Haringey Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Social Services Cllr Ron Aitkenrevealed on Thursday night (21st October) the existence of two secretHaringey Council reports which, he says, should have been made public before thedecision by the Council’s Labour-run Executive was made to permanently closetwo care homes and temporarily close a third earlier this month.

Cllr Aitken, along with GLA Assembly Member Lynne Featherstone, called inthe Executive’s decision for the Council’s Watchdog Committee to scrutinise and discuss. The twosecret reports, disclosed by Cllr Aitken at Thursday’s meeting, paint adisturbing picture of the Council’s failings in addressing carehome funding issues.

The first is a secret report to the Council’s Executive or ‘Cabinet’ fromJuly 2003 concerning the sale of Honeywood, another home which was closed byHaringey and left empty for a considerable period.

The other report went before Haringey’s General Purpose Committeeduring the Council’s summer recess this year and concerned a cut in pay forsome residential care staff.

Cllr Aitken also revealed that previous mismanagement of the residentialhomes had forced Haringey to raid its Child Protection Budget in the periodleading up to the death of Victoria Climbie in order to keep the residentialhomes, which were in a very poor state, going.

Cllr Aitken comments:

“We need more answers from Haringey’s Labour Group, because previousassurances about the financial background to the closure of care homes havebeen broken. It is a fact that capital receipts are pooled, and when thehomes were previously sold to Circle 33 the promised financial returns nevermaterialised. There are also two key reports known only to a small circle ofLabour Councillors which should be made public before the closures goahead.

“Furthermore, plans to close and rebuild Osborne Grove Older People’s Homein Stroud Green are also deeply worrying. Haringey’s failures to deliverservices for the elderly at Hornsey Central Hospital, which has been talkedabout for 15 years, as well as the fiasco over Alexandra Palace, mean thatthey cannot be trusted to close and then rebuild Osborne Grove within therequired budget or timetable.”

The Leader of the Lib Dems in Haringey is demanding action over a dangerouscrossing point for local children in his Highgate Ward.

Cllr Neil Williamssays that there is a pressing need for a pedestrian crossing on HampsteadLane for pupils of Highgate Juniors, and if action is not taken it will beonly a matter of time before a serious accident occurs.

Cllr Williams has been pressing Haringey Council for action for months. He hasbeen contacted by several parents at the school who are worried for thesafety of their children as they attempt to cross the very wide part ofHampstead Lane near Highgate village at the junction with Bishopswood Road.

Haringey Council says a pedestrian crossing here is not a funding priority,but Councillor Williams says it is essential, as the road is unsafe forcrossing, and the narrow pavement on the northern side increases the dangerfor the school children.

One parent at the school writes: “Many children still cross Hampstead Lanebetween cars. I fear it is only a matter of time before a terrible accidenthappens.”

Cllr Neil Williams comments:

“Safety of schoolchildren in the area must be apriority, and there is already a speeding problem along Hampstead Lane. Ifeel that because the road forms the borough boundary with Camden, that thecouncils are not taking this issue seriously enough. The school has alreadyworked with the Council on other safety improvements in the area, but thejob is not finished. Action really must be taken before an accident occurs.”

Lib Dems councillors in Crouch End have condemned the action by Haringey Councilin confiscating Gerry the Bookman’s stall of books, outside BudgensSupermarket, The Broadway, Crouch End, N8. Council Officers are believed tohave swooped on his bookstall on Saturday afternoon.

Mr Ingram has been selling books for many years and proved a popularattraction to most locals. Haringey Council has recently been granted powerto remove traders who are pitching on private land adjacent to highways toallow free passage for pedestrians.In recent months many new traders haveappeared and in some cases have been ‘stalling out’ on the public footpath.

Haringey Lib Dems, while not supporting illegal trading, feel that Mr Ingramhas demonstrated widespread support and a willingness to keep his stallclean and tidy and off the public footpath. A way should therefore be foundfor him to continue trading.

Cllr Ron Aitken is writing to the freeholder of the propertyasking that Mr Ingram be given named permission to occupy his current pitch.If this is forthcoming Cllr Aitken says this should help satisfy Haringey’slicensing department.

Cllr. Aitken (Crouch End) comments:

“It’s a shame that this saga has nowescalated. A co-operative solution, which would have allowed Gerry to staycan be found, which at the same time stops the ‘cowboy’ stalls. I hope thatby getting permission from the leaseholder, Gerry will be able to restarthis book stall legally on the Broadway.”

Lib Dem Parliamentary Spokesperson Lynne Featherstone joined a march and addressed the rally to save a vital open space in Wood Green.

Ms Featherstone says that plans to turn part of White Hart Lane recreation grounds into an all weather pitch, which appears to have the backing of the Labour council with the Labour Lead Member for Education and school governor at the applicant school in favour, would amount to a serious loss of green space for people in the area.

St Thomas Moore School has applied to annex half of the green space to space to create their own all weather pitch. Ms Featherstone says the plan is unnecessary. She says that the site is very near the New River Sport Centre and the obvious solution would be to enhance and improve New River so that more local schools could use it. The community could benefit from a state of the art sports facility.

Ms Featherstone also adds that the situation is complicated by the Government’s and London Mayor’s agenda to cram more and more housing into Haringey.

Ms Featherstone informed the rally that there is a major planning application is being considered for a significant new housing scheme on New River site. She also cited the Government’s pressure on schools to have facilities that they can then make money from hiring back to the community – in this case the community they will have taken the land from.

Commenting Ms Featherstone said:

“It is quite clear that this is a land grab by Labour to take open space from local people in response to their national and regional agenda. This is vital green space for the local community and must remain so.”

Lib Dems have successfully secured the cancellation of parking tickets andchange of restrictions signage in Southwood Lane, N6.

The cancellations comeafter a number of local residents complained that Haringey Council had ticketedtheir cars on a Saturday even though there should have been no restrictions.

Southwood Lane has had waiting restrictions Monday – Friday 8am-6.30pm andmany residents park there on a Saturday. However, they were stunned toreturn to their cars and find they had received tickets on Saturday morning(16th October). On closer inspection it transpired that Haringey Council hadreplaced all but one of the old signs, with new ones restricting parkingfrom Monday – Saturday, with no notification of these changes. The residentscontacted Lib Dem Councillors who immediately got in touch with the Councildemanding an explanation.

Following enquiries from the Lib Dems and the Highgate Society, Haringey Counciladmitted to erecting the wrong signs, with restrictions on Saturday, whenreplacing the old ones.

They have apologised for the error and have given assurances that the signshave been replaced with ones that state the correct waiting restrictions. They have confirmed that they will be cancellingthe tickets.

The councillors are pleased with the decision. However they areconcerned that mistakes may have been made in other roads in the area andhave asked Haringey Council to investigate. Furthermore Cllr Gail Engert (MuswellHill) is pursuing the Council over compensation for a resident who was towedaway from the road, despite being parked near the only remaining old signthat stated the original Monday to Friday restrictions.

Cllr Featherstone comments: “We are glad that we have got Haringey toadmit its mistake and correct it. However we are concerned that mistakes mayhave been made in other roads in the area and we have asked the Council torecheck its parking signs.”

Cllr Gail Engert adds: “There are still some issues that the Council mustresolve including ensuring that residents who received fines are notified oftheir cancellation. I am also trying to get to the bottom of the towing awayincident and find out whether the Council has refunded the resident andoffered compensation for the cost and inconvenience of the removal of theirvehicle.”

Haringey Lib Dem councillors Gail Engert and Bob Hare have secured almost£1,000 of new plantings, including six new trees, for the council-owned Summerland Gardens car park at the rear of Marks and Spencer, Muswell Hill.

Council officers released the report and costings for the car park last weekfollowing a site visit with the councillors in August.

The report highlights manyissues that will be addressed by Haringey Council in the coming months after thecouncillors raised to them on the site visit. These include:

* Six new trees to be planted around the car park

* General tidy up of areas that have become overgrown

* Information boards to be re-positioned at rear of Marks and Spencer to allow for more trees

* Some pruning of current trees to improve lighting and regular inspections to continue to be carried out

* Investigating the cost of installing bicycle stands in the car park to stop trees being damaged

On Cllr Engert’s suggestion, Haringey Council has agreed to approach Marks &Spencer and seek some help in paying for these improvements, as many of thecar park users are customers of the store. A meeting is to be arranged inthe next couple of months.

Environment spokesperson Cllr Hare is pleased with the news so far and hopes that residents will see theseimprovements as soon as possible.

Cllr Hare comments: “The site visit has created a good plan for greenimprovements. Just because this is a car park, it shouldn’t be an eyesoreand I think the new plantings and other improvements suggested will make thearea more aesthetically pleasing.

“I hope now that Haringey has a plan, these ideas can be implementedsoon.”

Cllr Engert (Muswell Hill) adds: ” Marks and Spencer benefits greatly fromthe location of the car park. With that in mind I am hopeful that they willassist Haringey Council in funding these improvements.”

Lib Dems in Highgate have welcomed the agreement of Haringey Council to repaintbus stop markings outside Channing School, N6 after they were replaced witha single yellow line during the recent introduction of the CPZ to the area.

Highgate Councillor Mel Simpson contacted Haringey Council after residentsexpressed their concern at the dangerous situation caused by the removal ofthe bus stop markings in Highgate High Street.

The single yellow linepainted in its place meant that vehicles often parked in a solid lineoutside the school when the CPZ was not in force (outside the hours of10-noon). The result was that many bus users, including school children, had to step out into the busy road on leaving the bus and to be seen whenwaiting for the bus.

Cllr Simpson is pleased that Haringey have responded to the issues raisedand repainted the markings.

Cllr Melanie Simpson comments:

“We have successfully pressed for improvements in road safety around manyschools in the borough. This small action has improved the safety for bothschool children and local residents who use the bus.”