The organisers have already been granted a license by Haringey Council and will be able to serve alcohol and play amplified music until 10.30pm at night.  In December I attended the licensing committee meetings, and with other residents argued successfully for restrictions to the event try to protect residents from noise and anti-social behaviour.

Sadly, there has been very little consultation with local residents about Jamaica Village.  The only publicity the Council gave to the licensing application was a few posters put up in the park in the middle of winter, which meant few people realised what was happening or had their say.

However, after I criticised the lack of consultation, the Parks Department has agreed to listen to comments made during February about their plans to manage the event.  As your local councillors we want to know your concerns about issues such as noise, litter, parking, anti-social behaviour and lack of access to the park.  The Council plan to hand the southern part of the park over to the organisers for over 3 weeks during August, and I know some families have concerns about losing access to such a large portion of the park for half of the school summer holidays.  We’re also very worried about the impact such a long event will have on the state of the park.

Jamaica Village sounds like great fun for those attending, but it is essential that residents are protected as much as possible from noise and disruption. Please tell me your views so that I can respond to the Council before their deadline for comments ends on 29th February.

It’s great to see a large company like Veolia putting something back into the local community.  Many of the Veolia volunteers I spoke to lived locally and used the Parkland Walk, so were delighted to have been able to help improve the area.

However, even this big event only cleared a short section between Oxford Road, Upper Tollington Park and Stapleton Hall Road.  That’s why as local councillors we’ve also awarded a small £500 grant to the Friends of the Parkland Walk to help organise more volunteering sessions to try to clean up the Walk (see previous post about the small grants).  I hope this volunteering push can bring people together and really make a difference to the Walk.

The change would mean Stroud Green residents would vote for and be represented by the MP for Tottenham after the next election.  Instead of the boundary between the two constituencies being the railway line to Finsbury Park, the dividing line would wind round and split local residential roads in half.  A local campaign group have made a video to explain.

The Commission’s proposal for Stroud Green has been opposed by local residents associations, community groups and school governors and all the main political parties.  The clear message that everyone has put to the Boundary Commission is that Stroud Green has much stronger community ties with Crouch End and Hornsey than with Tottenham.  Our survey found that just 3% of respondents (11 out of 402) think that Stroud Green has strong community ties with Tottenham, whilst 96% (388 out of 404) say we have strong ties with Crouch End.

Our consultation response has pressed the Commission to listen to residents and keep Stroud Green in Hornsey.  With so much support, I’m sure we can win.

The Stroud Green Residents Association is holding a public meeting tomorrow (Thursday) night to discuss the proposal.  The meeting is at 7pm upstairs in Stroud Green Library.

And even better, local community group GreenN8 has made a film about the issue, speaking to lots of local residents, as well as Lynne Featherstone, Katherine Reece and myself.  I’ve just watched it myself for the first time and I think its a fantastic way of communicating the issue.  Please make sure you have your say.

I’ve now looked at the first 100 responses to the online survey, and the results are:

• 100% of respondents oppose the Boundary Commissions proposal to move Stroud Green into Tottenham constituency
• 97% believe that Stroud Green has strong community ties with Crouch End and Hornsey.
• 2% believe that Stroud Green has strong community ties with Tottenham

So its clear that Stroud Green residents are completely opposed to the proposals.  All we need to do now is convince the Boundary Commission, whose consultation closes on 5 December.   We have now received hundreds of survey responses and we will sending these to the Boundary Commission demanding that they listen to local residents.  I think this is a battle we can definitely win – if everyone makes their views clear.

Schools in Haringey receive as much as £1,500 less per pupil than schools over the border in Hackney and Islington, because Haringey is counted as Outer London by the Department for Education – even though Haringey teachers get paid inner London salaries.   This anomaly has existed for decades – but thanks to Lynne’s campaigning it may be coming to an end as the Government consultation proposes a better ‘combined approach’ formula that would remedy the situation.

You can respond to the consultation and demand fair funding for Stroud Green’s schools on the Department for Education’s website.  It’s outrageous that children who live on the north side of Stroud Green Road receive thousands of pounds less school funding than those who live on the south side.  Lets hope Katherine and Lynne’s hard work pays off.

Council flats and flats above shops will be unaffected, but all street properties will be covered – including the many houses that have been broken up into flats. My understanding is that this is the first time fortnightly collections have been attempted in a dense urban area like Haringey.  I’m very sceptical that it will work in a place like Stroud Greens where gardens are so small and there is such little space – and the population is so dense. And some really smelly things such as bones, pet litter and nappies can’t be recycled – and will therefore be sitting in wheelie bins for up to two weeks.

So please do tell us what you think of this plan so we can present the results to the Council and hopefully get them to listen to residents.  The survey is here.

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.

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.

Obviously, this is a really tough and horrible year for local government spending, as central government cuts grants to deal with its massive budget deficit. But Haringey will still have £280 million to spend next year (excluding ring-fenced housing and schools budgets) and it is vital that money is spent in the best possible way.

As deputy leader of the opposition Lib Dem group I have seconded our amendments to the ruling Labour Party’s cuts. You can read our full amendments here, but in summary we propose:

• To reduce Haringey’s £16.5 million a year IT budget by 3%, rather than cutting vital youth services by 75%.
• Reducing the number of trade union official posts funded by Haringey, rather than cutting drop in centres, luncheon clubs and day centres for older people.
• Limiting spending on Council communications to £1 million a year, to help create a £700,ooo a year fund to protect Haringey’s voluntary sector from cuts.
• To cut the costs of senior managers (currently £20 million a year)  by a further 6%, to save volunteering and anti-crime projects in the Borough.

These are probably the most important decisions that Haringey Councillors have taken for many years, and I really hope the Council leadership can set politics aside and be persuaded to accept our amendments, in order to save some of these vital services. Last month, Lynne Featherstone MP and my colleague Katherine Reece visited the Abyssinia Court lunch club (see picture), and started a petition to save it and the other clubs and centres.  We’ve now launched an online version of the petition, which anyone can sign to support the campaign to save these services.