Lib Dem Leader Lynne Featherstone has expressed disappointment at the borough’s continuing poor record of dealing with complaints from the public. Ms Featherstone says the latest figures from Haringey Council show that rapid improvements are still needed.

According to new data, only 42.4% of the 898 complaints received from the public were dealt with last year within the target timescale. Figures get worse the further the complaint progresses. Only 33% of complaints passed on for a formal investigation were dealt with on time. As far as the troubled Social Services department is concerned, only 27.1% of complaints were dealt with in time at the first stage.

For complaints involving the independent watchdog, the local government ombudsman, there is a ruling against the Labour-run council on average once every nine days.There were 31 cases for local settlement plus two cases of maladministration in the last year, for a total 33 – up from just 25 in 1999/2000.

Lynne Featherstone comments:

“These disappointing figures show that Haringey is still not on top of its complaints handling procedures. The delays in dealing with complaints in Social Services are particularly worrying, as this is where some of the most serious complaints which need swift action occur.”

“We will be looking to see real evidence of progress in the coming months.”

Local Lib Dem councillor Lynne Featherstone has stepped up the campaign for the introduction of a “healthy living centre” on the site of the former Hornsey Central Hospital by making a fact-finding visit to a similar service in Bromley by Bow in East London.

Lynne Featherstone believes this is just the sort of community facility Haringey Council, the Health Authority and the Primary Health Care Trust should have been aiming to put onto the Hornsey Hospital site.

The centre not only has a doctors’ practice, but also seeks to address housing, employment, benefits and emotional well-being – providing a significant community facility and nipping local health problems in the bud before they start.

Alongside the conventional health practice are all sorts of activities, from art to gardening, as well as employment and educational courses. There are also people there to help locals through the minefield of the benefits system. Many people who visit the centre go there for one thing or another and become volunteers. Everyone is encouraged to contribute for themselves in whatever way they can.

Lynne Featherstone says that a similar healthy living centre was meant to be part of the resurrection of the Hornsey Hospital site. However, Richard Sumray, the Chair of Haringey Primary Care Trust, never planned an actual building for the Healthy Living Centre – arguing that it could be a network of services and people without a building. Even this possibility now stands dismissed from future plans.

Commenting, Lynne Featherstone said:

“Bromley by Bow has created a truly ground-breaking centre, which sees 2,000 people visits per week, with a staff of 105. It has therefore become a significant local employer in its own right.

“Having now visited this facility, it is clear that a real Healthy Living Centre needs a building and truly has the potential to benefit the local community. I am writing to Richard Sumray to once again push for decent local health services to be re-instated on the Hornsey Hospital site.”

Popular local councillor Lynne Featherstone has been picked out by the Daily Mail newspaper for an award recognising her hard work for the community in Haringey.

The award is part of the Daily Mail’s “Golden Jubilee Unsung Heroes” award to mark the Golden Jubilee. Following her nomination by a Haringey resident, Lynne Featherstone was given an “award of merit” for her “unstinting work” in the local community.

Commenting on the award, Ms Featherstone said:

“It was a bolt from the blue, quite unexpected, especially as it has come from the Daily Mail – not known for their enthusiastic support for Liberal Democrat campaigns!

“However, it is nice to be appreciated, and I am very pleased to accept such a plaudit.”

Local GLA member Nicky Gavron is tipped to come a humiliating fourth in the election for London Mayor, according to the latest opinion poll published in today’s London Evening Standard. The news is certain to come as a blow to the local Labour party, say the Liberal Democrats.

Ms Gavron was a Haringey councillor until May this year when she stepped down from the Council. In May election’s she suffered the embarrassment of seeing her former Labour heartland in Archway fall to the Liberal Democrats, who won all six seats in the two wards covering Archway. The Evening Standard / YouGov poll show that Ms Gavron is trailing possible Lib Dem and Tory Mayor candidates, as well as Mayor Ken Livingstone, if she were to be chosen as the Labour candidate.

Ross Laird, Lib Dem Deputy Leader on Haringey Council, comments: “This news spells very big trouble for Labour. If the candidate favoured by so many Labour’s party bosses and MPs is struggling in fourth place, it shows how little faith Londoners have in Labour to deliver for the capital.”

Note:

Evening Standard poll results: if the following were the candidates, voting intentions would be:

Ken Livingstone(Ind) – 40%
Steven Norris (Con) – 27%
Susan Kramer (Lib Dem) – 13%
Nicky Gavron (Lab) – 12%

Lib Dem councillors for the Alexandra ward are calling for Haringey Council to reopen a crucial part of London’s cycle network that Haringey Council has deliberately left blocked for months. The local cycle route connecting Wood Green to the Ally Pally has been closed off by the Council, cutting off the cycle link between the two locations.

Local Lib Dem councillor, Wayne Hoban, says that in a classic Haringey cock-up – the route was barred some months ago by the council’s Property Services Department, without the knowledge and cooperation of the Environment department. The Council has stuck a ‘no entry’ notice stuck on the huge blue gate that now barricades the route [see photo].

Local cyclists say that the route should be reopened and are demanding that Haringey Council takes action. Local cyclist and user of the route, Michael Poteliakhoff, says: “The blocked route forms part of the London Cycle Network – route 54 as the network maps clearly show.Even thought the Council has admitted the route should not be closed, nothing has been done. Anybody using the official maps would find the route is blocked.”

Local Lib Dem councillor Wayne Hoban, comments: “I have asked the Council to take urgent steps to remove the gate. What is the point of a local cycle network, if the routes can be blocked by the Council in this way?”

Opposition Liberal Democrats are today revealing that Labour’s bombshell plans to increase council tax could see a dramatic increase of over 40% over the next four years in Haringey council tax bills.

Under Labour plans revealed in a paper to last week’s Overview & Security Committee of Haringey Council, the total bill for local taxpayers, including money collected by Mayor Ken Livingstone, could mean that a band D council tax, currently £983, rises to over £1,400 in 2006/2007.

Lib Dems have accused the Labour of hypocrisy following the recent council elections, when Labour boasted about freezing council tax levels while at the same time made preparations to reveal their plans for massive increases.

In its recent election manifesto, just four months ago, Haringey Labour told local voters that: “the Council’s finances are now in a sound state, with council tax having been frozen for the past three years.”

Lib Dem budget spokesman, Cllr Jonathan Bloch, says: “This is an incredible U-turn from the council, which has spent the last three years telling us they had sorted out years and years of financial mismanagement and brought the borough’s finances to heel. These huge potential increases, announced just months after the local elections, would be a crippling blow to local council tax payers. Work needs to start now to get these planned rises under control.”

How Labour’s council tax plans add up:

Note: Band D figures include the GLA precept, whose figures have been projected based on past performance.

Highgate Lib Dem councillor Neil Williams has received assurances from Transport for London that it will step in to resolve teething problems with the 234 bus service, which has just been extended to run to Highgate after a long campaign.

Following an inspection of the route this weekend, Councillor Williams wants all the timetables on the bus stops brought up to date to show clearly that the destination of the route has now been changed to the new stop of “Highgate Wood – Sussex Gardens.”

The route used to terminate at East Finchley station. However, with the extension, Highgate residents now have much better access to East Finchley and, for the first time, a direct route to the shops and services of Muswell Hill. But, initial problems meant that buses on the new service was still showing the ‘old’ headboard reading East Finchley Station, and only some of the drivers seemed aware of the new destination last weekend.

Councillor Williams comments:

“After all he hard work of the local residents, Buswatch and Lynne Featherstone in bringing about this route extension, we must get everything right.It really is a blessing for residents in this part of Highgate to be able to get such better bus access to Muswell Hill.

“TfL has assured me it will pursue the bus company, Metroline, to iron out these problems. I want to see all the new details on the timetables brought up to date at the Highgate end.”

A Highgate Lib Dem councillor has welcomed the news that Haringey Council is now willing to discuss urgent road safety measures near a primary school in his Highgate ward.Cllr Neil Williams has been told that discussions on possible new safety measures at Bishopswood Road, outside Highgate Junior School, can now go ahead. The news follows pressure from the local Lib Dem councillor and questions raised in the Council over the possible funding of an improvement scheme.

Cllr Williams says that with the onset of a new school year, safety measures are needed more than ever on the road.If improvements are not made, he says it is only a matter of time before a serious incident occurs.Bishopswood Road, which forms a crescent off Hampstead Lane, has both a junior and an infants school, as well as a heavily used sports centre. During pick up and drop off times, it is often very busy and congested. To alleviate the problem, most parents driving to Highgate Junior School operate a ‘de facto’ one-way system in the road, entering at the western end and exiting at the east.

In an incident on 29th May, a boy’s foot was crushed, breaking a bone and both he and the other children who witnessed the accident were all extremely shaken. The police and ambulance services were called.

Haringey Council has so far been resisting safety measures, saying that the site was not dangerous enough according to its own accident statistics. However, the school had itself offered to make funds available for traffic measures. Initially the Council said it didn’t know if it could proceed on that basis for ‘legal reasons’. However, following pressure and questions in the Council from Cllr Neil Williams, it has now admitted this is not a bar to discussions.

Councillor Neil Williams comments:

“I am pleased that the Council has seen sense. It appears they are willing to enter discussions about safety measures, now that we have resolved the issue over whether contributions can be made over the funding of the scheme. This gives a good basis for improving safety in an area with so many children.”

Local Liberal Democrats fear that five local post offices could close in Hornsey and Wood Green, under dramatic plans to cut services announced by the Post Office. The plans, announced by Chief Executive David Mills, envisage that a third of urban post offices would close. In Hornsey and Wood Green, this would mean the loss of five out of the 16 post offices in the area. Already this year, over 30,000 job losses have already been announced.

The Liberal Democrats blame the Labour government for the planned closures, and have launched a petition against the cuts.

Lib Dem Parliamentary spokesperson, Lynne Featherstone, comments:

“Make no mistake, if this massive closure programme goes ahead, we are certain to lose several post offices in Hornsey and Wood Green, probably as many as five. This must be stopped. We must put as much pressure as possible on Labour and the Post Office to make them change their minds.”

You can sign the Lib Dem petition online here.

Lib Dem Leader Lynne Featherstone this weekend gave the prizes at the Golf Course Allotments and Garden Association Annual Show, at the allotments off Winton Road, near Alexandra Palace. Ms Featherstone handed out awards for the best vegetables, flowers and fruit at the Sunday afternoon event

In a magnificent show, the Association received more entries than ever before, with prize categories that included a members’ vegetable section; a novice section which received a huge showing from first time entrants; a flower and fruit section; a novelty section, a magnificent children’s section and a domestic section for jams and chutneys.

Commenting, Lynne Featherstone said:

“It was a hugely enjoyable day, a magnificent show and a heart-warming display of community spirit, with people from all walks of life joined in their mutual interest. The allotments are a wonderful benefit to people and the local environment. I could certainly do with taking this up myself as the perfect stress buster!”