The New Statesman, Britain’s leading political magazine, in association with Atos Origin, the leading IT services company, announces the short listing of Lynne Featherstone MP in their New Media Awards in the category of elected representative.

The key themes of this year’s awards are “ingenuity, modernisation and accessibility”. They intend to award those who have achieved something of benefit to others, whether in their community or in society at large. Since 1998, these awards have promoted projects that embrace new technology, fresh thinking and creative management in the UK.

“Society has always been promised a great deal by the digital revolution,” says John Kampfner, editor of the New Statesman . “The 2006 New Media Awards will highlight the projects that have really delivered on that promise.”

Lynne Featherstone MP said:

“I am absolutely delighted that for the second year I have been nominated for a New Statesman Award for my blog.

“The internet has always been a natural home for me, as it is for many of my constituents. It is a great way of keeping regularly in touch with residents about my work locally and in Parliament – and of receiving feedback from the public. For example, it’s a real benefit when debating issues in Parliament or pursuing issues with ministers to have that near-instant feedback from residents as to what their real experience is of public services.”

Full details of the awards can be found at: www.newstatesman.com/newmedia

At a packed social event in Highgate on Sunday, Director of Liberty, Shami Chakrabarti addressed Haringey’s Liberal Democrats on the current attack on civil liberties in Britain. She appeared at the invitation of local MP Lynne Featherstone.

Ms Chakrabarti spoke at length to members on ID cards, detention and other key civil liberties issues. She praised Lynne Featherstone and members in all parties who take up these causes.

Lynne Featherstone comments:

“It was a great honour to have Shami speaking on civil liberties here in Haringey, and it has been an enormous privilege to work with her on these vital issues in Parliament.

“With ID cards, detention and a range of other issues, our civil liberties have never been under more threat, and Shami has been key to putting these issues at the heart of political debate.”

Haringey Council is being criticised over an inability to reign in its contractors to ensure an acceptable level of service to residents. Performance figures show that since records began, EDF, Haringey’s ‘District Network Operator’ – in effect the contractors in charge of the electricity supply – has consistently failed to meet its own targets. When Lib Dem Leader Neil Williams raised this in the council chamber, Labour’s lead member simply blamed the contractor rather than take responsibility.

EDF have in their customer charter a target of 10 days to repair street lighting power supply faults, but have missed this target every month since June last year, and have taken an average of 22 days to repair faults this year. Haringey admit that this is “particularly disappointing”, but have failed to take action – the records show that all that has occurred is that “the Council has sent a letter to EDF” to point this out.

Lib Dem Leader Neil Williams comments:

“It is bad enough simply to blame a contractor for a lack of good service, but to take no proper action to address the situation is ludicrous. The residents of Ringslade Road know all too well what this poor service means – they have spent weeks without lighting on their road during the winter months.

“The Council cannot simply blame their contractors for poor service without taking ultimate responsibility for the failures. The people of Haringey deserve as good a quality of service as private customers of EDF, and if this is not being provided it is the Council’s responsibility to do something about it.”

Residents of Noel Park and Wood Green were outraged to find that the police kiosk had been demolished after months of disuse. Anger at the decision hinged on the fact that tens of thousands of pounds had been wasted on the kiosk. Many residents were asking why the kiosk had to go, and why it had not been used more regularly by police officers.

Liberal Democrat councillors were last night pressing Haringey Council to respond to questions over the total cost of the erection and subsequent removal of the kiosk, which is expected to total tens of thousands of pounds.

Lynne Featherstone MP for Hornsey & Wood Green said:

“Local policing is always the best idea and having a local base in the middle of the busiest shopping area in the borough was common sense. The problem was it was almost always closed. This expensive pilot was never given a real chance and now demolishing it without any consultation or replacement of any sort is a slap in the face for the people of Wood Green. Local people should be able to say what they want from their police force and where they want it.”

Councillor Neil Williams, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, comments:

“The police kiosk was a good idea, and we have campaigned hard to see it stay open and be used by police and community safety wardens.When the kiosk was in use, it made the people of Wood Green feel safer and provided a reassuring police presence in a crime hotspot.It is very hard to see the logic in the decision to demolish it, and residents are understandably upset about what was simply a waste of money.”

Liberal Democrat councillors are repeating warnings of an impeding crisis due to the chronic shortfall of secondary school places available to children in the London Borough of Haringey. Some 189 children have not received an offer of a place at a secondary school in the borough, and the number of places compared to the number of applicants is becoming increasingly worrying.

A total of 1,080 children applied to Alexandra Park School, of whom just 216 were successful in gaining a place. Fortismere School attracted even more applicants – some 1130 applicants were competing for only 243 places. Parents were asked to list six schools in order of preference – 189 pupils were left without a place at any of their six choices.

Councillor Gail Engert, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Education, comments:

“Haringey Council need to take action to solve this crisis. There is an acute lack of school places in the borough, and the problem is getting worse every year. We warned last year that this problem would only get worse as more and more children come through the primary school system, and Haringey have done nothing to address the problem.”

Lynne Featherstone MP comments:

“Haringey Council’s record on education planning is just not good enough. Their whole approach is reactionary – to fix the holes that appear in the system and then do nothing until the next crisis. This approach is unacceptable – this is our children’s future at stake. We must begin to put in place a long-term strategy to ensure our young people get the quality of education that they deserve.”

Highgate councillor Bob Hare has questioned Haringey Council’s self-congratulatory recycling awards ceremony after figures released by the Association of London Government show the amount of waste recycled by Haringey puts it squarely in the bottom third of London boroughs.

Of 33 boroughs, Haringey came 23rd. It recycled just 14% of collected waste in 2004-2005, barely 8% more than the worst performing borough, Newham.

Councillor Bob Hare comments:

“Despite Haringey’s continuous self-congratulatory press releases and award ceremonies, Haringey Council continues to under-perform when it comes to recycling. The Liberal Democrats have continually put pressure on the Council to get even this far, and there is no doubt that we must continue to do so, as these figures are far from satisfactory.

“The top ten councils in London all recycle 20% or more of their waste, with the best borough managing 30% – more than twice the amount Haringey manages. The Council has spent too much money on award shows, banners, and self satisfied publicity.From 1998 to 2003, Haringey’s recycling record did not improve at all. Only now, just before the local elections and after years of pressure from the Liberal Democrats, are we beginning to see some improvement.”

The Sustainable Energy Partnership, which represents all the major environmental and ‘fuel poverty’ NGOs today, thankedLynne Featherstone MP for being in Parliament on Friday March 10th to supporta vitally important Bill dealing with climate change and fuel poverty – The Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Bill.

Partnership Organiser Ron Bailey said:

“It is absolutely vital that this Bill succeeds. Emissions of CO2 continue to increase and rising energy prices will mean that even more people are suffering from cold homes and fuel poverty this winter. This Bill contains practical measures to deal with both problems.

“We appreciate that it is difficult for MPs to be in parliament on a Friday, so we are especially grateful to Lynne Featherstone MP for having been in the House to help this Bill succeed.This is exactly the example that MPs need to set – action not just fine words. We thank Lynne Featherstone MP for making this commitment to the environment and to ending fuel poverty. We hope she is also able to support the Bill again later this week.”