Haringey’s Lib Dem councillors have expressed their anger at Haringey Council’s decision to suspend external decorating projects in the borough because it is ‘not one of the criteria for meeting the Decent Homes Standard’.

The news was broken to council tenants in a newsletter sent out in August and cites the Labour Government’s ‘15% reduction in the money available for housing maintenance’ as the reason behind the suspension of external works which will affect over 150 locations from Tottenham to Highgate.

Haringey Council said that the Governments Decent Homes Standard has to be met by 2010 and means that every home must:

• be fit for human habitation
• be in good state of repair
• have certain standard of facilities
• have effective heating and insulation

The Lib Dems are angered that the Labour-run Council has ditched plans for external decorations because the Labour Government is starving them to starve them of money needed to carry out the long overdue decoration of properties.

Lib Dem Leader Cllr Neil Williams comments:

“A combination of successive Conservative and Labour Governments has under-funded council housing and as a result it has been in a poor state of repair for over 20 years. It is disgraceful that planned and necessary external work is being suspended because the Government has cut back funding for housing maintenance.

“The Labour-run Council must stand up for local tenants and lobby the Government for unconditional extra money to bring the borough’s dilapidated housing stock up to standard without cancelling necessary external work.”

In the Fortis Green by-election, Lib Dem candidate and local resident Martin Newton has written to voters with five key positive pledges for their approval on polling day, 11th November. Martin’s pledges are:

• FIGHTING CRIME: Work with police to extend Muswell Hill police station’s opening hours for the public.

• IMPROVING TRANSPORT: Get trial all-day service on 603 and get an extra bus in the timetable at school-run times.

• LOCAL SCHOOLS: Secure more local primary school places for local children.

• HARINGEY SOCIAL SERVICES: Hold to account those who employed a convicted sex offender as driver of a children’s bus.

• COUNCIL HOUSING: Give council tenants a vote to decide whether Haringey should transfer their homes to another organisation.

Lib Dem candidate Martin Newton comments:

“The Liberal Democrats have shown how things can be better. We successfully worked with residents and overcame Labour’s opposition to the 603 bus. We got door-to-door recycling extended across the borough. I am looking forward to receiving people’s views on how we can secure further positive changes for the area.”

Lib Dem councillors in Fortis Green have wholeheartedly welcomed the decision of planing inspectors to reject the developers’ appeal against controversial plans to build houses on the land at the rear of 2-16 Lauradale Road.

Many residents had turned up to oppose the developer’s appeal in September, along with the Headmistress of Tetherdown School and local Lib Dem ward councillor for Fortis Green, Matt Davies. The Council formally opposed the appeal and a number of residents spoke against the proposals.

Fortis Green councillor Matt Davies comments:

“I am absolutely delighted that this development will not now go ahead. There was an enormous response from residents against these plans, and it goes to show that such united opposition really can make a difference.

“The Planning Inspector was left in no doubt about the strength of local feeling and has made the right decision. A local path that has been used for years by residents and children on their way to school would have been lost if this had gone ahead. It is very good news for the area.”

Stroud Green Councillor Laura Edge has criticised Haringey Parks Department for failing to consult on plans to introduce parking charges between 8am and 8pm in Finsbury Park.

Details of the plans first came to light last week and it was proposed that they should be implemented in the week beginning Monday 11th October. Park users were not consulted over the charges and details of the scheme only became known after Councillor Edge passed them on to the Friends of Finsbury Park.

The introduction of parking charges in Finsbury Park has been on the table since the award of Heritage Lottery Funding for the restoration of the Park. The terms of the grant required Haringey Council to commit to increase the annual maintenance budget for the Park and a resolution to raise part of this revenue from parking charges was agreed by the Executive in October 2002. However, there has been no effort since to consult with park users over the proposals, which many believe are excessive.

Cllr Edge says:

“The current plans are ludicrous; one of the supposed aims of the scheme is to prevent commuters from parking in the park following the introduction of Controlled Parking Zones in surrounding streets. However, it is proposed that the scheme operate from 8am to 8pm, which is longer than the hours of operation of the CPZs in those streets. If you want to deter commuter parking why not introduce charging for a shorter period in the middle of the day? It’s a classic case of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut and will have the effect of penalising genuine park users.”

The Council has now admitted that it bungled the consultation process and has promised to revisit the plans and take on board the comments made by users in order to come up with a more acceptable scheme. Whilst welcoming the change in approach Cllr Edge says:

“Mistakes such as this understandably generate considerable mistrust among local residents and illustrate that Haringey Council simply does not take consultation with local residents seriously.

“The political will is needed to establish an efficient council-wide approach to community consultation involving the creation of a genuine, constructive dialogue with local people rather than the current top-down approach.”

Liberal Democrats in the London Borough of Haringey have expressed their anger about a decision to support recommendations submitted to the ruling Labour Executive last week (5th October) that would see Haringey Council fork out an additional £1 million of Haringey tax payers’ money to manage the process of selling off Alexandra Palace.

The request from the Alexandra Park and Palace Board for an additional £1 million had not been submitted as a formal agenda item, but as Urgent Business. The Executive was informed that this sum is required to manage the ‘risk’ of the project and to cover legal, financial, construction, property management and project management expenses during 2004/05 and 2005/06. These services would be supplied by Arup, the company the Alexandra Palace and Park Board propose to appoint to manage the procurement process for the redevelopment of the Palace.

The Lib Dems are concerned that this huge additional cost has not been properly explained or justified by the Board to the Labour-run Council. In addition, the process of selection of the company Arup is not clarified.

However, the Lib Dems’ greatest concern is about accountability. The Executive member for Finance confirmed at the meeting that the Alexandra Palace Board would scrutinise Arup’s use of taxpayer’s money and not the elected and accountable council, although Haringey Council is ‘corporately’ the trustee.

Lib Dem Deputy Leader Wayne Hoban, who attended the meeting, said:

“It is somewhat ironic that a few short months after the Mayor’s election campaign statement that he would ‘save Ally Pally’, we have a Labour run council prepared to pay over £1 million in fees to advisers on a sell-off.

“This was brought to the Executive without notice, without any clarity into the rationale of the selection process, and without ensuring that the councillors as elected members of the trustee body have an opportunity to scrutinise the process. It is clear that Labour remain desperate to sell-off the Palace whatever the cost to taxpayers.”

Liberal Democrats in Fortis Green have chosen Martin Newton as their candidate for the council by-election on 11 November.Martin Newton lives in the ward with his family. He is married to Gail Engert, who was elected a councillor for Muswell Hill ward in an election landslide earlier in the year.

Martin Newton is hoping to succeed Lib Dem Barbara Fabian, who has stood down due to ill health. He is a partner in a graphic design group and has campaigned for the local community for many years. He has been working with residents and the local Lib Dem team on a wide range of issues. These include transport safety improvements near Coldfall school and safeguarding the area’s pocket parks.

Commenting on his selection, Martin Newton said:

“I am very pleased to have been selected and I am looking forward to meeting people on the doorstep over the coming weeks. It is a great area, and the Lib Dems have got a lot of things done, such as the reopening of the police station and the new 603 bus service. However, there is a lot more work to do, and I would love to be part of the Lib Dem council team.”

Lib Dem Parliamentary Spokesperson Lynne Featherstone has congratulated Martin Newton on his selection and adds:

“I am delighted that Martin is standing as Haringey needs another councillor who will stand up to Labour on the council. We will be working hard to hold Fortis Green for the Lib Dems on 11th November.”

Following a visit to Hannay Lane N8 by Lib Dem councillors for Crouch EndRon Aitken and Peter Floyd last week, patrols by police and communitysupport officers are to be increased, and discussions are to take placebetween tenants and the Housing Association that manages the estate.

Elderly residents in one of the blocks of flats recently complained aboutharassment from people who do not live on the estate, including abusivelanguage and vandalism of the door entry systems. Police have also beencalled several times in the last few months to incidents involvinganti-social behaviour on the estate.

Cllrs Aitken and Floyd are hopeful that the extra patrols will detertrouble-makers and that a meeting between residents and Housing Associationrepresentatives will resolve some of the other concerns.

Cllr Aitken comments:

“I have spoken to the Police Community SupportOfficers for Crouch End following a visit to the estate where we met many ofthe residents.

“We have also written to the Housing Association, London and Quadrantregarding a number of safety issues which need to be tackled”.

Cllr Floyd adds:

“Because Hannay Lane is on the Islington boundary it isoften overlooked when it comes to local services. It is important that wemake sure that residents here get as much support as those elsewhere in theborough.”

Lib Dem councillor Lynne Featherstone has called on the Prime Minister this week to make an 11th hour intervention to save two of Haringey’s residential care homes.

The closure of Cooperscroft and Trentfield homes could be finalised tonight at the Council’s Executive meeting. This is despite months of protests from residents, their families and Haringey Council’s Lib Dem Opposition following the announcement of the closure plans.

The Lib Dems are deeply concerned that Haringey Council has appeared to have ignored all the concerns raised by residents and their families during the consultation process.

There is also general concern that there is already a limited service provided to elderly residents in Haringey which has been compounded in recent years by the closure of Honeywood residential home by the Labour-run Council.

The Lib Dems and campaigners say that at the time of Honeywood closure the Labour Administration made assurances that the money made from the sale would be ringfenced used to bring Cooperscroft and Trentfield up to the new standards required.

Cllr Featherstone comments:

“There is scant provision for residential care for Haringey’s elderly people and these closures will not only exacerbate the situation for those too elderly or frail to continue independent life, it will be a betrayal of the campaigners who fought to keep the homes open four years ago.

“So far the Labour Council has not listened to calls to save Cooperscroft and Trentfield. These homes must not be closed and pressure must be brought to bear on the Council to avoid this terrible decision.”

Lib Dem councillors in the London Borough of Haringey have written formally to Haringey Council toexpress their growing concerns over proposals for a concrete batching plantin the Cranford Way Industrial Estate in Hornsey. In a letter to Haringey Council’s head of planning, Councillor Laura Edge (Stroud Green) andCouncillor David Winskill (Crouch End) are concerned that the number oflorry movements in and out of the site has not been made apparent – andcould grow over time.

A question put to the applicant for planning permission by Cllr Winskill at the Development ControlForum on Thursday 17 September revealed that current estimates of the impactof the development, most notably in terms of the number of lorry movementsgenerated, are based on the plant operating at only half its capacity.

London Concrete asserted in its application that the number of lorrymovements in the area each day would be 56. However, pressed by CllrWinskill to reveal how many lorry movements would be generated if the plantwere operating at full capacity, Mr Casey (Managing Director of LondonConcrete) admitted that the number could be twice that.

In a letter to Haringey Council, the two councillors have written:

“It is unacceptable that crucial information regarding the full operatingcapacity of this facility had to be extracted from the applicant at a publicmeeting.

“We submit that the Planning Department must require London Concrete toprovide exact technical details of the full operating capacity of the plantand the number of additional lorry movements which this could generate – notjust the operator’s own lorries, but also any possible additional pick upsmade by other contractors.

“The experience in the London Borough of Wandsworth demonstrates that, evenif the Council were to impose conditions as to the number of lorry movementspermitted, London Concrete would almost certainly apply for an increaselater down the line.”

Councillor Edge added, “It is impossible for the community to make informedcomment on this application without access to all the facts. At the momentit seems we are only being told half the story”.

Planned rises in Haringey’s Council Tax for the coming year will result inrenewed hardship for local residents, says Cllr Neil Williams.

The Lib Demleader was commenting on a planned 6% rise in the Haringey element ofCouncil Tax for the coming year – well above the rate of inflation, andexcluding any increase that Labour Mayor Ken Livingstone might levy onHaringey’s hard pressed council tax payers.

Lib Dems say the planned increases will hit the less well off in the boroughparticularly hard, especially local pensioners.Cllr Williams also says theborough should put pressure on the Government to introduce a fair system oflocal taxation.

Cllr Neil Williams comments:

“A six percent increase next year means that on top of the previous twoyears’ increases, Haringey residents will be paying a massive 33% more forcouncil services since the last local elections in 2002 – and that is notincluding increases levied by London Labour Mayor Ken Livingstone, whichhave taken the charges even higher.

“The planned increase will hit local pensioners particularly hard. Haringey Council is also not doing enough to ensure that pensioners take fulladvantage of relief from Council Tax. What is needed is fair system of localtaxation, through a local income tax.”