy leader in November 2002.

He has helped to establish two local residents’ associations, the Friends of Palace Gates Triangle and the Friends of Albert Road Recreation Ground, and sits on their committees.

Wayne works at the Royal Free Hospital as a Superintendent Radiographer. He has developed considerable expertise in industrial relations, employment law and NHS reorganisation through his continuing involvement with public service bodies and organisations. He is a member of the Board of Governors of the Homerton NHS Trust.

He is a founder member of the Trauma Imaging Group and also the recently launched Association of Forensic Radiographers. He has been appointed honorary lecturer to several UK universities.

Wayne has helped with the work to bring war criminals to justice with his role co-ordinating the radiography service to the United Nations mortuary in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo.

Wayne has enjoyed a long association with The London Sailing Project, a charity which takes disabled people sailing around the south coast.He has sailed with the project almost every year since 1991.

Wayne was born in Edinburgh in 1952. Educated at Drumlanrig Primary School and Hawick High School, he studied at Ipswich Civic College in 1970-3. He then took a Diagnostic Radiography Diploma at the Ipswich School of Radiography.

He has been a police lay visitor and is a school governor (Bounds Green Infants). He is a long standing member of Friends of the Earth and in the 2001 general election he stood for the Lib Dems in Enfield Southgate.

Lib Dem councillor Laura Edge has welcomed news that Haringey Council have been looking into a solution to the current rent crisis playgroups are facing following the announcement of plans to increase rent by 300% to bring community group charges in line with commercial ones earlier this month.

However she says that the Labour-run council’s plan of offering means-tested grants to plug the gap created by the rent increase is insufficient.

The proposal outlined in an email yesterday states that the Council’s Early Years Department will be able to increase grant support to groups through the voluntary grant that is currently available. It goes on to say that it will “be able to increase grant up to the same level as the rent increase if it is felt appropriate.” The mechanism is yet to be worked out.

Cllr Edge and her colleague Cllr Lynne Featherstone, who have been lobbying Haringey Council to rethink its controversial rent increases, believe that the latest proposals do not go far enough to safeguard the future of playgroups in the borough.

The concern is that there is no explanation of on what basis funding will be deemed “appropriate”. There is also a fear that while in the past playgroups could plan their costs such as rent in advance, a means-tested grant could mean that playgroups will have to work on a year-to-year basis, unsure of what grant assistance they will receive for that year.

Lib Dems say there is also no explanation as to whether this grant is permanent or whether it is a political tool that is being used to soften the impact of a highly controversial rate increase and will be phased out over time.

Cllr Edge (Stroud Green) comments:

“Although the Council has been investigating possible solutions to this serious issue, the proposals, even at this early stage, seem unacceptable.”

Cllr Featherstone (Muswell Hill) adds:

“Playgroups and other essential community groups want assurances that they will not suffer as a result of these outrageous increases. Haringey Council has yet to convince them or me of this. We will continue to press until Haringey finds a solution that satisfies those groups affected.”

Lib Dem Councillor for Stroud Green Laura Edge has secured a verbal assurance from the Haringey Council that playgroups will not face a 300% increase in their rates in the next financial year as originally proposed. The news comes just two weeks after Lib Dems vowed to fight Haringey Council’s policy change, which would see playgroups and other community associations charged market rates for leasing council property.

In a question made at the Council’s watchdog Overview and Scrutiny meeting on Monday (22nd November), Cllr Edge asked the Council’s lead member for finance to reassure the committee that the Council would safeguard the future of the 101 playgroup, which had been facing closure.

In response Cllr Milner said that they were looking to “smooth the position” and that it “would not be the case” that playgroups such as 101 would face the kind of increases they are currently facing.

Cllr Edge has welcomed the assurance that a solution will be announced within the next 2-3 weeks. However she says that until a satisfactory outcome is achieved she will continue to fight to safeguard the future of vital community services like the 101 playgroup.

Cllr Laura Edge comments: “I am pleased that it appears we have convinced the Council that charging playgroups market rates is a bad idea. Playgroups such as 101 provide a vital service to the community and should be not face such extortionate rate increases. I hope that Council’s solution reflects this feeling.”

Lib Dem councillor for Muswell Hill Lynne Featherstone has secured assurances from Haringey Council that they will seek funding for a vehicle-activated speeding sign along busy Muswell Hill Road, N10.

The news comes after persistent pressure from Cllr Featherstone over the last year. She has been contacted by local residents concerned at speeding vehicles, particularly those with wide wheel bases that can avoid the existing speed humps.

Cllr Featherstone had originally pressed the London Borough of Haringey to secure funding for a speed camera, but was told that the London Safety Camera Partnership (LSCP), who fund the installation of speed cameras, had said that the area did not meet the criteria of four speed-related accidents during the previous three years. However the Council this week confirmed that they would be seeking funding from the LSCP for a vehicle-activated sign along the road that would remind speeding motorists of the speed limit.

Cllr Featherstone, although disappointed that a speed camera will not be installed, is pleased that other measures are being looked at to address speeding in the road.

Cllr Lynne Featherstone (Muswell Hill) comments:

“I am pleased the Council has taken the speeding problem seriously and is trying to find ways to improve the situation. I have received many complaints from residents and I will continue to press for action until we see a marked reduction in speeding.”

Stroud Green Liberal Democrat Councillor Laura Edge has again called onHaringey Council to urgently introduce preventative road safety measures inDenton Road (N8) following yet another incident involving a car speeding downthe road and smashing into parked cars and front gardens in Weston Park.

Cllr Edge says that the incident, which took place at 9.50pm on Friday 19November, is yet another in a succession of accidents at this now notoriousblackspot.

The chain of events exactly mirrored two accidents whichhappened within three weeks of each other in January of this year.

Following those incidents, Haringey Council agreed to paint “slow down” signs onthe carriageway in Denton Road but residents and Lib Dem Councillors warnedat the time that these measures were not sufficient.

In response to the latest incident, Haringey Council has pointed out that it hasput in a bid to Transport for London for funding to introduce a 20-mph zonein Denton Road and surrounding roads. However, it is by no means assuredthat the bid will be successful, and even if it is, “investigations” willnot commence until the 2005-6 financial year.

Commenting on the latest incident and the Council’s response, Cllr LauraEdge said:

“Local residents were not satisfied with the measures taken by the Councilin January and this latest incident proves beyond a shadow of a doubt thatthese were wholly insufficient. This is a genuine accident blackspot andHaringey Council’s response is entirely inadequate.

“Urgent preventative measures are needed now, not in 2006 and subject to TfLapproval. Otherwise it is only a matter of time before someone is injured orkilled.”

Liberal Democrats in Haringey have demanded action to tackle widespreadprejudice against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered residents andcouncil staff. They are seeking implementation of all the recommendationsmade in an independent review of Haringey Council’s policies and practicestowards sexual minorities.

Liberal Democrat Spokesperson on LGBT issues, Councillor Ron Aitken,expressed concern at the full findings of a consultant’s report received inAugust, which he says has not been circulated widely enough to councillorsand staff.

The report was delivered to members of the Sexual EqualitiesReview body, on which Cllr Aitken sat and chaired several of the meetings,together with LGBT voluntary organisations in Haringey. Among the manyworrying findings in the report, Haringey staff expressed the view that theyhad no confidence in either reporting complaints of homophobic incidents orin how those complaints would be dealt with.

Cllr Ron Aitken comments:

“I was shocked at the high levels of homophobia found by the consultants intheir survey and the interviews they undertook with Haringey staff andresidents.

“The Council suffers from widespread and entrenched institutional homophobiaand this must be tackled as a top priority through a third party reportingscheme, such as that pioneered by the Metropolitan Police. We also needmeasures to root out bullying by homophobic managers and staff.”

Note:

Among the key findings of the consultant’s report were:

“The Council’s responses in practice, to identifying and meetings the needsof the LGBT might best be described as indifferent or ambivalent andreluctant”. (p8)

“Half of staff respondents had experienced some form of harassment withinthe workplace and where the harassment was directly related to theindividuals known or perceived sexual orientation”. (p7)

An attempt to interview all Lead Cabinet Members about LGBT issues had to beabandoned due to lack of response. (p19)

Residents expressed concerns that their confidentiality regarding sexualitymight be breached. (p35)

Residents expressed the view that the Council was not genuinely committed tosexual equality. (p34)

Lib Dem councillors have welcomed the news that after initial teethingtroubles, Muswell Hill Broadway now has comprehensive and fully functioningCCTV coverage, despite being three years overdue.

Cameras were installed last year, but suffered a number of technicalproblems. Following tests and a repositioning of two that were poorly sitedcameras Haringey Council now says that the Broadway is ‘live’.

Cllr Lynne Featherstone, who along with local residents successfully securedthe re-opening of Muswell Hill police station front desk earlier this year,is pleased that cameras are finally up and running. However she said moreneeds to be done to improve safety in the borough.

Cllr Featherstone comments:

“I am delighted that CCTV is nowfully operational in Muswell Hill. It is long overdue but better late thannever.

“It is also important that we have more uniformed presence and the Lib Demswill continue to push for that at both local and national level.”