Lib Dem councillors are encouraging residents living in the Dukes Avenue area to get involved in the new traffic consultation proposed by a Council sponsored focus group. The documents have been distributed over the weekend and offer two different proposals for calming.

The group, made up of officers, councillors and resident representatives has for the past two years been working hard on the proposals to spend £100,000 that has been assured by TfL following persistent pressure from Lib Dem GLA member, Lynne Featherstone. It is hoped that this will go some way to solve the traffic problems that have seen this area suffer from both excessively high volumes and speeds from through traffic.

Lib Dem traffic spokesperson Susan Oatway is delighted that the consultation has finally arrived and is keen for residents to get involved in the consultation:.

“I am delighted that the group has worked so constructively and the residents groups involved should be praised. I hope now that residents will now take this opportunity and get involved in the consultation.”

An exhibition of the two options for road calming will be held at Alexandra Park School, 14th June from 6-9pm.

Liberal Democrat councillor Lynne Featherstone has successfully lobbied for the inclusion of bank holiday waste collection arrangements on Haringey Council’s website. The assurance made this week by the Council follows months of pressure from the Lib Dems who have pressed Haringey Council to take action.

The Lib Dems recent residents’ survey highlighted the problem with many dissatisfied residents complaining that the Council did not make them aware of alterations to the usual collection.

Cllr Featherstone has welcomed the assurance that the Council is currently in the process of updating its website to include bank holiday waste collection information. However she is concerned that a relatively simple exercise has taken so long to implement:

“It is very irritating for residents to put out rubbish or recycling to find it is not collected on the usual day. I am therefore pleased that Haringey Council is finally addressing this problem. I hope that it will greatly reduce the inconvenience to residents caused by lack of information currently available.

“However, I am concerned that it has taken months for the Council to take any action to inform residents about alterations to services and that simply is not acceptable.”

Liberal Democrats have hit back at claims by Haringey Council that the departure of the Assistant Director of Children’s Services is part of areorganisation of the Council.

Just days before the resignation, the Council at its Annual Meeting voted through the existing structure as part of Haringey Council’s constitution (see part K.5 management structure/ social services directorate, page 12) which clearly shows the existing officer structure.

Liberal Democrat Social Services spokesperson, Ron Aitken comments:

“No hint was given before the Council’s Annual Meeting that any change in the structure in the department was contemplated. Indeed this would be the sixth or seventh restructuring since the 1980s and it can only be damaging to staff morale.”

Liberal Democrat councillors in the Muswell Hill area have expressed their extreme disappointment at Haringey Council’s negative response to parents left without school places in the area this year following a meeting with parents.

Lib Dem councillor Lynne Featherstone comments:

“This is a blow to local parents, and they have been in the unenviable position of having had their hopes raised to no avail. I’m very tempted to believe that Haringey set up the working group just to push the issue into the long grass, past the Council’s Annual General Meeting, where parents could have pursued the issue.”

37% of residents in the west of Haringey have had difficulty in finding an NHS dentist according to figures published by Haringey’s Lib Dem Council Group.

The statistics gathered from the party’s annual residents’ survey of Lib Dem represented wards confirms concerns that large numbers of people are already without access to an NHS dentist.

Lib Dem Group Leader Neil Williams believes that the statistics do not fully reflect the scale of the problem. He says that although many residents surveyed answered ‘no’ to the NHS dentist question, the comments that some added to their answer implied they had given up even trying to get a health service dentist a long time ago.

The results of the Lib Dem survey are even more poignant in light of last weeks survey by the British Dental Association (BDA) that found nearly six out of ten high street dentists are threatening to reduce their NHS commitment or quit the health service completely.

Neil Williams comments:

“It is a very worrying situation. Dentists seem disillusioned with the Government’s hollow promises. Unless the Government addresses this problem urgently, visits to the dentists will become a luxury that many will be unable to afford.”

Lib Dem GLA member and Haringey councillor Lynne Featherstone has expressed concern about the positions of speed calming measures in Wolves Lane, Wood Green.

The comments followed a site visit conducted by Ms Featherstone to inspect the positions of chicanes on the road after concerns were raised by residents in the area.

Ms Featherstone says that the chicanes are very near the junctions on the busy road, where cars speed and drivers entering Wolves Lane from side turnings face cars on the wrong side of the road.

Lynne Featherstone comments:

“The position of the chicanes on Wolves Lane does concern me. I am asking Haringey Council to justify their present positions, which appear to be both a safety hazard and a cause of extra congestion on both this and the surrounding roads.”

As crunch time moves ever closer over the future of the Muswell Hill to Swiss Cottage bus route, Lib Dem GLA member and local councillor Lynne Featherstone is calling on residents to put in writing their demand for a full service on the 603 route.

The trial service on the 603 Muswell Hill to Swiss Cottage bus route is nominally due to cometo an end in June, but Transport for London (TfL) have said that buses will continue until a review of the service takes place.

The next stage is crucial, says Lynne Featherstone, who is now asking local people for their help.

The review of the service is likely to be concluded in August or September and one of the factors to be taken into account is comments received by TfL’s customer services. As people often do not write to customer services, Cllr Featherstone is urging residents to write. She is gathering in comments to present to TfL’s customer services to ensure people’s views are fully represented when decisions are made.

Residents can show their support for the service by sending Cllr Featherstone their views, which she will pass on to Transport for London. Readers can send an email, including a full name, address and postcode, or write to FREEPOST LON1113, 100 Uplands Road, LONDON N8 9BR.

Lynne Featherstone comments:

“I hope as many people as possible will join us in our bid for a full service, now that the 603 trial period is coming to an end. We must keep up the pressure for an expansion of the 603.”

Lib Dem councillors in Muswell Hill have welcomed steps taken by the owners of the Odeon cinema to improve conditions in the car park and the entrances to flats at the back of the site. Steps have been taken to remove accumulated rubbish.

Lib Dem councillors Gail Engert and Lynne Featherstone (Muswell Hill), who have been pushing for the improvements, say the measures are appreciated by local residents and shopkeepers alike, and the latter are particularly pleased that so much unsightly rubbish has been removed from the site.

Site managers have thanked councillors for bringing the state of the car park to their attention, and have since agreed to make it a daily task to clean the car park to prevent litter build up and fly tipping.

Lynne Featherstone comments:

“I am pleased we have secured a clear up in the area of the Odeon car park. We will be monitoring the situation to see that things to do not deteriorate in future, as rubbish on the site has been very off-putting in the recent past.”