Richard Wilson

It is now over four years since the Council last tried to condemn the play fort in Stationers Park as unsafe. During the election of 2006 the Labour Council promised to replace it – but instead once the election was over the money was diverted elsewhere and the fort was just patched up.  But, as I mentioned in a post back in January, thanks to the work of the local residents on the Friends of Stationers Park, most of the funding to replace the fort has now been granted from various sources (though more fundraising is still ongoing).

The fort has been treasured by local families for years – and we need to make sure it is replaced with something even better.  The design of the new play area should be down to local residents – especially the children who will use it.  To achieve this, Groundwork (the environmental charity managing the new design) wants to engage with the community through Friends of Stationers Park – and has planned a public consultation to present design options to park users.

This consultation event will be held in the park from 11am to 3pm on Saturday 15th May.  Please bring your family along and have your say!

It is brilliant to see progress being made at last.  However, there have been too many years of broken promises on replacing this fort from our Labour Council.  The Lib Dem team of Lynne Featherstone, Ed Butcher, Katherine Reece and I have made it a key election pledge to make sure that this time the promise is not broken – and that the Stationers Park fort is replaced with an even better play area.

I attended a first brainstorming session a few months ago which the Friends group ran with the play area designer from Groundworks. People came up with some really imaginative ideas,  so I think this event in the park could be a really exciting opportunity to get local families’ reactions to these, and to add even more ideas into the mix.

Last week Ed, Katherine and I were interviewed by local community website stroudgreen.org about our election campaign. Its not quite the Leaders debate – but I think its a great development that allows people to find out more about the people who are standing to be their local councillors.

It was great fun to do – and certainly was a nice change from knocking on doors and delivering leaflets. Enjoy:

Stalls, games, displays, an ecology tour and a chance to quiz  Katherine, Ed and me ahead of the Election – all form part of the third annual Neighbourhood Day which takes place in Stroud Green this Saturday (April 24) from 2-4.30pm.
 
The idea behind the day is for people to get out and about in their local streets, meet their neighbours, have some fun and find out what is happening locally.
 
Neighbourhood Day is organised by the Stroud Green Residents Association (SGRA) and covers Mountview Road, Stapleton Hall Road, Granville Road and all the roads inbetween (Quernmore Road, Albany Road, Elyne Road, Addington Road and part of Oakfield Road).
 
This year, the events and activities include:

• Residents’ stalls and games around the area offering  secondhand and new books, plants, cakes, pottery, household items, children’s clothes and toys, bric-a-brac and lots more!
• Meet your local politicians (Oakfield Road) and ask their views on local and national issues
• Visit the Safer Neighbourhoods Police Team (at the library) – with fingerprinting for children
• A fascinating history and ecology tour of Granville Road Spinney.
• Fairtrade stall at Holy Trinity Church and ‘The Story of Fairtrade Cotton’ display at St Aidan’s School
• A chance to see inside Holy Trinity Church
• Craft Fair in the library
• Talk and Q&A by local photographer and librarian Don Holtum
• ‘Map your Neighbourhood’ activity with the Greenwood Elfins – the local Woodcraft Group
• A ‘Dr Bike’ session to help repair bikes and offer cycling advice

Helen Riley from SGRA said: ‘This is the third year we have held the event and it promises to be the best yet. People enjoy the chance to chat to their friends and neighbours and let their children play in the local streets. Everyone is welcome to come along and see what it is on offer.’

The Lib Dem team for Stroud Green have launched our election pledges for the neighbourhood.  I joined Lynne Featherstone, Katherine Reece and Ed Butcher at the Stationers Park play fort (see picture) – to highlight our top three priorities for the ward.  Our top three pledges are:

• We will make sure the Finsbury Park Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) is reviewed, and that streets outside the CPZ can join if there is residents support.
• We will fight for measures to slow down traffic on Upper Tollington Park and to make the pedestrian crossing safer.
• We will make sure the Stationers Park Play Fort is replaced with an even better play area – ending years of broken promises from Labour.

Of course, there are a million other things we want to do, from improving our children’s centre to fixing our pothole problem, but speaking to residents – its the council’s failure to sort out these three problems that is causing the most frustration.  Residents are angry about the parking situation, want action on speeding traffic on Upper Tollington Park, and want an end to the years of broken promises on Stationers Park play fort.

I hope local residents will back these positive pledges to improve Stroud Green.

I am a big fan of the W3 Bus, which I use regularly as it travels the length of Stroud Green ward from Weston Park to Finsbury Park Station (so much of a fan I put it at the top of my website!).  However, I know it can sometimes be frustrating with recent road works and diversions causing delays – and buses being jammed in the morning rush hour.

The thing that really annoys me sometimes is the lack of information at Finsbury Park, particularly when there is a problem with the bus route – What’s the point of having a Tannoy in the bus station if its only ever used to tell people not to skateboard?!

Anyway, now people have a chance to have their say, because Transport for London (TfL) have announced a review of the route.  To find out people’s view Ed Butcher and I have produced a W3 Bus survey which we’ve been delivering across the ward over the last few weeks.  But if you haven’t had a copy yet then please email me, or just post your comments on the W3 on this page.

TfL’s deadline for responses is this Friday (12th) March.  Ed and I will be summarising the responses and sending them on to TfL in a few days time.

Last night was the Council meeting which set the budget for the 2010/11 financial year.  Stroud Green Councillor Ed Butcher is our finance spokesperson so presented our alternative budget, with a detailed and costed amendment calling for extra police, more recycling, and a freeze in Council charges (paid for by cutting Labour’s waste and spin).

Labour rejected our budget amendment, and bizarrely attacked our plans to boost late night policing.  However, Ed won the argument on improving battery recycling and at the very last minute Labour changed their budget to partly adopt our plans.

Currently the Council provides just a handful of places for residents to take batteries, so Ed argued for 100 more recycling points in convenient locations like libraries and schools.  Its great news that he has successfully pushed the Council into action to protect the environment from dangerous pollution from batteries.

Last week, local party members met to vote for the Liberal Democrat candidates for this May’s local elections.  I’m really pleased to announce that Ed Butcher and I have been re-selected, along with fantastic first-time candidate Katherine Reece.  This photo is a  result of a ‘photo shoot’ for the local papers which was held a few days ago.  The papers are obviously very interested in the Lib Dem team that could end 40 years of Labour control of Haringey in May.

Sadly, Laura Edge decided not to re-stand, and is moving on to pastures new after more than 6 years of leading the Lib Dem revolution in Stroud Green.  Laura has worked very hard to improve our area in her time as councillor and its been fatastic to work with her.  Laura’s stunning by-election success in 2004 (a 29% swing from Labour) and huge re-election vote in 2006 shows just how many residents she has helped and won over to the Lib Dems.

However, Katherine is a very worthy sucessor and has already been battling the Council on issues ranging from empty homes to gritting.  Please get in contact if you want to help our election campaign in any way.