Muswell Hill residents should experience a welcome reduction in noise from a popular local bar, following action from Lib Dem councillor Lynne Featherstone.

Bar Meze, at 462 Muswell Hill Broadway, was causing a noise nuisance for local residents in the flats around the area.

Ms Featherstone took up complaints from residents, which resulted in a request from Haringey Council for the bar to seal the air gaps between the building’s structure and its skylight.

The bar has agreed, and the action should help to reduce noise problems.

Lynne Featherstone comments:

“I am pleased that both Bar Meze and the council have listened to the concerns of residents, and I am optimistic that the works will reduce the noise problem.

“I will continue to monitor the situation in the coming weeks.”

Liberal Democrats in Enfield and Haringey have selected Councillor Wayne Hoban as their prospective candidate for the Greater London Authority constituency of Enfield and Haringey.

Wayne Hoban, Lib Dem Deputy Leader on Haringey Council and councillor for Alexandra, was chosen by party members across the two boroughs at a hustings meeting on Tuesday night.

Wayne Hoban stood as a general election candidate in Enfield Southgate constituency last year, and overturned a previously safe Labour ward when elected to Haringey Council this year.

Mr Hoban is a superintendent radiographer working in the National Health Service.In recent years, he has also been a co-ordinator of radiography service to United Nations mortuary in Bosnia and Kosovo established by the UN International Crime Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

Wayne Hoban comments:

“I am delighted to have been selected. The Lib Dems on the GLA are doing an excellent job, and I am looking forward to campaigning on London wide issues, such as the crisis in transport facing the capital, and Labour’s terrible handling of the Tube.

Mr Hoban was congratulated on his selection by GLA member and fellow local councillor, Lynne Featherstone:

“I am certain Wayne will make an excellent spokesman for Enfield and Haringey in the run up to the GLA election in 2004.I am looking forward to working closely with him in the coming months.”

What the Audit Commission’s Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) report into Haringey Council says:

• “Services provided by the Council are generally weak”
• Children’s Services Scores 1 out of 4
• Environment scores 1 out of 4
• Libraries and leisure scores 1 out of 4
• “Service performance is poor, with some 60% of all performance indicators in the bottom two quartiles in 200/2001. Public satisfaction with the council is low and falling.”
• “Target setting is inconsistent. Some targets are unrealistic and not likely to be achieved by 2005”
• “Over the last three years, the overall level of satisfaction has fallen across all services.”
• “The lack of clarity over how and when some priorities will be delivered needs to be overcome quickly”

Commenting on Haringey’s dismal rating in the Audit Commission’s Comprehensive Performance Assessment, the largest ever independent assessment of local councils’ performance, Cllr Ross Laird, Lib Dem Leader of the Opposition, comments:

“This is a disappointing result, which shows that Labour Haringey failing local people across a wide range of services.

“Granted, the Audit Commission has recognised some of the management improvements, but front-line service delivery remains very poor across the board.”

Cllr Neil Williams (Highgate), Lib Dem performance spokesman, adds:

“After these dreadful results, no doubt the Labour council will tell everyone that they are ‘turning the corner’. However, for years Haringey has always said that, every time it is condemned by an outside body.

“According to Haringey, the council is always ‘turning the corner’ – but always ends up back where it started, near the bottom of the pile.”

The latest primary school league tables show Haringey Council slipping even further down the list of London councils, with the borough’s primary schools coming out the fourth worst in all of London. This is two places worse than last year, when Haringey came out sixth worst.

While other councils have improved their exam results compared with last year, Haringey’s results have got worse. Next door Islington council, now run by the Liberal Democrats, has seen a sharp improvement in exam results, overtaking Haringey.

Ross Laird, Liberal Democrat leader, comments: “These are disappointing results, and reflect the long history of poor management of our schools by Haringey Labour.While out schools are doing their best in difficult circumstances, there is clearly still a long way to go in terms of school improvement.”

Lib Dem Education spokesperson, Cllr Barbara Fabian, adds:”It is very important to ensure all primary schools are kept out of Special Measures and given sustained support.The council needs to ensure that this support is provided.”

Notes:

The league tables are compiled by adding together the percentage of pupils achieving the Government’s Level 4 benchmark in the English, maths and science tests for 11 year olds.

Haringey’s total in 2002 was 212.0, compared to a London and national average of 234.0.

Haringey’s figure of 212.0 was a decline on the 2001 figure of 213.7. By comparison, Liberal Democrat run Islington has improved from 208.8 to 219.1.

Lib Dem councillors in Wood Green have expressed dismay that Haringey’s Labour run council is not putting safety first at one of its libraries. The complaint follows a written answer at last night’s full council which revealed that Alexandra Palace library had provided an additional room on its first floor for public use before a health and safety assessment report has been received or a fire risk assessment had been carried out.

The news follows the replacement of the library’s reading room with an I.T. room in October this year. Previous council surveys had recommended that work was required to bring the staircase up to the standard of current building regulations, and a recent audit also identified that work was required to improve a means of escape from the first floor in event of fire.

Local Lib Dem councillor Wayne Hoban also says that although a wall-mounted heater which at present impedes access to the fire exit can be moved without capital expenditure, this has not yet been done, meaning that people with a mobility impairment are currently at risk – even according to the council’s own assessment.

Lib Dem councillor for Alexandra ward, Wayne Hoban, comments:

“It is absolutely clear that the council is taking risks with public safety at Alexandra Park Library. This is completely unacceptable. Public safety must take priority. The council should make the urgent safety improvements or stop public access to the first floor for the time being.”

Commenting on the forthcoming by-election in Tottenham Hale ward on 23rd January, Lib Dem Leader Ross Laird, said:

“Having pushed the Tories out of Haringey completely, this by election will be a straight fight between the Liberal Democrats and our unpopular Labour council.

“Local people are fed up with Haringey Labour, and this is an excellent chance for residents to show the council what they think of their inadequate performance, the controversial schools and leisure PFI schemes and Labour’s plans to raise council tax by over 40%.

“We have started a procedure for selecting our candidate, who we will have in place before Christmas.”

Local Lib Dem councillors in Muswell Hill have secured the agreement of Haringey Council for the removal of several ugly posts that have cluttered up Muswell Hill Road for months.

The Lib Dems have been pressing the Labour run council for action on the problem, as the array of signs and disused poles installed by Haringey in recent years is both confusing and an eyesore for residents and motorists. The six poles targeted include two disused lamp columns.

Muswell Hill councillor Lynne Featherstone says:

“Many residents have quite rightly complained to me that these signs are an eyesore. Six signs have now been identified for removal, which is a good start in reducing this visual blight, although it will still leave a very large number of posts in place.We will continue to work on this problem.”

Liberal Democrat Crime Spokesperson, Cllr Lynne Featherstone, is pressing for more active policing around two of Haringey’s busiest bus routes.

Ms Featherstone wants action to improve policing on the W3 and 41 routes as part of a welcome Metropolitan Police/Transport for London initiative on safer bus routes. The initiative aims both to cut crime and to deal with abandoned cars and illegally parked vehicles that cause bottlenecks and delays for buses and cars.

The W3 route, which runs from Finsbury Park via Alexandra Palace to White Hart Lane, and the 41, which runs from Archway through Hornsey and Crouch End to Tottenham, are two of the key east-west transport links in the borough.

Lynne Featherstone, who is also a member of the Greater London Authority, says:

“I welcome this joint London initiative on bus corridors, and the long term plan to extend it to all bus routes. However, the W3 and 41 have been identified by the police as particular hotspots – so I am pressing for them to be added to the scheme as soon as possible.

“We need the police and London’s transport officials to work together on dumped cars and illegal parking, as well as other transport related issues, to ensure that our bus services run smoothly.”

Lib Dem Parliamentary Spokesperson and GLA member Lynne Featherstone addressed Haringey Youth Forum last week, and spoke to students about the Greater London Authority and transport issues. The hosts were Park View Academy, with attendees from Hornsey Girls, Alexandra Park, Northumberland Park and Park View Academy itself.

Lynne Featherstone told students that transport is clearly a key issue for young people in Haringey.

The session was a lively one, with lot of questions to Ms Featherstone, who is a recent Chair of the Greater London Authority Transport Committee and has chaired an inquiry into Mayor Ken Livingstone’s congestion charging plans.

Lynne Featherstone comments:

“To engage with such a bright and enthusiastic group was an absolute pleasure and I have invited them all to make a visit to the London Assembly for Mayor’s Question Time. It’s very important to encourage interest amongst young people in the issues that affect peoples’ lives.”

Commenting on the new local government finance settlement, Cllr Jonathan Bloch, Lib Dem Frontbench Spokesman on Finance, said:

“This is an awful settlement from the Labour Government. Haringey is one of the worst affected Boroughs in the whole of London.

“A 3.7% rise in finance will be wiped out automatically by inflation and wage increases, such as the teacher’s pay award of 4%. We are undoubtedly looking at a huge hike in Council Tax next year as a result of this settlement and also the massive overspending by Labour councillors during the current financial year.”

Cllr Ross Laird (Leader of the Opposition) added:

“I am astounded how little the Labour Government has allocated to our struggling schools and social services.

“This will either mean a double figure rise in Council Tax or very serious cuts. The council’s lobbying strategy has clearly not been successful, and we will be paying dearly for Labour’s financial mismanagement over this past year.”