To aid the battle to spruce up Wood Green High Road, Liberal Democrat MP Lynne Featherstone recently joined forceswith a residents’ alliance committed to regenerating the area.

The Hornsey and Wood Green MP recently met up with Wood Green resident Tammy Palmer who, after getting fed up with the state of the High Road, decided to take matters into her own hands to help improve the state of the shopping area.

Through twitter and social networking, Tammy grew a network of over 80 local people committed to the cause. MP Lynne met up with the enthusiastic resident at the newly opened Karamel Café in the Chocolate Factory, to see how she could help.

The ‘I Love Wood Green’ group already has a range of ideas, including using empty shops as pop-up shops for local produce and artwork, guerrilla gardening outside Wood Green Library, and a food recycling cafe inside. The Hornsey and Wood Green MP will now be supporting the cause with advice, help and contacts

Lynne Featherstone MP comments:

“Tammy is doing a great job setting up this community alliance. She is talented and hungry to make a difference, and an excellent example of why I love community activism. There are so many people out there who want to make a difference, but sometimes it takes someone like Tammy – with a vision and drive – to kick-start the work.

“I am a very strong supporter of the ‘I love Wood Green’ campaign. The area needs some TLC, and I will certainly be there to support Tammy in her work to make Wood Green High Road an exciting place to visit and live.

“If you want to join the I Love Wood Green Group, just get in touch with me and I’ll pass your details on.”

Tammy Palmer adds:

“I am really passionate about the local community and making Wood Green High Road as vibrant as possible – at the moment what it offers in terms of outlets isn’t really representative of the many independent retailers and communities that live locally.

“Wood Green has a lot to offer; there is a great community spirit and a lot of interesting and exciting cultural and community projects taking place already. This project is about bringing the community together and us all feeling very proud of where we live.

“It’s simply about loving Wood Green.”

Because of his commitment to the environment and the local community, Lynne Featherstone MP recently nominated Budgens boss Andrew Thornton to be an Olympic torchbearer.

The Hornsey and Wood Green MP put forward the supermarket boss for the prestigious job of carrying the Olympic Torch in Haringey on its way to the Olympic Park, because of his strong green credentials and real commitment to the

Crouch End community.

Thornton’s Budgens has launched a number of initiatives to help make the local area greener, including the ‘pennies for plastic’ scheme, sourcing local produce including growing the supermarket’s own greens on the roof of the shop, and

recycling 94% of the shop’s waste. The Broadway shop has also recently launched a community hub, available for local charities to use as a platform to meet local residents.

Residents who want to nominate a Haringey hero for the prestigious job, can still do so through Lloyds bank, by going to http://www.lloydstsblondon2012.co.uk/carrytheflame.

Lynne Featherstone MP comments:

“Andrew really is a Haringey Hero – he is truly committed to being green and helping Crouch Enders do the same, by

cutting the number of plastic bags used in the area and sourcing local produce. And you don’t get much more local than buying ‘food from the sky’; greens grown on the roof of the shop!

“Andrew is a great role model, and that’s why I think he deserves the honour of carrying the Olympic torch in Haringey. But if you have your own hero here in Haringey who you think deserve the job, there is still time to nominate. But don’t delay – time is running out!”

To celebrate the special role that the Londis shop in Stroud Green plays in the local community, Lynne

Featherstone MP, on Friday, presented the owner, Bimal Patel, with a Gold Award for Community Retailing.

The Ferme Park Road shop was awarded the My Shop is Your Shop (MSYS) award because of its prominence in the Stroud Green community and the exceptional standard of service provided to local people. The Federation of Wholesale Distributors, which runs the MSYS campaign to support the fantastic work of small independent retai

lers, awarded Mr Patel’s shop Gold for constantly working to improve and develop its service.

Lynne Featherstone MP comments:

“Small local shops play an invaluable role in the local community, and the Londis shop on Ferme Park Road is an outstanding example of that. They constantly strive to improve their range of products and the standard of customer service, to always be at the top of their game. And there’s no doubt, they have succeeded.

“The Londis shop is a real asset to Stroud Green, and I’m delighted that they are receiving national recognition for the excellent work they do.”

Mr Bimal Patel, owner of the Londis store adds:

“Being a small business owner can often be difficult, especially when competing with the big supermarkets. My team and I work really hard to provide outstanding customer service to Stroud Green residents, and I am so proud to have our work recognised with a My Shop is Your Shop Award.

“We always strive to offer an excellent range of products and to serve local people. At the request of customers, we will soon be opening a coffee shop in the store, something that currently is missing on this parade of shops.”

James Bielby of the Federation of Wholesale Distributors, which organises the My Shop is Your Shop campaign, adds:

“Stores like this play to their strengths and use their unique connection with their customers to provide a level of community service which the national chains are not able to match; that’s what makes them such an asset to their neighbourhoods.”

Labour’s support of unsuitable plans for a waste site and lorry park at Pinkham Way are revealed today in a damning response from local Liberal Democrats to the North London Waste Plan and in a motion which will be debated at the next Full Council meeting.

Cllr Juliet Solomon has revealed in her response to the consultation on the waste plan that Haringey Council’s Labour administration facilitated the progress of the Pinkham Way development by;

1. Changing the designation of the land from employment to industrial use in November 2010 without full consultation of local residents on the effect of the change. Furthermore, in a motion to the Full Council meeting on 18th July 2011, Liberal Democrats highlight that Labour members on the North London Waste Authority

2. Failed to object formally to the proposals to build a waste facility and depot for Barnet’s waste lorries.

3. The third failure by Labour is the lack of communication by the Council to its residents on the proposals for Pinkham Way which have been progressing for many years.

Liberal Democrats, including Lynne Featherstone, who have spearheaded a campaign against the proposals at Pinkham Way will now call on the Council to write to the Chief Executive of the NLWA to suggest that the plans are withdrawn.

Cllr Juliet Solomon (Alexandra Ward) comments:

“Labour has failed to put residents at the heart of this decision. The secrecy behind the change of land-use last year, the fact that Labour failed to stand up for Haringey in the North London Waste Authority and the lack of communication with local residents are three failures that gave the green light to the Pinkham Way development. Labour must be held to account for their failures.

“The way in which the Pinkham Way plans have dictated the whole North London Waste Plan rather than the plan shaping individual projects seems to be a totally unprincipled way of dealing with planning issues and flies in the face of good practice.

“I hope that the NLWA, the Council and Labour members take note and take action now.”

Lynne Featherstone MP, added:

“I am appalled to find that Labour has so fundamentally failed to stand up for local residents, and given the green light to this development that will blight the area around Pinkham Way and negatively affect thousands of local residents – residents they should represent, not ignore.”

To see firsthand how young people and businesses in Hornsey and Wood Green are reaping the benefits from the Apprenticeship programme, Lynne Featherstone MP recently met with two young girls who are working at Queenswood GP practice in Crouch End.

Bianca Pierre and Louise Lever, who are doing a Business Administration Apprenticeship through the College for Haringey, Enfield and North East London, are two of the 325,000 people who have benefited from the government investing £150 m in Apprenticeships for the over 16s.

Bianca, who has been with the Hornsey Central GP practice for 8 months, has just been offered a permanent position as a result of her hard work. Louise, who has been with the GP practice since June, is already gaining essential people and organisation skills, that will make her well-placed for her future job hunt.

The Apprenticeship programme gives young people who are not pursuing an academic route the chance to develop their skills in the workplace and start their future careers, and take that all-essential first step on to the work ladder.

Lynne Featherstone MP comments:

“I’m so delighted to see how both Bianca and Louise, and the GP practice, have benefitted from the apprenticeship programme.

“It’s clear that both girls have gained that all-essential work experience needed for a successful future career. Indeed Bianca’s Apprenticeship has gone so well that Queenswood has decided to keep her on!

“As far as Queenswood goes, it’s clear that getting the chance to train both girls to suit their operational needs has been invaluable. A lot of businesses actually find that apprenticeships help them to grow their business.

“I’m really proud that the government has invested so heavily in Apprenticeships. The programme offers a fantastic and rewarding route into employment, and they are set to really benefit the 500 Haringey residents who are currently enrolled.”

To help launch the new ‘community hub’ at Budgens supermarket, Lynne Featherstone MP held her weekly advice surgery at the Crouch End shop on Friday.

The hub, located in the heart of the store, aims to bring charities and community representatives close to people by giving them a space to meet with residents, share ideas and help with problems. The Liberal Democrat MP, who normally holds a weekly advice surgery at either Wood Green or Hornsey Library, this week had a steady flow of residents keen to get help with a range of community or personal problems.

The Hornsey and Wood Green MP has one of the UK’s busiest constituency offices, having dealt with close to 40,000 constituency queries since becoming an MP in 2005.

Any Hornsey and Wood Green resident who wants to raise an issue with Lynne or book an appointment, should either email on lynne@lynnefeatherstone.org or call the office on 020 8340 5459.

Lynne Featherstone MP comments:

“Budgens has always been a bit of a revolutionary shop, championing local green work, be it by providing local produce or aiming to clear Crouch End of plastic bags.

“The new community hub is right up that street. Shoppers here today could kill two birds with one stone, getting their weekly shop done, and getting help with that nagging local issue that they haven’t had time to raise with me yet.

“And anyone who has an issue they want to raise with me, don’t hesitate to call or email – I’m always happy to help!”