Councillor takes matter into her own hands to sort out broken telecoms box

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The ongoing failure by Haringey Council to force a media company to fix an unsightly telecoms box has prompted Crouch End Lib Dem councillor Lyn Weber to take direct action.

In July, Haringey Council ordered Virgin Media to repair the box, in Fairfield Gardens, Crouch End within two hours. Two months after, no action has been taken. Cllr Lyn Weber has now discovered after contacting Virgin Media herself that Haringey Council had given the incorrect location of the box.

“Unfortunately for residents this is symptomatic of many things the Labour Council say they will do, but don’t. They often fail, either to act upon problems at all or their work is shoddy. I cannot believe that the Council has repeatedly given the incorrect location. This issue that has been rumbling on for over a year. It is total incompetence.

“As always it is up to the Lib Dems to put right the mess the Labour Council leave behind.”

Brown and Blair – the squabbling continues

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Earlier this year I wrote a piece previewing how Gordon Brown might turn out as Prime Minister. One issue I picked up on was just how long-running and deeply rooted in the Labour Party is the internal fighting and bickering around Gordon Brown himself:

This dates much further back than Blair announcing he would not fight another election. As Philip Gould has recounted, it even goes back before the 1992 general election:

“The whole thing was so debilitating because every time Gordon appeared on TV, someone in John [Smith]’s camp would say, ‘Look, it’s another bid for the leadership’, Patricia [Hewitt] remembers.”

Someone I can’t quite see fifteen plus years of squabbling stop overnight at the leadership election.

And lo … it has come to pass with already there being a series of accusations of Blairites trying to undermine Brown. The latest comes in today’s Sunday Times:

Sources close to the prime minister reportedly accused Blair allies of trying to use Seldon’s book as a “crude attempt” to undermine the government.

Some things never change!

Leadership & cockle warming

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I was really chuffed by the posting and the comments on the Haringey Blog: Lynne for Lib Dem leader? which is run by the Haringey Independent newspaper.

I love it that people even put my name in the frame – but the reality of leadership is gruelling – and right now I would not be ready for such a role. But it warmed the cockles and it’s always nice to have your cockles warmed.

The Chocolate Factory

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I haven’t really blogged much about the dreadful time the tenants of the Chocolate Factory – the wonderful artist colony – have been having (though see previous posting here). I won’t lay out the whole story – but the long and the short of it currently is that the tenants have been issued with new licenses for their tenancy which must be signed within seven days. If not they will be booted out.

I don’t know if this is the result of a panic because of the workshop with the London Development Agency scheduled for November 8th being almost upon us. It is almost as if Collage Arts don’t want the tenants to talk to the LDA whilst the contracts are not signed. Given that the meeting is partly to provide the tenants with an opportunity to inform the LDA of their unhappiness with the events at the Chocolate Factory – this seems very strange to me.

I have advised them to contact their solicitors as to whether it is legal and whether they can be bounced into signing by threats.

Leadership latest

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So – Nick Clegg has announced his candidacy for the leadership. I didn’t really think he was likely to be overcome by an attack of modesty and not put his name forward – so the battle (friendly and positive) is joined.

At the same time, we get great news today that some of Charles Kennedy’s core team is coming to help our campaign! Chris Huhne today confirmed that Dick Newby and Anna Werrin would be playing key roles in his leadership campaign team. Lord Newby will serve as the campaign’s Treasurer and Anna Werrin will be Campaign Manager. Both previously worked for Charles Kennedy when he was Leader of the Liberal Democrats – Dick Newby as Chief of Staff and Anna Werrin as Head of Office.

Wycombe Liberal Democrats Annual Dinner

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Last night it was off to Wycombe. Wycombe really is (as far as politics are concerned) Hornsey & Wood Green twelve years ago – except Labour and Tory positions are swapped. But they have got the beginnings of what you need – some talented and keen people, Wendy and Steve Guy and their agent, as the core of a campaign team and lots of energy and commitment. That’s what it takes – and it will be interesting to watch Wycombe over the next few years and see how it goes.

Haringey Youth Council

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Haringey Youth Council question timeYesterday, having spent the hours between 6am and 9am writing, emailing etc about the leadership contest – as it is all an add on and not instead of my day job – I catch up on emails, letters etc from residents before going to West Green Learning Centre for ‘Politicians’ Question Time’ organised by Haringey Youth Council (Adam and Shayan).

As ever, the young people who come to this sort of event are as bright as buttons. I absolutely love hearing what they say – and particularly this time as one of the girls made several comments of phenomenal depth, with well-observed views made with passion.

I have suggested to her and her school friends who were there that they come up to Parliament to see me to take the discussions on. I am already tabling Parliamentary Written Questions based on those submitted through Adam and the Youth Council.

But as my young friend said – she doesn’t want to be a tick box for politicians to make them feel good about having ‘engaged’ with young people and she wants the issues for debate to be what she wants – not what politicians decide they want to discuss! Very impressive!

The standard of questions and comments from everyone else was pretty high. Issues the came up included the balance between punishment for young people behaving badly and alternatives and the ‘labelisation’ of young people with the ‘ethnic minority’ tag (very interesting discussion!). Much food for thought.

I’ve also agreed to go again to Hornsey School for Girls – as the Headmaster thought that there would be about 100 students interested enough to come to a similar event there.

And now, in other news…

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Time for some variation on the Lib Dem leadership election postings – so here’s a quick round-up of some of the other issues exercising myself and my colleagues in Haringey:

Shock £1.5m debt of Haringey schools uncovered

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The true extent of the funding crisis threatening Haringey’s schools has come to light with figures showing that 19 local schools will end the year in debt totalling over £1.5m. The spiralling and uncontrolled crisis of the borough’s frontline educational finances, with deficits doubling over the past three years, was uncovered by an urgent Lib Dem question at last Monday’s full council.

The significant budget deficits give a further indication of the under-funding at the heart of the system and add to Lynne Featherstone’s calls for a fair funding deal for the borough. The current system sees local schools receiving on average £736 less per pupil because of Haringey being considered as outer London even though it suffers inner London costs.

Commenting, Councillor Gail Engert, Haringey Lib Dem Spokesperson for Children, Schools and Families says:

“This is clearly a cash crisis that only seems to be getting worse, and it is the children of this borough that are suffering.Labour council bosses have admitted there’s a serious problem locally but have been totally ineffectual getting their government to do anything about it.”

Lynne Featherstone MP adds:

“These are quite simply shocking figures that shows the real cash squeeze our local schools are now facing.The extra money we are demanding is not for fancy extras, but to make sure our schools can simply make ends meet.I await Gordon Brown response to my letter demanding action so our kids can get the best possible start in life without their teachers worryingwhether they will have enough money to buy books.”

Liberal Democrats condemn Wood Green Library neglect

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A local library and its users are faced with three years without the funding to repair its badly run-down building. Following concerns by residents about the dreadful state of the front of Wood Green Library, Cllr David Winskill discovered that Haringey Council has not allocated money to repair the front of the building. Lib Dems are outraged that the borough’s flagship library has been left to decay and Haringey Council has ignored the need for repair.

Following enquiries with Haringey Property Services it was revealed that there will be no money available for any remedial works until 2009 at the earliest and only then if funding can be found. Cllr Winskill will continue to demand funding to be put forward to provide a better environment for residents.

Cllr Winskill, Lib Dem Culture, Leisure and Lifelong Learning spokesperson comments:

“This is Haringey’s flagship library in the borough’s main shopping centre. The staff are working immensely hard to try to offer more attractive services to visitors, but Labour-run Haringey Council are allowing the place to look like a cold war bunker. This neglect goes back years and is demoralising for all. It shows what Labour councillors really think about reading and cultural issues.”

Cllr Fiyaz Mughal (Noel Park) adds:

“Recently Wood Green Library attempted to attract small businesses into it by spending money to upgrade a conference-style facility at the rear of the library. It is a self defeating process if money is spent to attract businesses and the rest of the library looks shabby. Another example of an ill-defined and ill thought through strategy from Labour.”