Local Lib Dems have called for a review by senior post office managers following the discovery that several thousand items of mail destined for the N8 area have been discovered by a member of the public dumped on the local railway line. Royal Mail staff have retrieved the find and are busy distributing it to local residents, although some of the items appear soiled, sodden, and in one case an empty envelope that had clearly been opened had been delivered.

Royal Mail officials have told Crouch End Councillor David Winskill that they have suspended a member of staff and are considering prosecution.The Lib Dems, who use a local address for their FREEPOST service and fear they may have lost items of incoming mail, are also asking the Royal Mail writes to local residents to tell them if deliveries to their addresses have been affected.

Cllr David Winskill (Crouch End) comments:

“This is a worrying situation. While most Royal Mail employees are undoubtedly hard-working and above all honest, one bad apple can destroy trust in the postal service.

“Royal Mail should review its staff vetting procedures and management controls while they investigate how this dreadful situation arose. We will be seeking a full explanation from senior management detailing what controls they will be putting in place. They should also inform local residents, who my have become worried and perplexed by the erratic mail service in the last couple of weeks.”

Lib Dem councillors have condemned Haringey’s Labour Group for deliberately preventing a discussion on a motion which would have established an inquiry into the collapse of the Queen’s Lodge, in Muswell Hill.

The move by Labour to block the call for an inquiry has angered and dismayed local residents’ groups (see below) who witnessed Labour speaker after speaker extend the debate on their own motion on crime to ensure there was no discussion on Queen’s Lodge. The Lib Dems are also pointing out that sources indicate that Labour councillors were told last week that they would have to vote against the motion if it came up for discussion. The goings-on at Haringey Council are certain to embarrass Hornsey & Wood Green’s Labour MP, who had previously backed the Lib Dem calls for an inquiry.

Cllr Stephen Gilbert (Fortis Green), who tabled the motion, comments:

“It is very disappointing to see Labour treating residents with such contempt. All the more so when we know they would have voted against setting up a proper inquiry into what happened at Queen’s Lodge. However, we will not be giving up our demands for an inquiry.”

In the fiasco surrounding the collapse of the Queen’s Lodge in Muswell Hill, the Lib Dem Group is tonight calling on Haringey Council to establish a fully independent inquiry into the events that led up to the collapse.

The row of buildings on Queen’s Avenue, referred to by a local historian as “the jewel in the crown of Edmonson’s houses,” suffered a catastrophic collapse during recent building works, and Lib Dem councillors have requested a full investigation. They are now hoping that the motion, if agreed by Haringey Council, will ensure that this now happens.

As early as September 2003, Fortis Green Councillor Matt Davies put residents’ fears over the deep excavation at this site to the Council, and warning signs of the impending disaster were clear. Lib Dem ward colleague Cllr Stephen Gilbert has also been demanding answers from the Council since the collapse and local Lib Dem councillors have met with local residents to survey the damage at the site.

Lib Dem Councillor Stephen Gilbert (Forts Green) who is proposing tonight’s motion, comments:

“Sadly this was a totally predictable disaster, as Haringey Council had plenty of chances to take action on the warning that they received from my colleagues and others.We need the Council to agree this motion to ensure that an inquiry takes place, and the whole issue is simply not passed off as a run of bad luck. Lessons must be learned and this must not happen again.”

A Highgate councillor has welcomed moves by Haringey Council to reduce the enormous amount of streetclutter that often goes hand-in-hand with the introduction of a Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) in the borough. Cllr Neil Williams, who represents Highgate and leads the opposition Lib Dem group, says that local pressure means that the Council is now working to reduce the number of signs and poles in the Cromwell Avenue area in the run up the start of the CPZ.

Local councillors and residents say that the CPZ is being introduced in a sensitive site, where the rules of the conservation area should be fully applied. Subject to the owners’ permission, Cllr Williams wants controlled parking signs applied to the walls of properties, rather than through the installation of a forest of poles in the Cromwell Avenue area.

Following discussions within the Council on obtaining the consent of home owners for this to happen, the Council has been knocking on the doors of local residents seeking consent to erect signs on walls where appropriate.

In a further move, Cllr Williams has also been working to remove unused disabled bays planned for the new scheme, some of which appear to be redundant.

Cllr Neil Williams comments:

“This is good news, as we need to keep to a minimum the street clutter which can be created by a CPZ.We have seen on other local roads how an army of poles can become a serious eyesore. Many residents are being very co-operative in granting permission for signs to be erected on walls, and this is all to the good.”

Liberal Democrats in Haringey have expressed anger and disappointment with Labour Members of the Health and Social Services scrutiny panel after they blocked a move to refer the issue of the closure of Canning Crescent and Kate Marsden Day Hospitals to the Secretary of State for Health.

The committee could have referred the decision – a power given to Scrutiny Panels under the new arrangements for holding local NHS Trusts accountable. Two Liberal Democrat members, Cllr Ron Aitken and Cllr Neil Williams, voted in favour of referral.

The calls for the issue to be referred came after users of the day hospitals expressed anger at the closures and the lack of progress in providing crisis and intervention services, despite promises made last September. The Day Hospitals Campaign published their own minority report on the issue highlighting serious shortcomings in the consultation process and in Haringey’s mental health services.

Lib Dem social services spokesperson, Ron Aitken is deeply concerned by the decision not to refer the matter to the Secretary of State, given the importance of the issue and the controversy surrounding the closures.

Cllr Ron Aitken comments:

“It will be bitterly disappointing for local users of these services that Labour councillors voted to block the opportunity for the issue to be reviewed by the Secretary of State for Health.”

Liberal Democrat councillors in Muswell Hill and Crouch End have vowed to keep up the pressure on Labour-run Haringey Council over the future of exercise classes at Park Road Pool.

Muswell Hill councillor Lynne Featherstone says she will be pressing Labour Lead Member for the Environment to keep to a commitment to retain the classes, made at last night’s Council executive.

Labour members were told by users of the service that current exercise classes at the Park Road Pool centre were oversubscribed, and the only barrier at present to examine the range on classes offer was uncertainly surrounding their future resulting from the Council’s new leisure services contract.

Campaigners are pushing for a ground floor facility at the pool, to maximise the number of users who can attend popular classes such as pilates, at the centre.

Lib Dem Lynne Featherstone comments.

“I will be pressing Ray Dodds to deliver on his wish to see these kinds of classes continue, as his words fell short of a firm commitment. The new leisure service contractors need to talk directly to the local users, so that ways can be found straight away to end the uncertainty and keep these classes running.”

Local Liberal Democrats have condemned as grossly unfair a decision taken by the Labour council last night to grant less cash per ward in the west of the borough to the seven neighbourhood assemblies.

Last night, Labour-run Haringey Council agreed that it would allocate £50,000 to each of the areas in the borough for spending on small-scale, special projects following consultation with councillors and residents. However, Lib Dem leader Neil Williams has questioned the way the money has been allocated, and is pointing out that under the new plan, the west of the borough is being short-changed again.

Haringey faced a storm of criticism when the area assemblies were established, as four Lib Dem wards in the west of the borough (Highgate, Muswell Hill, Fortis Green and Alexandra wards) were grouped together, whereas three assemblies in the east of the borough comprise just two wards each.

Lib Dems say that as a result of the funding plan, the west will have half as much to spend per ward as some other assemblies.

Lib Dem Leader Neil William, who represents Highgate, comments:

“It’s a rip off, and the west of the borough is being short-changed. It is also very unfair on residents in the Wood Green area, which has many of the funding needs of the east of the borough, but will get 50% less per ward – an enormous difference. It gives me no confidence that Labour wants to allocate this money fairly, and we will be looking to reform the system.”

Despite having spent £5 million on ‘Better Haringey’ last year, Haringey Council is still as perceived worse than the London average for refuse collection, street cleaning and recycling according to Haringey Council’s official survey of local residents in the Borough.

The Liberal Democrats have been critical of the ‘Better Haringey’ scheme because of the emphasis the Labour-run Council has put on self-promotion rather than substance. This opinion appears to be reflected by local residents in the first year of the scheme with overall services having 5% lower satisfaction rating than the London average.

Lib Dem Group Leader Neil Williams says that with the money invested in waste management and recycling, the service had to improve from such a low base. However he added that the poor perception of service delivery shows that Haringey does not understand the issue and how to deal effectively with it.

Cllr Williams (Highgate) comments:

“The perception of service delivery for refuse collection, street cleaning and recycling services are all very poor despite a £5 million investment.

“This reflects the inefficient way that the Labour run Council manages these projects, more interested in self-promotion than substance. Unfortunately for them the residents are wise to the same old tired tricks.”

A dangerous junction that joins Onslow Gardens with Muswell Hill Road looks like it is finally going to be improved months after Haringey Council agreed to extend the yellow lines.

The issue was raised by Liberal Democrat councillors on behalf of local residents back in the summer of 2003 after the Council had heeded Lib Dem advice and implemented yellow lines at the junction.

Although visibility has improved as a result of the lines being painted on Muswell Hill Road by the junction, the yellow lines do not extend far enough to stop vehicles parking very close to the junction on Onslow Road. The result is that there is often not enough room for cars to turn safely into the road if they meet a car coming the other way.

Cllr Lynne Featherstone has been assured on a number of occasions that the lines would be extended but each time the Council has claimed that cars have been obstructing the part of the road they’ve wanted to paint. However, this week the Council assured Ms Featherstone that they would have a tow truck present to move any vehicles obstructing the part of the road that required painting.

Cllr Featherstone (Muswell Hill) is hopeful that this promise will be kept, however she is concerned at the time it has taken to implement action agreed last summer.

Cllr Lynne Featherstone comments:

“I am pleased that this serious road safety issue is finally being addressed. Drivers need clear views at this corner.”

Liberal Democrat councillors have expressed renewed concern over Haringey Council’s Social Services Department’s plan set to institute a freeze on all non-care expenditure this year in order to curb its runaway social services overspend.

The plans are being put to the Labour Executive following a further deterioration of the Council’s £5.1 million overspend on Social Services, with a further projected overspend of £0.5 million for this year.

The plans, which will be mentioned in Executive’s Finance and Performance Brief for January, have shocked the Opposition Lib Dems who in previous months have been shouted down by members of the Executive for questioning the planning behind, and the sustainability of, such a huge budgetary overspend.

Liberal Democrat Social Service Spokesperson Ron Aitken, although aware that action must be taken to halt spiralling costs, fears that a freeze on non-care expenditure will result in a demoralised workforce, frustrated that every expenditure has to be sanctioned by management. He wants to know why poor planning by senior management and Executive members has pushed the Council into a situation where costs are being frozen.

Cllr Ron Aitken comments:

“Haringey Council appears to lurch from crisis to crisis. We have expressed concerns over the sustainability of such huge overspending in the Chamber. Sadly the Labour Council seem so out of touch that the realities of budgetary planning and management that they don’t seem to hit home until the damage has been done.”