Richard Wilson

Lynne Featherstone has launched an urgent campaign to save the 24 hour Accident and Emergency (A&E) Department at our local hospital – the Whittington.  Under new plans being brought forward by NHS managers the Whittington could be downgraded to ‘local hospital status’ – putting the A&E service in jeopardy.  The story is covered in the Hornsey Journal – article here.

If the Whittington A&E closed Stroud Green residents would have to travel twice the distance in a medical emergency – to get to the Royal Free at Hampstead instead.  There is no A&E service in Haringey Borough at all – already making us comparatively poorly served.

Stroud Green councillor Ed Butcher joined Lynne in a recent visit to the Whittington to try to stop the proposals (see picture).   Health officials have refused to give Lynne written assurances on the fate of the A&E and so Lynne has launched a campaign to show the strength of local feeling against any closure.

Please do sign Lynne’s online petition here in order to protect our local health services.

Its taken 11 months, but Haringey Labour have eventually caved in to our Lib Dem campaign to give local residents a break and freeze Haringey’s Council Tax.  The campaign was launched in November 2008 by Lynne Featherstone MP and our Council Group leader Robert Gorrie (see campaign photo left), and has attracted huge support from residents who are feeling the pinch during the recession.

Over the last decade Council tax has increased by around 60% – with millions wasted on bungled IT projects and failed attempts to flog Ally Pally.   Meanwhile the Council is now rated one of the worst in the country by Government inspectors.

I’d love to think that Haringey Labour have turned over a new financially-responsible leaf – but the timing is obviously related to next year’s Council elections, and Labour’s growing panic about losing control of Haringey for the first time in 40 years.  But its great news for local residents that the Labour-run Council are being forced to listen and be accountable.

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.

Haringey Council have pulled funding from a cross-Borough initiative to stop dumping, littering and graffiti in the Finsbury Park area.  Through local regeneration agency FinFuture, Haringey, Islington and Hackney had all contributed to employing ‘Street Enforcement Officers’ to tackle the rubbish that often blights the area, which includes much of Stroud Green.

Haringey have unilaterally withdrawn this funding despite the fact that dumping and littering remain huge issues – particularly on the roads leading off Stroud Green Road.   A few weeks ago Lynne Featherstone, Ed Butcher and I were doing a walk about and found this huge pile of dumped furniture on Woodstock Road.   We need more Council efforts – not less.

Fortunately, Islington and Hackney will continue to pay towards one enforcement officer for the area and have not insisted that this officer boycotts the Haringey side of Stroud Green Road.  But in the long term it is completely unsustainable for this Labour Council to keep washing its hands of Stroud Green Road issues.

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!

Last night I attended the first full meeting of Haringey Council since the Baby P court case concluded. Like so many Stroud Green residents, and people across the country, I have been appalled and deeply disturbed by the horrific death of this little boy.

I am absolutely convinced that the political leaders of Haringey should stand up and take responsibility for council’s failure to protect this 17 month old baby.  Therefore, at the council meeting I supported the Lib Dem motion calling on the leader of Haringey Council, Cllr George Meehan to resign, along with the cabinet member for children, Cllr Liz Santry.

However, our motion was amended by the Labour group to remove any mention of resignations, and nobody has taken responsibility.  The story is reported on the BBC news website here.

Obviously this issue is currently my and my colleagues’ top focus.  We will continue to put pressure on Haringey until trust in the Children’s Services has been restored.  I’m glad that the Government has instituted an urgent investigation into the council’s failings – this is a welcome first step.  But I do not believe that a two week desk based review is sufficient. Therefore, I will continue to back calls for a full independent public enquiry.

Our local MP Lynne Featherstone has been doing all she can to raise this issue too, and if you want more news on what is happening I would urge you to look at the blog and news section of Lynne’s website.