This is one of the most distinctive houses in the Stroud Green Conservation Area, and I agree that hiding it behind a high wall would not be right.  So I put in an objection to the Council’s Planning Department – supporting the concerns that have been raised about the wall.

UPDATE:  I’ve now been told that the application has been completely withdrawn and the wall will not be built.   The owners have told me they understand and sympathise with the concerns about the wall and it won’t be included in any new application which they submit.

As a result I have contacted the Council, and they have agreed to look to see if the area needs more dog mess bins and more notices telling dog owners to clear up after their pet.  A highways inspector has also been round and identified locations where repairs are needed to make the pavement more even.

The pavement that most annoys Lancaster and Connaught Road residents  is the narrow section at Lancaster Road near Stapleton Hall Road (see picture with Lib Dem activist Katherine Reece).  What makes people angry is that without any consultation the Council installed railings making the path even narrower.   It is now impossible to get big buggies down the road and lots of residents have told me how they’d love the railings to be scrapped and the pavements widened.

Sadly, despite repeatedly pressing the Council on this they are unwilling to budge.  Network Rail paid the Council to install the railings to reduce the risk of vehicles coming off the road and landing on the train tracks.  We’ll keep up the pressure on the Council to make this area more pedestrian friendly – please contact me with any practical suggestions.

I’ve asked the police and the Council’s community safety department to provide an urgent briefing.  Residents want to know whether this incident was gang, drugs or robbery related, so they can get some understanding of why this happened and what the risks are of it re-occuring.  For instance, a resident of Stapleton Hall Road told me she was worried about whether her teenage sons might be at risk – if the stabbing was related to young gangs.

I’ll try to reassure people on nearby streets when I get further information.

The cost to the taxpayer of installing these aerials in tenants homes will come to £8.6 million – but local Council leaseholders will have to pay these £1,000 bills themselves.  I’ve been contacted by angry leaseholders in Stroud Green, who are outraged at the levels of the charges for a system they didn’t ask for, and didn’t need - as they already had access to cable!

I was really pleased to put the taxpayers’ and leaseholders’ case to the committee, and that a local Stroud Green leaseholder – Anne Crellin from Carlton Lodge - was able to speak to the committee herself (see the picture of the leaseholder protest before the meeting).   Thanks to these efforts the committee decided to recommend that the Council explore ways of allowing leaseholders to opt out of this fiasco in future.

However, I was very disappointed that the Labour councillors on the committee blocked our attempts to review the whole misconceived programme.  Have they not noticed there is a recession on and that there are much more pressing priorities on Council resources?  What’s bad value for leaseholders is bad value for tenants and the taxpayer – they should have halted the whole thing!

The bin is at the entrance to the Walk by the junction of Lancaster Road and Stapleton Hall Road – so hold your nose if your strolling by in this lovely weather.

I’ll keep hassling the Council to do their job properly.  Lets hope they aren’t going for some kind of record for how long they can ignore a full bin.