As pressure mounts on Mayor Ken Livingstone to intervene in the campaign for the Muswell Hill to Swiss Cottage bus route, local Lib Dem Councillors say there has been a huge response from Muswell Hill and Highgate residents, who have written in large numbers to Mayor Ken Livingstone to express their support for the route.

Haringey’s Lib Dems have been urging local residents to join in the effort to overturn Transport for London’s controversial rejection of the proposed new service. Over 150 local residents responded within just the first 48 hours of the Lib Dem call to say that they had written to Mayor Ken to urge him to overturn TfL’s controversial decision – and Lib Dems say the true figure must be even higher.

Lib Dem GLA member and Muswell Hill Councillor Lynne Featherstone says residents should continue to write to Mayor Livingstone to show their support for the route. As well as emailing mayor@london.gov.uk, they can write to Ken at City Hall, the Queen’s Walk, London SE1 2AA.

Lynne Featherstone comments:

“We have had a huge response so far, and we now need as many people as possible to tell Ken Livingstone how vital this new route would be for Muswell Hill, Highgate and Hampstead. It will cut journey times and displace large numbers of vehicles on this route, with great environmental benefits. The more people who write, the more pressure Ken will be under to overturn TfL’s ludicrous decision.”

Liberal Democrat councillors have criticised the Labour run Council, afterit admitted this week that it sacrificed consultation with residents inorder to meet a London Recycling Fund target of 40 mini recycling ‘bringsites’ by this month. The mini sites springing up around the borough aremade up of five portable recycling units and have already upset manyresidents across the borough since their appearance, without warning, a fewweeks ago.

Lib Dem Environment spokesperson, Bob Hare is concerned that the Council isrunning the risk of damaging people’s good will towards recycling by itsfailure to consult even the local residents’ associations for the areas withthe new sites. He is disappointed that the Council again appear to haveignored the issue until it was too late, when the issue of findingappropriate sites could have been discussed at the local assemblies manymonths ago.

Instead, the Council seem to have belatedly realised there was a target tomeet, and have missed the opportunity to consult residents as to where wouldbe the best places to roll out these new units. As a result, Cllr Hare saysmany of the units may be greatly underused, while residents continue to feelthat decisions are being taken that affect their area but without theirinvolvement.

Cllr Hare (Highgate) comments:

“Getting better recycling is a big issue for residents, unfortunately, theCouncil has made it clear that ticking boxes is far more important to itthan a genuine and open interaction with residents to get sites that will bemost effective at improving recycling.

“Bring sites are an important part of the borough’s recycling programme, butwork best if residents are consulted and support the new schemes. Theresidents of Haringey deserve better, but they can help the Council improve.All the Council has to do is ask in good time.”

Lib Dem councillors from Muswell Hill, Fortis Green, Highgate and Crouch Endvisited the borough’s new Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) atMuswell Hill police station on Friday 15th August, to find out how they weresettling in three months after their introduction to the borough.

The officers were introduced to Haringey in April to provide a visiblepresence in and around the community as well as a vital link between localresidents and the police. It was an opportunity for both local councillorsand the officers themselves to find out more about their roles and discussways of establishing strong links on issues such as car crime, vandalism andanti-social behaviour.

Lib Dem crime and community spokesperson, Lynne Featherstone comments:

“It was very useful to meet our new PCSOs and find out more about what theyare doing in the borough. I know how much it means to local residents to seemore officers on the beat. We hope to work closely together following thismeeting.”

Lib Dem leader, Ross Laird adds:

“The PCSOs have made a very positive impact on the streets of Haringey. Wehope that we can work closely with them in the future and build on theservice that we both already provide the residents of Haringey.”

A dumped washing machine continues to blight a local path in Hornsey more than four months after it was reported to Haringey’s refuse contractor, Haringey Accord.

Lib Dem Environment spokesperson Cllr Bob Hare spotted the dumped machine on the Penstock Path back in March and contacted Accord with detailed directions to the path and the easiest way to access it. But it remains as a blight on the landscape of this popular route more than four months later.

Cllr Hare comments:

“In the hot weather we are currently experiencing, many of us would probably welcome somewhere to sit and take a break from walking. But if that seat is this ugly washing machine I think we would all still rather see it removed!

“It is getting on for five months since I first reported this to Haringey Accord. Local residents pay a huge amount of council tax for services including that provided by Accord – and this is simply not an acceptable standard.”

Residents of Middle Lane, Crouch End, finally had their communal footpath repaired last week following months of pressure from residents and local Lib Dem councillor Lynne Featherstone.

The essential repairs to a dangerous and uneven footpath outside council and private houses from 78 to 82 Middle Lane had been scheduled for June. However the repairs were never carried out.

Cllr Featherstone is pleased that the work has now been done and says issues that compromise the safety of residents, especially of the elderly and disabled, should be handled with greater urgency. She feels that the issue also highlights the problem that council departments have in communicating effectively with one another and that this needs to be addressed immediately.

Lynne Featherstone comments:

“I am pleased that the residents of Middle Lane have had their path repaired. Poor quality pavements and broken paving slabs are often overlooked as non-essential repairs. However for many elderly and disabled members of our community they can be the cause of great misery, and the Council must be sensitive to that.

“What is also clear from this episode is that council departments appear to be failing to communicate properly. This needs to be addressed immediately so that important repairs like this are completed in days rather months.”

A bus shelter that was demolished earlier this year on Bounds Green Road is set to be replaced in September by Transport for London after pressure from Haringey councillor and GLA member, Lynne Featherstone.

Cllr Featherstone was made aware of the problem by elderly residents in nearby flats who complained that since the demolition of the shelter they have had to endure wind and rain while waiting for the bus over the last few months.

However TfL claimed they were unable to replace the shelter because there was not one of a similar configuration available. However after pressure from Cllr Featherstone, TfL have placed an order for a new shelter and assured her that it will be installed by the end of September.

Cllr Featherstone comments:

“This is good news for local residents and I am pleased that there will now be a new shelter before winter sets in. It is much needed.”

Lib Dem councillors are calling for the Council to put more effort into improving road safety in Haringey after two separate statistics showed Haringey to be failing in reducing pedestrian road casualties in the borough.

Figures published in the Council’s best value performance plan last month showed the council failed to meet its road safety target for both serious and minor injuries to pedestrians last year (see notes). Statistics were also released by the Council, following a question from the Lib Dems, which showed that despite efforts, the Council is failing to reduce pedestrian casualties amongst children.

Lib Dem leader Ross Laird says that there is a need for imagination to be used by the Council in its approach to the issue of road safety. In the past the Lib Dems have put forward proposals for more innovative ways to improve road safety and more recently have supported schemes that have involved local residents in initiatives to stop rat running around schools.

Cllr Laird comments:

“The figures are very worrying, pedestrian casualties are above the London average and since 1998 there seems to have been no improvement in casualties of pedestrians under 16. The Council needs to look at new approaches to dealing with this issue immediately.

“Rat running is a serious problem in the borough and we need to look beyond plonking speed humps in every road in Haringey. There are plenty of new innovations such as interactive speed signs that have had a positive affect in other parts of the country.

“If the Council is serious about dealing with this problem it must start looking beyond the borough for inspiration.”

An operation to clean up four of Haringey’s scruffiest stations is underway following months of pressure from Lib Dem councillor Lynne Featherstone. Harringey, Hornsey, Alexandra Palace and Bowes Park stations were all earmarked for clear-ups after Ms Featherstone invited a Network Rail representative to visit the sites and take photographs of the litter, fly-tipping and fencing problems at the stations. A month on and Alexandra Palace station has seen its embankments cleared of rubbish and remedial repair work carried out to the fencing.

Bowes Park has also seen some repairs to its fencing and all fly-tipped waste will be removed within the next couple of weeks according to Mick Murphy, Network Rail representative who visited the sites with Ms Featherstone on 7 July.

Cllr Featherstone is pleased with the progress that is being made on the problem. However she is concerned that the rail operator WAGN has yet to produce a timescale for the clean up of litter within 100 metres of the station platform, which is technically their responsibility. Both Ms Featherstone and Mr Murphy have promised to keep an eye on progress, with Mr Murphy hoping to revisit the sites within the next couple of weeks.

Cllr Lynne Featherstone comments:

“I am very pleased with the progress that is being made on the clean up of our local stations. There is plenty of work that needs to be done before the stations meet an acceptable standard, but things are now heading in the right direction.

“I will keep the pressure on the various contractors and ensure that they are playing their part in improving our borough’s stations. Residents deserve clean, safe and welcoming stations, this is a step in the right direction.”

Following concerns raised by local residents, Lib Dem councillors in Muswell Hill and Fortis Green wards have secured police patrols around Coldfall Primary School, Muswell Hill, to deal with parking problems and enforcement in the immediate area. Muswell Hill councillor Lynne Featherstone hopes that extra patrols will improve the situation when children return to school in September.

The Lib Dems say that the traffic problems around Coldfall School are particularly acute, with some vehicles regularly parked on the yellow zigzags outside the school and executing dangerous manoeuvres such as reversing onto the pavement. In one recent incident a front wall was knocked down, but fortunately no children were injured.

The Council has failed to send a parking enforcement officer to the school to ensure child safety, despite repeated requests from local parents. Cllr Featherstone has now secured the co-operation of the police in patrolling the school entrance when the new term starts in September.

“These extra patrols are important,” says Cllr Lynne Featherstone. “There needs to be more orderly parking near the school site, as kids’ safety is paramount. I am delighted that the local police are happy to help.”

Local resident Caron Brooks, who was one of the first parents to raise the issue with Cllr Featherstone and the local Lib Dem team comments:

“Illegal parking and bad driving around the school entrance has been a major worry for parents for some time. The school has tried countless initiatives to make the entrance safe, but now we need enforcement to stop this problem. I am relieved that we will now get some action and am looking forward to being able to get my children to school safely at last.”

Lib Dem councillor Matt Davies (Fortis Green) adds:

“I know the school takes this issue very seriously and has been working hard on a Safer Routes to School scheme. But at the end of the day we do need the back-up of enforcement, and I am delighted that our local police agree and know they will put maximum effort into this problem.”

Lib Dem councillors are calling on Haringey Council to tackle a growing problem of dumped rubbish outside the Kurdish Community Centre in Hornsey. The call comes following failed attempts by the Council’s Hornsey Area Housing Office to ensure that the Centre’s refuse is properly dealt with.

Lib Dems say that the issue has partly arisen due to the lack of a contract for waste collection between Accord, Haringey’s waste contractors and the centre. However Lib Dem environment spokesperson, Bob Hare says that the Council has been aware of the problem for quite some time, but nothing has been done to alleviate the situation.

Cllr Hare says that the refuse problem is being greatly compounded by fly-tipping, which the Council is very slow to clear up. Not only does this make the wider area look a mess, but it aggravates the problem by attracting more dumping.

He believes the situation could be simply resolved if the Council regularly checked what has become a dumping hotspot, with rubbish strewn over a large area and even thrown up onto the roof of the porch. In addition, the Council must insist that the community centre make satisfactory arrangements for the secure containment and regular collection of their own refuse.

Cllr Bob Hare comments:

“This problem is unacceptable and completely avoidable. It is a major and highly visible eyesore, and is causing distress to the many Hornsey residents who live near or pass by the area.

“The Council must institute regular checks on this fly-tipping hotspot. Also they must contact the Community Centre, make them aware of the problem and ensure that proper arrangements for their refuse are established immediately.”