London's best residents' association

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Off to the residents’ association for Tivoli, Montenotte and Glasslyn Roads. I turn up for the AGM itself so I can hear the discussion before my allotted speech and so get a better idea of their concerns. I arrive at 11am and am offered wine – this is good news – but I decline until after the meeting. I like a glass of wine – but they have asked me to speak for 40 minutes and take 20 minutes of questions – so wits and brain need to be intact!

They are clearly a top-notch residents’ association who are organised, active and hands on. Cllr Dave Winskill (Lib Dem, Crouch End) has been working closely with them over some time on issues around planning and anti-social behaviour. The roads are right next to Highgate Wood School which brings its challenges in the form of young people sometimes causing agro and damage. They, the school and other key partners meet and have had a fair bit of success. John, the guy who looks after the schools issue, makes a good point that when there is someone out in the street on a Friday night the kids don’t do the destructive stuff. One was heard saying ‘better not – there’s people about’. If only people were out and about more – it would deal with quite a lot of it as well as giving more confidence to others to go out.

Winskill arrives at midday and I tell him that his ears should have been burning from the very complimentary remarks several members have made about him and how helpful and active he is. Dave doesn’t blush – but tells me that they are the best residents’ association in London. So clearly mutual admiration!

I give quite a long speech, trying to interweave the local issues around Hornsey Town Hall, planning, anti-social behaviour and phone masts – together with the how they fit into the national picture. I also go into quite a lot of detail about the Government’s impending proposals for new legislation on terrorism and why we are supporting three of the proposals but not the other two.

The country wants and needs its political parties to try and work consensually at such times as these – and we are doing our best to do so. However, we mustn’t abdicate our responsibility to scrutinise proposed legislation in Parliament. It is very easy under the stress we are feeling to bring in draconian legislation which removes our freedoms in the name of protecting us from terrorists – and is a terribly difficult line to walk. But bad, rushed legislation does harm.

There are three proposals from the Government that we totally support. These are the ones to make it an offence to train to be a terrorist, carry out acts preparatory to terrorism and inciting terrorism.

However, we are not supporting the Government on two new proposals in their current form. The first – ‘glorification of terrorism ‘ – has far too broad a definition. Such looseness will mean a feast for lawyers interpreting what constitutes ‘glorification’. One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter. I can understand where the Government is coming from on this. My blood boiled when I watched one of the suicide bombers broadcast video on Al Jazira praising the act. However, legislation has to be effective or it is worse than no legislation. A smart lawyer will run rings around this one.

The second proposal we have problems with is the one to allow three months detention without trial. This strikes at the heart of the British principles of justice that there is not detention without trial. We understand the need that the police have to get evidence which is not always obtainable within the 14-day period currently allowed, but allowing detention for three months without trial is basically internment.

I am hoping that the Government is genuine about consensus with us and therefore will be willing to discuss these two proposals. If they simply bowl along and say they are going to legislate on those two without trying to find a way through – then we will be forced to oppose.

We had a good discussion post my speech – and then I succumbed to a glass of wine.

Airplane noise

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Have been running a very useful email poll on whether people think noise from airplanes (or aircraft as English purists point out!) is a problem in my constituency.

Lots of very strongly expressed views, though also noticeable areas where hardly anyone says “yes” – and a few people who are baffled by my asking at all. I guess if it isn’t an issue that directly affects you, it is easy to overlook that there may be many other people nearby for whom it’s a big issue.

It’ll be interesting to plot all the results on a map (that’s why I’m asking people for their postcode).

If you’d like to take part in the poll yourself, here it is:

Do you think there is a problem with the amount of noise from planes over-flying the area where you live?

Please email “yes” or “no” to planenoise AT lynnefeatherstone.org with your postcode

Care in the community

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Today’s surgery was full of really difficult people. “Care in the community” often just means that the care isn’t adequate and people can’t cope in the community.

Often what is considered anti-social behaviour is then ASBO’d, which is then broken, which then means a custodial sentence when really this is just a vulnerable person with mental health challenges – not someone who the police or prison is left to deal with.

I am extremely worried about the restructuring of Haringey’s mental health services which are being launched on Monday – because I bet you my bottom dollar it will be all about getting them out of residential care back into the community. And it will be sold as better for the individual – but it won’t be. It will just mean that they can downsize the residential care, save money, and parcel of the land round St Ann’s for development. You watch!

LIB DEMS DEMAND EXPLANATION OVER COUNCIL'S REFUSAL TO CONSULT WARD COUNCILLORS

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Lib Dem councillors in Muswell Hill have called for an explanation from Haringey Council as to why they have not been consulted over the skateboard provision in Priory Park, N8.

The calls come after Lib Dems learned from an outside source on Thursday (29th September) that the decision to approve the development of a new skateboarding facility in Priory Park is being sent to the Executive on Tuesday night (4th October). This is despite persistent requests from Lib Dems, who represent the area, to be informed and involved in this project.

This is the latest in a six-month catalogue of failures by the Council to inform ward councillors, and involve them in meetings regarding this planned development and its progress.

Lib Dem councillor for Muswell Hill, Gail Engert and Cllr Dave Winskill of the neighbouring Crouch End ward have been inundated with letters, emails and phone calls from residents wanting to know what is going on.

They say that despite meeting with the Council and successfully seeking assurances that they would be kept informed the Labour-run Council has failed to honour this and for the last week have simply failed to respond to phone calls from councillors requesting information on the planned development.

Councillors Engert and Winskill say that with over 70% of residents bordering the park being against the scheme it is simply another example of a worthless consultation exercise by the Council. They say that by shutting-out ward councillors the Council have shown their desire to play politics rather than carry-out a meaningful consultation.

Cllr Engert comments:

“Yet again the Council has failed to take community consultation seriously, even choosing to exclude ward councillors whilst making important decisions affecting their wards.”

Cllr Winskill adds:

“Labour have adopted the mantra of “consultation” without really understanding what it means or how to actually do it. I offered to serve on the working party over two years ago and was met with a flat ‘no’ by Councillor Quincy Prescott. Many of these problems could have been avoided if Labour were prepared to listen – but we can’t really expect that from a control-freak council like Haringey.”

LIB DEMS PLEASED AT DECISION TO REJECT N8 CONCRETE PLANT

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Local Liberal Democrats have welcomed the news that Haringey Council will propose to reject the application to build a concrete batching factory in Cranford Way, Hornsey, following fierce opposition from local residents, local environmental group Green N8, and local Lib Dems.

The news comes after months of pressure from Green N8 and Cllr Laura Edge (Lib Dem, Stroud Green), who demanded that Haringey Council address concerns regarding the environmental impact of the site via a full and independent investigation.

Despite the Council’s recommendation to turn down the concrete batching plant application, Cllr Edge is still deeply concerned at the failures of the Council to properly consult residents who would be affected by this development, particularly those living in the Harringay Ladder.

The final decision rests with Haringey Council’s Planning Application Committee (PAC), and Cllr Edge urges all concerned residents to attend the meeting at 7pm on October 10th at the Civic Centre to express to the committee their opposition to this application.

Cllr Edge (Stroud Green) comments: “I’m glad that after over a year of campaigning alongside Green N8 and local residents the Council have seen sense and recommended against this development.

“I am still angry that the Council has shown little interest or ability to consult properly, with local Labour councillors pretty anonymous throughout this process.”

Local Lib Dem MP Lynne Featherstone adds:

“The final decision rests with the Planning Committee. I hope all local residents who are concerned about the development will attend the planning meeting on the 10th October and once again show their opposition.”

Housing problems

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I wanted to cry at surgery this week; in fact a tear or two did descend. A woman with a young, quadriplegic daughter sat in front of me begging for my help in getting her family re-housed. They have spent four and a half years in temporary – and unsuitable – accommodation. It started off as a stop-gap when the child was a baby, but proper accommodation has never been found in all the years since. As if caring for such a daughter was not enough in itself.

And this was the second case that had come my way since May. Both have been told that no houses have come up in the years since they applied.

It really makes me angry that for all the plans, targets, partnerships and acronyms, people such as this are so often let down. Even if Haringey Council’s Chief Executive had to go out himself to an estate agent to buy a property for this family, how many of us would begrudge this extra cost to help a family so much in need?

There are two other awful twists in the way the housing bureaucracy works. First, if you don’t take the first property offered to you, you drop right down the list again. So people are forced into accepting totally unsuitable properties out of fear of otherwise never getting anything.

Second, the rules keep on changing. People are allocated points based on their circumstances, how long they have been waiting etc, and when you accumulate enough points you get offered accommodation. But I’m endlessly told how Haringey Council is reviewing its points system. The targets keep on changing – so people keep on hanging on, thinking they are about to qualify for housing and keep on being let down. Dashed hopes year after year.

Now, if you were told at the outset that it would take (say) 15 years to get accommodation (or that you would never get it) – that would not be welcome news. But it would at least allow you to make a whole series of decisions about your life and what you will do with it for yourself and your family.

So here’s the conundrum. Social housing is desperately needed. Mayor Ken’s London Plan seeks to address London’s housing deficit. But the 19,000 new homes decreed as Haringey’s quota (although Haringey is trying to negotiate the figure substantially downwards) places an ‘anything goes’ developers’ charter on our area. And it’s become all a game about numbers of new homes. Quality and supporting services just have to go hang. Transport infrastructure, sufficient doctors and dentists, enough school places – all these get missed out in the dash to hit Ken’s target.

So too do sensible decisions about where to locate new housing. Developers know about Ken’s targets too – so they target the quickest and most profitable sites to build on, knowing how difficult it is for people then to say no. The result? Except in a few cases where brilliant local campaigns have said no it means far too much poor quality housing on badly chosen sites.

This is true across the whole borough, but particularly true of the most needy of areas where Haringey Council seems to believe that those in the more deprived areas will put up with anything in the name of more houses. We get badly designed proposals for high-rise prisons, using the poorest quality materials with no infrastructure to support the extra population. These buildings will last for decades, blighting the communities and letting down those who live in them.

So my message is that everyone deserves good quality housing, with sufficient public services within reach. Why should those who need council housing have to suffer anything less than this?

So I will go fight Haringey for houses for the two desperate families with quadriplegic children. They are very special cases.

But the greater fight is to push up the standards of housing more broadly. It is about quality of design, quality of concept and quality of materials. The built environment is vital in terms of spirit and aspiration and those most in need of being able to lift their eyes above the daily miseries are those who are worst treated.

Violent Crime Reduction Bill

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Spend a good part of the day going through the Violent Crime Reduction Bill, for which I will be leading for the Lib Dems when it goes through its committee stage in Parliament.

Committee is where legislation is scrutinised line by line. It’s a bit like being a lawyer having to argue the case for each point. Well many of them are lawyers in the Commons – but not me, so am preparing carefully. (The Parliament website has an explanation of how bills go through Parliament and what the stages are).

Then to the Tottenham Law Centre to address their AGM. Interestingly enough they have a motion to change the name to ‘Haringey Law Centre’ as it does serve a much wider catchment than just Tottenham, including serving people in my own constituency. Really good to talk to everyone as so much of the angst that walks through my surgery door is about housing or immigration. Once an individual falls foul of the system in either of these areas (which is easy to do) it isn’t long before it is a legal matter over eviction or deportation. And that’s when I send them onto the CAB or the Tottenham Law Centre. Legal advice is so vital and so expensive, and there has been such a cut back to legal aid, that law centres and citizens’ advice bureaus are absolutely vital!

Holloway Prison

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Off to jail – Holloway Prison!

I hadn’t been to a prison before – so slightly wondering what it will be like. My views were probably coloured by the Green Mile and Jailhouse Rock! Holloway was much more akin to an old National Health Hospital. It’s not built in that galleried style that you see so often in films – with cells with bars onto long galleried corridors.

I spent an hour or so with the Governor – who well impressed me. I think he has embraced the sort of attitude that I have towards crime and punishment and showed a real understanding of the issues around rehabilitation, deprivation, and punishment.

A senior officer took me around the various areas for a couple of hours thereafter. They had just opened a first-night reception centre. When women first arrive – there is not only the shock to deal with – but also the worry of what is happening at home, who is looking after the children etc. This centre is set up so that within 24 hours your caseworker deals with all the people or departments you need around housing, childcare, etc. And then you are taken into the main prison. I also went to the mother and baby unit, the lifers section, the segregation section, the resettlement section and I also met with the ‘listeners’. These are about 6 women prisoners who have been trained by the Samaritans to ‘listen’ to their peers who come to them. Suicide is not rare – and these women know what it is like. They don’t offer advice but are there literally to listen.

Talking to them, they were all training or studying so that when their sentences are spent they can get jobs or continue in university or whatever. I was much taken with what can be done to help people change their lives.

At party conference the other week, Mark Oaten (Lib Dem Shadow Home Secretary) was floating the idea of all 16 year olds having to do a gap month of community service. This isn’t the misbehaving ones – this is all of them. The idea is to give youngsters a sense of service and a sense of doing something good for the benefit of someone else. Not a bad idea I thought. In an argument with Nick Ferrari (LBC) about this area he was saying he didn’t see why his sons should have to go and “paint old lady’s fences”. But as I said to him, even his wonderful sons might learn a thing or two. Lots of people (who can afford to) send their kids to summer camps and that does the same thing to a degree – but not everyone can afford to or chooses to. We’ll see where Mark gets to with that one.

Then dash to Tottenham football ground to give out Community Chest cheques to the HARCEN annual Conference Community Chest Awards. They had been there all day having their conference. Not a bad job. These are awards as part of a Government funded initiative to empower communities and a bit of dosh always helps.

In fact lots of great groups there doing good, small works in the community. However, there were loads and loads of awards. I had thought there would be about three or something – but the administrator came in with a pile of folders and cheques and I must have given out about 30 cheques and folders to the various recipients – and smiled for a photo with each one. I was really surprised when I asked how much the awards were – as I thought they would be about 50 each given how many there were – but she said they were between one and two thousand pounds! Fun it was.

Local services for local people

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Interesting meeting with the committee running the St James Pre-School playgroup. Squeezed by Government and local council so that they can barely function. Too complicated to go into here – but long and short is that funding follows the child. The funding for those on Income Support falls short of the real cost of paying for the staff . So in order to fund the differential gap – the other parents have to make voluntary contributions – and most are willing. This school has only four on income support – so the other parents fund their own extra costs and sub these four – but in playgroups where there are overwhelmingly kids from families on income support – the whole thing is getting completely untenable. I suspect that is the Government’s intention – to squeeze until they are all forced to close or become private nurseries. They can then force everyone into schools or childrens’ centres and never mind the loss of the wonderful local groups in the community. I really hate this government at times.

Then I dash to see a man who is unhappy about parking. I know – there are lots out there. He lives on a main road and bus route and is cross that Haringey Council have brought in pavement parking outside his house to stop buses getting stuck in Middle Lane and speed their progress. He doesn’t like the noise the buses make now they go faster and believes that the Council have lied on the their consultation document where they say that the pavement parking and double yellows on corners will improve things for residents. Well – I’m not the one to defend the Labour Council and they do lie. However, speeding up buses is necessary so that more people use public transport. But as a car and motorcycle enthusiast – he was not truly sold the argument that we need more and better public transport and the logic was lost on him. However, he is right about needing signs for school children, and better design of the pavement parking and am happy to take that up.

Then on to the TreeHouse Trust. This is an organisation formed out of desperation by parents of autistic children because the state offered care was hard to get and not necessarily the best. So some years on, TreeHouse have developed into a really fantastic group who have now built (temporarily in temporary buildings) a school for autistic children in Muswell Hill. It is fabulous. The care, the education, the pastoral care, the staff, the atmosphere, the ambition for the children was absolutely fantastic.

My fury is reserved for the trouble they have getting local councils (and they take from across the whole of London) to fund a child to be placed there. Yes – they are a bit more expensive than council places in special schools – but the care is so much geared to that very special condition.

Currently, I have been trying to get Haringey to fund a local child place there – but they refuse. The family are going to go into debt to send their son there.

Flew in and out of my youngest daughter’s school for a meeting about forthcoming art trip to Berlin and then met a delegation on behalf of Greek Cypriots.

And of course – today was Tony’s revenge. He always caps Brown. On the Monday you think Brown has got it in the bag – and damn it – by Tuesday lunchtime Tony has the conference eating out of his hand again. Gordon must be spitting as I reckon that was quite a clear indication that Blair is not hanging up his hat in the near future…

LIB DEM SEES AT FIRST HAND EFFECT OF GUN CRIME

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Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Policing and Community Safety, Councillor Ron Aitken saw at first hand the effects of guns on the streets of Haringey when he accompanied police officers in the London Borough of Haringey as they worked the night shift on Friday/Saturday 16/17 September. Within minutes of the shift starting, officers were called to a shooting in Tottenham.

“Seeing at first hand the effect of guns on our streets was a real eye-opener,” said Cllr Aitken. “Because of the need to protect the public and recover any weapons used, as well as to apprehend the assailant, these incidents demand a large police presence which may have a knock-on effect on other police work. This is the challenge the police and community face because gun-enabled crime has increased by 50% in Haringey.

“I am extremely grateful to Chief Superintendent Stephen Bloomfield for arranging for me to accompany his officers on the night shift.

“Over the eight hours the police dealt with a wide variety of situations, from a shooting to disorder and burglaries. I was deeply impressed with their professionalism. Political leaders must address the issue of police resources.”

With regard to reports that the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair has considered the use of soldiers as firearms backup to the police, Cllr Aitken, who worked in Northern Ireland for six years at the height of the troubles, firmly rejected this option:

“The police operate very effectively with the consent of the local community as a protective force. The use of the army on the streets of London is simply not appropriate.”

Lynne Featherstone, MP for Hornsey and Wood Green and Liberal Democrats spokesperson for Police, Crime and Disorder in Parliament said:

“Bringing external people with professional skills into our police force is a good idea – particularly in areas like fraud which are extremely complex..

“However, using ex-soldiers armed on our streets is quite a different matter and would seem to imply we were at war.”