Commenting on the Labour leadership and front bench elections, Neil Williams, Lib Dem Leader on Haringey Council, says:

“We congratulate Charles Adje on his election. However, I think that whoever leads the Labour group will not be able to make a positive difference for Haringey. After such a long period in office, the Labour group is internally split between various factions, and many of the new front bench team will be associated by local people with the Council’s very poor record over 30 years.”

Lynne Featherstone, Lib Dem Parliamentary spokesperson, adds:

“This was an opportunity for Labour to shake off the past and to look forward with a fresh approach. Instead, they have chosen to stick with many of the familiar faces that have contributed to Haringey’s long term failure under Labour. After over 30 years of Labour control, the words, ‘deckchairs’, ‘rearrange’, and ‘Titanic’ spring to mind.”

Stroud Green Lib Dem Councillor Laura Edge has welcomed a commitment from Haringey Council to put down new road markings in Denton Road N8, warning drivers to watch their speed. The much needed road markings marks are due to be put in place in the next four weeks. However Laura Edge says more needs to be done to improve safety in the road and crack down on dangerous driving given the large number of children travelling to Weston Park Primary School, situated on the road.

The road has been nicknamed “the Big Dipper” by some residents because of way some drivers use it. Motorists travel up Oakfield Road, cut straight across Ridge Road and career down steep Denton Road. Local residents have told Cllr Edge that there have been an astonishing nine incidents in recent years where cars have shot across the T-junction where Denton Road meets Weston Park at the bottom of the hill. Several have ended up in the front gardens of houses on Weston Park.

Local residents raised the issue with Cllr Edge and Crouch End Councillor Dave Winskill in January of this year when another car ended up in the garden of a house in Weston Park, stopping just short of the front door and destroying a parked car on its way. They are worried that the situation is a disaster waiting to happen, threatening not only residents in Weston Park, but school children crossing the road to attend the popular Weston Park Primary School.

Cllr Edge has pledged to keep a close eye on the situation to ensure that the new markings are introduced within four weeks as promised. But she has also pledged to continue to work with local residents to lobby Haringey Council for more substantial measures to control speeding drivers.

Cllr Laura Edge (Stroud Green) comments:

“Progress has been made and I welcome the new measures planned by the Council. This is just a start though – more substantial safety measures need to be implemented in the area to ensure that residents, pedestrians and considerate drivers are not endangered by a minority of dangerous motorists. We will maintain the pressure until we reach a satisfactory conclusion.”

Lib Dem councillors in Alexandra ward have expressed their anger and dismay at street works carried out this weekend to install a mobile phone mast at the Albert Road and Durnsford Road park site.

The move comes despite a verbal and written assurance from Vodafone (LCC UK) that they would not progress their application to install a mobile base station and mast on the site until a round table consultation meeting has been held between local residents, Haringey Council and Vodafone.

Despite these assurances, local councillor and Lib Dem Deputy Leader Wayne Hoban uncovered a BT works team early on Saturday morning, which had arrived to dig up the road on behalf of Vodafone. Cllr Hoban has called the move outrageous and an abuse of local residents’ rights to be consulted on the controversial mast proposal.

Cllr Hoban visited the site on Saturday morning, following a tip-off from a local residents informing him that a BT team were digging up Durnsford Road at the site of proposed Vodafone mobile mast and base station. Having asked the BT team foreman to show his instructions, it was clear from the sheet plan that they were installing a cable to supply a ‘Vodafone Base Station’.

Cllr Hoban comments:

“Local residents will be outraged about the cynical way in which yet another mobile phone company seems to be pressing ahead with plans to install a phone mast without consultation.

“I am contacting council officers to seek guidance as to whether the works are legal, given that it would appear that the Council has not been notified as required.

“We will also be asking Vodafone to ensure that all associated works are stopped immediately until the legality of these works can be established.”

Local Liberal Democrats have sent a petition to Tony Blair signed by hundred of local residents demanding a full and wide ranging inquiry into why Britain went to war in Iraq. Local Parliamentary spokesperson Lynne Featherstone and Greater London Authority candidate Wayne Hoban [see photo] say that the Government must answer questions on whether Britain went to war on a ‘flawed prospectus’, and allow a wide-ranging inquiry on the issue.

Lynne Featherstone comments:

“Tony Blair has revealed that he did not ask key questions about the nature of the weapons on mass destruction that formed the basis on the attack on Iraq.These and other questions will remained unanswered by the present inquiry.”

Wayne Hoban adds:

“We need a full inquiry into the reasons Britain went to war. We have had a big response from local residents to our petition on the issue which shows the strength of local concern.”

Liberal Democrat Councillors have uncovered that Haringey Council has paid almost £300,000 in enhanced benefits to 59 council employees who have received early retirement over the last three years. The information was presented by the Council in response to a question that was tabled at last Monday’s Full Council by the Lib Dems who are concerned at the amount of early retirements being offered by Haringey Council.

Over the last three years 65 council employees have received early retirement, with 90% of them receiving enhanced benefits. The Liberal Democrats fear that cash-strapped Haringey, which currently has a pension deficit of £246.3m, is shying away from taking tough staffing decisions by giving Council employees early retirement. This cost the embattled Haringey taxpayer over £110,000 last year alone.

Lib Dem pensions spokesperson Jonathan Bloch comments:

“It concerns me that the Labour Council is demonstrating such costly weakness in dealing with staffing issues. Haringey Council should not be dipping in to the already exhausted pension fund to pay-off staff that the Council wants to get rid of or whose faces don’t fit.”

Liberal Democrat councillors are calling on Haringey Council to help local skate-boarding kids in Hornsey and Crouch End to find a safe place to skate-board in the area. The calls come following discussions with local skate-boarders, residents and conservation groups.

Crouch End Lib Dem Councillor, Dave Winskill was alerted to the issue by local residents who were concerned that skate-boarders were using public places such as Hornsey Town Hall forecourt which led to fears that the building could be damaged.

This week Cllr Winskill asked Haringey Council to investigate the possibility of creating a safe facility where kids could skateboard in the Crouch End area.

Cllr David Winskill comments:

“I have spoken to local residents, conservation groups and the kids themselves and it is clear that we need a safe and secure space set aside for them where they won’t interfere with other peoples amenities but can enjoy their skate-boarding.”

Cllr Lynne Featherstone adds:

“We should be encouraging activities that gets kids out of the house socialising and doing exercise. A space set aside for skate-boarding is something we will certainly continue to press for.”

Stroud Green Councillor Laura Edge has welcomed Haringey Council’s decision to reschedule an important meeting of the Licensing Sub-Committee which is due to consider a controversial application from the Mean Fiddler Organisation to hold an event in Finsbury Park on 20 June.

The meeting was originally scheduled to take place mid-morning, when many local residents wishing to air their views on the application would have been unable to attend. However, following pressure from local residents and Stroud Green Councillor Laura Edge, the meeting has now been rescheduled for 7pm on Monday 17th May.

Welcoming the decision, Councillor Edge comments:

“The issue of concerts in Finsbury Park is one which many local people feel very passionately about. A morning meeting was not satisfactory. I am glad that residents will now have a proper opportunity to make their views known to members of the Licensing Sub-Committee.”

Liberal Democrats have called for an urgent meeting with Haringey planning chiefs amidst fears over the intensification of housing on Hornsey High Street, N8.

Lib Dem planning spokesperson Councillor David Winskill has called for the meeting following recent revelations that new and proposed housing applications for the Hornsey waterworks and central depot site could top the 1,100 mark.

Cllr Winskill (Crouch End) who was has campaigned on the issue for many years, says that a planning brief drawn up to guide developers is now obsolete and urgent guidance is now needed to prevent unplanned and substantial increases in the number of housing units which will place unsustainable pressure on local infrastructure, such as schools and health services.

Cllr David Winskill comments:

“We accept that many brown field sites will be developed for housing, but this small part of Hornsey seems destined to provide nearly three quarters of the housing targets for the entire Haringey Heartlands Development. This is over-development, and I will be asking Haringey to consider the impact on the local area.”

Local Liberal Democrats have discovered that Haringey Council has a financial incentive to keep local residents waiting on the phone. The revelation came in a written answer to a Liberal Democrat question at last week’s Full Council, where it was revealed that Haringey receives a ‘per minute’ income from most of their customer service telephone lines.

Ten out of eleven of the telephone lines in question are 0845 numbers and Haringey Council receives an income of 0.05p per minute when residents call these numbers. Local Lib Dems started to look into this issue following complaints from residents that they could not get through to customer services operators without the irritation of being kept waiting in a telephone queue.

While the unit charges may be relatively small, Lib Dems say that the council should not receive any money for every minute that Haringey fails to deal with a call – a bizarre reward for bad service. While 0845 numbers are charged at the local rate, this can still mean an expensive telephone call when residents are kept waiting for a long period.

Lib Dem leader, Cllr Neil Williams (Highgate), comments:

“This has highlighted the often unacceptable waiting times residents have to endure to get important problems concerning issues such as housing dealt with.

“For Haringey Council to be profiting at all from its own poor service seems bizarre. It is like an incentive in reverse. What Haringey residents want is not to have to wait in telephone queues and for their problems to be dealt with quickly.”

Liberal Democrat councillors have been left angered after Haringey Council refused to support efforts by local traders to have an archaic ruling that restricts Saturday trading removed.

The move came in a written answer at the Full Council meeting on Monday following efforts by the Lib Dems to remove a royal charter which stops the Ally Pally farmers market taking place on a Saturday. The party has vowed to keep pursuing the issue.

The Lib Dems asked the Labour leadership if they would approach the Old Enfield Charitable Trust with a view to persuade them to seek an alteration to the Royal Charter, which dates back to 1601. As it stands, the Charter held by the obscure body does not allow a market within six miles to be open on a Saturday – the same day as Enfield holds its own market.

The Labour Council rejected the request citing a number of reasons including the belief that the Sunday Farmers’ Market was currently ‘free from problems’ and that Haringey Council has no ‘direct interest’ in it and thus was uninterested in getting involved.

The Liberal Democrat Finance spokesperson, Jonathan Bloch has expressed his disappointment at the Council’s answer. He has already gained support from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, which has agreed to a request made last month to investigate the issue.

Cllr Jonathan Bloch (Muswell Hill) comments:

“It is very disappointing that Haringey Council has been so negative in its response. We were asking them to support local traders who want to have the option of trading on a Saturday. Instead the Council has simply listed reasons for not supporting the change.

“Removing this charter would help our local economy. We will continue to support the efforts by local traders to secure an end to this bizarre Charter. It is an unacceptable and unfair restriction on doing business in Haringey and it should be removed.”