Relocating the police in Muswell Hill?

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On Checking out possible new locations for the police in Muswell Hill with the local Safer Neighbourhood TeamThursday it was off with Sgt Paul Saunders, head of the Muswell Hill Safer Neighbourhood Team to look for suitable premises to re-house two of teams in the community. The Met Police are looking to put the community teams right in the heart of the community they serve – which is the right idea. The idea is to have four main central locations in Haringey for key functions: detention and custody; administration; response teams etc and then each neighbourhood to have its local team based at its heart.

Everyone loves their police station. It makes us feel safe, makes it easier to contact the police in non-emergencies and helps make the police part of the local community (rather than a distant impersonal force). With the reopening of the front counter at Muswell Hill Police Station – following a long campaign together with local police and residents – and with the arrival of the Safer Neighbourhood Teams, there has been a sense of vastly improving engagement between the police and the community. When I was on the London Assembly, along with my colleagues I supported full funding for the Safer Neighbourhood Teams, and I’ve had a few battles to ensure that parts of the borough don’t miss out on them – so it’s really good to see the reality and that it’s working!

This was clearly evidenced walking around with Sgt Saunders, his colleague Pauline Hearfield and local councillor Martin Newton (Lib Dem, Fortis Green). It was crystal clear by the way everyone said hello to Pauline and Paul that community policing is certainly working well in this patch. In fact, everyone knew them and they knew everybody – not only creating good public/police relations but also the level of knowledge and contact that helps gather intelligence and evidence – and so stop crime and catch crooks.

When the first murmurs of reorganising where police were stationed hit the streets, I had met with local Commander Simon O’Brien. The old Victorian Police stations are not ‘fit for purpose’ and so long as what is offered to local people in exchange for moving from that police station is better or equal then I think the police can argue a good case for the change.

In this light I went round with the police to talk about potential new premises. Some potential premises have already been identified. We walked past a great shop on Fortis Green that they had just missed – and then proceeded to PiP, the printers at the top of Dukes Avenue. I have yet to clarify whether it is ground and basement or the flats above too. If it is the latter, then it has potential – although a lot of work will need to be done (and it begs the question how much will it cost – because at a certain level it might be more economic to modernise the existing premises). If it doesn’t have the extra space – then I am not sure that everything will fit comfortably. So I am writing to Chief Superintendent O’Brien to clarify the situation and to get cast-iron guarantees about the space and what is to go in there exactly. Moreover, Simon O’Brien has also said that he is committed to working with the community, local councillors etc on this and I am also writing to establish how this is going to happen in advance of decisions being taken.

LIB DEMS CALL FOR LABOUR HOUSING MEMBER TO RESIGN

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Haringey’s Liberal Democrat councillors are calling for the resignation of Councillor Isidoros Diakides, Labour’s Executive Member for Housing, following a damning Audit Commission report into Haringey’s ability to deal with homelessness and overcrowding. The Liberal Democrats have tabled a motion ensuring that the Full Council will hold a vote of confidence in Councillor Diakedes.

The Audit Commission report exposes that many residents may have been wrongly refused rehousing, and that Haringey Council’s housing allocations policy itself is “not helping to prevent homelessness or alleviate overcrowding among tenants.”

It goes on: “mistakes in assessing housing needs are common… [The housing register] has not been reviewed since 2001, except for a few applicants with the highest priority, so is likely in many instances to be inaccurate.” Many residents are furious that mistakes have been made in assessing the number of points that they have on the housing waiting list, and are asking whether they should have been rehoused years ago.

As Lib Dem councillors sitting on a scrutiny panel look further into the scandal, a picture is emerging of a total lack of leadership from Cllr Diakides. The report explains that the housing allocations service is “poor and has many weaknesses. The [allocations] policy is out of date and not complying with legislation…The policy document has been reviewed twice since 2000, but changes have neither been formally approved nor implemented.”

Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Housing Councillor Catherine Harris comments:

“Labour’s total lack of direction and leadership are the reasons behind this terrible state of affairs, and the housing service needs a fresh start. People will be furious at the discovery that the housing register has not been kept properly – some tenants have been waiting in so-called “temporary” accommodation for many years. They will not be pleased to hear that they may have been entitled to be rehoused years ago.

“Worse still, the fact that Labour councillors have known about the terrible problems for years without taking concerted action to put things right shows how little ability Labour have to manage this borough. Labour will claim that they are now fixing the problems, but it is being done far, far too late for the tenants whom they are supposed to serve.”

Councillor Neil Williams, Leader of the Lib Dem Opposition, comments:

“Once again, Labour have failed the people of Haringey. It has provided for years a housing service which is flawed, unfair, complex and expensive. People will rightly be asking who is to blame, and it is very clear that Labour has failed in its responsibility to its tenants. ”

Note: the text of the motion is:

This Council wishes to express its concern at the recent criticisms of the Council’s allocations policy, which have come from both the Audit Commission and the Council’s own Cross-Party Scrutiny Review.

Council notes:

·That as long ago as 2000 the Housing Service was made aware that it was operating an unlawful and discriminatory lettings policy.
·That 24000 families are currently on the housing register of whom 5800 are in temporary accommodation; Government targets will force the Council to reduce this by 50% by 2010.
·Applicants for permanent housing and transfers have been told that points may have been wrongly calculated and will have to re-register their details.
·This crisis in the Housing Service threatens the Council’s plans to obtain £238m of funding from the Government for housing improvements and may jeopardise attaining the Decent Homes Standard.

In view of these serious failings Council calls on the Lead Member for Housing to resign and for the Council to arrange independent oversight of the allocations system and housing register, so that no applicant for housing or existing tenant suffers discrimination or disadvantage as a result of the mismanagement of the allocations system.

Proposer Cllr Neil Williams
Seconder Cllr Catherine Harris

Black History Month

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Yesterday, With Mike Phillips at the launch of Black History Month. Photo: Henry JacobsI went to Bruce Castle to help launch Black History Month. Black History Month takes place in October each year and in Haringey offers the most incredible selection of events for local people to see, join in, visit. If you go to Haringey Council’s website – there is a program there of all the local events. There is a massive range – and it is an opportunity not only for members of the black community to ‘celebrate, learn and remember’ black history but also for all of us who are not black to share, learn, understand and enjoy that history. As I said at the event:

The speakers, the choice, the variety, the depth, the range and the role call of role models – absolutely incredible.

But that’s just it – this program simply mirrors the depth and extent of the contribution of our black community to the fabric of life in Haringey.

I may be, I am, a middle-aged white woman – but for anyone of any race – and we are all races in Haringey – black history is now part of our history too – and I thank the black community for the opportunity that Black History Month also provides for the all of us who are not black to appreciate, learn and understand and share the past and present of our black community and celebrate its achievements – and enjoy its cultural richness.

Congratulations to all who have worked and are working so hard to make this celebration so vibrant and so successful and to Dr Carter Woodson, whose mission and determination to bring black history into the mainstream public arena started so long ago in America but is here today, alive and well in Haringey.

As the month says: celebrate, learn and remember. That’s really says it all.

Mike Phillips (novelist and Curator of the Tate) was the Honoured Guest and gave a really good speech. I spoke briefly as did George Meehan – Haringey’s Leader. It was a lovely evening and a good opportunity to have a natter with all those who came.

Climate change and the Big Ask

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ABeing lobbied by local Friends of the Earth supporters as part of their Big Ask campaign few days ago I was lobbied by members of the local Friends of the Earth group about climate change.

This is a BIG issue as up and down the land we try and get the Government to put the Climate Change Bill into the Queen’s Speech. The lobby group had brought with hundreds of postcards all individually filled by members of the public lobbying MPs (in this case me) to put pressure on the Government to do so. (You can read more about their campaign on the Friends of the Earth website).

As the Lib Dems lead the field on environmental issues and have already challenged the Government to bring in the bill it was an absolute pleasure to meet this committed group who understand that climate change is the big issue for all of us and that the next ten years are absolutely key. The Government must set and meet by statute targets on carbon emission reduction.

I had already written to T Blair and D Millibland on the subject – still waiting for a response. But will write again – and also ask that the Al Gore film be shown in Parliament.

I have sent out with my army of volunteer deliverers around 15,000 letters urging local people to see Al’s film An Inconvenient Truth. It is the best case and the best illustrated case to date. Just go and see it. The film will do its own convincing.

Where should the buses park in Highgate?

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Yesterday I met the Leader of Camden Council, Keith Moffat, in Highgate Village to make him see for himself how destructive Camden’s proposals to stand buses outside the restaurants on South Grove would be. If Transport for London will consider the Highgate Society’s plan to move the whole caboodle – this might turn into a golden opportunity to sort the village out. Fortunately, Keith saw immediately the problem and promised to look into the issue further.

It’s the subject of my latest column:

The plan to start parking buses alongside the restaurants in Highgate Village is insane. The bus stands should never have been sited 30 years ago in the middle of the Village on the opposite side of the road from the restaurants anyway – but to propose parking them on the same (south) side as the restaurants … !

You can read the full piece on my website.

Political webcasting

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I’ve got a piece on Liberal Review this morning about my experience trying out webcasting:

I’ve been a webcast guinea pig!

I was one of a trio of people who tried out doing a daily video diary / webcast / online film / call it what you will from the Liberal Democrat conference in Brighton this year. The other two were our leader, Sir Menzies Campbell, and my friend Duncan Brack – who chairs the conference committee. We were also joined on various days by a few “special guests”, such as Paddy Ashdown who did one broadcast himself too. (Given Paddy’s well-known fondness for hi-tech gadgetry and his background, I was a bit disappointed to find he didn’t go round with his own live web-casting camera sown into a buttonhole!).

You can read the full piece here.

Is webcasting the political future?

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I’ve been a webcast guinea pig!

I was one of a trio of people who tried out doing a daily video diary / webcast / online film / call it what you will from the Liberal Democrat conference in Brighton this year. The other two were our leader, Sir Menzies Campbell, and my friend Duncan Brack – who chairs the conference committee. We were also joined on various days by a few “special guests”, such as Paddy Ashdown who did one broadcast himself too. (Given Paddy’s well-known fondness for hi-tech gadgetry and his background, I was a bit disappointed to find he didn’t go round with his own live web-casting camera sown into a buttonhole!).

So – what to make of it? My pieces were all done in a couple of takes. I simply talked off the cuff – and then repeated the procedure so that if I mangled my words or there was a hitch with the sound etc, there was a second take to use instead. I liked the freedom to talk at greater length than you normally get with the broadcast media – and without a Jeremy Paxman wannabe interrupting every nanosecond to ask another question! Talking off the cuff also made the whole operation quite quick to do.

As to whether the results were worth it … you’ll have to watch and be the judge! Personally decided that use of hands akin to windmills not helpful and somewhat distracting. However, for a first time out – not too painful.

The Lib Dems aren’t the only people trying out such films. I notice that David Cameron has got in on the act too now. The wobbly hand-held camera just tries a bit TOO hard to say, “hey, this is me, I’m real, I’m not really a politician, you know”.

And I am very dubious about the way his family – including children – appear. It’s almost as if they’re extra props to say: “hey, this is me, I’m real, I’m not really a politician”.

I’ve don’t feature my family in photos on leaflets – and only rarely mention them elsewhere in politics. Children are such a big (and wonderful!) part of any parent’s life, you can’t act as if they don’t exist – but I think you have to be very, very careful to avoid being seen to exploit them for political gain. It also leaves you wide open to charges of hypocrisy if you subsequently try to protect them from media intrusion. After all, if you say, “look what a good parent I am”, what answer do you then have to a journalist who says, “that means it’s fair game for me to find out if you really are a good parent?” and so goes nosing around into what you’re children are doing and how they’re faring?

But back to webcasting – is it the future? I hope it helps engage more directly with people who wouldn’t otherwise pay attention to politics – and I’ve tried one on a local hospital issue too – but even for us politicos, it is much more interesting watching a film about the party’s policy on climate change than it is sitting down and reading a policy briefing that contains the same information.

If these techniques help make policy more interesting and digestible, that’s good news for everyone. A similar example is the party’s campaign against Labour’s insistence on building a large-scale database of DNA records of innocent people. There’s an important case to make that this is bad news for innocent people – in answer to that old saw, yes innocent people do have something to fear from Labour’s plans. But I suspect more people will find it easy to sit down and listen to Nick Clegg’s webcast on the site on the subject than will read my lovingly-crafted words in a Liberator article on the same subject.

Love it or hate it – moving pictures and sounds are often much softer on the mind and easier to digest than reading the written word!

Note: this article first appeared on Liberal Review.

Bus off!

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The plan to start parking buses alongside the restaurants in Highgate Village is insane. The bus stands should never have been sited 30 years ago in the middle of the Village on the opposite side of the road from the restaurants anyway – but to propose parking them on the same (south) side as the restaurants … ! The one good thing about the proposals is that fighting them can also mean fighting to get the whole bus station moved to a more sensible location.

So – time to fight them on the beaches I think! Who? Transport for London (TfL). An alternative proposal to solve the issue from the Highgate Society proposes moving the bus stand to the bottom of North Hill. TfL hides behind the cost (£200,000) of extending the route of the 271 to the bottom of North Hill and then they add for good measure that lengthening the route might affect reliability. These are not insurmountable problems. Just for once, Transport for London, think about quality of life. Mayor Livingstone bleats on about the quality of life for Londoners endlessly – but he seems to care less when that quality is for an area like Highgate.

Of course Camden Council is also involved – and I am told that they themselves have so far responded in a very open way to alternative suggestions. Perhaps this is because they dealt with a similar issue with a proposed bus stand at South End Green.

Highgate Village has always been slightly blighted by the bus stand being plonked in the middle. It has also suffered hugely from being split between three local authorities, Haringey, Camden and Islington. Highgate’s issues often don’t neatly fit with the administrative boundaries, but cut across them instead.

We need to involve all local people (from both sides of the Highgate High Street), organisations and local businesses? Surely there isn’t a rush after 30 years for work to begin in November? Let’s use this as an opportunity to improve the ambiance of Highgate Village for visitors, residents and businesses?

The individual shops and restaurants which we all love and which make Highgate so Highgate have a hard enough time struggling against the challenges of chains, the changing parking environment and estate agents. Obscuring many of them behind parked buses is hardly going to help! More positively – moving the bus stands out of the village would improve what should be a central point of the village. Let’s use this opportunity for change to make the change for the better – for our community’s benefit.

MP BACKS LOCAL FRIENDS OF THE EARTH ACTIVISTS' 'BIG ASK'

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Lynne Featherstone, Lib Dem MP for Hornsey & Wood Green, has thrown her full weight behind the Friends ofthe Earth ‘Big Ask’ campaign and has strongly called for the Prime Minister to make sure the Climate Change Bill is included the forthcoming Queen’s speech, the schedule of the government’s legislative programme.

Meeting with local Friends of the Earth activists, who presented her with over 400 postcards from people all around her constituency, Ms. Featherstone has enthusiastically backed the campaign which would see legally enforceable targetsfor reducing carbon dioxide emissionsby 3% every year.

Ms. Featherstone also took the opportunity to talk to about the Lib Dem’s Green Switch campaign.At their September conference, the Lib Dem became the first major party to adopt a firm policy of green taxes that would see the biggest polluters pay the most taxes as a means of tackling the causes of climate change.

Lynne Featherstone comments:

“On top of these cards I have been given, my postbag is literally tearing at the seams with climate change letters.This is the number one national issue that my constituents want to see action on and rightly so.

“Without urgent and concrete action such as this bill, it will simply be too late.This government came to power with promises of 20% reduction of 1990 emission levels by 2010 and now it looks like they will barely meet the Kyoto requirements.

“It’s seems politically fashionable to be concerned about climate change with even the Tories belatedly trying to get in on the act, but it’s clear that the people of Hornsey & Wood Green want more than gimmicks and empty promises – it’s time for this government to put their money where their mouth is.”

Note: To find out more about the Green Taxes Switch, please visit www.greentaxswitch.com