Richard Wilson

Parkland Walk safety will be discussed at a public meeting, with police invited, after a spate of attacks on and around the local park.  Ed, Katherine and I have made sure park safety is discussed at the next Area Forum – to give local residents an opportunity to ask questions about what is being done following the attacks, and what steps users can take to make sure they are safe on the park.

The overwhelming majority of people who use the Parkland Walk know how safe it is – but the recent spate of attacks has been a worry (see press reports here and here).  This is a chance for local residents and users to seek reassurance and to share their views

We have asked the Council and police to make sure it is doing all it can to protect the hundreds of people who use the park every day.  The Parkland Walk is a local treasure and we want to keep it that way.

The Area Forum will be held at 19:00 on Monday 26th September, at Hornsey Library, Haringey Park N8 9JA.  Other issues on the agenda include parking, Hornsey Town Hall and update on the Tottenham disturbances.  All residents are welcome to attend.  If you cannot make it, please contact us directly to get your get questions answered.

My colleague Ed Butcher has been demanding urgent action from Haringey Council to prevent parking voucher chaos following the imminent changes to the Finsbury Park Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ).  Local residents have been given only 45 days (until 14th October) to exchange visitor parking vouchers, after which residents will find old vouchers are worthless and will be fined for their wrong use.

The Finsbury Park CPZ is being divided into three separate zones following a consultation with residents.  Haringey Council has informed residents of the need to change the vouchers in an un-addressed letter to households, however it has been pointed out that many of the properties in Stroud Green are flats and such letters are often overlooked.

Ed has set out changes that would stop the predicted chaos – firstly that the Council abolishes the strict cut off for new parking vouchers and secondly that residents who mistakenly use old vouchers are treated leniently.  I agree that Haringey’s inflexible approach will mean a major headache for residents who find themselves accidentally on the wrong side of the Council’s parking controls, and that they should listen to Ed’s two demands.

Ed said, “Given the hassle of getting the vouchers, some residents will hold a considerable stock.  I can only imagine how annoyed they will be to find them completely worthless, or worse, one of their guests getting a parking ticket for using an old voucher.  This lack of common sense only feeds the cynicism that parking restrictions are just a Council money earner.  The Council must act to make new arrangements fair.”

Local residents have set up a public meeting at 7pm tomorrow (Friday 20th) night in the Hornsey Vale Community Centre on Mayfield Road to demand action on local parking problems.  Ever since the Crouch End Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) was extended east to Ferme Park Road residents have been complaining that parking has become very difficult in streets just outside the extended Zone.

The proposed extension of the Finsbury Park CPZ up to Ridge Road in September could make the situation much worse, which is why since at least October 2010, I have been calling for the Council to hold a parking consultation in the ‘Hornsey Vale’ roads (Nelson, Inderwick, Mayfield, Denton and Uplands Roads and the eastern section of Weston Park).  The consultation should find out if residents now want a CPZ or not.  I get the sense that although many people are not natural supporters of CPZs they are now reluctantly coming to the view they are unavoidable.

The Council did initially give the impression that they would prioritise a consultation in these roads in this financial year.  But they are now saying that they will only take action if enough residents complain.  Therefore Ed, Katherine and I are writing to everyone in the area to encourage them to complain to the Council if they want action on parking.  We have also encouraged residents to get together petitions if they are in favour of a parking consultation.  This public meeting is another excellent way of mobilising action.

Ed, Katherine and I have also formally written to the Labour Cabinet Member in charge of parking saying we are in favour of an urgent consultation in these roads.  We have asked the Council to explain if the area can be ‘fast tracked’ into either of the nearby CPZs or not.  Along with councillors from the nearby Hornsey Ward, I’ll be attending this public meeting to find out what the Council’s response is.

The Finsbury Park Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) is very likely to be extended up to Ridge Road after 66% of those consulted by the Council asked for resident parking controls.  Earlier this week I attended a meeting with parking officers and residents to hear the results of the consultation, which finished at the start of 2011.  According to the briefing, 16% of residents in the consultation area outside the current CPZ responded, with 218 in favour of the expansion and 114 against.

If the expansion goes ahead as expected the following roads will now be added in to the Finsbury Park CPZ:

• The whole of Addington, Albany, Elyne, Quernmore and Ridge Roads
• The rest of Stapleton Hall Road, Mount View Road and Oakfield Roads (which are currently only half in the CPZ)
• The remaining part of Ferme Park Road (south of Ridge Road) – with the road north of Ridge Road going into the Crouch End CPZ.

Apparently 69% of respondents wanted parking controls for the minimum 2 hours a day.  The Council are suggesting 12 noon to 2pm – but at the meeting this week some residents wanted different hours, so the officers are going to look at this.  The Council will now draw up detailed proposals showing where all the parking bays will be – and there will have to be a short ’statutory consultation’ on the final plans.  With this further work, the Council have said it will take until November for the new extension to be implemented, which means residents will have to suffer several more months of parking difficulties.

The consultation inside the existing CPZ seems to have got more mixed results, with an almost 50/50 split on whether the hours should be reduced or not.  But the Council are proposing to create  a small inner zone near the tube station to try to deal with particular problems in Woodstock, Perth, Ennis and Oxford Roads.  I’ve asked officers for an urgent meeting to look at the detailed results – to make sure they are fairly representing the views expressed.

During 2009 Ed Butcher and I surveyed several hundred people about whether they wanted the CPZ (see picture) and got a very similar result.  Its a shame its taken the Council well over a year to catch up – but this is a big victory for those residents who have been pushing for a CPZ for all these years.

My colleague Ed Butcher has been lobbying the Council to do a clean up blitz on Stroud Green Road and the surrounding area for a good while.  The pavements have got very grubby and there has been lots of complaints of fly-tipping on the side roads.  Thanks to this lobbying, and the work of our local Neighbourhood Manager, there will be a programme of activity to clean up the area – and to get volunteers helping out on the nearby Parkland Walk nature area.

This Saturday (13th) residents are being urged to help out with conservation work tidying up the Parkland Walk (the green walk along the disused railway line).  The meeting point is the Upper Tollington Park entrance to the Walk at 10am , and the work to trim back vegetation and create a ‘loggery’ for ‘mini beasts’ will be supervised by conservation officers.  The work runs to 1pm and volunteers may be rewarded with a spot of lunch!

On Saturday morning (10am – 12 noon) there will also be a skip on Albert Road to help encourage residents to properly dispose of any bulky refuse (though unfortunately they can’t accept white goods or electrical items – call 020 8885 7700 to get these items collected).   I particularly pressed for Albert Road to be targeted as flt-tipping at the bottom of the road near Stroud Green Road is a persistent problem that I have raised numerous times.

There will be further cleaning activities during the week, including a dog fouling patrol, and a deep clean of the grubby pavements on Stroud Green Road.  Ed, Katherine and I will be taking part in activities so please join us and help out.

I’m really pleased that, for once, Haringey and Islington Councils are working together to tackle the problems in teh Stroud Green Road area – with help from other local organisations like FinFuture and the Haringey Peace Alliance.  This attention is long overdue – and the challenge will be to keep up the cleaning once all the focus of the ‘Clean Sweep’ is over.

Lynne Featherstone has joined the Stroud Green Lib Dem team in launching a campaign to make the pedestrian crossing on Upper Tollington Park (by the junction with Florence Road) safer.  The campaign was launched after local residents raised concerns about the speed of traffic on the road and a recent accident near the zebra crossing.

This is a key route for children going to Stroud Green Primary School and many years ago the Council employed a ‘lollipop lady’ to patrol the crossing. However, I’m told that when she retired she was never replaced. So as a first step to make the crossing safer, we are calling for the Council to employ a new crossing patrol person.

Thanks to pressure from Lynne, Ed Butcher and myself, the Council have now agreed to put up more warning signs on the road, and the local police are doing extra speed patrols on the road.  However, the real long-term answer is to get the crossing upgraded with traffic lights and measures to slow down the traffic.

To get the Council to take action, we have launched an online petition to demonstrate how strongly local people feel about this issue. Please sign up here.

Everyone I’ve spoken to so far has been extremely supportive of the campaign. In fact, when we took this photo of us launching the campaign, several residents came out of their houses to offer us their backing and tell us their concerns about the traffic.  I hope with such strong support we are able to make a difference.

I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who voted for the Stroud Green Lib Dem team of Lynne, Ed, Katherine and me.  We’ve had a brilliant result both in Hornsey & Wood Green constituency and in Stroud Green ward.  Lynne Featherstone has been re-elected as our MP with a much bigger majority, and a 4% swing from Labour to Lib Dems.

I’m also delighted that Ed, Katherine and I were also elected in Stroud Green ward with increased majorities over Labour (the Greens remain in third place and the Tories in fourth).  Full details of the parliamentary and council election results are on Haringey’s website here.

Ed, Katherine and I would also like to thank our large network of volunteer leaflet deliverers, envelope stuffers and other activists in Stroud Green – as we couldn’t have inspired so many people to vote Lib Dem without their help.

Sadly, we failed to end Labour’s 40 years of control of Haringey Council.  This is hugely disappointing as we had so many fantastic plans to improve the Borough.  But obviously we’ll continue to use ours seats and influence on Haringey Council to fight for local residents.  We remain the only opposition to Labour on the Council, with yet again no Greens or Tories elected, so we are very aware of our responsibility to challenge and scrutinise the Council’s leadership.

I’m absolutely shattered after the hard work of election (and the epic 11 hour count which took from 10pm on Thursday till 9am on Friday) – but really excited about being able to serve the residents of Stroud Green for another 4 years.