Lib Dem councillors Matt Davies’ and Lynne Featherstone’s swift action hasprevented the felling of a number of unusual trees at Strathlene House,Creighton Avenue, N10 after residents contacted them, concerned withactivities going on in Strathlene.

The Lib Dems contacted Haringey Council last week (29th September) asking forurgent action to be taken to stop the felling immediately. There wasparticular concern for the protection of two large oak trees that stand over75 feet high and over 150 years old and are situated in gardens of specialinterest.

The Council enforced the Tree Preservation Order (TPO) on Friday and anotice was attached at the entrance of the site at 6pm that night. Residentsand the site owners were also contacted and made aware of the order.

The two site owners, believed to be Daisycroft Care Home Ltd and FestivalCare Homes have an opportunity to object to the order which would then bedealt with by the Council’s planning department.

The Lib Dem councillors are pleased that their quick action has averted alocal environmental catastrophe.

Cllr Featherstone comments:

“I am pleased that we have succeeded in stoppingthe destruction of a valuable piece of greenery in the Fortis Green area.”

Cllr Davies adds:

“I’m grateful for the Council’s swift issuing of the orderand I hope that the site owners will acknowledge the importance of thesetrees and gardens to the area and not challenge these orders.”

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.”

At the meeting of the Licensing Sub-Committee on 27th September,the late licence application for the Raglan Hall Hotel on Queens Avenue was approved – but only with reduced hours and subject to a review in six months.

Cllr Matt Davies (Lib Dem, Fortis Green) led the objections to the application at the meeting, and five other local residents also spoke against the plan. The hotel had applied for a public entertainment licence to run to midnight on Sundays and 1am on Fridays and Saturdays.

“We are naturally disappointed that the committee did not reject the application outright,” says Cllr Davies. “But due to the strength of objections from local residents, the hours have been restricted – to 11pm on Sunday and midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. This concession could make a big difference to quality of life for Queens Avenue residents.”

The licence will also be reviewed after six months – the usual period for such a licence is twelve months. Residents objected due to existing problems with noise and anti-social behaviour. It is felt that these problems, which already exist due to private functions at the hotel, could become much worse if general public access is increased.

“I am glad that the Committee has seen fit to review the situation at an early opportunity,” adds Cllr Davies. “We will be monitoring the situation closely. If our fears that this licence could drag the public from the commercial entertainment areas of Muswell Hill into this residential street become reality, we will be calling on the Committee to revoke the licence.”

Fortis Green councillor Barbara Fabian has stepped down as a localcouncillor for the area. Barbara Fabian was elected in 2002 and has takenthe decision to resign because of ill-health. The news means there will be aby-election in Fortis Green ward in November.

Barbara Fabian comments:

“It has not been an easy decision, and I willgreatly miss being a councillor. I feel we have brought real benefits to theneighbourhood in the last couple of years. Only this week we have seen ourpolice station front counter opened to the public, and we have a bus serviceconnecting us with Hampstead and Swiss Cottage. The task now is to build onthese real improvements in the coming years. I have been putting offtackling health problems for some time, and I will now be able toconcentrate on having surgery on both my knees.”

Lib Dem Leader Neil Williams adds:

“We will greatly miss Barbara and we all wish her well. I know she has beenfinding it increasingly difficult, because of ill health, to carry on as acouncillor, and we will greatly miss her expertise, particularly oneducation and social services issues, where her years of professionalexperience brought a huge amount of expertise.”

Fortis Green was gained by the Lib Dems from Labour at the last localelections. In the London-wide election in June, the Lib Dems again beatLabour in the ward, with the Tories a distant third. Margaret Thatcher wasPrime Minister when the Tories last represented the area.

Result in June’s GLA elections in the ward: Lib Dem 32%, Labour 26%, Tories 21%.

As concern grows over the future of council housing in the borough, Haringey Liberal Democrat councillors are calling for the Haringey Council to guarantee that all tenants will be balloted on the future of their homes. The party is also requesting that residents be allowed to vote on a fourth option, to maintain the status quo of having Haringey Council as landlord, an option the Lib Dems say could be denied to Haringey tenants.

Currently three options on the future of council housing in Haringey are available:

1) Stock transfer (e.g. to a Housing Associations)

2) PFI (Private Finance Initiative – long term contract awarded to private contractors to maintain & upgrade stock)

3) Arms Length Management Organisation – ALMO (council-run company which takes over the running and upgrading of the stock)

Lib Dems say that while there may be merit in alternative schemes, the Labour government is bullying councils such as Haringey into forcing change on reluctant local residents rather than allowing them to remain under local authority control. This is being done by withholding vital funding for council housing improvements -unless local authorities toe the Government line.

Leader of the Opposition Cllr Neil Williams says that Haringey Council must make a fourth option available along with clear and detailed information about the implications of choosing each of the options.

He is concerned that Haringey Council will not give tenants the right to a ballot, as was granted in neighbouring Islington and Camden councils. He also says that confidence in Haringey Council’s commitment to consult local residents is at rock bottom,following the council’s deliberate attempts, uncovered by the Lib Dems earlier in the year, to given tenants little notice of their own ‘roadshow’ designed to explain the issues.

Cllr Neil Williams comments:

“Yet again Haringey Council seems to be heading for a totally inadequate consultation of residents. Tenants must be allowed to choose their landlord, even if Haringey Council does not like the results – and that means a secret ballot and an option to remain under local authority control.

“Tenants also need to know the facts about the Labour Governments bullying tactics. If they have the facts they can make an informed choice and they have the right to expect the Council to support their decision.”

Muswell Hill Councillor Lynne Featherstone cut the ribbon for the official opening of the Muswell Hill front desk with Met Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens yesterday. The ceremony marks a great achievement for Ms Featherstone and local residents, who have battled to re-open the front desk since its closure back in 2000.

Since the forced closure due to lack of funding, Cllr Featherstone has campaigned tirelessly along with local residents to recruit volunteers and seek support to get the front desk reopened. In June 2003, Cllr Featherstone recruited Sir John Stevens to her campaign. He said he would be ‘delighted’ to assist in attempts to reopen the front desk.

Since then progress has been dramatic. Most significant was the Met Police’s decision to appoint a new volunteer recruitment officer – Diana Dodds to co-ordinate the local volunteers.

Cllr Featherstone was thanked for her persistence and hard work in campaigning for the re-opening of the front desk at yesterday event attended by over sixty people, many of whom were local residents who have volunteered to man the front desk.

Cllr Lynne Featherstone comments: “I am delighted that after five years of frustration, our hard work has finally paid off and Muswell Hill and Fortis Green has a front desk open and run by volunteers from the local community.

“I must pay tribute to Chf Supt Stephen Bloomfield who committed publicly last year to the campaign and has delivered on his promise.

“I hope that this good news story will encourage many more local residents to lend a few hours of their time to what is a priceless service to this area.”

Lib Dem Social Services spokesperson Ron Aitken has expressed ‘deep concern’ following the news that no senior managers or politicians are to resign following the revelations last week that Haringey Council had employed a convicted paedophile, Dennis Bell, as a school bus driver.

Bell, who had a string of nine convictions dating back to 1972, was employed to drive a bus for disabled children without police checks. He worked for Haringey for several months before police following up a motor offence raised the alarm.

Liberal Democrat Councillor Ron Aitken had tabled a series of questions under Urgent Business to the Director of Social Services and Lead Member Cllr Kate Wynne for a key Child Protection meeting on 23 September.

However, Labour Councillor George Meehan, who chairs the Children Services Advisory Panel, ruled that the questions relating to the employment by Haringey of Bell were “not urgent business but very old business indeed”.

Cllr Meehan refused to allow Cllr Aitken to state his reasons for demanding the resignations of leading politicians and senior managers. Cllr Aitken says that Haringey Council leaders’ failure to take responsibility for the near-catastrophic failure to police check Bell demonstrated how little they had learned from Victoria Climbie tragedy.

Cllr Aitken Comments: “Yet again, arrogant Labour politicians, some of whom were criticised by Lord Laming’s Report on the death of Victoria Climbie, have refused to face up to their mistakes.

“Cllr Meehan does not think employing a paedophile is an urgent matter for a child protection meeting and that is deeply worrying. I hope that some of the Labour politicians and senior managers, who kept this quiet, re-examine their consciences and resign”.

Lib Dem traffic spokesperson, Susan Oatway has tabled an urgent oral question to the next full meeting of Haringey Council (4th October) regarding the traffic situation in Dukes Avenue and the neighbouring roads.

The request comes a week after a consultation report was published on road calming measures for Dukes Avenue and just days after a resident was hit by a car while crossing the road.

Cllr Oatway, who represents Alexandra ward, has worked closely over the last two years in drawing up the plans to tackle some of the traffic problems on the busy rat-running route. However now that the consultation report has been published, she wants Haringey Council to start implementing the measures and she will be seeking clear time scales to which the agreed work will be completed.

She says that the work will go someway to addressing the traffic problem, but there are still many issues regarding road safety in the area that are yet to be addressed.

Cllr Oatway comments: “The agreed works must be implemented as soon as possible before any more accidents happen. The area has been waiting long enough for these safety measures.”

Lib Dem Leader Neil Williams says the Labour Government is attempting to draw a veil over controversial plans to ‘rationalise’ vital maternity and children’s accident and emergency services in the North London area.

Cllr Williams says that Labour has postponed the controversial plans amidst fear of a backlash from north London’s voters in the run up to a possible general election next spring.

The local health service began a consultation process on the possible changes last year but this has now ground to a halt. According to an email leaked to The Guardian newspaper and reported last week, the Chief Executive of Islington primary care trust, said:

“The Department of Health has indicated that a negative (public reaction) prior to a general election would not be acceptable.”

Neil Williams says that local people are having the impact of these changes concealed from them until after the general election. The plans involve concentrating children’s and maternity services at fewer sites in the five boroughs in the North London area, instead of the present spread of services across six north London hospitals. Cllr Williams says that children’s A&E services at certain sites could therefore close, and full reassurances must be given before any ‘rationalisation’ plan.

Lib Dem Leader Cllr Neil Williams comments:

“By postponing this consultation it is now absolutely clear that Labour are keeping local residents in the dark about their plans for the NHS in the area. They do not want people to know about how these changes might effect Haringey patients. Parents may have to travel longer distances to take their kids to A&E, and would this be as safe in an emergency situation?

“Even the current Labour Lead Member for Health and Social Services expressed concern about these plans when they came to the Council’s Scrutiny Committee Last year. However Labour is now attempting to sweep the whole issue under the carpet until after the general election.”