STROUD GREEN -LIB DEM SECURES REMOVAL OF FERME PARK ROAD EYESORE

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Lib Dem councillor Laura Edge has secured the removal of a large area of graffiti in Ferme Park Road, N8. The removal of the graffiti eyesore situated above a launderette in the road follows 12 months of campaigning by Cllr Edge.

The issue was originally brought to her attention while canvassing as a candidate in last January’s Stroud Green by-election. She contacted Haringey Council who investigated but no action was taken until last week.

Haringey Council has explained to Cllr Edge that due to the positioning of the graffiti, on the wall above the launderette’s roof, there were a number of access and health and safety issues that had to be addressed before action could be taken.

It was only last week that the Council finally gained an indemnity from the launderette owner that allowed the Council to gain access to the property to do the removal work.

Cllr Edge comments:

“I am delighted that this long-standing eyesore has finally been removed from the area.

“I hope that Council has learned from this episode and the next request for graffiti removal will take a week rather than a year.”

Holocaust Memorial Day

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I go into the London Assembly chamber for our Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony, organised and staged by the Chair of the Assembly, Brian Coleman.

A gay male voice choir opened the ceremony with a beautiful haunting song. Then Brian said a few, very well chosen words. But then we heard from Trudi, a Holocaust survivor. Her story moved me to tears. She told of her inhumane experiences on the Death March and then her experience when she finally came to England. A policeman went up to her on arrival to ask where she was going and she told him. He then advised her how to get there, where to get a taxi and to negotiate with the driver for a pre-fixed price as he didn’t want her to pay over the odds. She said it was the first time in her life that someone in uniform meant her no harm – and even was trying to help her.

She was followed by a rabbi, with some very moving words, and then a beautiful song in Hebrew. There is something very haunting about this music.

We then heard from the Rwandan Ambassador. In a very quiet and thoughtful way she extended our thinking to other genocides – and finally a poem from Ken. Ken was in tears too. We then lined up to sign the book of commitment.

That’s why it is so important to remember. That’s why children need educating as to man’s inhumanity to man. That’s why we need the annual commemoration of the Holocaust to remain a memory of the worst we know in ‘civilised’ society.

I have never been under any illusion that civilisation as we know it here is still only skin deep. It only takes a mix of poverty and a political move to use immigrants as the scapegoat for the horrors to rise again. I still believe though, in this country, there are enough right-minded people to stop it happening – but I was underwhelmed by Michael Howard’s use of words like ‘millions who want to come here’ in the Tories’ desperate attempts to win favour. Yes – we have to have a working system and stem illegal immigration – but when the Tories use those sorts of words I know who they are calling to.

Congestion charging in outer London

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I am invited to address the AGM of the London Transport Users Committee together with Bob Kiley.

That morning a piece had appeared in The Times saying that Kiley, fully supported by Mayor Ken, wants to extend congestion charging to hotspots right across London. The charge would be electronically managed by ‘tag and beacon’ so that the driver with a tag in their car would automatically be debited as the car passed a beacon. What’s more the article also states that they are thinking of this for the congested North and South Circulars.

Now, the Liberal Democrats have been advocating for some time that instead of the westward extension to the central congestion charging zone, the Mayor needs to target congestion – much of which exists outside the central area.

When the GLA’s Transport Committee (which I chair) did some polling in six boroughs outside of the centre, including Haringey, we found that peoples’ tolerance to a charge went up in direct correlation to their experience of congestion on their particular daily journeys. Congestion in their view wasn’t about large areas but about particular roads or town centres at particular times of the day. So – our recommendations were that any extension of the charge should be by electronic technology and target such hot spots and times.

So – given the opportunity to challenge Bob – I did so – not only on the veracity of the report, but also to make clear that any suggestion of effectively tolling the North Circular was ludicrous and would send vehicles rat-running through residential roads like there was no tomorrow. Muswell Hill and Bounds Green are deluged with rat-running as it is.

Bob was backtracking fast and saying he was just raising the debate. I said that was a good thing to be doing as everyone in London knew that congestion was worse outside zone 1, but put a few riders on the whole issue.

Firstly – any decision on where needed sorting out should be the decision of the borough itself with the consent of local people. Boroughs must be king in this.

Secondly – that the provision of buses into the central zone that made the first congestion charge possible meant that there would have to be an equivalent spend on public transport in any area into which a charge was being introduced – otherwise if no extra public transport alternatives were provided it would simply be a levy on car usage.

Thirdly – that any measure that were brought in must be predicated on the basis that they were entirely about reducing congestion and nothing to do with revenue raising per se.

So – we shall see. I then got to address LTUC as Chair of Transport to tell them what the Assembly expected and hoped for from them as an organisation. Seemed to go down well. I must say, having listened to them questioning Kiley, they seem a very bright bunch and I do have great hopes for them being effective champions for the public.

Maternity policy

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Rush to Liberal Democrat HQ in Cowley Street for briefing prior to a national press conference for a new policy launch – our ‘Maternity Income Guarantee‘.

I got the call last week to ask if I would present the policy with Charles Kennedy, Phil Willis and Hanna Hedges – the youngest parliamentary candidate next time around.

We are briefed (briefly) and then we march in prescribed order into the conference room at HQ where all our press conferences usually take place. The assembled media has a satisfactory turnout of TV, national and regional journalists – despite Michael Howard co-timing his launch of the new Tory policies on asylum and immigration – of that more later.

Charles introduced the policy. Basically it is targeted on the lowest-paid working women – who are generally on the minimum wage. Maternity pay normally cuts this income down to 90% of normal pay. However, what’s the point of a minimum wage if you are forced below the minimum if you decide to have a child?

Our help is for first babies – as that is when the expense cuts the deepest with all the things you have to get. It is a wonderful thing, a first baby – but when the door shuts, the relatives go and reality hits…

The policy is really targeted on the nearly 200,000 women who would go below the minimum wage during maternity leave. Initially it will run for 6 months – but obviously we want to extend to 9 and 12 months as further funding can be found – and, of course, make it available to either parent in the longer term.

So Charles introduced it – then I said my bit and so on – and then we jump into a cab and off to a school for the photo ops. Nursery schools always look like such fun. The children at this one were playing with coloured cooked spaghetti and seeing the comparison between long, medium and short bits. Oh to be an infant…!

Then off to meet the residents’ association rep from the Campsbourne Estate – a badly treated part of Hornsey ward (Haringey) where it nestles in a seemingly forgotten backwater. As Neil Williams (Lib Dem council group leader) and I walk around, we are shown the pieces of land that residents fear the Labour council will grab for housing rather than providing proper facilities for the local residents.

Residents want allotments and play areas and planting, and they fear Haringey Council wants to cram in housing. Labour in Haringey are finding any ‘spare’ bit of land and cramming in housing – regardless of the damage to our environment and the load on our public services.

There has been a lot of work done to provide a plan for renewal on the estate – and there is Section 106 money (from the Hornsey Waterworks site development) to the tune of £250,000 which they have been told they will get. Their fear is that they won’t.

They hope by bringing the Lib Dems into their campaign that Labour will be forced on to the straight and narrow and won’t be able to snaffle the money away for their own purposes.

That same evening at full council, a local Labour Hornsey ward councillor stands up and gives a speech as to what Labour are doing for the Campsbourne Estate.

My goodness – we’re good – word must have reached them quickly that Lib Dems were out and about walking around the Campsbourne. Still – it looks like the plot is working!

I had arrived late at the council meeting as earlier it was one of my daughter’s reports night. But I did arrive in time for the deputation of relatives of residents of Cooperscroft – the old peoples’ home Labour are closing despite promises that this would not happen.

It is a good speech from the deputation who implores Labour to vote with their hearts on the following motion put by the Lib Dems to save the home.

But their hearts are made of stone and one has to say they are a lily-livered bunch. A woman from the deputation later yells at the Deputy Labour Mayor to accuse him of telling residents and relatives outside the meeting that he is against closure – but he speaks for closure and his hand rises to vote down the motion to save the homes.

Makes me really angry. There is an offer from a charity to take over the home as a going concern – no thanks to Labour Haringey – and I hope for the residents’ sake this is pursued. The Lead Member for Social Services only acknowledges this as true because in my speech in the debate I mention the email I have from the charity to let me know. I doubt whether Labour would have pursued it at all if it hadn’t been made public.

Labour couch their decisions as ‘offering old people choice’ and the benefits of ‘being able to stay in your own home’. We are talking about people over ninety years old who need round-the-clock care. Labour really stink over this one!

TORIES ADMIT THEY ARE OUT OF THE RUNNING AS LIB DEMS WELCOME DAUGHTER OF EX-TORY MP ON CAMPAIGN TRAIL

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Liberal Democrats have welcomed the admission from a senior local Tory that the general election fight in the Hornsey and Wood Green constituency will be a straight choice between the Lib Dems and Labour.

Former councillor Peter Forrest, the last surviving Tory councillor who was ousted by the Lib Dems in Highgate at the last local elections, commented to a local newspaper, the Crouch End Times, last week:

“This election is a desperately keen fight between Featherstone and Roche, and what happens to the Conservative vote will be absolutely crucial.”

Liberal Democrats in Hornsey and Wood Green have also received another boost, with a daughter of the former Conservative MP for the area out campaigning for the local party. Marie-Louise Rossi, who is now a Lib Dem Prospective Parliamentary Candidate, was campaigning in very familiar territory, having run previous election campaigns for her father Sir High Rossi, Tory MP for the seat until 1992. Local Lib Dems say it is yet further evidence that many former Tories are turning to the Lib Dems in their battle with Labour in the constituency.

Marie-Louise Rossi comments:

“I was delighted to be back in Highgate and to help the Lib Dem campaign in the area. The party has an excellent Parliamentary Spokesperson in Lynne Featherstone, and it is clear that the Tories have been firmly pushed into third place in the area. I wish the local Lib Dems every success in the coming year.”

Lib Dem Leader Neil Williams adds:

“This admission from the Tories confirms what many local people are realising, that only the Lib Dems can challenge Labour in the constituency. With an unpopular MP who has backed the Government on all the most controversial issues, I am sure many people will take note of this very frank admission that the Tories have no chance at all in the area.”

LIB DEMS CONCERNED AT TEMPORARY SCHOOL BUILDINGS IN BOROUGH

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Cllr Gail Engert, Liberal Democrat Education spokesperson in Haringey, has expressed deep concern at figures released this week showing that Haringey has 30 temporary buildings in use in LEA-run schools in the borough.

The figures, published by the Government in response to a question from Lib Dem Parliamentary Spokesperson on London Sarah Teather MP, also showed the estimated costs of repair and maintenance – including the estimated backlog of repairs – for the next five years.

Haringey is estimated to need over £39m to repair and maintain schools over this period and Cllr Engert fears that these figures could mean that many of the temporary buildings currently in use could become permanent at the schools where they are sited.

She says that she will be raising her concerns over temporary buildings and pushing for clear plans from the Council and LEA for replacing the temporary buildings.

Cllr Gail Engert (Muswell Hill) comments:

“These figures make worrying reading. We need to establish how many children are being regularly taught in temporary buildings at primary and secondary schools.”

Lynne Featherstone, Lib Dem Parliamentary spokeswoman for Hornsey and Wood Green, adds:

“Haringey Council needs to have a clear idea of what temporary means and stick to it. We will be asking the Council to detail its plans for the replacement of these temporary buildings that do little to enhance the teaching environment.”

DISMAY AS LABOUR SWEEPS AWAY 'WATCHOG' COMMITTEES

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Liberal Democrats have voiced their dismay at the axing of six vital ‘watchdog’ committees by the Labour Group on Haringey Council. The move, agreed without consultation by the borough’s ruling Labour group, was confirmed at last week’s meeting of the borough’s top watchdog body, the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Six Scrutiny Panels, covering Social Services, Environment, Housing, Regeneration, Education and Performance, are to be swept away and replaced with just one body, which will conduct inquiries on a ‘single issue’ basis.It follows the abolition of the Policing Committee last year. Lib Dem Leader Neil Williams says this will damage the ability of the Council to monitor the work of key council functions. He says it is the wrong response to criticism from the Audit Commission for the poor performance of scrutiny in the London Borough of Haringey and the running of scrutiny by the Labour group on a party-political basis.

The move was all the more astonishing, says Councillor Williams, as nearly all the Labour members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee expressed their disagreement with the changes – and then quietly voted them through.

Cllr Neil Williams comments:

“This is a cynical move from Labour, and it does not address the real problem with scrutiny in Haringey, which is down to the attitude of the Labour group. They have been forced to make changes because of outside criticism but have taken steps to ensure that they will not be held properly to account in the Council.Hardly a single member of the Scrutiny Committee supported it, but it is going through anyway. We will continue to try to make scrutiny work better, but I am not optimistic, given this latest cynical ploy.”

FEATHERSTONE WITH KENNEDY TO LAUNCH NEW MATERNITY INCOME GUARANTEE

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Lib Dem Parliamentary Spokesperson Lynne Featherstone today joined party leader Charles Kennedy MP at the launch of new plans to help working mothers after the birth of their first child. They also visited the Gower School, a nursery school in Islington, to discuss the new policy with local parents.

The Liberal Democrat ‘Maternity Income Guarantee’ will mean that hundreds of working mothers in Haringey would be paid at least £4,420 for the 26 weeks of statutory maternity leave when they are starting a family. This equates to £170 per week, the equivalent of the gross income of the minimum wage for a 35-hour week.

Around 200,000 working women nationwide have their first baby every year. Under the Maternity Income Guarantee, the majority would be significantly better off – and not one would lose out.

Rt Hon Charles Kennedy MP, Leader of the Liberal Democrats, said:

“Today we put in place a new policy which is an important part of the childcare jigsaw – helping working mothers in the first months after the birth. We are proposing a radical reform of maternity pay provision for the first-born child:a reform which will particularly benefit women on low incomes.

“Our Maternity Income Guarantee forms a solid base for working women to plan their first baby’s first months. It will help to prevent this most exciting of times for new parents being marred by the financial worry that can so often accompany it.

“For single mothers, for low-income families, for all working women who want the best for their new family, the choice of our Maternity Income Guarantee will reward them with a working wage for the first 6 months of their first child’s life.”

Lynne Featherstone, Liberal Democrat candidate in Hornsey and Wood Green said:

“There are very substantial costs involved in having your first child, and the Liberal Democrats are guaranteeing real financial security for a full six months.

“We recognise that bringing up your first child is a tough job and this needs to be reflected in a proper maternity pay package. Tens of thousands of working mothers would benefit from our proposals every year, particularly those with lower incomes.

“We are committed to giving mothers the choice to spend more time at home in their child’s early months, without feeling financially pressurised to return to work.”

Notes:

Liberal Democrats would give working families having their first child the option to have the mother stay at home for 6 months with an income equivalent to minimum wage. Becoming a parent for the first time is a daunting task and giving new working parents more support has benefits for them, their babies, their employers and the economy.

The Liberal Democrat ‘Maternity Income Guarantee’ will guarantee all working mothers will be paid at least £4,420 for the 26 weeks of statutory maternity leave when they are starting a family.This equates to £170 per week, the equivalent of the gross income of the minimum wage for a 35-hour week.

At present, statutory maternity pay is 90% of salary for six weeks and £102 for another 20 weeks. For those working women on higher salaries, for whom the current system provides more than the Maternity Income Guarantee, the Statutory Maternity Pay system would still be available.They could continue with the current system, if it suits them.

But the Maternity Income Guarantee would mean for every woman who earns less than £22,000, this would mean more money when her first child is born. For example a woman on a salary of £14,000 will receive more than £900 extra over the 26-week period.

Around 200,000 working women have their first baby every year.Under the Maternity Income Guarantee, the majority would be significantly better off – and not one would lose out.

Who's going to win Hornsey & Wood Green?

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New local newspaper appears today – Muswell Hill and Crouch End Times. First edition has a big piece on the general election contest here in the Hornsey and Wood Green constituency.

A fun read. Not just because it talks about the contest being Lib Dems vs Labour with us having a good chance of winning. Also fun because nice quote from one of the main local Conservatives – twice their losing GLA candidate etc. He points out that the Tories are out of the race and whether Labour or Lib Dem wins might depend on how many Tories vote tactically. Very nice of him to point it out …!

You can read his words in full on the paper’s website. Though I think they’ll feature on a leaflet or too as well…

HIGHGATE SPEEDING PROGRESS

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Highgate Lib Dem councillors have welcomed some progress on the dangerous zebra crossing on North Hill, N6.

At a site meeting with the Highgate Society, local residents and Haringey Council officers, Haringey Council agreed to implement immediate safety measures including the removal of some on-street parking and better street lighting to improve visibility. They also agreed to a speed survey at the dangerous site.

Neil Williams, Highgate councillor and Leader of the Opposition, comments:

“I am pleased that some immediate measures will be taken but it concerns me that it may take another serious accident before wholesale improvements are introduced.

“I will continue to work with Lynne Featherstone to press for everything possible to be done to tackle the speeding problem in North Hill.”