Highgate’s Lib Dem councillors have welcomed the clearance by the owner of the former ‘Pocket Park’ site on the corner of Southwood Avenue and Archway Road.

The site, which had been left to overgrow and was becoming a haven for dumping and rats, has finally been cleared this weekend. The move follows action from the Council and pressure from Highgate’s Lib Dem councillors. A Tree Replacement Order for the replacement of the seven mature trees felled several years ago has also been agreed as a result of pressure from the Tree Trust for Haringey.

The Lib Dems now want Haringey council to issue a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) to regain control of the site and prevent any future attempts to build on the property.

Lib Dem councillor Bob Hare comments:

“In the long running battle over the future of this site, at least it has now been cleared, and we look forward to the planting of the trees. However, we will continue to press Haringey to regain control of this site.

“We will work with others in the community to ensure that it is restored to proper public use, as a much-needed green lung and local facility. The site should never have been sold to a private developer in the first place, and we will continue to tackle this underlying root cause of the problems.”

A Lib Dem councillor has labelled as “disgraceful” the state of the public toilets in the children’s playground at Alexandra Palace. Lib Dem Wayne Hoban, who represents Alexandra Ward, is demanding an urgent clean up of the loos in the children’s play area, which he says are a health hazard and an eyesore.

The filthy toilets are covered in grime and graffiti, appear to be rarely cleaned and are generally in a state of disrepair. At one point last week, the male toilet was closed, in addition to the male and female toilets situated by the boating lake nearby.

Lib Dem councillor Wayne Hoban, comments:

“I have rarely seen a public facility in such a disgusting state as these public toilets, and urgent action must be taken. They are a danger to the public.This is yet another example of Labour-run Haringey’s very poor record on maintaining public facilities. The toilets need to be properly cleaned, and the problems sorted out.”

Liberal Democrat councillors have welcomed news the proper signs will be going up along the new bus lane in Priory Road.

The Lib Dems say the Council’s failure to put up proper signs means cars are parking on the bus route, causing unnecessary delays and problems with the new system.

Haringey Council has told the Lib Dems that contractors initially made wrong signs for the route, which leads on to Hornsey High Street, connecting Muswell Hill with Wood Green. The Council has now ordered new signs, which will appear in the next couple of weeks.

Lib Dem Councillor Ross Laird, who represents the area on the Council, comments:

“I wish the Council had got it right first time, but at least we now have the assurance that they will put in proper signs. These signs will improve the operation of the bus route and will be good news for drivers who will be getting clearer information.”

Local Lib Dem councillors have launched a summer clean-up blitz in Muswell Hill. The party says the action was needed to sort out a series of problems that Labour-run Haringey Council has left unresolved for many months.

Now, action has finally been promised, and Lib Dem councillor Ross Laird says that his party will see that the work is followed through.

Persistent problems in Muswell Hill include:

• Broken and missing coping on wall in front of St George’s Hall, at the junction
• Cranley Gardens and Park Road – the Lib Dems have been calling for action for over a year,
• and the Council has finally agreed to fix within a fortnight.
• Retaining walls for flowerbeds at foot of Muswell Hill – Lib Dems have been calling for
• action for over a year, and the council has finally agreed to fix within a fortnight.
• Pavement floods at corner of Muswell Hill Broadway & Queens Avenue – the water is regularly over ankle deep, forcing pedestrians to wade through. One unfortunate person fell into a hole hidden by the floods in April. The Council has agreed to replace solid cover over a road gully with a grid to improve drainage and will also look at more regular cleaning of the gully.

Muswell Hill Lib Dem councillor Jonathan Bloch comments: “We intend to keep Haringey to its promise of action on those problems. A summer clear up of these issues was sorely needed.”

Local residents in Crouch End have welcomed the removal of a dumped length of carpet that had been left sitting opposite the Maynard Arms Pub on Park Road for over two years.

One residents has written to the local Lib Dem councillor Lynne Featherstone to say:

“Very pleased to tell you that the old lump of carpet that rested opposite the Maynard Public House for over two years HAS GONE!We all miss it now but are grateful for your help.”

Lib Dem councillor Ross Laird comments:

“At last the infamous piece of carpet has finally been cleared up – and I don’t think it will be too badly missed! I suppose the lesson is no matter how long it takes, never give up trying to get something cleared. However, the Park Road carpet has stretched that to the limit.”

Local Lib Dems have called for urgent action to increase the number of patients at dentists, following new figures revealed by the Liberal Democrat Health team in Parliament showing that the number of children registered by the local health authority has fallen from 59% to 53% since Labour came to power.The percentage of adults registered in the area has also fallen, from 43% to just 36% over the same period.

On top of these poor figures, research released by the Lib Dems nationally shows that value for money is worse under the Government’s scheme of dental treatment centres compared to the existing system. The average cost for every course of treatment provided by the new scheme is over three times as much as that provided by dentists working in the traditional system. Lib Dems criticised the scheme as being a waste of money, often requiring patients to travel further and meaning that illnesses are not picked up early or prevented.

Ross Laird, Lib Dem Deputy Leader, comments:

“These are very disappointing figures. In reality, Labour’s pledge that all patients would have access to dentistry just isn’t there, and the local figures are worse than average.Instead of reversing the crisis created by the Tories, things have just got worse under Labour.”

Lib Dem councillors in Muswell Hill are consulting residents over limited measures to curb speeding in a notorious danger spot in the area. While Haringey Council has consistently refused to introduce a comprehensive scheme of traffic calming in Cranley Gardens, local councillor Jonathan Bloch and his colleagues are asking local residents for their views on a number of low-cost initiatives that the Council has finally agreed to support.

These include painting a “Give Way” sign on the road at the corner of Cranley Gardens and Muswell Hill Road. This will hopefully stop cars before they take the corner, making crossing the road safer. More warning markings urging traffic to slow to a safe speed will also be placed in the area.

The Lib Dems are also asking the council to look at some further steps, including the possibilities of a new pedestrian crossing half way up the road, a zebra crossing on the corner of Woodside Avenue and Muswell Hill Road, which could help slow speeding traffic carrying on into Cranley Gardens, and a zebra crossing on Cranley Gardens at the Park Road end.

Local Lib Dem councillor Jonathan Bloch comments:

“Speeding traffic is one of the most common issues raised by residents of the street with myself and fellow councillors Ross Laird and Lynne Featherstone. We are very interested to hear the views of local people on these possible measures, and would urge residents to reply to our door-to-door survey, or contact us at speeding@lynnefeatherstone.org.”

A local councillor has welcomed the imminent end of a long campaign to reverse the controversial ‘no left turn’ from the Archway Road into the Muswell Hill Road. Ross Laird, Lib Dem councillor for Muswell Hill, made the issue a key issue of the by-election campaign that brought him on to Haringey Council in May 2000.And two and a half years later, he says it is about time the saga was brought to an end.

The works, undertaken by Transport for London, have been progressing over the summer and should be completed by the end of August.

Cllr Ross Laird comments:

“After all this time, it’s good to see that common sense is prevailing, and that left turning into Muswell Hill Road is being restored. The change was a nonsense, and it will be a relief to see the back of it.”

A key Council committee has urged Haringey Council to proceed with caution over the Labour Council’sattempts to sell off the Coldfall Lodge site to the highest bidder. Lib Dem councillors had triggered Haringey Council’s new ‘call in procedure,’ which was used for the first time at a meeting on the issue.

Though the committee did not stop the sale going ahead in principle, it accepted the need for safeguards, and made three recommendations to the Council:

1. Issue a clear brief with the sale, including restrictive clauses to ensure that the adjoining historic woodland is protected.
2. Payments to Church Commissioners regarding the sale to be made only if it is proved beyond doubt that these are necessary.
3. Unambiguous new guidelines on the Council’s obligation to consult on such matters

Lib Dem councillor for Fortis Green, Steve Gilbert, comments:

“I am pleased that the Overview & Scrutiny Committee has made these sensible recommendations. However, it remains to be seen if they will be followed by the Labour Executive, who seemed sceptical over the need for some of them.

“We will be watching this issue closely, and will continue to press for safeguards as this matter moves forward.And local residents who were not consulted on this sale, must have their say on such matters in future.”

Commenting on reports in The Times newspaper that Haringey Council has been slow to check the criminal records of teachers, as required by law, Lib Dem Education spokesperson Cllr Ross Laird said:

“This is worrying. It could be that the Council, in its bid to fill teacher vacancies, has let some teachers slip through the net, but there is no excuse for compromising the safety of the borough’s children.”

Note:

Article from The Times, 21 August 2002:

Councils and local education authorities are taking emergency measures after it emerged that some have been slow to check criminal records as required by law.

The system of checking teachers’ backgrounds has been dogged by difficulties since the Criminal Records Bureau was set up in March. The government agency, meant to provide fast information on pastconvictions for crimes such as child abuse, now has a backlog of 60,000 cases, a figure the Home Office denies.

In the rush to recruit teachers, teaching assistants and other people to work in schools, some organisations have overlooked the paperwork which would reveal a criminal past, while others have had to employ teaching staff without the full checks.

At least two education bodies in London are urgently reviewing their files to ensure that those who may have slipped through the system are chased up. The Learning Trust, which took over supervision of education in Hackney from the council on August 1, has announced a major review of its files of employees who work with children.

Haringey is also urgently chasing an unknown number of teachers and teaching staff who have not returned forms needed to process their applications for a police check. Until the arrest of Mr Huntley as a suspect brought home the urgency of the situation, these had simply been overlooked, a council spokesman said.

The problem is not limited to London, however. Rotherham and Barnsley have been forced to employ teaching and nursery staff without the full checks in order to fill staff vacancies, while Islington, Surrey, Salford and North Yorkshire are applying for criminal record checks when staff are already employed.