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.

Muswell Hill Lib Dem councillors are asking residents in St James’s Lane and Hillfield Park for their views about the current state of parking problems in the area. The two roads have a large number of parking problems. Local Lib Dem councillors are now seeking information about residents’ views and whether they have witnessed many crashes and bumps.

Cllr Jonathan Bloch said:

“Parking in and around Muswell Hill is an issue raised by many residents, particularly on Hillfield Park and St James’s Lane, where there is a very large volume of traffic on difficult roads, with a lot of parking problems. We want to know what local residents think could be done to solve the parking issues and cut down the number of accidents.”

Cllr Ross Laird added:

“The Marks and Spencer car park is very heavily used. We want to make sure that people can enter and leave the car park in the safest possible way. It is equally important that we look after the interests of local residents and ensure they can park safely.”

If you would like a copy of the survery, please email survey@lynnefeatherstone.org, including your name and full postal address.

Lib Dem councillors have triggered Haringey Council’s new ‘call in procedure’ in an attempt to halt Haringey Labour’s controversial attempt to sell-off Coldfall Lodge in Muswell Hill. Lib Dem Councillor Stephen Gilbert says the Labour-run council has taken the decision to dispose of the Lodge to the highest bidder – without the necessary safeguards to protect the area and residents from intrusive development.

The Lodge, situated on the edge of an historic woodland, is now a run-down building in Creighton Avenue, N10, which has been poorly looked after by Haringey. The Lib Dems say the Council’s behaviour raises many questions over the future of the site. They will be demanding answers at next week’s emergency meeting of the Council’s new ‘Overview and Scrutiny’ Committee, which has been called to consider the issue on Tuesday, 20 August.The Lib Dems want to know who was consulted on the sell-off plans and how much of the land is affected.

Cllr Stephen Gilbert comments: “The decision to sell the lodge was taken without proper consultation with community groups or an exploration of other ways to bring the site back into use. I am very concerned about the lack of safeguards from the Council to ensure the any development on the site is appropriate. I will be asking the Scrutiny Committee to force the Council to start again on this one. Along with my colleague Lynne Featherstone I am also consulting residents to see what future they would like for the site.”

A Lib Dem councillor has won the backing of residents to hold a meeting to discuss severe problems in a Haringey housing development. Cllr Ross Laird, who represents Muswell Hill, has been working with residents of Connaught House, N10, over the severe problems of dumped rubbish, potholes, abandoned cars and crime in the area.

Cllr Ross Laird, Lib Dem Councillor for Muswell Hill, has now won backing from local residents in Connaught House, Connaught Gardens, to set up an initial meeting to discuss their concerns with Housing 21, the Metropolitan Police and Haringey Council. Cllr Laird has already received warm backing for the meeting from Housing 21 officials who said they would support the creation of a residents’ association. Cllr Laird has also written a letter to the Metropolitan Police calling for their involvement and support, and says the estate has been starved of necessary attention and funds for too long.

Cllr Laird said: “I welcome the enthusiasm that some residents in Connaught Gardens, and Connaught House in particular, have shown for the idea of a residents’ meeting to sort out the problems in the area. I will hopefully be holding a meeting some time in September with residents to discuss where we go from here and will continue to work with my colleague Lynne Featherstone to improve the area. I warmly welcome the active engagement of Housing 21 and Haringey Council officers in the process so far, particularly Housing 21’s emphatic support for the creation of a residents’ association.”

Highgate’s Lib Dem councillors have welcomed the news that Haringey is to consult local residents on the introduction of recycling facilities at the top of the Archway Road. The move follows pressure from Lib Dem councillors Neil Williams, Melanie Simpson and Bob Hare to improve Highgate’s recycling facilities.However, the Liberal Democrats are calling for further action to increase Haringey’s very low recycling levels.

The Lib Dems had asked for the site, as local residents in the area currently have to travel to East Finchley to dispose of glass bottles and other recyclables. The new site may not be suitable for waste paper recycling, however, due to the proximity of the local petrol station. The Lib Dems therefore are asking the Council to investigate installing a special steel paper container which would carry a much lower fire risk.

Highgate Lib Dem councillor Bob Hare comments:

“I welcome this news as first step in improving recycling facilities in this part of Highgate. We have submitted a detailed summary of our own concerns and will be asking local residents what they think of the current proposals.”

Liberal Democrat leader Lynne Featherstone comments:

“We will also be keeping up the pressure to ensure that there is door-to-door collection, as this is the only way to significantly boost Haringey’s recycling rate in the long term.”

Haringey’s embattled Labour party has been dealt another severe blow today, as a prominent local member has announced he is leaving the party and joining the opposition Liberal Democrats. Francis Oparaji, a senior and long standing Labour member and a prominent community campaigner in the Finsbury Park area, has been welcomed into the party by Ross Laird, the Lib Dems’ Deputy Leader.

Dr Oparaji says he has “no regrets” about putting the local Labour party behind him, and is looking forward to working with Lynne Featherstone and the local Lib Dems. His loss will be a huge blow to Haringey Labour.He has been a long-standing member of the local Labour party, and has sat on the General Committee for the Hornsey and Wood Green Parliamentary Constituency. In the local community, he is Vice Chair of the Finsbury Park Partnership, and also sits on the Finsbury Park Community Forum, where he has a close involvement with black and ethnic minority issues.

Commenting on his decision to join the Lib Dems, Francis Oparaji says:”I am delighted and relieved that I have now put Haringey Labour behind me and joined the Liberal Democrats. Lynne Featherstone and her local team have been doing an excellent job exposing the failings of the local Labour council. I will continue my work in the community in Stroud Green and look forward to working with the Lib Dems in the future.”

Lib Dem Deputy Leader Ross Laird, says: “I warmly welcome Francis to the Lib Dems. I have been impressed with his local work and commitment to the community. He is undoubtedly fed up with Labour’s failures and infighting, and he will find a welcome home with us.”

Having just been forced to find an additional £2 million due to underinvestment in social services, Haringey Council is now also having to find another £2.7 million to allow urgent repairs to secondary schools go ahead.

The extra money, which the Labour Council could have foreseen is needed for new furniture, IT and the costs of removing furnishings to let the maintenance work go ahead. The Lib Dems say that the matter raises serious questions over the Council’s ability to manage large contracts with the private sector.

Cllr Ross Laird, Lib Dem Education Spokesman said:

“Yet again, there are serious concerns over both the ability of a council such as Haringey to manage such large contracts and whether PFI really represents anything close to the value for money it proclaims.

“Time and again the Council is needing more cash, but it seems unbelievable that these things were not costed and accounted for in the first instance. The PFI deal has caused all sorts of problems so far and brought few benefits to anyone. It raises serious concerns over the Council’s financial competence, contractual management and risk management procedures.”