Public meeting demanded for new concrete factory application

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Haringey Liberal Democrats have demanded a public meeting for local residents to have their say on a new planning application for the concrete factory in Cranford Way, N8.

London Concrete was given planning permission to build the concrete factory on appeal in June 2006 despite significant opposition from local residents and councillors. However the planning inspector imposed a significant number of conditions on the permission.

The new application appears to make modifications to conform to these conditions.

Details of the new application can be found on the Haringey Council website planning portal under application number HGY/2008/1574

Stroud Green Liberal Democrat Councillor Ed Butcher comments:

“Our community was devastated by the planning inspector’s decision to give the go ahead to this hideous development, but there was a tiny glimmer of hope in the conditions he imposed that might reduce the impact.

“I find it very disappointing that a new application has been lodged slap-bang in the middle of summer when many residents are away.As local councillors, we will do our utmost to make sure as many people are made aware as possible.”

Local MP Lynne Featherstone adds:

“People who are going to be affected should now have a right publicly to scrutinise these new plans to make sure they conform 100 per cent to all the requirements imposed by the planning inspector.

“The views of local people were completely ignored when the original permission was finally granted.Now is the chance to give them some power back, in making sure that what is built is done to the letter of the planning permission given.”

Haringey residents to face inflation busting rent rises

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Tenants in Haringey’s Council owned properties are set to be hit by a series of inflation busting rent increases over the next three years.

Information revealed by the Liberal Democrats shows that average rents are set to increase by nearly 16% from £78.25 to £90.58 by 2011. Local Liberal Democrats have criticised HaringeyCouncil for adding yet more financial misery to cash-strapped residents crippled by rising food and energy prices and reeling from an unprecedented 6% hike in council rents this year.

Cllr Laura Edge, Liberal Democrat Housing Spokesperson, commented:

“This inflation busting increase will hit some of the poorest residents of our borough hard.They are already stretched by the unprecedented 6.5% increase this year and with the effects of the credit crunch looming large this is the last thing our tenants will want to hear.”

Hornsey & Wood Green Liberal Democrat MP, Lynne Featherstone, added:

“The Labour run council has clearly lost touch with the needs of local residents and the problems they face. They should be thinking of ways to help people through this difficult financial period rather than how to squeeze more cash from hard-pressed families.”

Helping people back into work

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Once again visited Working Links – a group which takes referrals from the Job Centre of those who have had their time on Job Seekers Allowance with no success in getting a job. Working Links works with them through to employment and thereafter for some weeks to help them stay in the job.

Mostly the jobs are with local employers and they have a pretty good success rate. Currently success is counted as staying in the job for thirteen weeks – but that is soon changing to six months which will be even more challenging. If you remember that some of those that Working Links works with are long time unemployed and sometimes can believe that they are actually unemployable – you can see how challenging this mission is.

I have to say (just as when I visited three years ago and blogged about it) the team, Loretta and all, are just as enthusiastic, warm and committed as they were then. I really take my hat off to them for their enthusiasm and dedication.

The other main group they channel into employment is lone parents. Lana was one of the people I met. Today she has applied for three jobs. She seems very, very employable to me – delightful to talk to, skilled and very keen to work. Her issue is the nature of the work as she is a lone parent and therefore wants particular employment conditions. I’m sure she will find something good to do.

So – all in all – a very heart-warming experience. We who don’t have to struggle against having lost our confidence through years of unemployment sometimes don’t know how lucky we are to have a job – somewhere to be every day and something to do. That sense of place in the world is pretty central to many people’s well-being – and operations like Working Links make it happen.

Uncle Sam is keeping tabs on us

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Was in Parliament all day today. Had an interesting meeting with the political officer from the American Embassy. Seems he (or rather they – the Americans) are interested in learning more about the Lib Dems (just in case……) and my interviewer has the job of monitoring the Liberal Democrats. Given he gave me carte blanche to talk about LibDemmery – I seem to have meandered relatively randomly across my thoughts (many and various). An enjoyable discussion – to be continued.

Local MP supports local organ donor drive

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Lynne Featherstone signed up to be an organ donor last Saturday at an action day organised by Tottenham and Wood Green Rotary Club in Wood Green Shopping City to encourage local residents to sign up for organ donation.

According to official NHS statistics over 400 people died last year whilst waiting for a donor organ.

Anyone who missed the opportunity to sign up on Saturday can register to become a donor online by visiting http://www.uktransplant.org.uk or calling 0845 60 60 400.

Lynne Featherstone MP commented:

“Hats off to our local Rotary Club for giving up their spare time for such a worthwhile cause.

“They certainly found one new recruit. I’ve always been a bit squeamish about contemplating my own death so I’ve put off and put off signing up for organ donation so today was the day.

“I hope other Wood Green shoppers will have been as encouraged as I was to sign up for such an important and potentially life saving gift.”

It's Residents' Survey time

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Lynne Featherstone delivering a surveyI’ve just launched my annual Residents’ Survey in Hornsey & Wood Green to find out (as I do every year) what are the issues at the forefront of people’s minds in every street – from the big issues to the small piece of casework that no-one has got round to raising in-between times.

The survey is delivered by local volunteers (and me) – and it takes an army. The survey started with the Muswell Hill team back in 1997, when we only covered one ward. It rapidly spread over the next few years to cover the whole constituency, and has continued so since I’ve become MP. This year it is a four-page survey and it is going to over 84,000 people in 47,000 households.

The survey is an opportunity for local residents to tell me what they think of services such as schools and the police as well as to bring to her attention any particular local issues needing action. Local residents can also highlight issues that they would like raised in Parliament.

If you’d like any extra copies of the survey or if your survey goes astray (as with one person who has just emailed saying their dog chewed it up!), just get in touch.

Something I should have done previously

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Friday saw – after my advice surgery – a meeting met with our new Borough Commander – David Grant. He served in Haringey when Highgate Police Station was still open (oh – those were the days) and at Hornsey Police Station – so is familiar with the terrain! We ranged over the ills of the world, policing, where resources should be put and so on and so forth. This was our first meeting – so think we were trying to sus each other out. Seemed to have heart and head in right place.

Lynne Featherstone getting a donor card from Clive Denham in Wood GreenThen earlier today went to meet Tottenham and Wood Green Rotary Club members who were manning a stall at Wood Green Shopping City to get people signed up to carry a Donor Card. As you can see from the photo – I signed up. I’ve always meant to. Been, if I am honest, a bit squeamish about death stuff, and put it off and put it off. And that’s the whole point – by having a stall and having it all there with the forms to fill in and the box to post it in – all done in an instant. So finally – I’ve done it. And am sure lots of other people are just the same – mean to – but somehow don’t get round to it.

I’m pictured with Clive Denham, President of Tottenham and Wood Green Rotary Club, in Wood Green Shopping City.

And if you want to become a Donor Card carrier yourself, just visit the NHS website and register online.

My top ten political blogs

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Iain Dale’s doing his annual best blog competition, so here are my top ten political blogs which I’m sending in.

First there are the regular ‘must reads’:

1. Liberal Democrat Voice
2. Iain Dale
3. Guido Fawkes (Love Iain and Guido, or hate them, or love and hate them both – they are a pretty much essential read, frequently breaking stories that are then ones we all pay attention to.)
4. Liberal Conspiracy (The content isn’t as much of a ‘must read’ for me as the previous three, but Liberal Conspiracy has the best discussion in the comments. It’s the place where pieces from myself generate the most interesting discussion compared with the other sites where my words sometimes appear.)

(And yes – no Labour equivalent there. The Labour ‘home’ style sites aren’t quite there yet – at least for an outside like myself.)

And for the other six:

5. Labour MP Tom Harris (Frequently disagree with him – but a great blogging style and manages to be interesting and thought provoking despite also being a pretty much always on message Labour minister. Not an easy combination to pull off!)

6. James Graham’s Quaequam (A previous Liberal Democrat Voice ‘Blog of the Year’ winner and one of the best pugnacious bloggers around – showing how you can be very robust in your arguments without simply lapsing into empty insults.)

7. The Times’s Red Box (I feel it’s a bit of a cheat to include a blog that is really a newspaper online, but this is an excellent example of this genre at work.)

8. Dave Hill (Really came to prominence for many people during the London elections this year – and continues to shed light on what is happening in London government.)

9. Helen Duffett (Helen’s worked in my office helping with casework. I’ll let you judge whether that means her excellent blogging is because of or despite this link!)

10. And of course, the best blogging pink dog in the world, Pink Dog (Where else would I find out about spoon crime?)

You can cast your own votes too by sending your top ten to toptenblogs@totalpolitics.com Modesty forbids me to include my own blog in my top ten, but don’t let that put you off voting for me!

Rape Crisis centres

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I’m one of the signatories on a letter organised by the New Statesman as part of their campaign over the future of the Rape Crisis centres in England and Wales:

The prevalence of sexual violence is, unfortunately, extremely high, with a conservative estimate of at least 80,000 women being raped every year …

The impact of sexual violence is significant and long-term, affecting physical and mental health, ability to work or study, and disruption in intimate relationships. The cost to the state of sexual violence was £8.5 billion in 2003-04, with much of this cost being lost outputs due to long-term health issues …

Rape Crisis centres provide essential holistic services to support women and girls to rebuild their lives in the aftermath of sexual violence, whether their experiences happened recently or in the past. They provide specialist, longterm support, counselling and advocacy in women-only spaces which empower survivors to take back control of their lives.

Yet most women do not have access to a Rape Crisis centre in the UK (Map of Gaps research), and Rape Crisis centres are massively under-funded, resulting in ever-growing waiting lists, staff redundancies and closure of services, with devastating impacts on women who need support.

One in five centres has closed in the last five years, and new research (The Crisis in Rape Crisis), has found that Rape Crisis centres in England and Wales have a combined annual income of just £3.5m; that 79% of grants are for one year or less, and that the majority of women and girls have to wait over 3 months to access this ‘crisis’ provision.

You can read the rest of the letter here.

Labour railroads leaseholders' payment decision

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Labour members of Haringey Council’s ‘watchdog’ committee this week voted to rubber stamp proposals to slap leaseholders of council properties with massive repair bills before any work is even done on their flats.

Leaseholders, who are liable to pay for a proportion of major works done by Haringey Council, will now be forced to pay thousands of pounds before work has been completed.

Local Liberal Democrats criticised Haringey Council’s proposals for sacrificing the best deal for leaseholders to increase the Haringey Council’s cash flow. The average bill for leaseholders is set to triple to £6,500 during the Council’s Decent Homes Programme, which will renovate the Council’s dilapidated housing stock.

Haringey Council was forced into an embarrassing admission that, even though they are going to force leaseholders to start paying for work before it has started, Haringey Council itself will only pay the builders for work after it is done.

Cllr Richard Wilson, Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader, who led the Liberal Democrat discussion at the meeting, commented:

“It is hypocritical of Haringey Council to force leaseholders to start paying in advance for building work, when the Council itself doesn’t pay the builders till later. This is a real slap in the face for leaseholders who will now face repair bills hitting the doormat before even a paint pot is opened.

“I’m extremely disappointed that Labour councillors refused to accept my pleas that leaseholders should continue to be allowed to wait until the work is complete before they start paying.With the credit crunch squeezing residents’ finances, this unfair decision shows just how out of touch Haringey Labour is.”

Lynne Featherstone MP added:

“Many leaseholders are not going to have the money to hand to pay these huge bills upfront. To add insult to injury the money won’t even be given to the builders until the end so the money will end up sitting in Homes for Haringey coffers. This is simply not a fair way to treat leaseholders.”