Tag Archives: Hornsey

Liberal Democrats ask local residents to join in fight for fair funding

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Campaigning for Haringey schoolsIn their ongoing fight for fair funding for Haringey’s schoolchildren, Lynne Featherstone and a team of local Liberal Democrats have launched an awareness campaign outside local schools to let local parents know what they can do to support the campaign.

The Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate was joined by Councillor Gail Engert and campaigner Jenny Bouchami outside St Mary’s school in Hornsey as they chatted with parents about how they can respond to a government consultation to help highlight the current funding situation that sees Haringey’s schools getting £1,318 less per pupils than children in Hackney.

The consultation, which is running until the 7th June 2010, looks at two funding options, one which could give Haringey’s schools an additional £10 million per year.

The Liberal Democrat team will in the next few weeks speak with parents at schools around the area to encourage as many local residents as possible to respond to the consultation.

To make the case for fairer school funding, residents need to go to http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/consultations/

The Liberal Democrats have also pledged to put in an extra £15 million into Haringey’s schools, through their so-called pupil premium to ensure smaller class sizes. The additional funds could give Haringey’s schools an extra 490 teachers.

Lynne Featherstone comments:

“This is our big chance to make the case for why our kids need and deserve more money for their schooling. This is an opportunity to give them a better education for the best possible start in life.

“Regardless of the outcome of the election – it is vital that people respond to this consultation. Of course – if the Liberal Democrats won – that would solve our ‘fair funding’ at a stroke – with their pledge of £2.5billion per year to our schools.”

Cllr Gail Engert, Liberal Democrat Schools spokesperson adds:

“It’s been great to get such a positive response when speaking to Hornsey parents here today.

“Bit by bit we are getting residents to see that they can help make a real difference. So for all you residents out there who want to do something about this injustice, grab this chance to respond and help make a fairer future for Haringey’s children.”

Local MP helps open new library at local school

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Opening of new library at Hornsey School for GirlsTo help open the new library at Hornsey School for Girls, Lynne Featherstone MP on Friday celebrated the new learning space with students, teachers and residents at the Inderwick Road School.

Lynne Featherstone MP comments:

“It’s great to see this fantastic new library. It’s a truly inspirational learning space – so airy, spacious and with a great range of computer and books.

“But one of the best things has really been to hear from the students about what this new library will mean to them, in terms of getting peace of mind and access to information to help them with projects, exams and to ultimately do well in life – and that really is fantastic!”

Aspiring journalists from Hornsey School for Girls interview MP for special BBC report

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Lynne Featherstone interviewed by, from the left, Carenza Grant and Lina Chakri In order to help aspiring young journalists from a local school do a special piece on youth issues in Haringey for the BBC, Lynne Featherstone MP was interviewed by students at Hornsey School for Girls.

The Crouch End school is participating in the BBC school report for the third year running. The project allows students, with the help of mentors from the national broadcaster, to learn about making TV and to develop journalistic skills.

The Liberal Democrat MP was quizzed on issues such as unfair school funding and youth crime in the student-led piece, which will be shown on the BBC website, and hopefully on TV and radio, on the 11th March.

Lynne Featherstone MP, comments:

“I was really impressed by how expertly the interview was carried out, how well researched the questions were, and how much the students had learnt about technical stuff like filming and sound.

“This is a great way to teach the girls about making TV and to help them develop an interest in current affairs.

“And who knows, they may even end up working for the BBC one day! Hopefully their report will go all the way to the top – I’ll certainly be keeping an eye out for it on the 11th March.”

Tweeting – the real thing- RSPB's Big Schools Garden Watch

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Up with the lark and hopped over to Greig Academy to join them in the RSPBs Big Schools Garden Watch. Armed with pictures of different birds and a check sheet to tick off which ones we spotted – I went out into the cold morning air with a group of enthusiastic pupils, teacher and binoculars.

And I finally got it! I mean – I have long known that bird-watching is hugely popular – but have never really understood the joys of staying out in the cold, keeping still and silent, and staring endlessly at mostly nothing. How wrong I was. It is completely fascinating and enjoyable – and the special wonder of suddenly finding in my urban surroundings – just how much bird life is out there. It’s just like this massive secret life that runs parallel to ours – but I guess I am just so busy rushing around and never lifting my eyes – I just don’t see what’s in front of me.

The annual count that this visit is part of is a really important way to keep a check on just what is happening to our bird population – and what happens to birds matters to us and our future.

In fact –  so enthused – I begged to take hope a sheet of pictures so I can watch in my own garden.

So thank you Greig City Academy and the RSPB – for opening my eyes.

Gissa Ticket!

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YouTube film screenshot - Lynne FeatherstoneHere’s my latest Ham & High column:

A few days ago I met the new CEO of First Capital Connect, the train company which services much of Haringey. I talked to Jim Morgan in particular about the issues arising from their cut backs to ticket office opening hours at Hornsey, Bowes Park, Alexandra Palace and Harringay stations.

Although the previous campaigning by myself and residents helped reduce the extent of the cuts, the opening hours have still been severely reduced. A local resident contacted me about long queues at ticket machines when the ticket offices are closed. Imagine how cross it makes you when you are running for a train – and you have to miss it because of even one or two people buying tickets at the machine. Mind you, that is when the ticket machines are working – and as if on cue when I turned up to film a clip for YouTube about the problems, the ticket machine at Harringay was out of order and the ticket office closed!

When the machine is out of order you’re forced to travel without a ticket which means at best having to explain at the other end that the machine is not working and at worst that they try and give you a penalty fare. It’s a far too common bane of contemporary life – people who want to obey the law find obstacles put in their way because the authorities (rail company in this case) doesn’t do its end of the deal.

Please watch the YouTube clip at www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWMbZAxF4U8 – it really demonstrates the problem. In it I also highlight the problems with signs at Alexandra Palace Station. At both Alexandra Palace Station and at Harringay station there aren’t signs in the places that you need them to tell you where to buy a ticket – whether from the ticket office or machines. If you know the stations and know where to go, that is fine. But woe betide the irregular or new traveller, particularly in the dark. You can be left hunting around, up stair and down stair, over platform and along platform for the place to hand over your money – with buggy, children, luggage. How helpful is that?

Imagine a shop behaving like that – hiding away without signs where you pay your money!

So – one message to Mr Morgan was to get the signs improved. On the reliability of the ticket machines – he told me that they were very expensive and didn’t break down very often. Given my visit to film the YouTube video found that the only machine was indeed ‘out of service’ I have asked him to supply me with figures for numbers of hours / days when the Harringay Station ticket machine has been out of service over the last year. We will see whether I just had bad luck or whether ‘not very often’ is actually rather often!

More positively on the signs, for Alexandra Palace Station he agreed with me about the problem and is going to investigate what can be done – including repairing the only sign that is easily visible from one direction – but points completely the wrong way! On the Harringay signs – well, that is really a symptom of the ticket machine being on one platform and so out of the way for people using the other platform. So he’s going to first look at the location of that machine.

When First Capital Connect reduced the opening hours of the ticket offices, they agreed to monitor how the changes at the stations in Hornsey & Wood Green were affected during an eight week period. That time is now up – and I asked Mr Morgan for the results of that monitoring. He did not have the figures to hand but said that they had ‘monitored’ queuing times and volume of sales were still in steady decline. However he said they would not be reducing the hours any further. I should hope not! He said the report would be finalised by the end of next month.

Finally, of course I asked him how Oyster Pay-As-You-Go was going. We’ve been long promised that it would be made available for the train services that serve these stations – but we’re still waiting. Jim Morgan told me, “I am very optimistic that the Train Operating Companies will start accepting Oyster PAYG early in the New Year”. Let’s hope his ‘optimism’ is well founded – but I will be nagging between now and then to make sure that doesn’t change! We’ve waited (as have the installed machines) far too long for TfLand First Capital Connect to get their act together on making life easier for us passengers.

If you’ve got any views on these issues – or other ones related to those train stations – do let me know, particularly as I will be regularly checking with Jim Morgan to make sure the promised progress happened. You can email lynne@lynnefeatherstone.org or write to me at House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA

Lap dancing not appealing

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Hurrah! News reaches me that the applicants for the lap-dancing club have not appealed the decision of Haringey Licensing committee which refused their application after a long and sustained campaign by LapOff supported by myself and LibDem Cllr Dave Winskill.

They had three weeks after the refusal to lodge an appeal, but time ran out last Thursday.

Dave has been ferocious in his support for local people in this campaign where it was clearly location that was the issue. It was up close to a primary school and a girls secondary school, vulnerable people and generally just a busy local shopping parade in the middle of a residential area with lots of families. Just wrong place.

The law of the land is changing to recognise that lap-dancing clubs should no longer simply have the same license as an ordinary clubs or pubs – but which will have to apply for licenses as ‘sex-encounter’ establishments in the future where location will be a prime consideration.

Over my years in Haringey I have campaigned and fought alongside local people against all sorts of things and for all sorts of things – but I just want to pay tribute to those involved in the LapOff campaign – who were committed, tireless and did the work and the research that gave those members sitting on Haringey Licensing more than enough reasons to refuse the permission. That is the hard graft that successful campaigns require. Congratulations to LapOff.

5E awarded Beacon Status by Learning and Skills Council

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Lynne Featherstone MP presenting 5E student Rachel Williams with certificate of achievement I was invited to give out some of the certificates yesterday and make a short speech at the celebration of 5E being awarded Beacon Status by the Learning and Skills Council. 5E is a local provider of education and training to employment for those groups in the community who struggle against various barriers. The litany of who those groups are is familiar: black and ethnic minorities, refugees and asylum seekers, women, those with disabilities or health or mental health problems, lone parents, long-term unemployed, older people, ex-offenders and others –  who so often find they are not even in the running for getting jobs that others take for granted. And there are so many people who for one reason or another – don’t start anywhere near a level playing field.

For me, the recipe for a better and happier world is a fairer society. And what I really mean by that is a more equal society.  But Britain has steadily become a less equal and a less fair society, rates of social mobility have actually fallen.  And your educational chances are strongly correlated to your social class – setting the prospects for children even before they reach school. And that affects everything in life – because inequality begets inequality.

In fact, a whole host of studies across different countries have consistently shown that not just in terms of education and health, but also in terms of crime, social respect, trust and participation – the outcomes are linked to the degrees of inequality in wealth and income. So narrowing that gap benefits everyone.  

So the work that Raj Doshi (the head of 5E) and his committed, energetic and enthusiastic team do and their brilliant track record with of achievement with 5E having been awarded Grade 1 (outstanding provision) three times by OFSTED – who are the inspection authority for this – is vital.

With support, training and skills – everyone can and should have the opportunities that others take for granted. Congratulations to all who have taken the courses and all those who have made them so successful.

That’s the point of receiving Beacon Status – so they can shine a light for others to follow.

Local Democracy Week – Alexandra Park School

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Lynne Featherstone at Alexandra Park SchoolIf I ruled the world I would ………….. that’s the challenge I have set local children in Hornsey & Wood Green schools to tell me in 200 words for Local Democracy Week.

I launched my mini-writing competition today at Alexandra Park School – where the amazing Jo (Citizenship teacher extraordinaire) had agreed to set up to undertake this project with the Citizenship and the English classes working together. So today I was attending the Citizenship class where Jo was brainstorming with the children to get them involved and engaged in beginning to think what sort of things might need changing or what worried them – and then – how that might be changed.

The first round of ideas were just brilliant – from the young girl who wanted to make life better for young carers, to world peace and beyond. I’m not going to go through the list – but suffice to say – that it is completely fascinating to to listen to the ideas they had about what worried them – and recognise where the input came from. Some clearly came from school work, much from television and newscasts  – but Jo was really clever – and as well as those sort of universal issues tried to move them onto a more personal level of what worried or concerned them in their own lives.

So I am greatly looking forward to reading all the submissions when they come in. I always feel very uplifted when I come out of a school visit like that.

Hornsey Historical Society

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Lynne Featherstone at book launchThe pub (The Three Compasses on Hornsey High Street) where I have my constituency office upstairs was designed by the famous architect John Farrer – hence local references Farrer Road, Farrer Mews etc). Last week – the Hornsey Historical Society launched a new book by one of its members, Janet Owen, ‘John Farrer – The Man who changed Hornsey’ in the Three Compasses – because the pub itself was designed by John Farrer and adorns the front cover!

John Farrer’s work is evident in many parts of Hornsey and his contibution to its development from the 1880’s into the 1920’s was hugely significant. For anyone interested in local history and architecture – it’s a must! Contact the Hornsey Historical Society for where to get a copy.

Lynne Featherstone welcomes success of Hornsey Carnival

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Commenting on Saturday’s Hornsey Carnival, Lynne Featherstone MP says:

“Another fantastic Hornsey Carnival on a fabulous summer’s day. It was great to see so many local residents out to enjoy the parade and the other fun activities around Hornsey.

“Well done to everyone who works tirelessly year after year to make the carnival a success and to bring the local community together in such a wonderful way.”