Richard Wilson

As well as being the deadline for views on the W3 Bus (see previous post), this Friday is also the deadline for submitting ideas to our local neighbourhood improvement fund for 2010/11.  The way it usually works is that all the feasible ideas go to an Area Assembly meeting for residents to comment on and then local councillors make the final decision based on these views.

In previous years we’ve managed to get a few good little projects approved, such as the children’ s mural on Quernmore Road by Harringay Station and improvements opposite Tesco on Stroud Green Road (see picture of me planting a tree outside Charter Court a few years ago with local residents and representatives of the Council).

But despite the Council’s whopping £3 million ‘communications’ budget there is not enough promotion of the fund, and we don’t get enough bids in from Stroud Green residents.  So I’m trying to drum up interest by contacting individuals and by posting here.  The leaflet and application form for the “making the difference” programme 2010/11 is here.  And if you’re interested in finding out more then please attend the next local Area Assembly meeting which is tonight at 7.30pm in St Mary’s Junior School in Rectoiry Gardens – details here.

And this really could be the last chance for Making the Difference, because if the Liberal Democrats take control of Haringey in May we’re determined to replace it with a bigger and better system of devolving spending down to local neighbourhoods.  We want to give people real power over their local area and to encourage greater participation in local decisions.

For many Stroud Greeners today will be the first back at work after the Christmas break, and time to dust off the oster card and get commuting.  The good news is that the oyster machines at Harringay have been switched on at last and oyster pre-pay can now be used.  This is long overdue -Transport for London (TfL) and First Capital Connect (FCC) have been wrangling over its implementation for years.  Lynne Featherstone helped push things along with a campaign launched in 2008 to get them to commit to a date (see picture and Lynne’s website posts).

However, the bad news is that if like me you have a travelcard on your oyster and want to use pre-pay to go beyond your travelcard zones, then TfL and FCC have designed a fiendishly complicated system to make it almost impossible.  Apparently you’ll have to load something called an ‘oyster extension permit’ on to your card just before you travel (details of TfL website here).   So, if you have a zone 1-3 travelcard and want to travel from Harringay Station out to say New Southgate in zone 4 you’d need to get a permit.  However, it doesn’t look like you can actually get the permit at Harringay  Station.  Instead you would have to go to a shop with Oyster facilities, which defeats the object of oyster by making it less convenient than buying a paper ticket!

To me it looks like oyster fares are still being designed around the needs of the train companies and TfL rather than the needs passengers.

A few days ago I got an email from public transport watchdog London TravelWatch to say that they had managed to persuade First Capital Connect to reduce their proposals to cut ticket office hours at local stations.  Our MP Lynne Featherstone helped organise a big campaign against the cuts, which I mentioned in a previous post.  I also proposed a motion condemning the cuts to a full meeting of Haringey Council, which was passed with cross-party support (post here).

First Capital Connect had proposed to cut the ticket office weekday opening hours by almost 4 hours so it would close at 10.30am – but now it will only bve reduced by 1 hour 30 mins to close at 12.45pm.  Unfortunately, the long term plan remains to stop the ticket office opening at all on a Saturday – but TravelWatch have insisted on an 8 week trial period to see if the ticket machines cope with the demand.

Similar changes have been made to the proposed office hour cuts at Hornsey Station.  Full details of the revised proposals are here.

Rather than cuts, I’d like to see our stations more visibly staffed to make passengers feel more secure.  But I’m really pleased that local residents concerns have been listened to – and the office hour cuts have been reduced.

At our Full Council meeting this week I tabled a motion calling on Haringey Council to oppose the proposed cuts to local station ticket office opening hours.  I wanted the Council to throw its weight behind the campaign to stop First Capital Connect cutting the hours at Harringay, Hornsey and other local stations (see my previous post on 28 January).

Thanks to all the work from local campaigners, particularly our MP Lynne Featherstone, our local public transport ‘watchdog’ Travelwatch has objected to the decision (details here).  My understanding is there is now a period of intense negotiation going on with train company to try to stop the cuts – with the Secretary of State for Transport getting the final say.  Therefore, I thought it was  important that Haringey send a strong signal to all parties that we care about these stations.

I’m pleased to report that the Labour Group did support my motion so it passed unanimously.  However, before passing it they did amend the text of the motion to water down my positive proposal for a Haringey Public Transport Forum – to give local residents the opportunity to quiz local train and bus companies and Transport for London about local issues (and perhaps through this dialogue prevent future proposals to make cuts). 

I’m disappointed about the amendment – but really pleased that through adopting the motion we’ve sent a clear signal that ticket office cuts are opposed in Haringey.

First Capital Connect are planning to cut the hours the ticket office is open at Harringay Station by more than half.  They plan to close the office completely on Saturday and almost 4 hours earlier on weekdays.  The detailed proposals are on the London Travelwatch website.  They plan similar cuts to most other local stations as well - including Hornsey Station.

Our local MP Lynne Featherstone has already launched a campaign against the cuts with a video at nearby Alexandra Palace Station.  I agree with her that reducing the hours that stations are staffed will make them feel less safe, and of course it make it harder to get tickets.  Crime has been a concern at Harringay Station and my colleague Cllr Laura Edge has succesfully pushed for CCTV at the Quernmore Road entrance.

My colleague Cllr Laura Edge at Harringay Station when she was campaigning succesfully for CCTV at the Qurenmore Road entrance

I think we should be trying to increase staffing at stations to encourage more people to use public transport (though that doesn’t necessarily mean staff stuck behind glass screens in offices – but out on the platforms helping passengers!).  I believe this is what is happening at stations that have been taken over by ’London Overground’, so this First Capital Connect proposal seems very retrograde.

I’ve contacted Passenger Focus and London Travelwatch whose job it is to listen to and act on passengers’ complaints – urging them to stop these cuts.  The consultation ends on 3rd February so if you want to have your say then send your email to enquiries {at} londontravelwatch.org(.)uk as soon as possible.  Please also copy your email to Lynne at lynne {at} lynnefeatherstone(.)org so she is aware of how many people are supporting the campaign.

Apparently, Passenger Focus and London Travelwatch have recently been successful in stopping similar ticket office cuts by South West Trains - so this is definitely a battle worth fighting!