Post Office boss Richard Barker promised local MP Lynne Featherstone more staff and refurbished Post Offices last Thursdaywhen she presented the results of a local waiting-time survey. Wood Green residents, who according to the survey have to queue for up to an hour to get their stamps, will soon see three more members of staff at the Wood Green Post Office.

Efforts will also be made to help elderly and disabled residents after the survey showed they found it hard to stand and queue. Post Office bosses gave cast-iron promises that as many chairs as possible would be put into the Crown Post Offices in Wood Green, Crouch End and Muswell Hill when they are refurbished in the summer.

Lynne Featherstone’s survey showed that residents have to queue for an average of 12 minutes at Post Offices in and around Hornsey and Wood Green. Residents using Crown Post Offices at Wood Green and Muswell Hill have experienced hour long queues and had average waiting times of 27 and 18 minutes respectively.

Lynne Featherstone commented:

“We already knew that waiting times at the Post Offices had risen as a result of last summer’s closures, but it was very useful to be able to present the Post Office manager with real numbers to show him just how bad it is. And it works, because he gave promises that will go some way towards making the situation a bit better.

“Queues at Wood Green are especially bad, and at least now they are getting some more staff.

“The other issue that was especially clear from the survey was that many elderly residents simply don’t go to the shops, as they can’t sit down and queue. I will certainly hold Mr Barker to his promise to deliver those chairs.

“I wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who took the time to count their waiting times and send them on to me.

“But I’m not going to give up here- the fight for more local post offices continues, watch this space!”

Local Liberal Democrat councillor Nigel Scott has demanded action from Haringey Council bosses after spotting slapdash and inconsistent repairs to bus stops signs near Alexandra Palace Station.

Road repairs at one stop, nearest the station, have been completed but a yellow bus stop sign has not been repainted; at the second stop, the sign has been repainted but only on the repaired piece of road – leaving the rest of the worn sign unpainted.

Nigel Scott has written to demand that Haringey Council ensures that when contractors repair roads they repaint bus stop signs and repaint the rest of the sign too, if needed.

Cllr Nigel Scott (Alexandra ward) comments:

“It is just not good enough that after repairs are done to roads bus stops signs are not repainted or contractors only paint the area they have repaired.

“Surely Haringey Council can ensure the whole sign is repainted when repairs are done to bus stops.”

Lynne Featherstone MP, adds:

“It is ludicrous that Haringey Council cannot get their contractors to repaint signs when repairs are done. It is even worse when they paint part of a sign only on the repair they have completed, and just leave the rest.”

Having spent ten years in a one-bedroom larvae infested flat with a growing family, mother of two – Bonnie Tarpey-Wronski – recently got the keys to a beautiful new-build thanks to years of repeated intervention by her local MP, Lynne Featherstone.

Lynne Featherstone, who has been fighting Haringey Council for the family’s right to move from temporary to permanent social housing for over three years, visited the family last year to see for herself the state of the infested flat. Last week, the Liberal Democrat MP saw the family again, this time at the new three-storey house in Muswell Hill.

Lynne Featherstone commented:

“I’m just over the moon to see Bonnie and her family so happy and settled in. She has been through hell, living as a family of five in a crammed one-bedroom house, with her kids developing asthma from the mould.

“It really has been a long journey from a house of horror to dream home. I just wish every story could have the same happy ending.”

Bonnie Tarpey-Wronski adds:

“I’m just so happy. Lynne has been great and helped us get not only what we wanted, but much more. My kids sleep well at night now and they have the space and the peace to study and create a better future for themselves.”

The time taken by Haringey Council to help residents in Crouch End besieged by parking problems has been branded “unacceptable” by local Liberal Democrats. This week’s announcement of plans for two new controlled parking zones (CPZ) in Crouch End were welcomed but Liberal Democrats have highlighted that residents first raised the issue with Haringey Council in Summer 2007 – eighteen months ago.

Cllr Lyn Weber, Crouch End, comments:

“This has been a tortuous process. It took Haringey Council many months to even realise that there was a parking problem in Crouch End and when they did recognise that action was needed, it took the best part of a year to make any progress at all. Residents were pleading with Haringey Council to take action.

“Whilst help for local residents is welcome, leaving residents in parking limbo for seventeen months is unacceptable. The amount of stress it has caused is incalculable.

“This is not the end of the road for this issue. There are many worried residents who have indicated that they too may want a parking review.It is vital that the effects of the new CPZs are closely monitored. Haringey Council must listen and respond to what residents have to say about the roads in their area.”

Lynne Featherstone MP, adds:

“It was back in the summer of 2007 when residents in Crouch End were besieged by parking chaos. It is astonishing how Haringey Council are unable to act quickly to help their residents. Any new parking measure should be fully consulted, but there can be no excuse for the snail pace of dealing with this problem.”

Note: Crouch End CPZ A will be operational 10am – noon and Crouch End CPZ B will be operational 2pm – 4pm.

Hornsey residents who endured months of parking misery due to a Haringey Council mess-up have now finally been given new parking permits after local MP Lynne Featherstone demanded that decisions taken by Haringey Council were investigated.

After having had parking permits for two years, Westpoint apartment residents on Clarendon Road , N8 were suddenly told in September last year that that they weren’t allowed to renew their permits because their flats were built as part of a car-free development.

After forceful intervention by Liberal Democrat MP Lynne Featherstone, Haringey Parking Services reviewed the 2003 planning application and found that the car-free development suggestion was never included in the final plans. It was found that the permit refusal was completely unfounded and Parking Services have now started issuing permits again.

Lynne Featherstone MP comments:

“This is a sorry saga, but one we unfortunately see too often. Westpoint apartment residents have had to endure months of parking hell, because Haringey Council’s left hand didn’t know what the right hand was doing.”

Rosa Hernando, Chair of Westpoint Residents Association, adds:

“The past few months have been so stressful. I bought the flat in good faith, with parking, and have later found out that if Haringey Council had taken away the parking permits, it would have lost £15,000 in value.

“I’m so happy that we have finally got this matter cleared up. We were determined not to allow the council to make us pay for their mistake”.

Haringey’s residents should have greater control over how to improve their community – this was the message spearheaded by Liberal Democrat councillors at Monday’s Full Council meeting. A Liberal Democrat motion was passed unanimously calling for Haringey Council to ‘opt in’ and use the powers given in the Sustainable Communities Act, which seeks to enable local authorities to improve the local economy, protect the environment, promote social inclusion, and increase civic and political activity.

Once a council has opted in, local residents are able to take part in citizen’s panels and influence what proposals are put forward to central government to improve their area. The deadline for Local Authorities to submit their opt in proposals is 31st July 2009. Liberal Democrats have urged Haringey Council to submit their proposals by this date and not wait for the next round.

Key actions shown in the Sustainable Communities Act are:

·Local citizens’ panel created to agree community proposals with the Council.
·Bottom-up decision making – local residents make decisions with local authorities to produce proposals. Central government has a legal duty to co-operate and reach agreement on the proposals.
·Transfer and functions and funding to local control – communities can ask for the transfer of existing centrally-controlled funding and functions to local control.
·Councils can act together to lobby government for action on issues using the Act.

Cllr Nigel Scott, who proposed the Liberal Democrat motion, comments:

“It was pleasing to see support for this proposal from both groups on Haringey Council but now we have agreement, I urge Haringey to opt in now.Over fifty councils in England and Wales have opted in already and they are starting to plan for and achieve benefits for their residents.Talking about opting in is not enough – we need to get a move on.”

Lynne Featherstone MP adds:

“This Act offers huge potential to bring real power into the hands of our local community.I have no doubt that local residents will be better served by decisions made in our town hall rather than the dusty corridors of Whitehall.

“I very much hope Haringey Council will embrace the possibility of these powers with the same spirit and enthusiasm with which my Liberal Democrat councillor colleagues have proposed it.”

Haringey Council should give residents a £3 million boost next year by freezing Council Tax say local Liberal Democrats.

At the launch of their ten-point plan to help residents and business during the recession, Cllr Robert Gorrie and Lynne Featherstone MP said that the Labour-run council should be doing more to help people at this difficult time without cutting front-line services.

The Liberal Democrat proposals include easing the burden on residents by freezing Council Tax in 2009, helping small businesses by cutting the time Haringey Council takes to pay invoices and the development of an apprentice programme within Haringey Council to help local people find employment.

Cllr Robert Gorrie, Liberal Democrat leader, comments:

“We all know that many local people and businesses are finding it difficult to cope in the current economic climate.

“Haringey Council should be doing much more to help residents and local companies and we urge them to adopt the concrete proposals we have set out today.

“Proposals such as freezing Council Tax and paying suppliers faster will provide real pounds in the pockets of people and companies.”

Lynne Featherstone, MP for Hornsey and Wood Green adds:

“Haringey Council are failing to help residents in Haringey struggling against the effects of the recession.

“Our plan shows where Labour is lacking – real action for local residents.”

The ten point plan

1. Provide employment: establish clear council objectives for the proportion Haringey residents should make up of council staff (it is currently just 36%, compared with 60% in schools) and also of the workforce of suppliers to Haringey Council working on major projects such as Decent Homes and Building Schools for the Future.
2. Financial support: no Council Tax increase for 2009/10 – which would put more than £3m back into the pockets of Haringey residents.
3. Advice and training: establish a Haringey Skills Centre to focus on apprenticeships, retraining and long term worklessness. Using existing facilities and by prioritising the work of existing staff, increase the number of apprentices taken on by Haringey Council, encourage Homes for Haringey to extend their scheme and work with major suppliers to extend the apprentice schemes available to staff working on Haringey projects.
4. Help business: commit Haringey Council to a 10% increase in the proportion of council expenditure spent with Haringey based businesses. This would be worth many millions of pounds to the local economy. Review all procurement and supplier selection to ensure no inbuilt bias to larger suppliers and include the multiplier effect of local expenditure on the local economy when evaluating competing bids for value for money.
5. Business support: provide council support for “shop local” campaigns. Identify ways to provide free parking on specific evenings or weekends in the main shopping areas of Haringey. Help introduce loyalty card schemes in areas such as Muswell Hill and Wood Green using the Crouch End model.
6. Financial support for businesses: cut the time to pay invoices to Haringey’s small businesses from 30 to 10 days to help small firms improve cash flow.
7. Business advice: encourage small business rate relief by targeting those businesses currently not claiming.
8. Engagement: ask residents and business what help they need. Different communities and sectors of business will need different kinds of help and have different needs. Use Area Assemblies and use established business links to develop priorities for individual communities and business sectors.
9. Accountability: establish clear political and officer accountability for the delivery of actions, publish that accountability and review progress with the different communities and business sectors on a regular basis.
10. Leadership: give the Enterprise Partnership Board something real to do by making this existing cross agency body, already led by Haringey Council, responsible for co-ordinating and leading the response of the various agencies, such as the Citizens Advice Bureau and Jobcentre Plus, involved in supporting residents and business through the recession.