Lynne Featherstone

A disabled woman who has spent a year and a half in the same room without access to normal bathroom facilities has this week got extra support from local MP Lynne Featherstone to make sure Haringey Council delivers on their year-old promise to build her an accessible toilet and shower room.

Highgate resident Michelle, who is bed-ridden and in severe pain following an operation 18 months ago, cannot use the stairs and upstairs bathroom. In April 2009 she was assured by Haringey Council that a downstairs bathroom would be built. 11 months later, after full plans have been drawn up and the case given the highest priority, the work still hasn’t started.

Liberal Democrat MP Lynne Featherstone, who recently visited Michelle to see the dreadful situation for herself, has now intervened and demanded that Haringey Council gives a definite date for when work will start.

Lynne Featherstone MP comments:

“Michelle has been to hell and back, and frankly having to wait almost year for Haringey Council to deliver on their promise to get her an accessible bathroom adds insult to injury!

“It’s a question of decency and with full planning sorted and the space cleared for work to be carried out, I’m honestly at a loss as to why she keeps being fobbed off.

“This has been going on for too long. She needs that bathroom and Haringey Council needs to start work now – no more excuses!”

Highgate resident Michelle adds:

“Through the years I have had to deal with Haringey Council on many occasions. I have always tried to deal with issues myself first, but often have had to turn to Lynne for help – with her help I for instance got the Council to put in a disabled bay in front of my house.

“The situation I’m in now is so difficult, but hopefully with the help of Lynne, I will soon have my new bathroom.”

Local residents will not be able to use the Northern Line from local stations in Highgate, Archway and Finchley at weekends until December 2011 after tube operator, Tubelines, announced 82 weeks of weekend closures, starting on 27 March 2010.

The Liberal Democrats have launched a petition against the closures, saying that they will affect residents travelling into central London and will also have a detrimental effect on local traders in Highgate High Street and Archway, who rely on shoppers travelling in on the tube.

Liberal Democrats on the Greater London Authority (GLA), concerned that the issue has turned into a fight between a Tory Mayor and a Labour Government, rather than focusing on the needs of Londoners, have launched a five-point plan to ensure a better upgrade of the Northern Line, without the mass suspensions currently planned.

Cllr Martin Newton, Liberal Democrat Transport Spokesperson, comments:

“Local residents rely on the Northern line to get around at weekends. Twenty months of suspensions just increases the misery faced by travellers on the ‘Misery Line’.”

Lynne Featherstone, MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, adds:

“We all want a better Northern Line, but not when local residents have to put up with 82 weeks of weekend closures.

“Many local traders in Highgate and Archway rely on trade coming from tube users. It is unfair for these businesses, already feeling the pinch due to the economic situation, to bear the brunt of these closures.

“I hope that local residents and traders alike will support our fight against the closures and the Liberal Democrats’ five point plan to a smoother upgrade of the Northern Line.”

To help raise awareness of the proposed 82 weeks of evening and weekend closures on the Northern Line and to gain further support for their campaign Liberal Democrats have been out collecting petition signatures around Highgate Station.

Lynne Featherstone MP, Highgate councillor Rachel Allison and local Transport spokesperson Councillor Martin Newton spent Wednesday afternoon chatting with tube users at Highgate station and received strong support for their petition to get a better deal for commuters.

Local Liberal Democrats are concerned that local traders and residents will bare the brunt of the disruption caused by the 82 week plan, which is due to start on the 27th March.

The Hornsey and Wood Green MP has written to Transport for London (TfL) and Tubelines, urging them to consider an alternative five-point plan put forward by Liberal Democrats on the Greater London Authority which seeks to reduce the effect on local residents and traders.

Any Northern line user who wants to sign the petition should either go to http://campaigns.libdems.org.uk/northernline or call Lynne Featherstone’s office for a hard copy of the petition.

Lynne Featherstone MP comments:

“We all want to see an upgraded Northern Line but the current plans will make residents suffer for almost a year and a half as the upgrade work is carried out on the Northern line – this is frankly absurd.

“It’s good to see that local residents share our concerns about how disruptive these works will be, and are keen to seen a less painful solution. By putting a strong case for a fairer upgrade deal to the people in charge I am hopeful we can get a better solution.”

Highgate Councillor Rachel Allison adds:

“I’m really worried that local traders in Highgate and Archway will suffer if their weekend trade is continually disrupted like this.

“From chatting to local Northern line users, it’s clear that a deal that doesn’t prolong the pain is preferable. Please take a minute to sign the petition and back our campaign.”

Local Liberal Democrats have demanded that Labour withdraw false claims that the party campaigned against the new health facility on the site of the Hornsey Hospital. Lynne Featherstone MP and local Liberal Democrats helped lead a high-profile, decade-long, campaign to get the hospital site back into use. In recognition of her work, Lynne Featherstone was invited to take part in the 'topping out' ceremony to mark the completion of the new health centre building in 2009.

Lynne Featherstone MP comments:

"Local Liberal Democrats have campaigned for a decade for the Hornsey Hospital site to be reopened. This ludicrous claim shows just how out of touch Labour are.

“Unlike Labour, the Liberal Democrats campaign on local issues all year round - not just in election year. This is a desperate attempt by Labour to mislead the public.

"Labour should retract this false statement, and show more respect for residents by committing to a clean election fight.”

Cllr Richard Wilson, added:

"Over the last few years I have accompanied Lynne on dozens of protests and public meetings, as well as low-key private meetings with the Haringey Primary Care Trust. She has lobbied tirelessly for a new health facility on the Hornsey Hospital site, and it is absolutely outrageous for Labour to claim otherwise.

"This desperate tactic is insulting to the huge numbers of residents who campaigned with Lynne to get the Hospital site reopened. It also shows how scared Labour are of losing control of Haringey Council to the Liberal Democrats at this year’s elections, and how they will say anything to cling to power."

Haringey Liberal Democrats are urging residents to take part in a statutory consultation on plans to provide new traffic calming measures and 20mph limits in the Palace Gates area of Alexandra ward.

All households in the consultation area received documents from Haringey Council on 4 March 2010 to take part before the deadline for responses on 25 March 2010.

The consultation marks the last step of a six year campaign by Liberal Democrats and local residents, to improve road safety in the area. The ban on heavy goods vehicles (HGVs), which was part of the successful campaign, was finalised at the beginning of the year.

Cllr Susan Oatway (Alexandra) comments:

“This is one of the final steps in our six year campaign, backed by local residents, to improve road safety in the Palace Gates area. I urge all residents to take part, as your views and comments matter.”

Lynne Featherstone, MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, adds:

“After the successful agreement of the HGV ban, this new consultation will give local residents the opportunity to make our roads safer.”

A family-sized home, left empty by Haringey Council for nearly a year, has now been taken over by squatters, despite promises by Housing bosses that it would be brought back into use this month. The property, at 15 Nelson Road, Stroud Green (N8), was occupied last week, three months after local Liberal Democrats raised the issue with Haringey Council.

In December last year Haringey Council promised that the property, which is a much sought-after three-bed family home, would be brought back into use by 26 March 2010. Yet no action has been taken on site by Haringey Council.

Liberal Democrat councillor for Stroud Green, Richard Wilson, has written urgently to the Cabinet Member for Housing to demand answers why Haringey Council has failed to act and what will be done to remove squatters.

Cllr Richard Wilson (Stroud Green) comments:

“Local residents were promised by the council that action would be taken to bring this family-sized house back into use.  Haringey Council has failed to do this and now squatters have seized on the opportunity to move in.

“One of the neighbours is an elderly lady in her eighties who, I'm told, is quite distressed about the situation.

“We now need a clear plan of action by the council to see what can be done about the squatters and bring this home back into use.

"Given the huge shortage of family council houses in the borough, Haringey Council's failure to act is an absolute scandal."

Lynne Featherstone, MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, adds:

“This home could be used by one of the many families in Haringey who are stuck on a waiting list, in overcrowded temporary accommodation.”

Commenting following the public meeting with NHS bosses about the future of the Whittington A&E on Thursday 4th March, Lynne Featherstone MP said:

“Thank you to the hundreds of residents who came out to have their voices heard. The mood of the meeting with clear, 370 against closure and zero for.

“Speaker after speaker condemned the closure. I am particularly grateful to the many heart-moving personal accounts of how the Whittington had made a difference to their lives.

“I hope NHS bosses will go back to the drawing board and take note of the clear message from our community - the Whittington A&E must stay.”

To mark World Book Day and to share the joy of reading a good book with local school children, Lynne Featherstone MP visited a special story- telling session at Noel Park Primary.

The Hornsey and Wood Green MP started off by reading ‘The Great Kapok Tree’, about the Amazon rainforest, to a year 6 class, and ended the special visit by reading ‘Funnybones’ with the nursery class children.

Lynne Featherstone MP comments:

“It’s just been an enchanted morning. There are few things as enjoyable as sharing a good story with children – they are so wonderfully enthusiastic and honest.

“It’s great to get the chance to read with the kids – and so important to help them develop an interest in reading, which will really serve them well in the future – both for work and pleasure.”

To get the Prime Minister to intervene and stop the Whittington A&E being closed down, local Liberal Democrats Lynne Featherstone MP and Councillor Robert Gorrie presented the Whittington Petition to Downing Street.

The petition has been supported by over 2,200 local residents, with over 1000 people signing it in the first 48 hours alone.

Lynne Featherstone will also continue the fight against the threat of closure, by hosting a public meeting on Thursday the 4th March, at Greig City Academy in Hornsey, where local residents will get a chance to ask health care bosses directly about the threat to their A&E.

Lynne Featherstone MP comments:

“I want the Prime Minister to sit up and take notice - it’s this Labour government that has landed us here in the first place. With such evident strong support and local outrage at the risk of closure, I hope he will see no option but to stop this threat once and for all.

“Thank you everyone who signed the petition - please continue to support the campaign by coming along to my meeting next Thursday. Together, united, we can show them what madness closure would be."

Councillor Robert Gorrie, leader of Haringey Liberal Democrats, adds:

“The enormous groundswell of support against A&E closures will mean that soon the government and the NHS will no longer be able to ignore local residents. We will continue to fight and I hope local campaigners will too."

Local MP Lynne Featherstone is this week calling on local residents to come along to a public meeting on Thursday to hear directly from health care bosses on the future of the Whittington A&E.

The meeting, which is being held at Greig City Academy in Hornsey, N8 7NU on Thursday the 4 March from 8pm, will give local residents the chance to put questions directly to Rachel Tyndall, Chair of the North Central London Review Panel, and Richard Sumray, who is Chair of NHS Haringey.

Residents who want to attend should use the Hillfield Avenue entrance to the Hornsey school, and follow the signs.

Lynne Featherstone MP comments:

"Things have moved on since we first heard about the proposal to close the A&E. There are now seven draft options, four of which end 24 hour A&E at the Whittington.

"This is your chance to hear directly from the NHS bosses on these plans, but more importantly, this is your chance to make sure your voice is heard.

"Please come along, and bring friends and neighbours. The more of us are there to show our concern, to ask a question or just to listen and understand – the better. Together we can fight this."