Cllr Lynne Featherstone has welcomed news from TfL’s Public Carriage Office (PCO) that they have successfully prosecuted an unlicensed minicab company in Wood Green.

Eclipse Exclusive Cars, Lordship Lane, were fined £300 plus £297 costs, at Brent Magistrates Court last month, after they were reported by Public Carriage Office licensing officers for the offence of operating without a licence.

Cllr Featherstone is pleased at the news that the firm, along with three others in London, has been successfully prosecuted. She says that the new measures aim to assure Londoners that when they use a cab they are not risking their safety.

Lynne Featherstone comments:

“Last month’s successful prosecution sends out a clear message that illegal operators will be brought to book. Such firms may be uninsured, with unroadworthy cars and no checks on the drivers. The sooner unlicensed operators are off our roads the better.”

Lib Dem GLA candidate for Enfield and Haringey, Wayne, Hoban, has expressed concern over recently revealed figures showing that the amount of funding given to promote sport in London has plummeted by 92% in the last year.

The figures, released in a Parliamentary answer to Simon Hughes, the Lib Dem mayoral candidate, show that in 2002 £33.5million was given to promote sports in the capital. By 2003, this has dropped by £26.5million to just £6.6million. This equates on average to more than £800,000 less for each London borough to spend on the promotion of sport.

Wayne Hoban comments:

“With obesity rates rocketing it is astounding that Ministers are failing to invest in promoting sport across London. It is a tragedy that the Government has failed to recognise the benefits that sports provide.

“Getting young people into sport is a passport for a lifetime of good health. For older people sport reduces social exclusion and prevents brittle bones.

“Encouraging more Londoners into sport reduces crime, builds communities and gets people fitter, happier and healthier.”

“It is somewhat ironic that whilst this government is actively promoting London’s Olympic bid, they are simultaneously making huge cuts in sports investment in the capital.”

Lib Dem London Assembly member Lynne Featherstone has welcomed a commitment from Lib Dem Mayoral candidate Simon Hughes to introduce a full service on the 603 Muswell Hill to Swiss Cottage bus route. The move comes during the trial of the service, which is proving to be very popular with local residents in the area.

Simon Hughes has promised to keep the service going beyond the end of the trial and to expand it from the current school run hours only service to a full service.

Lib Dems Lynne Featherstone, along with many local residents, has campaigned for years to have the service introduced – and secured an offer of a limited six month trial from Labour Mayor Ken Livingstone. The trial has been running since January. However the party says it is time for Ken to join Simon Hughes’s commitment to a full service.

Lynne Featherstone comments:

“I am delighted with Simon’s commitment that if he is elected in June, he will introduce a full service on the successful trial route. The bus is very popular with local people and many would use the full service. By voting for Simon Hughes on June 10th residents who want to see a full bus service will be voting for the only mayor candidate to be 100% committed to this route.”

Commenting on the Labour leadership and front bench elections, Neil Williams, Lib Dem Leader on Haringey Council, says:

“We congratulate Charles Adje on his election. However, I think that whoever leads the Labour group will not be able to make a positive difference for Haringey. After such a long period in office, the Labour group is internally split between various factions, and many of the new front bench team will be associated by local people with the Council’s very poor record over 30 years.”

Lynne Featherstone, Lib Dem Parliamentary spokesperson, adds:

“This was an opportunity for Labour to shake off the past and to look forward with a fresh approach. Instead, they have chosen to stick with many of the familiar faces that have contributed to Haringey’s long term failure under Labour. After over 30 years of Labour control, the words, ‘deckchairs’, ‘rearrange’, and ‘Titanic’ spring to mind.”

The Liberal Democrats are calling on Haringey Council to make changes to the Board that has been set up to advise Haringey Council on the future of Hornsey Town Hall.

They want to ensure that all local groups can have confidence in the process and can feel that adequate attention is being paid to their views. The Board, which is looking into future options for the Town Hall, has come in for criticism for not being sufficiently representative of local people’s concerns and ideas.

In order to create confidence in the process, the Lib Dems are asking the Council to:

• Ensure that the board is more independent of the Council and not just seen as a ‘talking shop’.
• Appoint an independent co-chair, with relevant experience, to the Board, who is not a member of the Council.
• Appoint an additional representative from Crouch End for People to reflect their contribution to the debate.
• Ensure there is a councillor represented from each of the three wards that cover the immediate area.

The party is also asking that adequate resources are made available to the Board to enable it to do its work properly. Following their public meeting last week, Lib Dems believe that Crouch End for People have put forward several stimulating ideas which are in tune with Lib Dem wishes for a centre for the performing arts.

Lib Dem councillor David Winskill (Crouch End) comments:

“We need to implement these changes rapidly, in order to ensure that there is confidence in this process. There is a huge amount of expertise locally, and we need it on the Board.

“The more we work together, the more confidence we can build to ensure that we maximise the amount of public funding for Town Hall – and this will reduce the need for commercial partners, acting as a bulwark against any moves towards a quick sale of the site.”

Lib Dem councillors in Alexandra ward have expressed their anger and dismay at street works carried out this weekend to install a mobile phone mast at the Albert Road and Durnsford Road park site.

The move comes despite a verbal and written assurance from Vodafone (LCC UK) that they would not progress their application to install a mobile base station and mast on the site until a round table consultation meeting has been held between local residents, Haringey Council and Vodafone.

Despite these assurances, local councillor and Lib Dem Deputy Leader Wayne Hoban uncovered a BT works team early on Saturday morning, which had arrived to dig up the road on behalf of Vodafone. Cllr Hoban has called the move outrageous and an abuse of local residents’ rights to be consulted on the controversial mast proposal.

Cllr Hoban visited the site on Saturday morning, following a tip-off from a local residents informing him that a BT team were digging up Durnsford Road at the site of proposed Vodafone mobile mast and base station. Having asked the BT team foreman to show his instructions, it was clear from the sheet plan that they were installing a cable to supply a ‘Vodafone Base Station’.

Cllr Hoban comments:

“Local residents will be outraged about the cynical way in which yet another mobile phone company seems to be pressing ahead with plans to install a phone mast without consultation.

“I am contacting council officers to seek guidance as to whether the works are legal, given that it would appear that the Council has not been notified as required.

“We will also be asking Vodafone to ensure that all associated works are stopped immediately until the legality of these works can be established.”