Lib Dem councillor Lynne Featherstone has welcomed news that Haringey Council andlocal traders in Avenue Mews, Muswell Hill, are cleaning up their act justweeks after she stirred Haringey Council into acting over the litter, fly-tippingand parking hotspot.

The Lib Dems have been contacting the Council about this area for manyyears, but it was only earlier this month that Haringey finally confirmedthat they were to take action to resolve problems over obstructive parking,fly-tipping and blocked drainage.

This week the Council reported to Cllr Featherstone that pallets that hadbeen dumped on the pavement had been removed but the general problem of bothAccord and privately owned wheeled bins causing an obstruction on thepavement appeared to have been resolved.

Cllr Featherstone is pleased with the report and other assurances over theprevious parking problems. However she says that there is still work to bedone to bring it up to an acceptable standard.

Cllr Featherstone (Muswell Hill) comments: “I am pleased that issues overwhich we have been pressing Haringey Council over many years are finally beingaddressed.

“This is a good start but we must remember that this road has been neglectedfor a long time and further effort needs to be made to ensure it is broughtup to an acceptable standard.”

Lib Dem councillor Lynne Featherstone has welcomed action by HaringeyCouncil to ensure that litter / fly-tipping blackspots around the OdeonCinema and Athenaeum Mews, Muswell Hill are resolved. She has been pressingthe Council for action for several months.

The two areas have received public criticism in recent weeks, and HaringeyCouncil had previously washed its hands of the responsibility, citing theOdeon cinema and Sainsbury’s supermarket as responsible for the cleansing ofthese areas.

However, Haringey Council has now sent a warning letter to Sainsbury’s,pointing out the requirement under the Duty of Care Environmental ProtectionAct 1990, section 47 to provide suitable receptacles for the storage ofwaste and (section 34) to deal with waste escape from receptacles.

In response, Sainsbury’s has given an undertaking to clear all the piled uprefuse from the area. All neighbouring businesses have received lettersadvising them of their responsibility with regard to waste disposal.

A new legal notice, called a ‘Cleansing Notice’, is now available to HaringeyCouncil to impose on the other blackspot, the Odeon car park. Lib Demcouncillors have pressed for years for the area to be regularly cleared offly-tipped rubbish and litter, but in the past have been stonewalled by theCouncil who have said that it was not public property and they werepowerless.

The new notice would require the cinema to sweep and cleanse the land once aweek if there is no improvement in the area’s cleanliness. However on aninspection earlier this week council officers reported significantimprovements with litter and fly-tipped rubbish cleared by cinema staffregularly.

Cllr Featherstone comments:

“I am pleased that finally action is being taken to resolve these twoblackspots. However I am concerned that it has taken so much pressure fromresidents, councillors and the press to get Haringey Council to take seriousaction.

“Haringey Council must get its priorities right and respond to issues raisedby Haringey residents and their representatives, and not wait for a few badheadlines.”

Lib Dem councillors in Highgate are calling for an investigation into thefate of a precious oak tree located in a building site in Highgate, whichparty leader Neil Williams says may have been severely damaged as a resultof works carried out on it last week.

The controversy arose last Saturday morning when workers turned up at TileKiln Lane N6 and carried out a severe pruning which council officers admithas been very badly done and was in violation of specific instructionsgranted that allowed for only the modest pruning of the tree.

Cllr Williamsis dismayed at the development on the narrow site adjacent to Archway, wherehe opposed the granting of planing permission for the building of new homesearlier in the year.

While the lower limbs of the tree have been left, the tree has beenconsiderably stripped away towards the crown. Cllr Williams wants a fullinvestigation into how and why the excess pruning took place, and haswelcomed the fact that Haringey Council has indicated that it will be pursuing anenforcement order over the matter.

However, he would like all buildingworks on the site to be stopped until these issues have been fully resolved.

Neil Williams comments:

“I will be asking the planning department how thissituation came about. We have already lost one beautiful oak tree this yearfrom this sensitive site due to disease, and damage to the other oak treewould be a real blow.My fears over how the green oasis of Tile Kile Lanemight be damaged by development are being realised, and urgent action needsto be taken to protect what is left.”

Haringey Council is to spend £30 million employing temporary staff over the nextfinancial year, according to official projections. The figure, revealed atyesterday’s meeting of the Borough’s scrutiny committee, prompted LiberalDemocrat councillors to call for an urgent inquiry into the Council’s use oftemporary staff and agency workers.

The watch-dog committee was examining spending proposals for the next threeyears as part of Haringey Council’s budget setting process. It was suggestedthat the cost of temporary workers had more than trebled from £8m in 2000 to£30m next year.

Lib Dem calls for urgent action were supported, and the committee will nowstart the process of taking a detailed look at the role of temps within theCouncil.

Commenting, Councillor Stephen Gilbert said:

“By any measure £30 million is a lot of money and we have to be clear that we are getting the best possiblevalue for local tax-payers. Temporary workers will have a role in anorganisation of Haringey’s size, but their services always come at a premiumwith agencies also taking a healthy commission.

“Permanent staff are more likely have a sense of identity and provideballast to an organisation and we must look closely at why we are so relianton temps. Is the recruitment process for permanent workers taking too longor are we failing to hold on to people when they have been recruited?”

A Lib Dem councillor has filed a petition at the European Parliamentobjecting to the archaic Royal Charter that prevents traders using AlexandraPalace farmers’ market on a Saturday.

Cllr Jonathan Bloch, who representsMuswell Hill, says he has gone to Europe due to the virtual impossibility ofhaving the legislation withdrawn or amended due to time constraints in theUK parliament.

The controversial Royal Charter, granted by James I in 1618, gave the rightfor local notables to hold a market for the poor every Saturday in Enfield.Lib Dems say that the clause that has created problems for local traders andhas remained in force for almost 400 years is the statement that no othermarket or sale may be held within a radius of 6.66 miles of the EnfieldMarket on a Saturday.

After an unsuccessful approach to the Government’s Cabinet Office earlier inthe year, and with no help from Haringey’s Labour-run Council to lobbyParliament, Cllr Bloch believes that European Parliament is the only optionavailable.

He, along with local traders, feels that the Royal Charter iscontrary to EU competition law and as a result is a barrier to theestablishment of small businesses in the borough.Cllr Bloch is calling onthe European Parliament to ask the British Government to draw up a list ofRoyal Charters that contain restrictive clauses, to determine whether theyserved any beneficial social purpose and to remove those that do not.

Cllr Jonathan Bloch comments: “Local traders and my Lib Dem colleagues havecontinued to press both Haringey Council and Government but to no avail. This isan important issue for local small businesses and Haringey’s economy.

“I hope that by taking this issue to the European Parliament we can securean end to this absurd piece of legislation.”

Commenting on Haringey Council’s one star rating by the Commission for SocialCare Inspection (CSCI, 18th November 2004), Haringey’s opposition Lib Demshave expressed concern that the CSCI views the Labour-run Council’s capacityto improve children’s services as ‘uncertain’, despite very high levels ofover-spending on its children’s services budget this year.

The one-star rating puts the London Borough of Haringey above only the eight boroughs in thecountry that remain on zero stars. However, with the national statisticsshowing more boroughs than ever having been awarded two or three stars,including neighbouring Lib Dem-run Islington, Haringey Lib Dem leader CllrWilliams says there is plenty of room for improvement. Despite theconsiderable overspend over the last couple of years to pull up children’sservices, Haringey Council still appears to be failing to meet expectations.

Cllr Williams comments:

“Council staff in social services should be commended for their hard work insecuring an improved rating. However it is still worrying that the Councilhas failed to significantly improve children’s services, despite such heavyinvestment in the last couple of years.

“And while Labour politicians in the borough are seeking credit for theseimprovements, not one of them feels they can be held responsible for theterrible and tragic mistakes of earlier years. It’s a point that will not belost on local residents.”

Liberal Democrat leader councillor Neil Williams has poured scorn on claimsby Labour that councillors were consulted properly over the controversialpayment of one million pounds to fund consultancy fees in a flawed bid toturn the Alexandra Palace into a casino.

Cllr Williams was reacting toclaims by Labour councillor Andy Krokou, who in response to a question atlast night’s Full Council meeting, said that the matter had come to Haringey Council and had been “approved unanimously”.

Cllr Williams says that claims that councillors were adequately consultedare a far cry from reality.In truth, councillors were presented with alarge pile of paper as they arrived at the last council meeting on 4thOctober, which included as a “late item” the report of the last meeting ofLabour’s Alexandra Palace Board (in fact, held thirteen days previously,giving plenty of time to have circulated the single sheet report).

This bundle included the statement that the Board would be requestingfunding for the appointment of advisors, although the massive amountrequired was not specified.

Far from “unanimous agreement”, there was novote because the reports of the Alexandra Palace Board do not need to beapproved. The astonishing request for one million pounds was only revealedthe following day, when it was presented, yet again as an urgent item, atthe meeting of Labour’s ruling executive.

Liberal Democrat councillors immediately tried to bring the matter beforethe Council’s scrutiny committee (a process that can be completed within amatter of days) but they were told by the Council’s legal services thatsince it had been presented as an urgent item, the Labour Council’sconstitution did not permit any challenge. Even more worryingly, it turnedout that the contract would be awarded without any need for a tenderprocess, and would include further contracts also to be awarded withouttender.

Councillor Neil Williams comments:

“Labour’s claims that councillors had a say over this massive andunacceptable bill are a fantasy.They know perfectly well that councillorshad neither the details of these payments, nor any notice of them to allowthem to be questioned in a full and proper manner.

“When such large sums of Council taxpayers money are involved, this wholeprocess is completely unacceptable. Labour have chosen to present these sumsfor approval by their Executive in a way which almost completely avoids anytransparent and democratic examination by the opposition or the public.

“With Labour’s absurd plans for super-casinos coming off the rails bothlocally and nationally, this is looking more and more like an enormous wasteof money.”

Lib Dem Parliamentary spokesperson, Cllr Lynne Featherstone, adds:

“Labour have wasted many millions at the Alexandra Palace over the years,and it looks as if they haven’t learnt a single lesson.It is even moreworrying that there is absolutely no accountability in Haringey overproposals to spend such large and unplanned sums of public money.”

Local Lib Dem councillor and GLA member Lynne Featherstone has welcomed newsfrom TfL that they have revised the weekend timings for the traffic lightson Colney Hatch Lane, N10.

The revision of the lights at the Pages Lane/Alexandra Park Road and ColneyHatch Lane intersection comes as part of a TfL review following persistentpressure over the past couple of years from Cllr Featherstone. In that timeshe has been approached by local residents and motorists, unhappy with thequeues generated by traffic light sequencing.

While motorists complain of being stuck in long queues regularly at thelights, residents living on the lane and in the surrounding roads complainof being boxed in by stationary traffic. It is hoped that the work, that wasdue to be carried out by TfL last weekend (13th/ 14th November), willalleviate the traffic build-up at weekends.

Cllr Featherstone has welcomed the news but is keen for TfL to continue tolook at ways of reducing tailbacks during the week, particularly at peaktimes of the day.

Cllr Featherstone comments:

“I am pleased that residents and road users will see improvements to thetraffic chaos at the weekend. However I am still concerned about the weekdaysituation and will continue to press TfL to find a solution.”

At yesterday’s full meeting of Haringey Council, Lib Dem councillors Lynne Featherstoneand David Winskill pressed a representative from London’s Olympic bid’s teamto ensure that Haringey benefited from better facilities should Londonsucceed in securing the 2012 Olympic games.

Councillor Featherstone, linking the issue to Lib Dem support for betterskateboarding facilities in the borough also debated at last night council,asked what mechanisms would be put in place to ensure that the Olympic bidresulted in funding for local schemes that would provide better facilitiesfor youngsters in Haringey.

Councillor David Winskill expressed concerns that the bulk of the benefitsof the Olympics would go to the lower Lee Valley and action needed to betaken to ensure that Haringey did not lose out if regeneration funding wasconcentrated in just this area.

Lynne Featherstone comments:

“While it’s great that London is bidding forthe Olympics, as much as possible must be done to ensure that Haringey getas many of the spin-off benefits as possible.At the moment, this does notseem to be happening.”

Councillor David Winskill adds:

“The borough desperately needs bettersporting facilities for young people, and I fear an opportunity may bemissed for Haringey unless the council’s regeneration team carefullyanalyses the downside to the Olympic bid and the robustly fights Haringey’scorner.”

Following the publication of Haringey Council’s recommendations for a controlledparking zone (CPZ) around Highgate Tube station, the area’s Liberal Democratcouncillors are seeking assurances that Haringey Council will consult fully atthe second, statutory stage of the consultation process to ensure that theviews of local residents are fully heard.

The result of the first stage of the consultation has indicated strongsupport for controls in Priory Gardens, but that residents in Shepherd’sHill and Shepherd’s Close did not wish to be included in a CPZ.

In addition, a smaller majority of residents were in favour of parking controls in anumber of streets on the other side of the Archway Road. The Council hasalso received a number of representations from adjacent streets, expressingconcerns that they should be included in the zone, should it get thego-ahead.

Liberal Democrat leader and Highgate councillor Neil Williams,says that these streets must be the subject of a full consultation beforeany decision to include them within the zone takes place.

Cllr Neil Williams comments:

“I recognise that the Council has had enough support to proceed to thesecond stage of consultation, and I welcome the fact that they have beenwilling to exclude two roads that clearly said ‘no’ to the proposals.

“I also recognise that many residents just outside the initial consultationarea have said they want their views to be heard.If they are to beincluded in any zone, they should also be the subject of a fullconsultation, and we will be pressing Haringey Council to ensure this is done ina thorough way.”