Lib Dem GLA member and 603 bus campaigner Lynne Featherstone has welcomed assurances from Transport for London that the service of the 603 Muswell Hill to Swiss Cottage bus will not suddenly cease when the six month trial ends in June. Ms Featherstone says the news is an encouraging sign that the service could be moved to a full timetable.

TfL have told Lynne Featherstone that a review of the operation of the 603 will take place later this summer. No change will be made to the service until the review has taken place and a decision made. The best estimate for completion of the review is currently August/September. Bus bosses will look at passenger numbers and the impact on local traffic, as well as feedback from customers.

To encourage that vital feedback, Lib Dem Lynne Featherstone has launched a text message poll on the increasingly popular local service.

Local people can now send a text message to Ms Featherstone on whether the route should be expanded to a full service. The expansion of the route has secured the backing of Lib Dem Mayoral candidate Simon Hughes, but failed thus far to get the support of Labour’s Ken Livingstone. To vote ‘yes’ for a full service on the route, respondents should text ‘bus yes’ to 07795 328 405, or ‘bus no’ if they don’t back a full timetable on the 603.

Lynne Featherstone comments:

“This is a positive sign from TfL – but we must keep up the campaign. It is vital that as many people as possible show their support for the bus route, keeping up the pressure on Labour.”

Lib Dem candidate for Mayor Simon Hughes was campaigning in Haringey again on Saturday, visiting shops and shoppers in Crouch End and Muswell Hill, as well as taking a tour of the Haringey Heartlands area in Wood Green.

Mr Hughes, along with GLA candidates Lynne Featherstone, Wayne Hoban and local Lib Dem councillors, stopped off at the famous Dunns Bakers in Crouch End, where they met bakery staff and purchased a selection of Crouch End cakes from baker Chris Freeman.

Simon Hughes met shoppers in Muswell Hill and Crouch End, and visited the controversial Queen’s Lodge site with local councillors. He also travelled to Wood Green for a briefing on the Haringey Heartlands development.

Simon Hughes comments: “I always enjoy coming to Haringey, and campaigning with Lynne Featherstone, Wayne Hoban, and the local Lib Dem team in the area. The shopping streets in Muswell Hill and Crouch End are a good example of local shops serving their local communities particularly well.

“It is hugely important that in these busy areas police are seen to combat the fear of crime. If elected, Mayor, I will put four police and four other uniformed officers in every ward in Haringey to make sure that local people feel safe, secure and confident of our police service.”

Lynne Featherstone adds:

“It was a pleasure to welcome Simon Hughes again to Haringey. It’s clear that the race for Mayor is between Simon and Labour’s Ken Livingstone, and we’ll be working extremely hard for a Lib Dem Mayor for London.”

Lib Dems have condemned controversial moves by Haringey Labour’s new administration to abolish a key watchdog committee which looks at policing issues in the borough.

The Lib Dems say that Labour intends to abolish the much-respected Crime and Community Safety Scrutiny Panel at the Council AGM without any consultation with the police or other local groups.

The party says that the move will remove a forum for discussing policing in the borough and shows yet again that the Labour Council holds the scrutiny process in contempt. Lib Dem councillors were only informed of the planned change, plotted by Labour for weeks, when a ‘pro-forma’ was circulated asking for details of committee members for next year.

Cllr Lynne Featherstone, along with Highgate councillor Melanie Simpson, had been nominated as the Lib Dem representatives on the committee – but neither was informed of the plans.

Ms Featherstone, who has been particularly prominent on policing issues in the borough with her high profile campaign to reopen the police station front counter at Muswell Hill, says that the Labour proposals are completely unacceptable.

Lynne Featherstone comments:

“The Crime and Community Safety Panel, has done a lot of good work on policing issues in Haringey over the past two years. To attempt to shut it down without any discussion is totally unacceptable. What are Labour afraid of?”

Lib Dem Leader Neil Williams adds:

“This is the worst possible start for the new Labour administration. Haringey’s scrutiny service has already received the thumbs down from the independent Audit Commission in recent weeks. This will only add to the sense that all constructive criticism and scrutiny is treated with contempt in Labour Haringey.

“We will be fighting Labour’s cynical plans to shut down a watchdog committee that has been doing a good job on policing issues in the borough.”

Liberal Democrat councillors attending a packed meeting of parents petitioning Haringey’s Education Authority to provide extra primary school places in the Muswell Hill area were aghast to learn that the waiting lists at local schools are so long that it is actually not just one, but two, extra primary classes that are needed locally.

After hearing Haringey Council admit the depth of the problem at a meeting with MHSCG (Muswell Hill Schools’ Crisis Group) last Thursday, Liberal Democrat and Muswell Hill Ward councillor Lynne Featherstone commented:

“We are clearly in a crisis situation. Haringey Council should make an unequivocal commitment to create two extra primary classes in the area, subject to agreement with the schools’ head teachers and governing bodies. Local children should have local places.”

Fellow Muswell Hill, Liberal Democrat councillor, Gail Engert backed her call saying:

“This is a crisis that should never have been allowed to happen. The warning statistics of the increasing number of local pre-school children in the area were readily available to anyone, so why were they not heeded by Haringey? Yet again we have a gross failure by Haringey Council to plan ahead and the problem will continue to grow with the increasing new developments of family houses in the area.”

Liberal Democrat councillor Jonathan Bloch has written to the new leader of Haringey Council, Charles Adje, and requested that he overturns the Labour administration’s refusal to support efforts by local traders to have an archaic ruling that restricts Saturday trading removed.

The Lib Dems are trying to gain Haringey Council’s support for the removal of an ancient royal charter which stops the Ally Pally farmers market taking place on a Saturday.

The Lib Dems asked the Labour leadership if they would approach the Old Enfield Charitable Trust with a view to persuading them to seek an alteration to the Royal Charter, which dates back to 1601.

The Labour Council rejected the request citing a number of reasons including the belief that the Sunday Farmers’ Market was currently ‘free from problems’ and that the Council has no ‘direct interest’ in it and thus was uninterested in getting involved.

Liberal Democrat Muswell Hill councillor Jonathan Bloch is hoping that a new administration will correct what, in his opinion, has been a bad misjudgement by the Council.

Cllr Jonathan Bloch (Muswell Hill) comments:

“It is very disappointing that Haringey Council has been so negative about local traders’ efforts to repeal this Charter. I hope that the new administration will have a bit more sense and support efforts which, if successful, will be good for the local economy.

“We will continue to support the efforts of local traders to secure an end to this bizarre Charter. It is an unacceptable and unfair restriction on doing business in Haringey, and it should be removed.”

Lib Dem environment spokesperson and Highgate councillor Bob Hare has requested action from Haringey Council to resolve the blocked drain problem in North Hill, Highgate.

Since work was done on a new roundabout in the road early this year, nearby drains have not functioned properly with regular pooling of water on parts of the road.

Haringey Council has claimed that it is the responsibility of the drainage contractors, Thames Water, to maintain the drains and investigate any problems. However Cllr Hare is concerned that the drainage problem in the area is just one example of many roads across the borough that sustain varying degrees of flooding during the wetter months due to poor drainage.

He believes it is the failure of Haringey to monitor and enforce action by Thames Water that is creating the problem. He is calling on the Council to detail its contractor’s drain clearing programme and its own monitoring programme.

Bob Hare comments:

“I want to get to the bottom of the drainage problem so that the road is cleared of the pools of water that appear regularly. Haringey should be taking responsibility and monitoring the work of Thames Water to ensure that local Council Tax payers are getting value for money.”