Stroud Green Lib Dem Cllr Laura Edge has expressed renewed concern overplans to build a concrete factory in Cranford Way, N8 following a visit to asimilar plant in Wembley.

Last Saturday, Cllr Edge accompanied members ofthe Planning Applications Sub-Committee and a representative of Green N8,the community group established to oppose the plans, on a tour of a concretebatching plant in Wembley run by the N8 applicant, London Concrete.

Following the visit, Cllr Edge expressed concern about the size of theproposed plant in Cranford Way stating:

“Seeing a “real life” plant helped put the Cranford Way proposals inperspective. I was taken aback by the sheer size of the proposed plant,which will stand 17 metres at its highest point. Our site is also onslightly raised land, and would tower above the existing warehouse buildingson the industrial estate.

“The applicants have argued that these buildings will provide protection forUplands Road residents from the noise and visual impacts of the plant butthis clearly won’t be the case. That is not even to mention the impact onChettle Court, which looks straight down onto the proposed site.”

Cllr Edge is urging the Planning Applications Sub-Committee to make afurther visit to Cranford Way to talk to local residents about the impact ofthe proposed development. She is particularly concerned that councillorsshould be made fully aware of the traffic impacts of the proposed scheme:

“Under the current proposals we would see an additional 56 lorry movements aday, including three to four cement tankers, which are essentially the samesize as petrol tankers. Each one of these lorries will be forced to take aleft turn onto Tottenham Lane owing to the one-way system and from thereeither continue down Tottenham Lane or turn sharp right into Church Lane.

“Whilst I fully support moving freight from road to rail, the question is’at what price?’ I do not believe that these narrow, predominantlyresidential streets, which are used daily by children attending the manylocal schools and youth facilities, should be forced to bear the brunt ofthe drive to remove freight from the wider London road network. There mustbe more suitable sites where railheads are situated closer to the main roadnetwork.

“The impact of increased lorry movements is of particular concern in thelight of the admission obtained by Lib Dem Crouch End Cllr Dave Winskillfrom the Director of London Concrete, Derek Casey, at the Development Forumin September. He admitted that the plant would have the capacity to servetwice the number of lorries proposed in the current application.”

Cllrs Edge and Winskill have therefore welcomed a commitment received fromHaringey Council that the Transportation Team looking into the transportimplications of the proposals will take this point into consideration.

Liberal Democrats in Highgate have secured action from Haringey Council toimprove the state of faded zebra crossings in the area.

Liberal Democratssay that, at present, the crossings are not fully visible to passingmotorists and are danger to pedestrians. They are located at the junctionsof Highgate High Street / Southwood Lane / Hampstead Lane and on the High Streetnear Townsend Yard.

Following concerns raised by GLA member Lynne Featherstone, a highwaysinspector has visited the locations in Highgate and as a result, Haringey Councilhas instructed its contractor to repaint the zebra crossings and give waylines in the area.

Lynne Featherstone comments:

“I am relieved that the Council is now taking action to improve the safetyof these crossings. They must now make sure that their refurbishment iscarried out as quickly as possible as their dilapidated state was a hazardto anyone in Highgate trying to cross the road.”

Haringey’s Lib Dem leader Neil Williams and Parliamentary spokesperson Lynne Featherstone are today submitting a petition to Haringey Council over controversial attempts by developers to erect large buildings on a site in the Campsbourne, Hornsey, which would have a severe impact on local residents and the immediate area. Cllr Williams says he hopes Haringey Council will do whatever it can to stop the development.

Builders are trying to erect nine new business and residential units on a small site at the end of ‘The Campsbourne’ cul-de-sac, off Hornsey High Road. The buildings would rise immediately behind the residential blocks in nearby Pembroke Road. Current plans allow for three-storey buildings with a 13 meter high brick wall (the rear wall of the proposed buildings) to be erected within 27 feet of the windows in the rear walls of the Pembroke Road residential properties and sited immediately in line with the bottom of the gardens of Rectory Gardens.

Lib Dems say that if the plans are realised, local tenants and residents would only have a view from the windows of their homes of a blank wall approximately 39 feet high – depriving them of direct air flow and light. Such large buildings would also overshadow further nearby properties on Rectory Gardens, The Campsbourne, and Campsbourne Road.

Cllr Lynne Featherstone, who visited the site last week to meet local campaigner Roger Peters, comments: “I am appalled at the potential impact of this scheme. It seems a terrible planing decision, with huge new buildings being erected near people’s homes. The development should not be going ahead.”

Lib Dem councillors in Crouch End have been working to secure a compromiseover the controversial decision to remove Gerry the Bookman from Crouch EndBroadway, and to confiscate his books.

Liberal Democrat councillor Ron Aitken says that Gerry should be allowed to stay, while the antisocial aspects of other stalls in theBroadway tackled. Ron Aitken has written to the landlords of the strip ofland where Gerry currently trades, suggesting that if they were to give himpermission to trade, Haringey Council could then issue a license.

Ron Aitken comments:

“I very much appreciate the strength of feeling this has generated in CrouchEnd. We have been seeking a ’round table’ meeting of all concerned. Howeverthe Council was unwilling to participate in a meeting specifically aboutGerry. I have therefore been dealing with the different parties individually- the Council, the land agents and so on.

“Although this has been laborious we hope a compromise is possible thatwould allow Gerry to stay, while giving the Council the necessary powers tostop undesirable trading on the Broadway.”

Alexandra ward councillor Wayne Hoban has welcomed progress in discussionsaimed at securing a new playgroup centre at The Grove, N10. The move followsa meeting between Council officers, parents and Cllr Hoban this summer.

The meeting was the result of a long campaign by The Workshop User Group, supported by Cllrs Lynne Featherstone and Wayne Hoban. The group has beencampaigning hard since they lost Council support and the use of The GroveWorkshop building in Alexandra Park in October 2003, from where they used tooperate their after school and holiday workshops for the under-fives.

Since then the group has moved to two different temporary sites, and iscurrently based at the Baptist Church, Muswell Hill. However, parents andplaygroup organisers have expressed concerns about the quality of temporaryvenues, while Haringey Council has previously claimed that there was notsignificant demand for the service.

Lib Dems point out that the refurbishment of The Grove will be expensive,but the Council has now secured some external funding from the Lotterysponsored New Opportunities Fund, with the remainder from the Educationcapital budget. Architects are currently working on developing the plansfurther, having taken into account parents’ comments, particularly inrelation to their concerns over security and access to site.

Cllr Hoban is pleased with the progress and productivity of the meetings buthe says there is still much work to be done. He will continue to workclosely with the Council and local residents to resolve the next issueregarding staffing of the new group.

Cllr Wayne Hoban comments:

“All the evidence indicates that provision of good quality playgroupfacilities for young children significantly improves their chances ofdeveloping good social and behaviour skills. “

Cllr Lynne Featherstone adds:

“I am very pleased to see that the council has now accepted our argumentthat the Grove playgroup service must be properly supported.”

Liberal Democrat councillors in the London Borough of Haringey have expressed concern at the Council’s plan to pilot a merger of the Wood Green Area Assembly and Housing Forum.

Under the plan, the Area Housing Forum will meet for half an hour prior tothe meeting of the Area Assembly. Currently, the meetings are held onseparate nights. The Lib Dems say that the plans are ill thought out andwould give tenants and leaseholders less opportunity to debate and to holdtheir elected representatives to account over important housing issues andthe state of their homes.

The proposals for the pilot merger had been put forward by the Labour-runadministration due to poor attendance at Area Housing Forums. However theLib Dems say that this is an unimaginative way to deal with forum attendancein the borough.

At the meeting Stroud Green Lib Dem Councillor Laura Edge sought assurancesfrom Haringey Council that no changes would be implemented against the wishes oflocal people in each of the Area Housing forums. She also secured agreementon the need to seek input from Housing Forum attendees on the design of theproposed consultation.

Commenting, Cllr Edge said:

“My colleagues and I are immensely concerned to ensure that the currentunimaginative proposal for tackling the problem of low attendance at AreaHousing Forums is not presented to residents as a fait accompli. Tenants andleaseholders should be invited to put forward their own ideas for beefing upArea Housing Forums in their own localities.”

GLA member Lynne Featherstone and Highgate’s Lib Dem councillors havereceived assurances from Tubelines that they will work on measures to limitthe impact of a major new London Underground Control Centre to be built inHighgate on the edge of the woods.

The assurances came at a meeting attendedby councillors Featherstone, Neil Williams and Bob Hare, alongwith Terry Morgan, the Chief Executive of Tubelines.

The local councillors raised concerns about the planned windows in the newcontrol centre building, which will control trains on the Northern Line.They were also told that Tubelines is looking at moving the building furtheraway from houses on nearby Lanchester Road in order to address overlookingproblems highlighted by concerned residents in the street.

Tubelines hasalso agreed to work with the Highgate Society and local councillors onplanting schemes at the highly sensitive site, and consider ways of limitinglight pollution. Lib Dems say that properly sensitive measures will helpprotect habitats for local bat populations and the willow warblers whichinhabit the woodland edge.

Building works are due to start on the site next year. When completed, thecontrol room for the new signalling system on the line will allow for moretrains and is targeted to deliver a 20% reduction in journey times on theNorthern Line and increase in train capacity by 13%.

Lynne Featherstone comments:

“This was a useful meeting. There is no doubt that the control site is animportant project that should deliver enormous improvements to the serviceon the Northern Line. Passengers will enjoy a considerable reduction injourney times into central London.

“However this site on the edge of Highgate Woods is an important one, andthe new building will be in close proximity to residents homes in LanchesterRoad. I am pleased that Tubelines is willing to look at the location of thebuilding and to take other measures to protect the environment. We willcontinue to work closely on the issue with them.”

The Leader of the Lib Dems in Haringey is demanding action over a dangerouscrossing point for local children in his Highgate Ward.

Cllr Neil Williamssays that there is a pressing need for a pedestrian crossing on HampsteadLane for pupils of Highgate Juniors, and if action is not taken it will beonly a matter of time before a serious accident occurs.

Cllr Williams has been pressing Haringey Council for action for months. He hasbeen contacted by several parents at the school who are worried for thesafety of their children as they attempt to cross the very wide part ofHampstead Lane near Highgate village at the junction with Bishopswood Road.

Haringey Council says a pedestrian crossing here is not a funding priority,but Councillor Williams says it is essential, as the road is unsafe forcrossing, and the narrow pavement on the northern side increases the dangerfor the school children.

One parent at the school writes: “Many children still cross Hampstead Lanebetween cars. I fear it is only a matter of time before a terrible accidenthappens.”

Cllr Neil Williams comments:

“Safety of schoolchildren in the area must be apriority, and there is already a speeding problem along Hampstead Lane. Ifeel that because the road forms the borough boundary with Camden, that thecouncils are not taking this issue seriously enough. The school has alreadyworked with the Council on other safety improvements in the area, but thejob is not finished. Action really must be taken before an accident occurs.”

Haringey Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Social Services Cllr Ron Aitkenrevealed on Thursday night (21st October) the existence of two secretHaringey Council reports which, he says, should have been made public before thedecision by the Council’s Labour-run Executive was made to permanently closetwo care homes and temporarily close a third earlier this month.

Cllr Aitken, along with GLA Assembly Member Lynne Featherstone, called inthe Executive’s decision for the Council’s Watchdog Committee to scrutinise and discuss. The twosecret reports, disclosed by Cllr Aitken at Thursday’s meeting, paint adisturbing picture of the Council’s failings in addressing carehome funding issues.

The first is a secret report to the Council’s Executive or ‘Cabinet’ fromJuly 2003 concerning the sale of Honeywood, another home which was closed byHaringey and left empty for a considerable period.

The other report went before Haringey’s General Purpose Committeeduring the Council’s summer recess this year and concerned a cut in pay forsome residential care staff.

Cllr Aitken also revealed that previous mismanagement of the residentialhomes had forced Haringey to raid its Child Protection Budget in the periodleading up to the death of Victoria Climbie in order to keep the residentialhomes, which were in a very poor state, going.

Cllr Aitken comments:

“We need more answers from Haringey’s Labour Group, because previousassurances about the financial background to the closure of care homes havebeen broken. It is a fact that capital receipts are pooled, and when thehomes were previously sold to Circle 33 the promised financial returns nevermaterialised. There are also two key reports known only to a small circle ofLabour Councillors which should be made public before the closures goahead.

“Furthermore, plans to close and rebuild Osborne Grove Older People’s Homein Stroud Green are also deeply worrying. Haringey’s failures to deliverservices for the elderly at Hornsey Central Hospital, which has been talkedabout for 15 years, as well as the fiasco over Alexandra Palace, mean thatthey cannot be trusted to close and then rebuild Osborne Grove within therequired budget or timetable.”

Lib Dem Parliamentary Spokesperson Lynne Featherstone joined a march and addressed the rally to save a vital open space in Wood Green.

Ms Featherstone says that plans to turn part of White Hart Lane recreation grounds into an all weather pitch, which appears to have the backing of the Labour council with the Labour Lead Member for Education and school governor at the applicant school in favour, would amount to a serious loss of green space for people in the area.

St Thomas Moore School has applied to annex half of the green space to space to create their own all weather pitch. Ms Featherstone says the plan is unnecessary. She says that the site is very near the New River Sport Centre and the obvious solution would be to enhance and improve New River so that more local schools could use it. The community could benefit from a state of the art sports facility.

Ms Featherstone also adds that the situation is complicated by the Government’s and London Mayor’s agenda to cram more and more housing into Haringey.

Ms Featherstone informed the rally that there is a major planning application is being considered for a significant new housing scheme on New River site. She also cited the Government’s pressure on schools to have facilities that they can then make money from hiring back to the community – in this case the community they will have taken the land from.

Commenting Ms Featherstone said:

“It is quite clear that this is a land grab by Labour to take open space from local people in response to their national and regional agenda. This is vital green space for the local community and must remain so.”