Lib Dem Environment Spokesperson Bob Hare has helped residents successfullylobby Haringey Council to alter plans for a new junction at the New River Villagein Hornsey to incorporate wider pedestrian pavements and ten new trees forthe area.

The news, announced last week, has pleased local resident andenvironmental groups whose requests to save a number of old trees at thesite of the junction were rejected by Haringey Council earlier this year.

Local resident and conservation groups along with Bob Hare had a number ofmeetings with both the Council and St James Homes – the developer of the NewRiver Village at the former Hornsey Water Works.

Early on in the planning process, local people including St Mary’s PrimarySchool opposite the entrance, had expressed concern at the loss of trees andthe creation of the large junction for the new development. The visual,traffic and noise effects made a ‘triple whammy’ on this sensitive siteopposite the old church tower and beside the Green, added to which, everychild going to school from the Hornsey village direction would have to crossone arm of the junction.

Even St James Homes had said that they would have preferred to have used theoriginal entrance which was further away and slightly down from Hornsey.However, despite being told by the Council that the location of the entrancewas not decided, it became clear that it had been. Moreover, in creating thenew entrance, a number of mature trees were lost.

However, after pressure by Lib Dem councillor Bob Hare, who attendedmeetings with the planners and the developer, alterations were made to thedesign of the junction.The new plans will mean that the pavement will bewidened slightly to shorten the width of the junction for pedestrianscrossing.

Also Haringey Council has added ten large trees to the plan, andconfirmed that the services of a planting company specialising in largetrees had been acquired to plant them around the new entrance later thisyear.

Cllr Bob Hare said:

“While obviously sorry to have lost the case for a moresensitively located junction, and to have lost trees that in some cases werewell over a hundred years’ old, I am very pleased that local people havesucceeded in getting some small improvements in design and that we will begetting ten new, large trees around the junction”.

Local Lib Dem councillors Lynne Featherstone and Neil Williams have been assured by Transport for London that they will allow a couple of extra weeks for residents to respond to the vital consultation on the future of the 603 bus route between Hampstead and Swiss Cottage.

Agreement was reached at a meeting last week with the local steering group on the route between local councillors TfL representatives, and bus campaigners.

Local campaigners told TfL of the good take up of the trial service, which has been running since January, with certain signs that the buses would be popular if running all day long. Residents now have until 16th July to respond to TfL saying how useful they find the service.

Local Lib Dem councillors in Highgate and Muswell Hill are urging thousands of residents to participate, in order to keep the pressure on Labour Mayor Ken Livingstone to say yes to a full service on the route – something he has resisted so far.

Lib Dem councillor Lynne Featherstone, who has campaigned tirelessly for the route for many years, comments:

“A full service no the 603 is absolutely vital. It will hugely benefit public transport links in the area. We now have an extra couple of weeks to respond to the consultation on the future of the route, and I do hope as many residents as possible will respond.

Cllr Neil Williams adds:

“The more replies we have saying why we need this bus, the more pressure we can put on Ken Livingstone.”

Lib Dem Environment Spokesperson, Cllr Bob Hare (Highgate) has criticisedHaringey’s Environment Scrutiny Panel for not inviting local tree experts tolast week’s panel meeting – despite the fact that trees and parksmaintenance were on its agenda.

Lib Dem Councillor Hare, who helped found the Tree Trust in Haringey and whoattends meetings of the Friends of Parks Forum, invited all of these groupshimself, but by then it was too late for most of them to attend, and in anycase none would have had time to discuss the issues with their members andcommittees.

A key committee, Haringey Council’s ‘Environmental Scrutiny’ Panel meets 4 timesa year. Its purpose is for the public to ask questions about the Council’senvironmental performance and policies.

Cllr Bob Hare comments:

“The whole point of scrutiny is to ask questionsand to improve performance. Unfortunately, as the Audit Commission haspointed out, Haringey’s scrutiny committees are not run in an effectivemanner. Failing to notifying these key groups who know all about our localparks is a good way of avoiding criticism, but it completely misses thepoint. It is excluding a huge amount of expertise on the ground.

“I have asked that this agenda item be repeated at the next meeting of thepanel, so that all the Friends groups can be invited to have their say withplenty of notice. This mustn’t happen again.”

Liberal Democrat Environment Spokesperson Bob Hare has called on the Councilto address the lighting problem on the Muswell Hill section of the ParklandWalk, N10.

The tunnel that runs under Muswell Hill currently has six of itseight lights out of action. This makes the tunnel very gloomy, even duringthe daytime. Cllr Hare has written to Haringey Council requesting that theyinvestigate the issue and take immediate action.

Cllr Hare says that Haringey Council should increase its efforts in maintainingParkland Walk including removal of graffiti and litter, and regular lightingmaintenance to ensure that the walk, enjoyed by thousands, is welcoming andfeels safe.

Cllr Hare comments:

“I am requesting that Haringey Council takes immediate action to repair thelighting and clean up the Parkland Walk. It is a wonderful resource forHaringey to have and I am keen to ensure that the Council does not neglectit.

“People need good illumination to feel safe. When most of the lights in atunnel are not working, and when there is graffiti on the walls, the placestarts looking derelict. This is why I am requesting immediate action to getthe lights working and to have graffiti painted over as soon as possible.”

Liberal Democrats in Haringey have again condemned the way in which Labourcouncillors on the Social Services and Health Scrutiny Panel voted againstusing legal powers to refer the closure of two mental health day hospitalsin the borough to the Secretary of State for Health.

This is the second time Labour councillors have ignored the pleas of mentalhealth users and thwarted the Scrutiny Panel from exercising its legalpowers. A similar vote in March was lost because Labour members wanted togive the Mental Health Trust a further three months in which to consider theissue.

Lib Dem Social Services and Health Spokesperson Cllr Ron Aitken moved thereferral to the Secretary of State on the grounds that the Trust has now hada year in which to reverse its decision to close Kate Marsden and CanningCrescent Day Hospitals.

This time the vote was 2-2 and the Labour Chair used his casting vote todefeat the proposal.

“It beggars belief that Labour members of the Scrutiny Panel voted alongparty lines to frustrate a move to use the Panel’s legal power to refer thematter to the Secretary of State” said Cllr Aitken.

“For mental healthpatients and their carers this is a slap in the face from Labour who saythey care but in practice toe the party line”.

Cllr Lynne Featherstone this week secured assurances that the Grove House Road estate, N8 will be regularly swept after local residents contacted hercomplaining that Haringey Council hadn’t swept the estate for weeks.

After investigating Ms Featherstone’s complaint, Haringey Councilinformed her that there had been a mix-up with Housing Sweep Teams and theestate was being missed. They assured her that immediate action would betaken to correct the error.

Cllr Featherstone is hopeful that the Council has remedied this problem andthe estate is now being swept three times a week.

Lynne Featherstone comments:

“I am glad that this issue has been resolved and the Council has apologisedfor its mistake. I’ll be keeping a close eye to ensure the area is not leftout of essential cleaning in future.”

Liberal Democrats in Haringey have expressed further serious concerns thatthe lessons of the Victoria Climbie case have not been learned by Haringey social services and other agencies involved in serious child protection cases.

Liberal Democrat Social Services Spokesperson Cllr Ron Aitken wrote to Haringey Council in December last year demanding answers about a serious case involving a nine year old boy who was branded by his father with an iron.

It emerged in court that the father believed the boy to be possessed by the devil having taken him to an evangelical Church in Finsbury Park.

Last week, the Council was forced to reveal a Part 8 Serious Case Reviewabout the accidental scalding of a two year old boy which revealed seriousshortcomings in social services and NHS handling of child protection whichechoed the language of Lord Laming’s criticisms in the Climbie Report.

In the hot iron case, the boy’s neighbour took him in and called police.The father was later jailed for what the judge called “a campaign ofcruelty”. In the Victoria Climbie case, Lord Laming examined the role ofan evangelical church in Finsbury Park and a subsequent Charity Commission Report instructed the Church to institute a child protection policy.

It is also unclear which case the SSI and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate ofConstabulary cited in their joint inspection of Haringey Social Servicesin March and June 2003, when they stated that police expressed concernsthat they were not informed of suspected serious abuse of a child.

Lib Dem Social Services Spokesperson, Cllr Ron Aitken, comments:

“It appears that there is yet another serious case in addition to that ofVictoria and boy Adam which reveals appalling failures by Haringey SocialServices.

“Lessons have not been learned, and the same people are in charge andrefuse to be held accountable for these failures. Ministers should becalling for their resignations.”