Newly elected Lib Dem leader Ross Laird has written to the Prime Minister to express concerns over security issues at the Alexandra Palace, following the announcement that the Miss World contest will be held there next Saturday.

He is asking what assurances can be given that adequate resources will be made available to ensure that the huge event will pass off peacefully, and that the necessary security and counter-terrorist measures will be put in place.

Ross Laird, who also represents Muswell Hill on the council, comments:

“I am concerned that the local area has the measures put in place to cope with the huge security operation that now surrounds the Miss World event.

“The timescales are very tight. Given the tragic events of the past couple of weeks, it is unfortunate that the organisers did not decide to opt for an indefinite postponement. We need reassurances that the huge operation now required to guarantee security and the minimum disruption to local residents is put in place over the coming days.”

Lib Dem Councillor for Crouch End Ron Aitken is backing over 120 residents of Oakfield Court, Haslemere Road, in a campaign to stop the latest attempt at another unpopular ‘backland’ development in the area.

The move follows last week’s controversial decision by Haringey Council’s planning committee to ignore residents’ concerns and approve a controversial backland development in Aubrey Road in the heart of Crouch End.Ron Aitken has praised the stand of the residents of Oakfield Court.

Ron Aitken comments:

“Oakfield Court already has 58 households and is an outstanding 1930s design. It is in the conservation area.

“I think it is wrong to cram more flats onto the green areas around the existing site. The council must listen to the residents.”

Lib Dem Parliamentary spokesperson Lynne Featherstone has laid down a challenge to Labour MP Barbara Roche over the controversial issue of student top-up fees.

Labour’s 2001 election manifesto promised not to introduce top-up fees. Now, however, many in the government are supporting plans to let universities charge higher fees – with the result that access to the top universities will be determined by wealth rather than ability.

Ms Featherstone says this suggested U-turn is a betrayal of Labour promises over the issue, and the local MP should be supporting hard-up local students on the issue, particularly with the area having many students and the Middlesex University campus in Bounds Green.

Lynne Featherstone comments:

“I welcome the fact that some Labour MPs have already spoken out against top-up fees – recognising that if the government breaks its promises on this issue students will suffer as access to university courses is determined by wealth rather than ability.

“I urge Barbara Roche to join her colleagues like Frank Dobson and speak up clearly and publicly against top-up fees.”

Muswell Hill Lib Dem councillor Ross Laird has welcomed news that Housing Association Housing 21 has secured £3,000 to trim the trees at Connaught House.

The trees have been causing damage to the flats, just off Connaught Gardens. The problem is one of a number of issues that Councillor Laird has been pursuing to improve the area. He recently held a public meeting with residents, covering issues such as dumped rubbish, potholes, abandoned cars and crime in the area.

Ross Laird comments:

“I am pleased that Housing 21 is now able to address the problem of trees. I will be pressing to ensure that all the issues raised by residents are fully dealt with.”

Highgate’s Lib Dem councillors are demanding swift action from the Labour-run council to clear up the autumn leaves and rubbish in North Hill and North Road, the busy residential thoroughfare that connects Highgate village to the A1.

Lib Dem councillor Neil Williams says that leaves and debris have been heaped into piles and just left on the two roads, and have either blown away or turned into a slippery slime that poses a threat to elderly residents trying to walk about the area.

Cllr Williams also says that the roads are not getting a proper weekly sweep, and is asking Haringey Council to take action.

Neil Williams comments:

“I have been looking at the state of the these roads in Highgate this weekend, and frankly it is a disgrace.There are piles of leaves and rubbish everywhere. North Hill and North Road are getting nowhere near an adequate clean from the council, and I am asking them to take immediate action.”

A successful meeting on the local problem of graffiti was organised by Highgate’s Lib Dem councillors on Tuesday.

Local resident and graffiti-buster Mike Read told the audience at St Michael’s Primary School, North Road, how he and residents had raised funds for a dramatic clean up of the problem in Southwood Lane, and used the meeting to make contact with other local groups and residents interested in tackling the problem.

The meeting also heard councillor Lynne Featherstone speak about the issue and Haringey Council’s record in dealing with graffiti. As a result of local campaigns, Haringey is now under pressure, she said, to reverse its policy of only cleaning up graffiti that is racist or obscene.

Local community police inspector Simon Heffer also updated locals on the efforts of the police, who have been working with Southwood Graffiti Action and local councillor Neil Williams following the Southwood Lane clean up.

Residents were pleased to hear that, as of this week, the police will have six more officers available to deal with these kinds of crimes in Highgate and the west of the borough. There was disappointment, however, that the council did not accept an invitation to attend the meeting.

Local councillor Neil Williams, who organised and chaired the meeting, comments:

“I am very pleased with the way things have gone. Mike Read of Southwood Graffiti Action has made some more useful contacts and the meeting showed the strength of feeling there is on this issue.

“I am disappointed that representatives from the Haringey Council failed to accept an invitation to come to the meeting. We must keep up the pressure to ensure that the Labour-run council takes this issue seriously, as graffiti just breeds more serious crime.”

You can get Lynne Featherstone’s graffiti fighting fact-sheet here (pdf format).

Haringey’s Liberal Democrats were celebrating this morning as news came through that popular local councillor and existing GLA member Lynne Featherstone has stormed straight to the top of her party’s list of prospective candidates for the next GLA elections in 2004.

Lynne Featherstone came first among Lib Dem candidates across London bidding for a place on their party’s list for the ‘London-wide’ section if the Greater London Authority. Having been placed third last time, Ms Featherstone this time moved up to first place. She won the run-off for the top slot by a comfortable 1899 to 1401 vote margin over Graham Tope.

Lynne Featherstone comments:

“I am delighted to have finished top of the poll. I will continue to campaign on the London issues that most concern Londoners – helping to sort out the transport crisis and keeping Mayor Ken under control.”

Highgate councillor Neil Williams comments:

“This is a marvellous result for Lynne. I think her particularly strong record of campaigning against the break up and sell off of the Tube across London very much counted in her favour.She was also widely praised for leading the investigations into congestion charging, something she took on as soon as she was elected to the GLA. Locally, we are very proud that she will now head the Lib Dem slate across London.”

Highgate’s Lib Dem councillors have welcomed a commitment this week from the local police chief that he will provide a police ‘kiosk’ in Highgate. The move follows a long campaign by Lynne Featherstone and the area’s Lib Dem councillors to restore a police presence in the area.

Chief Superintendent Stephen James made the commitment at a meeting yesterday with Ms Featherstone. The arrival of a permanent police kiosk in Highgate will depend on the force receiving its planned increase in police numbers, as promised, by the end of March 2003.In a constructive dialogue with the Lib Dem leader, Chief Superintendent James also agreed that it was vital for local residents to be able to contact the police easily by telephone and receive an answer from local officers who know the Highgate area very well.

Lynne Featherstone comments:

“This is good news for Highgate, and we welcome the police’s commitment to restore a more visible police presence in the area.While it is disappointing that the reopening of the front counter is not seen as an option given the current state of police resources, this is still a very welcome move.

Highgate local councillor Neil Williams adds:

“We now need to make sure that this welcome commitment is delivered, and that things move forward. One thing we must address is where a police kiosk in Highgate would be best placed. I would welcome the views of local residents at this stage, so we can keep the pressure up.”

London Mayor Ken Livingstone has written to the Leader of Haringey’s Labour controlled council on the controversial issue of backland developments. The move follows a meeting with local councillor and GLA member Lynne Featherstone.

Ms Featherstone had raised the issue with Mayor Livingstone because she says that both local developers and Haringey Council are using the London Mayor’s requirement for more housing, and especially social housing, as an excuse to grant permission to backland developments, however inappropriate they are.

Ken Livingstone has reminded Haringey that his plan is about quality and not quantity: “London must get the quality as well as quantity of new housing it deserves,” he has told Haringey.

Lynne Featherstone comments:

“I only hope that this timely reminder from the Mayor will stop Haringey continuing to grant permission to cram in any new building anywhere. Sadly, it has come too later for the Aubrey Road development which went through last week, but hopefully this will help save the Priory Avenue backland site, which is the next on the hit list.

“I hope this letter will help strengthen Haringey’s resolve to stick to its own urban development plan, which should not allow for this sort of development.”

Muswell Hill’s Lib Dem councillors are taking action to improve lighting and remove rubbish on one of the area’s busy walkways. The underpass and walkway to Muswell Hill Primary School, at the end of the Parkland Walk, is dark and has been in desperate need of clearing of both leaves and rubbish.

Lib Dem councillor Lynne Featherstone has written to both the council and the Alexandra Palace Charitable Trust to ask them what they intend to do about the lighting problem, which makes the area very unpleasant at night.

Lynne Featherstone comments:

“Kids, parents and staff at the school find this walkway very intimidating in the winter. The police are advising people not to enter parks after dark, so this must be remedied. Good lighting is needed to make people as safe as possible when they walk about the area.”

Fellow Muswell Hill Lib Dem councillor Jonathan Bloch has been tacking the council about the rubbish problem on the route. Cllr Bloch has called for a massive clean up of the Parkland Walk route from Cranley Gardens through to Muswell Hill primary school, and says that litter and leaves lying on the path represent a danger to kids and parents taking their children to school. The council has agreed to a clean up, and a commitment from the Neighbourhood Officer to ensure that the route gets a once a week clean.

Jonathan Bloch comments:

“This is some good news, as the area has been a disgrace in recent weeks. Kids need a better environment, and it’s a pity if a pedestrian walkway suffers these sorts of unnecessary problems. It should be a bright and pleasant route.”