WELCOME FOR SCAFFOLDING OUTLINE OF PROPOSED CONTROL CENTRE SITE

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Highgate councillors and Lib Dem London Assembly member Lynne Featherstone has welcomed the agreement by Tubelines to erect scaffolding with tarpaulins at the site of the controversial proposed Northern Line Tube control centre next to Highgate Wood.

The move follows pressure from local councillors and residents, so that they can see the visual impact of the new building on the sensitive site.

Lynne Featherstone and Bob Hare are continuing to press Tubelines to achieve a lowering of the building and other environmental mitigation which will reduce its visual impact. They say that the erection of the scaffolding will give residents a real feel for the impact of the scheme.

Cllr Bob Hare comments:

“I am pleased that Tubelines have agreed to this, as it is a very useful way of assessing the impact of a new building on such a sensitive site. It will make the scale of it visible to local people and I hope they will listen to the response of local residents.”

Lynne Featherstone adds:

“We will be looking closely at the impact of the scheme. There is certainly a need for the building to be lowered, and I think that the erection of scaffolding will inform the debate about this. It is a very sensitive site on the edge of the woods, not just because of its visible impact for nearby residents, but because of the existing wildlife in the area, which is largely undisturbed at present.”

HIGHGATE – BOTCHED JOB AT PEACE PARK

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A Highgate councillor has expressed his disappointment and dismay at works on one of the area’s Neighbourhood Assembly projects this year, and has questioned the £5,000 price tag put on the project.

Cllr Bob Hare says the fence Haringey Council has put around the Peace Park on the Archway Road looks ridiculous and that the Council has failed to respond to his attempts to provide input on the project.

Cllr Hare spent considerable time trying to set up a meeting between local people and the Council on the issue, which he says was largely ignored by the Council. While the project was meant to enhance the whole site, the final result has produced an odd and pointless fence around the green space, with a mixture of thick and thin posts and caps which extend oddly above the fence. However, the part of the fencing that was arguably most needed, along Muswell Hill Road, has not even been completed.

Cllr Bob Hare (Highgate) comments:

“Haringey Council has handled this project very badly. I am staggered, as are local residents, that these works can have cost £5000 according to the figures we’ve been given. I will be pursuing this with the Council to see if we can get a better result.

“It seems that in the rush to get these projects completed, the Council has carried out a half-hearted and very poor value job.”

WORRIES GROW OVER NEW RECYCLING SCHEMES

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Liberal Democrats are calling on Haringey Council to conduct and publish a full and proper assessment of the destination and environmental impacts of household items collected for recycling in the borough, following growing national concerns that such waste is being illegally exported.

The call, by Lib Dem councillor and Environment Spokesperson Bob Hare, follows the issue of a letter from the Department of the Environment (DEFRA) to all local waste authorities earlier this month. The letter expresses serious concerns about the issue and instructs waste authorities to check that no waste from their area is being exported illegally to countries outside Europe.

Lib Dems have received expressions of concern from residents in recent weeks about the Council’s new recycling service, where paper, card, glass and plastics are collected together and then mixed and crushed in new collection wagons. Lib Dems fear this may be a step back from previous collection regimes or collection at recycling centres, where waste is typically sorted out into separate streams.

Cllr Hare says that clear and detailed answers areneeded on what happens to this mixed crushed waste and what proportion of it cannot be separated and recycled.

Specifically, Cllr Hare fears that glass collected under the new system cannot be turned back into bottles and is typically used as road aggregate. Clothes, full of glass particles, cannot be sent to charity shops, where they would have had a much higher value. Bob Hare is concerned that paper and card collected under the mixing process in Haringey is already being exported to China. This was first denied and then appeared to be accepted by the Labour Lead Member for the Environment when the issue was raised at last week’s Muswell Hill neighbourhood assembly meeting.Cllr Ray Dodds also admitted that residents wishing to see their clothes reused would be better taking them to places such as Oxfam shops rather than using the new system.

Cllr Bob Hare comments:

“This DEFRA letter is very worrying, given the seriousness of the concerns it expresses. It is vitally important that Haringey conducts a full audit of how this new stream of mixed recyclables is handled. Haringey is very much in the front line on this, as it has rushed headlong into this system in order to boost its very poor recycling figures.”

Cllr Hare has admitted that until the fate of these recyclables become clearer, he is continuing to take his own recyclables to more traditional centres where glass, paper and cans are separated.

Lib Dem Parliamentary Spokesperson, Cllr Lynne Featherstone, who has been corresponding with many local residents on the issue, adds:

“We need to know precisely what happens to these waste streams, how much of this waste can’t be separated at all, and what happens to it. It would be extremely disturbing, if, in the rush to meet targets, any local councils were engaging in ineffective recycling, or indeed, even breaking the law.”

Deluge of canvassers

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Well actually I arrive at 2pm at Gail and Martin’s house for my special ‘training to canvass’ day for canvassing virgins. It is quite daunting if you think about it – having to go and knock on strangers’ doors. All human life is there – but I generally come back pretty heartened at the general goodness of humanity. There are exceptions to that rule – but the vast majority of people are decent and polite – whatever their political leaning.

In fact, nearly everyone canvassing for the first time comes back pleasantly surprised how polite and friendly people are when you knock on their doors – so overcoming that initial fear is the key to getting more people canvassing.

Neil (my agent) and I have gotten there early in order to prepare the boards with the various bits and pieces needed like maps, instruction and postal vote forms as well as the canvass cards themselves.

But suddenly the hordes descended – and we were hard put to get them out in pairs quickly enough. We must have had 20 or more people out – some learning – some teaching. It was fantastic – and we canvassed nearly half the ward.

I took Monica out myself to train her on the doorstep. The first few doors she came with me. “Hello – are you …? I’m Lynne Featherstone and we think Tony is about to call a General Election. Might we have your support or will you be voting for someone else?”

See – easy peasy! Within six doors Monica was off and running and at her very first door found a Lib Dem supporter who wanted to take a poster! Flying start…

How much am I offered for this ironing?

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Canvassing in Crouch End. On the doorsteps – lack of school places is the issue. Canvassing on a beautiful sunny day – and everything in the garden is lovely.

In the evening it’s a local Lib Dem fundraiser – an ‘Auction of Promises’. Our new fundraising committee (made up of new young faces) has done this all themselves. They are looking nervous and wondering if the people will come. Their nerves are misplaced as we get an excellent turnout.

The promises on offer range from doing two hours ironing all the way up to use of a villa with private pool in Cyprus.

Ed and Monica have organised the whole evening and are genial auctioneers, Thoraya has done the phoning round to get people to come and to give and Laura is on drinks.

And Ed and Monica are complete stars. They have done so much preparation and make the introduction of each bid hilarious. They give a warm, funny and happy atmosphere to the evening. People bid high and against each other – and the ironing lot proves so popular amongst generally our single males who are apparently desperate for this lot – that the giver offers it twice more and we make the lot three times.

The evening is a stomping success with lots of money raised and a fabulous social evening – particularly notable for the quantity of young people who came.

Flawed terror legislation

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I was going to put to Ken Livingstone in Mayor’s Question Time a question on terrorism and terror laws and how the repercussions have been targeted on Muslims in London. But sadly – Ken had lost his voice, so Mayor’s Question Time was cancelled.

Here in London, we have lived through thirty years or more of fighting terrorism. That is the actual history and experience of our country – notspun, not hyped up, just the reality.

What have we learnt from thirty years of real terrorists, real bombs and real bloodshed? There are two very clear lessons from those years: firstly, internment failed. It didn’t stop terrorism. It simply created more terrorists. Secondly -despite extensive and detailed intelligence operations – we didn’t get the police saying after the bombs – ‘Hello, hello, hello – we knew that X and Y were about to plant a bomb and we’d have been able to stop the bombing if only you’d let us pop ’em away without trial’.

Two of the top policemen in the fight against terrorism were George Churchill-Coleman – head of Scotland Yard’s anti-terrorist squad in the 1980s and 1990s – and now Lord Condon, the Met’s former top policeman.

Churchill-Coleman has spoken out against Labour’s house arrest plans, saying the plans are “not practical” and “I have a horrible feeling that we are sinking into a police state, and that’s not good for anybody”. Lord Condon too has opposed the plans – and voted against them in the Lords.

So when Labour politicians tries to paint opponents of their plans as soft on terrorism – remember that they’re accusing two of the top policemen in the fight against the IRA. Hmmm … !

The reality is that at the moment we are talking about fewer terrorists in the UK, with less training, less equipment and less experience than the IRA had at their peak. So anyone claiming more measures and more powers are needed really needs to make the case against that background.

Too much of the government’s case has rested on the idea that the authorities “know” who is the terrorists are and as terrorists are bad guys, doing something about this must be a good thing.

Well, yes – the authorities say they “know.” Just as they “knew” the Guildford 4 did it, and just like they knew the Birmingham 6 did it – and like they “knew” there were WMD in Iraq. That’s the other lesson from the fight against the IRA – taking action against people because you “know” they did it doesn’t result in terrorists being caught; it results in innocent people suffering whilst the real terrorists get away with it.

One last thought about house arrest. How will it work?

Imagine the scene. Person under house arrest. Well – that won’t stay secret for long.

So you’ll have the person in the house. The police watching outside the house. The protestors around the police. More police policing the protestors protesting against the police. And a road full of TV vans.

Way to go guys!

But the serious point is the damage this does to communities and policing -and all in the name of measures which go over the top.

I don’t want to die in a terrorist attack – but the fear of terrorism shouldn’t blind us to accepting anything dressed up in the language of being tough on terrorism.

Expansion at Tetherdown School

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Attend public meeting at Tetherdown School where they are discussing the plans for expansion. The first scheme was fabby but too expensive – about £7 million. Haringey Council then came up with ugly, grotesque schemes – costing about £4 million.

Thank goodness the parents protested – the school would have been ruined by the brutality of the council scheme. Pressure from campaigning on lack of school places in the Muswell Hill area seems to have spurred the Government into extra spondulicks – so that at least now there is a version of the first scheme in its infancy at around £5 million from which something good can be delivered.

There is a balance to be struck, as one woman in the audience pointed out, between the desperate need to provide more places double-quick as so many children can’t get into local schools – and rushing and creating a monster.

It’s another burden placed on local schools and families by the council’s failure to plan ahead properly for school places in the first place.

London Fire Brigade

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Lots of burly and generally white men come to watch the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) in session. We are in session unusually at City Hall as last time we were stormed by the FBU (unions) – they forced their way into the LFEPA HQ committee room and blew whistles. It might not sound dreadful – but the noise pierced our eardrums, two colleagues were spat at and we could not move as they barred our exit. One member had some severe problems with her ears. Not acceptable behaviour whatever the circumstances. And rather daft anyway – who really thinks such behaviour helps win you friends to your side of the debate?

This time therefore, they have moved the meeting to City Hall for security reasons. The protesters are here over the planned closure of Manchester Fire Station and redeployment of 10 fire engines. The FBU heckle and jeer. Change is always difficult – but the new London Safety Plan puts fire engines where there are people and on a risk-assessed basis (i.e. where they are most needed to fight fires). So we all support it.

Then get a call from BBC London to go to College Green for a TV prerecord on the Tube. (A “prerecord” is where they film an interview in advance for use in a later piece, often on the following day). Basically the House Commons Transport Select Committee has announced its findings: shock horror – the PPP deal for the Tube is crap. Well – far be it from me to say I told you so – but I told you so.

The Budget

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Mayor’s Question Time is cancelled because the Mayor has lost his voice. I might have thought he was simply dodging the rapier sharpness of my questioning if my ex-husband hadn’t seen him the week before in Cannes at some developers’ junket. (Nice work if you can get it!). Apparently he was pretty sick and ill there – so undoubtedly he is really ill.

This gives me an opportunity to work from home and watch the budget at the same time. Very luckily as it turns out because at midday I get a panic call from the Ham & High asking where my column is. Being an organised sort of person – I am horrified to learn that I was meant to have written one by the deadline of two days earlier. Even the Ham & High said they were worried about me and thought something had happened as I am ultra-reliable.

But no – just a mistake. However – by the now extended deadline of 2pm I have written and sent column to said publication. Whew!

Back to the budget. Brown presents it as all good news, but when the analysts get down to it the doubts come in. And thus it comes to pass that the £200 off council tax for pensioners is for one year only and will disappear in the Council Tax re-banding in September. And free bus travel – we already have that in London. The stamp duty higher threshold means very little here either. So – not sure that it’s much of a deal. Faint breeze in a teacup I would say.

LIB DEMS CELEBRATE MOVES TO SCRAP BULKY RUBBISH CHARGES

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Liberal Democrats expressed satisfaction and delight last night as Labour-run Haringey Council conducted an astonishing u-turn. The Council bowed to the party’s long-running campaign to scrap controversial charges for the collection of bulky rubbish, such as old fridges and freezers. The move came in an announcement last night at the Muswell Hill area assembly and follows a long campaign by local Lib Dem councillors on the issue.

The Council has announced that from April it will begin a scheme for the removal, free of charge, of items such as fridges from people’s homes. Until now, Labour has consistently refused to change its policy of a £15 charge on the issue, despite Lib Dem petitions signed by local residents and presented to the Council. The Lib Dems also made the issue a key feature of the three by-election campaigns in Stroud Green, Muswell Hill and Fortis Greenlast year (see photo)all won by the party with landslide victories over Labour.

Lib Dems have maintained that because of the present charges, large items such as old fridges and other large waste litter the borough’s streets. Lib Dem Parliamentary spokesperson Lynne Featherstone – who spear-headed the campaign – has labelled the policy a false economy, as it results in the unscrupulous dumping of these large items – with Haringey having to foot the bill anyway as they have to clear up the mess. The Labour-run council has admitted to Lib Dem councillors that demand for collections of bulky rubbish has declined by almost three quarters since the introduction of the unpopular charges.

Lynne Featherstone comments:

“I am absolutely delighted at this climb-down by the Council.Haringey has finally admitted that the policy of charging has not worked and has led to much more dumping in the borough.

“We will be looking at the details of the reintroduced scheme, but it is certainly victory for the Liberal Democrats and local people who have supported the campaign. I am delighted that the Council has finally admitted the failure of its policy.”