Haringey Labour councillors are coming under serious criticism for their refusal to respond to requests to make public the results of the public consultation on the controversial parking schemes they plan to impose on the borough.

Lib Dem councillors and local MP Lynne Featherstone have written to the Chief Executive to demand that Haringey Council make public the results of the consultation on the parking schemes proposed in the London Borough of Haringey, as suspicion over the propriety of the consultation continues to mount.

Labour-run Haringey Council has until now ignored a request that Lib Dem councillors be allowed to see the results. The request was made by Councillor Martin Newton over a month ago. Now the Lib Dems are demanding that residents are also allowed to see the responses to the consultation document, in the interests of transparency.

Lib Dem councillors are also increasingly frustrated by the lack of response to their request to hold an emergency meeting of the Muswell Hill Area Assembly. They had been promised a reply from Labour members by Friday. While chasing the reply, it came to light that Labour’s lead member for Community Involvement, Councillor Lorna Reith, who is responsible for the consultation, is on annual leave until the 16th August, having left before providing a response to her Lib Dem colleagues.

Councillor John Oakes, Lib Dem spokesperson for Community Involvement, comments:

“Labour’s behaviour on this issue beggars belief. Our requests for emergency meetings of the Area Assemblies have still gone unanswered, and it is not hard to see why people have lost faith in Labour’s ability to manage this consultation.

“One solution might be to pass on the consultation to independent consultants. Labour have lost the trust of the public over this issue, and it is perhaps time to consider whether the only way to regain that trust might be to bring in expertise from an external group.”

Lynne Featherstone MP comments:

“I have never seen such an abuse of power as Labour have wielded over the proposed CPZs. A flawed consultation combined with Labour’s refusal to answer to local residents or even let them speak at Full Council means the outcome of the so-called consultation will be under suspicion. All responses must be available to the public so justice can be seen to be done.”

Lib Dem Crime, Policing and Community Safety Spokesperson Cllr Ron Aitken has appealed for calm following the stabbing of a 21 year old man outside the KO Club in Wood Green at the weekend.

Councillor Aitken attended a meeting with Detective Superintendent Wood who gave an update on the investigation. Members of the Turkish and Kurdish communities met at Tottenham Police Station yesterday to hear what progress had been made on the investigation into the incident.

Councillor Ron Aitken said:

“Knife crime continues to be a serious problem here in Haringey.The police are working hard to engage with local people and we will continue to do all we can to assist them.My colleagues and I are also working closely with Lynne Featherstone MP who is campaigning in Parliament to get knife crime and its sentencing on the Government’s agenda.”

Councillor Ali Demirci comments:

“Speculation as to motive, and about the background of the victim or his attackers, whilst understandable, is not helpful at this time. The police investigation is a robust one and whilst it is in progress people should remain calm and encourage witnesses to come forward. Our thoughts are with the young man and his family.”

The publication of the 2006 crime statistics has shown a 60% increase in robbery on the streets of Stroud Green shows the need for CCTV to protect the neighbourhood worst affected areas say the Liberal Democrats.

Cllr Ed Butcher comments:

“As Nick Ross might say, we cannot be alarmist about these figures, but any increase in overall robbery trends is a real worry.We have already been campaigning for CCTV to watch over our hotspots and these statistics just prove the point.”

Cllr Laura Edge adds:

“There have been a number of serious incidents at the entrance to the Parkland Walk and the Haringey Station bridge. People need to feel safe and CCTV would certainly offer that protection.The Council needs to act now before the situation gets further out of hand.”

Cllr Gail Engert has welcomed the first step of progress on the refurbishment of Muswell Hill Library but expresses deep concerns on the lack of detail in the proposal.

To applause from assembled residents at Haringey Council’s consultation’ meeting, Cllr Engert publicly challenged Cllr Lorna Reith Executive Member responsible for Community Engagement, on the lack of real detail for residents to consider and respond to.

Cllr Engert comments:

“What residents really want to know and understand is how the changes are going to affect the choice and availability of their library facilities, so they can have their say.

“The proposals on offer were so lacking in detail it is difficult to see how anyone could be expected to make an informed opinion.

“Sadly, this is the poor quality of consultation that we’ve become accustomed from the Labour administration.For them it seems like consultation is a perfunctory process that they undertake with no real consideration or skill rather than a fantastic and valuable opportunity to engage with the people we serve.”

Note:

Issues of particular concern to members of the public, which were not included at the display at the Library or on the consultation leaflets there:

The measurements in square metres of all the elements in the ground plans (the measurements were only given for the proposed restaurant). This means that it is not evident whether the plans involve a space gain for library use or not.

The fact that the plans involved the sale of two thirds of the car park.

What money was to be raised by the sale of the car park land, and what money would be raised from selling the lease on the ground floor of the library for a restaurant.

Not only was the sale of the car park for development not mentioned in the library consultation, but there is no indication of what a development might involve or look like. It did come out at the meeting that it was for 9 residential units.

Whether the plans involved any more space for books. Residents wanted the current and proposed linear shelf space for books.

The fact that nearby residents had not been told of the consultation, as obviously the building of the library extension and the residential development would severely impact upon them.

Haringey Labour councillors this week voted unanimously to adopt the borough’s controversial Unitary Development Plan, despite heartfelt speeches from local residents and the concerns of Lib Dem Councillors.

Cllr Bob Hare said:

“This is a flawed UDP.While we won a late commitment to review the Housing Chapter, we will be pressing the council to ensure that that work on the housing review begins as soon as possible, and will be playing our part to support all those in the borough who have campaigned and worked on these issues.”

Lib Dem Planning Spokesperson Cllr Jonathan Bloch added:

“This decision leaves the borough operating its planning with a flawed UDP, and exposes us to a greater risk of high developments and shoddy tower blocks with poor infrastructure.The reviews of Open Space and Housing will take up to two years to become fully effective. That’s why work on the reviews must start as soon as possible, so that the borough’s planning can start to use the revisions.”

Lynne Featherstone, Lib Dem MP for Hornsey & Wood Green celebrated the success of children’s literature this week at a House of Commons reception held by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Libraries and Information Management.

Every year, more and more children take part in the Summer Reading Challenge, undertaken in partnership with public libraries and supported by children’s publishers. This year an amazing 700,000 children are expected to take part across the UK.

“To get more readers, reading more we need to harness the power of public libraries,” said Lynne Featherstone MP, who presented some children’s books to Wood Green library to support the Summer Reading Challenge.

“What’s most exciting is that the range and quality of children’s books is better than ever, and working in partnership with publishers and booksellers, our local libraries can help expand the market. They help children get the reading habit early, and make it possible for parents and carers to give children a huge variety of books.

“I am pleased to support the Summer Reading Challenge and would encourage local children of all ages to visit their local library and take part. I am delighted to present Wood Green with a donation of books courtesy of The Reading Agency’s publishing partners,” said Lynne Featherstone.

Lynne Featherstone MP has organised a first meeting with Royal Mail and residents to explore the possibility of setting up a Hornsey & Wood Green Mail Watchdog.

Following the thousands of responses to her postal survey, highlighting the poor levels of service in many parts of the constituency, Ms Featherstone has brought together a working party to set about establishing a local organisation to work with Royal Mail in driving up standards.

Lynne Featherstone comments:

“I was overwhelmed by the responses to my survey and the extent of the problems locally.I have already done a lot to get Royal Mail to tackle residents’ complaints individually, but now I want to take it a step further to make sure the improvements are here to stay.

“I have previously had great success in setting up Bus Watch, which has been instrumental in standing up for bus users’ rights.Now I want to see what I can done to my sure my constituents get the postal service they deserve and pay for.”

Residents interested in taking part in Hornsey & Wood Green Mail Watch should contact Lynne. The next meeting is to be held in early autumn.

Lynne Featherstone MP, renowned e-campaigner and award-winning blogger, has signed Amnesty International’s campaign calling on corporations and governments world-wide to act to protect freedom of expression in cyberspace.

Lynne Featherstone MP comments:

“Freedom of speech is the cornerstone of any truly democratic society and we must not shy away from standing up for this right as progress into the new global digital era.

“Tyrants and depots are right to fear the Internet as it will hopefully be the means to end their repressive rule, but we must act now before spineless corporation kowtow to these hateful regimes.”

She has signed up to the campaign to publish extracts from banned documents on her website.

Notes to editors:

The Amnesty campaign is at http://irrepressible.info/pledge

The pledge says, “I believe the Internet should be a force for political freedom, not repression. People have the right to seek and receive information and to express their peaceful beliefs online without fear or interference. I call on governments to stop the unwarranted restriction of freedom of expression on the Internet – and on companies to stop helping them do it.”

The extracts from censored documents appear in the bottom right of the front page of Lynne Featherstone’s website, www.lynnefeatherstone.org