Lynne's Parliament and Haringey diary

Haringey PCT presented their update on Hornsey Hospital to a meeting yesterday. The good news (potentially) is that they have financial closure and the building will be built. The battle now is over what services get provided, which GPs will be based there, how local pharmacies will be impacted as they want a bit of a pharmacy on site, whether extra public transport can be provided (it is served only by one bus currently) and how all of this will be decided. Will consultation be wide and reach all users and stakeholders? And will we and our GPs be listened to?

It was an extremely robust meeting. The Better Local Healthcare Campaign group are extremely concerned that this is a privatisation of our health care. They raised the issue of the building actually being used for residential or commercial purposes. Richard Sumray, the Chair of Haringey PCT, denied this categorically and said whilst it had been in early proposals as alternatives - it had fallen as they had managed to find funding without the need for either of those proposals.

There is no doubt that there will be some private provision. That is Labour's avowed proposition - that 15% of our health provision will come from the private sector. However, from what I could tell at the meeting, there is a fundamental commitment to this being and remaining an NHS service. I guess that we all have so little faith in what the Labour government tells us - especially because there have been so many varied incarnations of promises on Hornsey Hospital - that we are all concerned that what we are told may not be what happens.

My key issue is GP practices. The Trust is quite clear that some current GPs will have to move into the new, super-centre - otherwise it would not be viable. They deny absolutely that they are looking for a 50,000 patient list - but that they will commence with 15,000 rising to 25,000 years hence. Moreover - all practices will be able to use the new facilities - and thus a network of better health services will be provided locally.

My concern, which I raised pretty strongly, was that all the GPs and practices are really brought into the planning of this new facility. I have had reports from GPs of feeling pressured, being concerned that if they don't move in or do what the Trust wants they will be punished financially and so on. So I asked the Chair about coercion, punishment, engagement etc with GPs and they absolutely promised that this (engagement, not punishment!) starts now. If they do work together - then this could be a real step forward. If the Trust steamrollers its way through and doesn't listen to local people and GPs - it will be the opposite.

In terms of the concerns around local pharmacies in Crouch End being adversely affected - the Trust seems to be talking to them about them forming a collective to run the new pharmacy themselves. If this could come to fruition that would be a good way forward and an inclusive one. I haven't heard recently from the local pharmacies - so I hope that it is as we were told at the meeting.

Lastly - transport. You couldn't choose a worse placed site for lack of public transport. Only one bus now runs there. I have twice met with Peter Hendy, Commissioner of Transport in London on this issue - as the last thing we should be creating is more car journeys or poor access to such a facility for local people. On each occasion Peter has said - when it is a live project - let me know.

Well - with financial closure this is very live! And as my Lib Dem colleague Cllr Gail Engert (Muswell Hill) pointed out - it takes Transport for London a couple of years generally to get going on a new route (let alone the decade it took for the 603). So after the meeting I suggested to Richard that now is the moment to really push the transport aspect forward.

More generally - Richard Sumray has promised that over the coming weeks and months we will be given specifics and be consulted on this. I have over the recent weeks put out a health survey door to door (cos not everyone goes to these meetings or even hears about them) and part of the health survey is about what local people want at Hornsey Hospital. When they all come back - I will be feeding in the views to the Health Trust too.

Labels: gail engert, Hornsey Central Hospital, nhs, peter hendy, richard sumray, tfl

Evening sees Crouch End, Hornsey and Stroud Green Assembly. First big issue was the new Hornsey Depot development - where we are all worried that the development will steamroller ahead without taking heed of what local people want, albeit that there will be a process of consultation (a development forum prior to planning). Many concerns around school places, health facilities, more traffic and so on!

Then we had a presentation from the local Health Trust on Hornsey Hospital. I remain of the view that this hasn't been thought through. We must not lose our local GP practises and the services must be what are needed not just what the Trust wants to give us. We need actual detail - none of which is really definitive to date. We want a replacement health facility for Hornsey Hospital - that means additional services to those we have now - and more doctors - not just nicking our existing ones from their local bases and centralising them on the Hornsey site.

Lastly - Parkland Walk. The results of the consultation held at Hornsey Town Hall showed (and we could have told them) that people wanted it first and foremost as a Nature Reserve, then for pedestrians then cyclists; that the drainage was the key priority for improvements, followed by repairs and better access to the walk and so on. Thank goodness local people rallied to the cause - and hopefully Haringey Council will now meet the consultation results with appropriate action.

Labels: Hornsey Central Hospital, hornsey depot, parkland walk

Muswell Hill and Highgate Neighbourhood Assembly - centred for its theme on older people in the area. Featuring were both the plans for Hornsey Hospital to become a 'polyclinic' and the abandoning of the idea from Haringey for a restaurant in the centre of Muswell Hill Library - at which we cheered as the detailed case had never been made for it.

On the rest of the plans for the library (which is much in need of care) - there was still no timetable at all - and the Director of Libraries who was there didn't know the timetable and didn't have information about some of the basics of the plans. Not impressive. And the tragedy is that some of the ideas that have been talked about have been excellent - but it's all being lost in a mess of vagueness and foot dragging.

And then the poor woman presenting the Hornsey Hospital update got it in the neck for the shameful consultation process taking place at present on the local Primary Care Strategy. Sue Hessel said that only seven people attended the first meeting and the second which is tomorrow night may attract just as few. They said they were happy to go to other meetings if invited but as I pointed out - having a meeting isn't consultation - nothing like. So I've written my Highgate Handbook and Muswell Hill Flier column on this issue (will post after it is published) as local people need to know what is going on.

Labels: Hornsey Central Hospital, Muswell Hill Library, nhs

Met yesterday with the developers (Acorn) who bought the bit of land that Haringey Primary Care Trust controversially sold off at the Hornsey Hospital site. The land shouldn’t have been sold off, but it was (regardless of local residents’ views). We haven’t even yet had in black and white that the monies will go on Hornsey Hospital – but as it has been sold off, I wanted to find out what the plans are now for it.

So - this meeting was with the buyers of said land. Undoubtedly they are approaching us locals with a softly softly approach to say their development means us no harm. It would be true to say that they are clearly professional and very keen not to run into trouble - and therefore appear to have gone to some lengths to meet possible concerns over planning issues. They are lucky that the vast majority of the site is not overlooked by residential properties and that Haringey Planning Department seems to have forewarned them of the likely list of objections. With their plans involving a good proportion of social housing - at least this isn't one of the awful ‘ram expensive houses in the space where back gardens meet’ set of proposals.

As I said to them - the most important people in this are those directly affected, so when the application goes in we will see what they say. We desperately need social housing - but existing residents must first make sure they are happy with the proposals.

Labels: Hornsey Central Hospital

I had a good Good Friday. I didn't do any work. Well - just a few blue envelopes for a good cause. Reading in the Guardian this morning Michael White's take on Brown's modus operandi. Michael gets it right. Gordon won't be pushed around by the media. He uses the example of the hoo ha over Brown's stealth pension raid which rumbled on in the press from last Monday without comment from him, M's thesis being that Brown waits 'til all critics have critiqued - then enters the fray to put a (hoped for) definitive full stop with no come back on the subject. Psychologically sound analysis of Mr Cautious Annie I say!


From the health of the nation to health locally (!), I see that the film for which I was filmed about Hornsey Hospital has made it to the net. Clearly a lot of work has gone into the film, talking to lots of different participants and editing it all together nicely. You can view it here.

Labels: Hornsey Central Hospital

Off to the Haringey Primary Care Trust to meet its chair, Richard Sumray and Helen Brown. We (Richard Wilson, Lib Dem Health Spokesperson on Haringey Council and I) want a progress report on Hornsey Hospital, and what's happening to clinics in Wood Green, on top-slicing, on the Government's attitude towards District General Hospitals - and on and on.

On Hornsey Hospital it would seem that the bid is stuck on a technicality. We were assured that this was just technical and that the Health Department was looking to work it through. Our bigger interest is in what is going to be provided on site - and our 5 point prescription had a mixed reception. No - there was no need for more GPs - but yes there could be opening hours providing better service out of normal hours for local people. Good! Because thus far the GP contracts had delivered lots of dosh for doctors but not extra hours for local people.

As to the impact on pharmacists - we couldn't manage to get them to promise that all would survive but we did manage to get a promise to supply all the local pharmacists with enough information early enough for them to bid or form a cooperative to bid for the new pharmacy.

We all agreed that it was vital to provide more public transport. Phew!

And in terms of consulting with GPs and local people we did manage to extract a 'we can look at that' when we put forward the need to ask far more widely what was wanted than just Haringey’s Area Assemblies. We suggested they do this through the GP practises and I think they agreed that it could be done when the consultation on the future of local Primary Care goes out. I suggested that could be a separate and special survey / piece of paper asking specifically about Hornsey Hospital.

So - some progress I guess. I then had to leave Richard there to finish the meeting as I had to go and read a story to some of the children at St Mary's for National Story Telling Week.

That was complete fun! I read a really ghastly tale of a boy who, to cut a long story short, watched so much television and ate so many crisps he ended up a crisp. And there was no happy ending. It was huge fun for me - certainly. I just hope the kids enjoyed it as much as I did.

Labels: Hornsey Central Hospital, richard sumray

Rush to Downing Street to meet three very, very old ladies who have come to present a petition to Patricia Hewitt via No 10! The Prayer (wording) on the petition reads:

We the undersigned condemn: the neglect of Hornsey Hospital and its site; the neglect of older peoples' services in Haringey; the failure to inform and consult with local people. We the undersigned demand that services promised for older people at Hornsey Central are provided at the site with no sell-off of NHS property.

It is signed by over 500 signatories - but there could have been many, many more. I myself have met with both local and London-wide NHS officials to try to ensure that the proceeds from the sale of part of the site go back into the redevelopment of the site - as despite our protests I fear they are steamrollering through the sale of the land.

The three ladies were fantastic. I just hope I am like that in my advanced years. Hetty Bower is 101 years old, Violet Reiners was born in 1915 and Alison Flora Selford was born in 1920. I met them, and Janet Shaprio (who organised all of this) outside the railings at Downing Street. So we went through security. The police and guards were all soooo nice to us and we took lots of photos before knocking on the door of No 10. Sadly, T Blair didn't open it and invite us in for tea! I thought how lovely it would have been if he had! Although I think he might have got the wrong end of our tongues if he had. The trio of ladies may have been old in years - but vigorous of conviction they definitely were. It was a joy to meet them.

Now I must pursue a request in the covering letter from Janet Shapiro to ask for a debate in the House of Commons on recent changes in NHS funding, and in particular the involvement of private partners. So that will go to Patricia Hewitt - and I will try in Business Questions next week to catch Mr Speaker's eye to also ask for that same debate!

Labels: Hornsey Central Hospital, nhs

We (Lib Dems) launched our 'prescription' for the future Hornsey Central Hospital.



I and my Liberal Democrat colleagues are supporting a bid from the local health trust to the Government for £7million of public money to deliver the long-promised replacement for the closure of the old Hornsey Hospital.

Well - this 'replacement' has gone through so many incarnations over the last six or so years that the original promises of what would be provided have changed and changed and changed. It is now envisaged as a sort of super-clinic and we want to ensure that this new facility (should we win the bid) will deliver additional and wanted services - and won't simply be a reorganisation of existing services.

We must have additional health facilities - not just reorganised ones.

Moreover, we want the Trust to work closely with local people and local health professionals to identify what services are most wanted and needed - and to make sure that the new facility doesn't detract or impact negatively on local GP practices and local pharmacists. And we want to jump up and down about public transport links to the site. The old W2 was taken away on the basis that there was no hospital there - well now we need it back and more access. No new facility should require people coming for treatment to either live next door or have a car.

We haven't heard the result of the bid as yet - but it must be imminent as the Government has announced the first few successful bids for the 'Community Hospital' pot. So - fingers still crossed.

Labels: Hornsey Central Hospital

At last - finally I have my meeting with Ruth Carnell, the new London Health supremo. Her body is the one that matters in terms of making sure that if lands are sold off around the Hornsey Central Hospital site then they monies come back to develop health services on the rest. I had been wanting to meet her for some time to ask for guarantees to ring fence the proceeds for the Hornsey Central site.

At first they refused - and said I had to see the local Health Trust (Enfield and Haringey) which was useful - but they do not have the authority to say where money will go. So having got the meeting (and I am genuinely grateful to Ruth for coming over to Portcullis House and giving me her time - with 31 separate trusts to deal with she is just a bit busy) - I put the case.

Ruth was willing and is going to write a letter saying that we can have the proceeds provided there is a credible plan on the table. I guess that is as good as we are going to get and if the bid to the Government for the other £7 million that is needed succeeds – then there should be a credible plan.

Obviously whilst I had the opportunity, I put some of the points I’ve been campaigning on with my Lib Dem colleagues: the need for net gains in terms of GPs; the need for ordinary local people to have a real input in terms of what is provided on the site in terms of services; issues around fears that private providers might be brought in and about the knock on dangers this would have for the Whittington, etc.

We didn’t see eye-to-eye on all the issues – particularly the role of private providers in providing NHS services – so I’m sure there will be more debating in the future. But for now – things are moving forward in pretty much as good a direction as we could have given the rules and policies Labour have drawn up for health services. And in the New Year, my colleague - Health Spokesperson Cllr Richard Wilson - will be publishing the Liberal Democrat Prescription for Hornsey Central Hospital.

Labels: Hornsey Central Hospital, nhs, whittington hospital

Main event of the day was a public meeting organised by Save Hornsey Hospital Campaign titled 'Save Local Health Services under Threat' - which they most certainly are.

I was chairing the meeting and there were a number of speakers, including a really impressive doctor Jacky Davis who told it how it is. She laid out quite clearly the scenarios which are leading to the privatisation of the NHS and demonstrated the harmful effect that so called 'patient choice' has had in letting the private sector cherry pick - whilst the NHS (our NHS) is left with less funds and all the difficult cases.

We also had Maria Duggan - a local health expert and local resident - who spoke passionately about the death of services for older people in the west of Haringey. We have very high numbers of older people in the wards in the west of the borough - more than in the east - and yet no council facilities grace the west.

The long-promised all singing all dancing replacement facility for older people that was meant to be delivered in exchange for stopping the campaign to save Hornsey Central Hospital has never materialised.

In fact, the only bit of the proposals to supply beds for older people on the site has collapsed - a mix between Haringey Council withdrawing their sponsorship of that bit and the Primary Care Trust (PCT) taking so long and changing tack so many times that the Council gave up trying to work with them.

The Lib Dems have been campaigning for 'Action Now' on Hornsey Central Hospital after the six years of broken promises. Our fight is to make sure that health services are finally delivered – and that the development is about what is needed and wanted locally.

Shirley Murgraff - a long-standing community campaigner - tried to get across the urgency and extent of what was happening in the NHS and to get people signed up to the National Campaign to Keep the NHS. Richard Stein laid out the legal possibilities of challenging what is happening.

Sue Secher, Sue Hessel and Janet Shapiro all gave rousing speeches and more people are needed to sign up to the campaign. There are a number of fronts to be fought on – from pressurising Haringey Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee to making sure everyone local to Fortis Green clinic is aware that they can now put in their two pennies worth on its proposed closure.

There was a representative from the PCT there who tried to say that they were consulting. But as the 'discussion' (she was careful to make this distinction) will only be advertised through the newspaper or on lampposts – so there will be another job to do to make sure that people really know what is going on.

The bid to the Government for £7million towards the cost of the new proposed health facility on the Hornsey Central Hospital site will soon be decided. Together with £3.5 million from a LIFT project and the sale of two clinics and some land - this delivers the £14 million funding for the new facility. Of course - the problems are around how much will be private and what will be additional rather than shuffling deckchairs.

The Liberal Democrats have a 5-point plan for Hornsey Central if the bid comes in - which is why I have supported the bid. My pragmatic stance is: let’s get the £7 million and then fight to get what local people want out of it. To get the money we have to jump through some of the Government’s hoops – however much we might disagree with them.


The five points are:

1. More GPs and clinic sessions provided - not just the existing GPs and clinics we already have reshuffled and centralised. There needs to be a real dialogue between the PCT and local GPs to ensure what is provided is wanted by the practices. It is essential that coverage of GPs and GP practices across the area remains and that there is a net gain.

2. Real engagement and consultation with patients, residents, voluntary organisations and health workers over the development and relocation of services. As the promise was originally to replace the services for older people - their needs must be addressed and therefore full engagement with older residents is a priority.

3. Improved public transport to Hornsey Hospital, to ensure it is accessible – particularly for older people and parents with young children. The PCT needs to work with Transport for London to get existing bus routes extended to reach the site and the W2 route reinstated as a minimum.

4. Protect our community pharmacies by working with existing pharmacists and carrying out an impact assessment before opening a new pharmacy at the Hospital.

5. Ensure that the proceeds of any land or property sale go back into site.

This is not an exhaustive list and there are lots of pitfalls and dangers - but at least if we can fight for net gain and proper, and I mean proper, engagement - then just perhaps we can squeeze something out of the current disaster.

Anyway - top marks to the Save Hornsey Central Hospital campaigners who had worked so hard to get this meeting together. It can be very hard work to get people informed and out of their houses - but the hall was packed and the passions ran really high.

Labels: Hornsey Central Hospital, nhs, tfl

A very, very special memorial service at the war memorial chapel at Hornsey Central Hospital (which will be preserved whatever happens on that site)! I think this is the first time the memorial has been opened for years for the memorial ceremony and, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month - with so many of the names of those who fell there - it was truly moving.

I talked to one of the veterans who had served in the Navy. It was just extraordinary to think of what this one man saw and witnessed. I won't reveal what he said about sailor's reputations in regard to each port of call - still cheeky at 80-odd! But alongside the humour, he also told me that he and one other colleague were the only survivors out of eight men attacked in a gun turret. It is impossible to understand what that generation saw and survived. And every time I write the message to go on the wreath I lay - and I thank those who died that we might live - I am moved to tears.

Afterwards I was chatting to lots of the people who had come - and the last chap to nab me was very agitated. Basically he wanted to express his anger - as a serving member of the RAF – as regards how he didn't think it was fair for lads to fight for their country but when they were in need of state support (housing) they couldn't get anywhere because immigrants got all the houses. And did I think he was racist, and political correctness was ignoring blokes like him, and he would have to vote for the BNP - there was no alternative.

Now whilst I said to him that I didn't think we were likely to see eye to eye - I don't think it is racist to bring this sort of grievance to light. The BNP made huge inroads in the east of London because Labour ignored the 'already heres'. I don't think it is just white working class - which was his argument. I think it is a real battle between the entitlement people who have worked and paid into the system for years feel they should have against the needs of the newly arrived.

I wrote about this clash of the already heres versus newcomers. I wrote extensively on in my chapter in Britain after Blair because I think there is a real and unaddressed issue here. And that issue, above and beyond this hopeless unfit for purpose Home Office, is about the allocation of a limited pot of public resource.

So - this young man was very, very angry with a country that he fights for but which he believes no longer cares or listens to people like him. I didn't agree with his more prejudiced remarks - but I do agree that these are the issues we need to resolve if we are to avoid the BNP finding any favour for its hideous bile. Breeding grounds for discontent - particularly when they have some validity - are easily swung to extreme views.

Anyway - at that point I had to go on somewhere else and so made my excuses, though as I left the young chap then said I was quite good looking for an MP – and would I like to go out for a drink! For me though it was off to the Lib Dem Council Group's Away Day (they didn't get very far as the venue is next door my constituency office in High Street Hornsey). I took a break out session on crime and policing and then giving a general talk on how to take the issues that matter to their ward constituents and turn them into action.

Labels: Hornsey Central Hospital

Met with the first of the local GP practices that I am hoping to see as part of the Lib Dem campaign to get a first-class health facility on the old Hornsey Hospital site as promised six years ago by those who closed the original hospital down.

The local trust is bidding for “Community Hospital” money from the Government - and it involves bringing a practice or two into the site itself and provision of lots of services that they hope all the practices will use for their patients. It will save lots of visits to hospitals too.

So I have written a letter of support for our bid - levering in the sort of money that we can get from this bid is, in my view, our best chance of getting this level of services into the west of Haringey and on the site of the old hospital. However, I want to make sure that the GP practices, who after all know the community and its local needs, are fully involved in the process and will be hopefully having further meetings in due course.

Labels: Hornsey Central Hospital

Ruth Carnall is the Chief Executive of the new London Strategic Health Authority. I wanted to see her because at the recent public meeting on Hornsey Hospital it was made clear that a parcel of land from the site is to be sold off. Now - it is one thing if it is sold and all the money comes back into developing a new health facility on the site – but another if the money disappears into some distant pot and we here are left high and dry without hospital, without the land and without the dosh!

Where the money goes is down to this new body – so I wanted to meet them, but they didn't want to see me! When my office phoned, (and my 'arranger' Ed is pretty insistent) - they insisted that I go and see the local Chief Executive of the Enfield Haringey Health Authority - Tracy Baldwin. So I did on Friday.

Happily, the fuss I made about wanting to see Ruth Carnall had preceded me in that Tracy Baldwin had been to the London body and been greeted by 'who is this Lynne Featherstone?'! According to Ms Baldwin this was helpful in that the bid for a government pot of money is ready to be submitted (this is the larger part of the funding needed for the new facility) and if the government grants the bid then, together with the proceeds of the land sale, there would be the money and the plans to start work on the new facility on the site early in the new year. And – importantly - the London Strategic Health Authority have now said that Haringey will have first call on the proceeds. So – not quite a cast-iron legal contract, but pretty good news and if the bid is successful it looks as if the money will come here and the project will go ahead.

I am writing a letter of support for the bid - because this is the best shot at delivering facilities we are going to get. It’s best to get the best of what’s possible. There are other lesser options in the bid - but this is the one to go for. I am optimistic – and next it will be a matter of working to ensure that local people and users of local GPs services get an input to the next round of decisions about the site and its development.

We are a long way on from last year when it looked like only private money for private health would make the project viable. At least with this system the vast majority of the funding is NHS and the consequent facilities are mostly what local people say that they want. So - fingers crossed.

Labels: Hornsey Central Hospital, nhs

So the people did come. Having put out hundreds of postcards to ramp up public pressure - the people did come.

The Labour government policy on health means that there is only one game in town - a LIFT project, which will require winning bids and selling off land to fund it.

But it’s very risky. There are absolutely no guarantees that we won’t just see the land being sold off, the old hospital building being demolished – but then the bid for funding doesn’t win and we’re left with absolutely sweet FA.

I remain open to listening to anyone who can come up with a viable alternative, but so far there appears to really only be one game in town.

Against that background however, is the genuine commitment of the Primary Care Trust’s team to get this through, the backing and interest from the local commissioning west Haringey doctors. So on balance I would rather put pressure on this to make sure something happens than not.

So what I would like to do is get everyone in the area to support the bid (to be in by the end of September) with a letter-writing lobbying campaign to up the odds of getting the bid for funding. Am currently investigating who best to lobby.

I am also going to try and get to see the new Chief Executive of the London-wide Health Authority to argue for a guarantee that if the land is sold the money comes back to that site. This is against the policy of the Health Trust who say that it will go in a pot and is LIKELY to come back. Likely isn't good enough for those of us who have campaigned for ever for this. So I will try and get a meeting to ask for a cast iron guarantee and if necessary will campaign for that too.

If we can get the bid and ring-fence the proceeds of any sale then perhaps we can succeed.

This is all dicey. But the fight has to be to get proper health facilities here for us, after years of promises.

Labels: Hornsey Central Hospital

Labour’s continuing leadership problems have made me think about who I would pick to succeed Blair. Hilary Benn would be my man. No enemies (that I know of) but more importantly a new sort of leader - one with a genuine manner and devoid of the Blair-style demeanour that is soooooo yesterday. That will be Cameron's problem - he is emulating a past the country is getting fed up with. Benn could supply an ideal heritage transmuted to fit a modern agenda. Perhaps that way could lie Labour renewal. Perhaps it is not really for me to intrude on private grief - but it certainly is gripping.

More basic, four and a half hours yesterday of surgery, meeting residents individually about their particular issues. It always serves to remind me of the parade of problems and challenges that never seem to lessen. After which I had my regular meeting with Cllr George Meehan, leader of Haringey Council. I had a raft of issues to raise with him:

- an update on CPZs: there will now be a second phase of consultation, where they discount the roads that didn't want a CPZ and go back and consult with those that did.

- Noel Park Recreation Ground delays - suffice to say that the poor children have had the summer without their play equipment replaced (it was taken away during building work of a new children’s' centre and not replaced). I had categorical assurances from the Council about finish dates that were never met. Anyway - I now have the update which promises that the work will be finished by the end of the month.

- I raised the issue of the astronomical amounts of money paid in Housing Benefit for temporary accommodation. I have had two recent cases where the tenant has been placed in quite frankly unliveable one bedroom accommodation (with man, wife and child) at a cost of around £400 per week - and this in areas where normally even in the private market you wouldn't pay more than £200 I reckon. I know there's a premium because of the supposed short tenure - but inevitably a temporary placement for 20 days turns into months and sometimes year. Factor that up - and the costs are unbelievable. And it keeps the people who are meant to be helped with benefits in poverty as with that high price of rent they often can’t afford a job because they would then lose so much in housing benefits that they wouldn’t be able to afford to carry on paying the rent. There are some moves to make it possible to place tenants in the private sector - but I think this needs looking at. Some landlords are raking it - and it's not as if they are taking a risk - as the rent is paid by the state!

- business recycling is next on my list. Businesses are largely untouched by recycling - so I have 'called on' George to look into it. In fact, as the Council has decided (controversially) to take back recycling under their own auspices - this is an ideal moment to push home the Lib Dem campaign to introduce business recycling into the borough. And while I was at it - I lobbied for bigger recycling boxes (again)!

- I also raised some issues about the Chocolate Factory with him - but more about that later.

- and last, but not least, I have offered (as the Council hasn't used me yet) to lobby on behalf of the Council at Parliamentary level. As I had flagged this up on the agenda prior to our meeting, George had one ready for me - the cost of asylum seekers to this borough - or more accurately to get the Government to fund the deficit between spend and available government grant. Will do. In a borough like Haringey (and when I talk to colleagues from other parts of the country who rarely see an asylum case - you can see how uneven the destinations are) we happily have more than our share of the asylum seekers who come to London - but we should not have to bear those extra costs and pressures without full Government assistance.

Last meeting of the day is with Richard Sumray about Hornsey Hospital. Once again Richard stated his commitment to the project and the Primary Care Trust of which he is Chair is hosting a public meeting on 13th. I am stirring a campaign to coincide with this with the view to adding pressure and enthusiasm to support a bid for funding. A bid is being prepared - and I think we need to go for it big time. But we will hear the detail publicly next Wednesday.

Labels: chocolate factory, controlled parking zones, george meehan, hilary benn, Hornsey Central Hospital, richard sumray

Steve Webb, LibDem Shadow Health Secretary came to Hornsey & Wood Green yesterday to meet with myself, Lib Dem colleagues and three local residents who are all massively concerned and upset about Hornsey Central Hospital - or more accurately, the lack of anything tangible in its place since it was closed nearly six years ago.

There is a bid being worked up to apply for some government funding from the cottage/community hospital funding the Government is making available to support its rhetoric around wanting more community facilities – though in reality it is doing more about concentrating its funding on acute/secondary care.

I and my colleagues are looking into what the bid will comprise and hope that we will hear more detail at the public meeting being held on the 13th September at 18:00 at the Methodist Church Hall, Middle Lane. (See here for a map).

We are determined to campaign for good facilities. We have been waiting like good children for the promises made in 2000 to be delivered - but no more Mr Nice Guys. We have all worked with the Trust at every stage - but each time it has come to naught. We believe that its Chair, Richard Sumray is committed to providing these much needed health facilities in the west of the Borough. He says he is. We know how difficult the budget process has been and the Government's push for commissioning private services. But actions speak louder than Labour rhetoric - and we have waited long enough!

We (me plus councillors Richard Wilson and David Winskill) took Steve Webb to Hornsey Hospital and met with some local health campaigners to discuss the best way to take forward the campaign for Hornsey Hospital and the wider issues around the effect of the serious cuts Haringey’s Trust faces. The cuts have already led less sexual health clinics and reductions in rehabilitation beds for older people.

So let's see what happens on the 13th. Hopefully Richard Sumray will say it's all going ahead just as local people were promised...

And in the meantime, don't forget - you can see our film on the issue:

Labels: Hornsey Central Hospital, richard sumray

The future of the Hornsey Central Hospital site has been a long-running campaign of mine. I've just released a little online film about the campaign which you can watch:

It also features Wayne Hoban, who is the Deputy Leader of the Lib Dems in Haringey and our resident expert in many health matters. Thanks to Sheila Rainger (Muswell Hill councillor) for putting it together.

Labels: Hornsey Central Hospital, wayne hoban

Busy, busy weekend. Saturday afternoon was the first of what is a very horticultural weekend with giving out the prizes at the Muswell Hill & District Horticultural Society Autumn Show. It was fantastic - such a lovely thing to go and do. A blaze of colour and fine blooms - and given the hottest July on record followed by the August downpours, I was amazed by the quality of the blooms. Not being an expert in these matters and certainly without a green finger to my name I can but be impressed as a spectator - those who tend to garden do us all a great service as we enjoy the fruits of others' labour as we pass by.

Sunday afternoon was more fruits (literally) and vegetables at the Annual Show of the golf course allotments. So many contributions of fantastic veggies. I now know what makes a good green bean. The first time I looked at the various entries, they all looked much of a muchness to me - green and long. But having enquired what makes a green bean a winning green bean, I now know what details to look for. Having given out the prizes - many, many certificates and many cups and medals - I was given the most beautiful basked of produce from Gina's allotment - absolutely gorgeous and will eat some tonight. She had even put fresh figs in!

The allotment association had applied for funding from the lottery just recently to get a pretty small amount to put up a new meeting room/shed. However, their bid failed because they were told that they needed to have planning permission (a formality in this case - as it is a replacement not a new building) in advance of their bid application. But Haringey Council hadn't told them this. Apparently, one of the organisers told me, Haringey hasn't given the allotments any money whatsoever in the last 15 years - and yet Haringey Council is raising the annual rental by 50% over two years. I have no doubt that the planning permission will be granted and I will certainly help them with their new application that will then follow.

Allotments are just the most wonderful breathing space for those without gardens. True oases of peace and quiet. There are something like 16 allotment sites in Haringey and 1,600 plots. There is a very long waiting list - and happily I think even Haringey Council understands that these oases are sacrosanct.

This morning, reading the endless column inches of Blair-Brown bitching, I am actually horrified by the Labour party's seeming desire to self-destruct. Blair has been the single reason they won three elections. He has said he will go. Cameron is not very special other than he is clearly a good PR practitioner - but the Labour party's disarray allows him more leeway than he deserves. They are still the Nasty Party and it will take a lot more than hot air (or conversion to recognition of the threat of climate change) to convince me that the leopard has changed its spots.

Blair was wrong to go to war in Iraq illegally, and he is dangerously cavalier with civil liberties and human rights - but Labour MPs who think that getting rid of him and installing Gordon will help them in the next election are wrong.

On a more local tack – there are two important local meetings coming up on issues I’ve been working on with my councillor LibDem colleagues.

Firstly, there are plans on the table to update Muswell Hill Library. The library is a well-used and well-loved local library, at the centre of our community. Upstairs the busy Children's Library jostles for space with the IT suite, connecting people who don't own a home computer to all the opportunities of the internet. The Toy Library supports local families with toys, games, advice and support. And twice a month the library even hosts Lib Dem councillors' surgeries!

Of course the building needs updating. A key priority is access for people with limited mobility. And, sadly, the wonderful Grade II listed features have been allowed to fall into disrepair.

But many people were shocked and surprised to learn that Haringey's Labour Council want to replace the ground floor with a restaurant, and move the library facilities out into an extension. In order to fund this, the Council plans to sell off land at the rear of the library, which currently provides parking to hard-pressed residents of Avenue Mews. Some of the land will be used to create a Community Garden - but there is no indication of how big this might be.

The local Lib Dem councillors and I have been pressing the Council to release a full breakdown of the costs of this proposal, and to provide more detailed plans with better information about the size of key areas such as the adult library, the Toy Library and the IT facilities. This information has yet to be provided.

The next public meeting to discuss these plans will be held in the Library this coming Wednesday, 6 September at 7pm. I hope lots of people attend.

The following Wednesday (13th September) there is to be a public meeting on the "development of local health services at the Hornsey Central Hospital site" between 6pm and 8pm at the Middle Lane Methodist Church, Middle Lane, Crouch End. (See here for a map).

I have been campaigning along with local residents and the Friends of Hornsey Central Hospital since the hospital was closed in 2001 to ensure that local health services are re-provided on this site.

It is six years since we were promised that if we (local residents, the Friends of Hornsey Hospital and Lib Dem campaigners) stopped our campaign to save the hospital - then the Trust would work together on consultation with us to a create new health facility for the community. So we worked with the Trust. There were public meetings and plans and public meetings and working meetings and lots of commitment - even complete planning permission at one stage. But after six years - we are nowhere.

And that's just for starters ... so I really am back in the swing of things again!

Labels: Hornsey Central Hospital, Muswell Hill Library

Off to the Three Compasses (my HQ) for a council of war on what is happening to health in this borough. The cuts are cutting now deeply. Five family planning units gone or going for example. The X-ray unit at St Ann's saved - but many, many other front line services disappearing. And why? Because of this Labour government's lack of understanding about how best to run the health service. They have flung a fortune at the health service - most of which has gone into poorly negotiated doctor and consultant contracts. Their budgeting regime has meant that if a Trust balances its budget (much of which is achieved by cuts) then the following year it must make more 'efficiency savings' so that it can give its 'surplus' to a Trust that has failed to keep to budget. It is theatre of the absurd. It demotivates the good Trusts and rewards the 'bad'. Except that the 'bad' are those Trusts that 'overspend' - but overspending means that they are trying to meet need in the community where elsewhere they are cutting front line services - as here.

Amongst other things, we are meeting to kick off the arrangements for the campaign to force the pace on the progress (or lack of it) on Hornsey Hospital. After the meeting we go off to Hornsey Hospital to set up the campaign shots. It looks so forlorn these days with its closure notices. It is six years since we were promised that if we (residents and Lib Dem politicians) stopped our campaign to save the hospital – then the Trust would together with us to a create new health facility for the community. So we worked with the PCT. There were public meetings and plans and public meetings and working meetings and lots of commitment - even complete planning permission at one stage. But after six years - we are nowhere.

... and on a technical note (highlight of my week this!) I've added links to each post so you can easily post them on del.icio.us / digit. Thanks to Technology Wrap for the tip on how to do it easily.

Labels: Hornsey Central Hospital

2005 was a bit of a year - and then some.

As I look back over the year - I am thrilled with what we have been able to achieve. No - not just the General Election (clearly a stunning victory turning a Labour majority of 10,514 into a LibDem one of 2,395) but the causes and campaigns I and my LibDem colleagues have championed together with local residents. That's what has made the difference in Hornsey & Wood Green.

Current battles ongoing perhaps sum up some of what I am trying to do in the constituency - which all boil down to making it a better place for local people to work, rest and play - to quote a famous old advertising tag line. I don't think aiming for a clean, pleasant and safe environment is asking too much!

I'll start with the Hornsey concrete factory planning application. London Concrete want to plonk a concrete batching plant on Cranford Way - right bang in the middle of a residential area - with schools and children and narrow streets - just the sort of place for over 300 HGVs per week to wreck the local ambience! I and my LibDem colleagues have been campaigning against this application since the moment it was lodged - together with great local group Green N8.

We passed the first hurdle with Haringey Planning Committee refusing the application - but in the way of the world - the developer has appealed and as I write we are in the middle of the hearings by Her Majesty's Inspector to whom I gave 'evidence' the week before Christmas. You can read the evidence on my earlier blog posting about the concrete factory plans.

I invited both John Prescott and Ken Livingstone to see the evil that would be done. Neither accepted my invitation. Holding baited breath now and crossed fingers - this David and Goliath battle will be settled by the end of January.

Another battle that engages me is the fight against sitting mobile telephone masts near vulnerable people - like young children. The idea is to bring forward legislation that would enable local councils to refuse planning permission on the grounds of the precautionary principle - until such time as we have proof positive of what these masts do or do not do to our health. This doesn't just happen in Hornsey & Wood Green but up and down the land. And of course, we all do use mobile phones, so we can't be overly pure. The Government is still proclaiming that there is no evidence of damage to health. I have challenged the Government through Parliamentary channels to do the scientific studies necessary to look at the incidence of cancer around mobile phone masts in situ for 10 years - without which we are all in anecdotal territory. They haven't responded as yet.

Locally, of course, we occasionally succeed and see off a phone mast application - but they relentlessly return nearby or at the same site but from a different company. Good news though - recently in a statement by the local Head of Planning in regard to refusing a particular mast in Fortis Green, he went as far as to say ALL future applications for mobile masts in the Haringey conservation area will be an outright NO from now on! Watch this space.

I am also still keeping up the pressure on Haringey Primary Care Trust (PCT) over the future of the Hornsey Central Hospital site. Following a long campaign against closure of the old hospital and then a long process of working with local residents and other interested parties - proposals for a new health facility finally came forth from the PCT for a mix of local health services and elderly care. However, dogged by funding problems caused by the withdrawal from renting some of the space by the Health Trust etc delays and fears about its future have crept in. So I recently met yet again with the Chair of the PCT and received personal assurances from him of his commitment to ensuring that the project goes ahead. But there must remain, until the public meeting in the New Year that he has promised me, concerns over what of the original promised facilities will actually proceed and get built.

As for policing - Safer Neighbourhood Teams are what we all want. They are what we have always wanted. But whilst London is promised complete roll-out in the next year - some 'neighbourhoods' are being left out. I have long campaigned to get a team into Highgate - and at last am encouraged that we are on our way to success. Highgate is split between three different boroughs. Now no police commander I know - despite their protestations about cross-border working - is willing to commit him or herself to an actual cross-border Safer Neighbourhood Team. So I have brought this to the Metropolitan Police Authority on several occasions. And am helped in my quest by Crystal Palace - ironically. Crystal Palace is split between five areas - and so the MPA are running a pilot there which if successful will be applied to neighbourhoods like Highgate which suffer from divided ownership. The sooner the better!

So - with obviously lots more going on than I can possibly begin to convey in this message - not to mention the fight of our lives against Labour's attack on the fundamental principles of liberty and justice in our land - I look forward to a challenging and pretty energetic year ahead.

A very Happy New Year to you all!

Labels: Hornsey Central Hospital, john prescott, ken livingstone, mobile phone masts, mpa

Early morning meeting with Richard Sumray, Chair of Haringey Primary Care Trust (PCT). I have asked him to come and update me on the proposed development of Hornsey Central Hospital. It is now years since I joined local campaigners to campaign against the closure of the old hospital and then with local campaigners to ensure that a community health facility replaced what was lost.

Richard had been hoping to have a public meeting in December but this is now delayed until January because the relevant policy paper has not yet gone to the trust’s Board and won't do now until January. The proposed scheme - the Primary Care Resource Centre, the Healthy Living centre and other health functions yet to be decided by the practitioners - is still on but there are still some big stumbling blocks remaining before the project can proceed. The second floor of the 2nd Stage, which was to provide offices, hit a dead end when it became clear that the costs were too high. The Strategic Health Trust rejected the project as it was thought to be unaffordable. Since then Richard Sumray and the Board have been re-examining the whole project for ways of making it more affordable and therefore viable.

The redevelopment is being funded through the Government’s LIFT scheme, which means involving a private partner. The PCT consulted their private partner over the idea that the private partner take on the risk of the top floor - developing it for themselves. This would theoretically make it financially feasible, and mean that there were no major changes to the amount of health services to be provided. However, there are risks. The PCT is pretty desperate to get the plans for Hornsey Hospital finished and through by March, because otherwise they will be left with a large financial deficit at the start of the next financial year. But because of the huge level of bureaucracy involved in LIFT schemes it is even money as to whether they will make it.

In the afternoon I am see an 'informant'. Since my days on the Met Police Authority (MPA) I have been pursuing the use of DNA in the search for an abhorrent rapist. The crimes - against old women - are an abomination and have been going on for around ten years with no success by the police in capturing the criminal.

However, in recent years the police have been trawling the black community for 'voluntary' DNA samples. These samples have not, in my view, been voluntary at all. 125 refusniks received an intimidatory letter from a senior detective saying that he was going to look into their reasons for refusal and then let them know of his decision. Well - if it was voluntary - no need to look into anything or decide anything. Furthermore, five of those written to continued to refuse and in the end were arrested. Two gave in at that point, and the remaining three arrested had their DNA taken - as once arrested it is compulsory.

It is so easy to say end justifies means. It is easy to see the argument that this crime is so horrific that it is right to take DNA voluntarily or otherwise. Don't get me wrong. The police are doing a great job. But it is a complete misnomer to call this type of testing 'voluntary'. It is clearly mandatory in practice. And if mandatory DNA testing is happening, that should only be after a proper debate results in a decision to change the rules – we shouldn’t get mandatory testing introduced by the back door. Balancing civil rights, personal freedoms and the fight against crime are tricky - which is all the more reasons why such decisions should not happen on the quiet and without proper public debate.

Since then the trail had gone somewhat cold - for me. The police still hadn't caught the culprit. Then I got an email from someone who only recently was pulled in to give a sample on a spurious excuse and refused. He said he couldn't put it all in an email - so today he came into see me. And he had quite a tale to tell. Needless to say - I will be pursuing this as soon as I have put together an appropriate strategy to so do. It was extremely disheartening to hear some of the treatment he encountered.

Ironically, I then dash over to Earls Court for the Met Police Authority's Christmas do! Very nice to see everyone again. I do miss the MPA - however being LibDem spokesperson on Police, Crime and Disorder and Prisons at least keeps me in the right portfolio.

Labels: dna, Hornsey Central Hospital, mpa, richard sumray

Have a meeting at the pub (my constituency office is in the rooms upstairs of the Three Compasses pub). Sometimes I hold small one-to-one meetings downstairs in the pub itself - particularly in the morning when it is quiet before the lunchtime rush. The atmosphere is fabulously relaxing and I buy coffee or whatever and we sit on comfy sofas or chairs - and you get a lot more out of people in that way.

This meeting was particularly useful as the previous Monday, Mark Oaten (who is LibDem Shadow Home Secretary) had added prisons to my brief and I was about to visit Holloway Prison this coming Wednesday. So Lucy Russell, Director of Smart Justice, had come to lobby me about women prisoner' issues - which was very fortuitous.

What struck me was how desperately disproportionate the consequences of prison often are for women and their family. To elucidate – punishment has an important role to play in society not just to keep the public safe but to be the price paid for unlawful behaviour. However, the majority of women serve less than six months. Going to prison more often than not means children in care or at the very least disturbed from their home; quite often loss of home and so on. So when you look at the total impact of the sentence, it’s much more than just the sentence itself. That needs to be remembered and dealt with.

Muswell Hill and Highgate Area Assembly in the evening. Not particularly well-attended and I swear I know virtually everyone there. The problem remains how to get 'real' people in greater numbers - at times other than when there is a CPZ proposal on the agenda when there is no shortage of attendees.

Tonight it would have been very useful if the council had made more effort to publicize the meeting as it was the opportunity for local residents to choose projects to fund from the local assembly's budget. All the nominations were up on the wall and each resident in attendance got six green dot stickers to stick up. But lots of really great small projects nominated by various locals - and not really enough of the local residents there to indicate their preferences from which the local councillors then decide.

The main topics however were the future of Park Road Pool and trees. Good news-ish on the pool - it does have a future. Over the next few years lots of improvements promised and the community will still be able to use a room for local activities. Sounds good, but this being Haringey - we'll see. They had done no work whatsoever on public transport for the venue - simply indicated that they were trying to expand the car park. That is fine (to a degree) but you do need to be able to get there by bus and there is only a very limited service since they removed the W2. Also - they had had no talks with Hornsey Central Hospital - who are just along the road and following my questions on this, work is going ahead on the site in the New Year.

The other main event of the day was watching Gordon Brown deliver his succession speech at the Labour conference. I was under-whelmed. I don't think it is going to happen soon and I don't think it is going to do Labour much good in the long run if he does succeed. He doesn't know which way to play it - New or Old! In reality he has been relentlessly New Labour - so no idea why the 'left' think he may be their saviour. Who signed the cheques for the Iraq war? Who forced through part-privatisation of the Tube? Who insisted on top-up fees for students? And on and on.

Therein is the problem - who really is Gordon Brown?

Labels: controlled parking zones, gordon brown, Hornsey Central Hospital, mark oaten

Visit the Mental Health Trust on the St Ann's Hospital site. Haringey has the longest inpatient stays in London but it does a very low re-admission rate compared to other authorities. So - what I take from that is that the Government needs to be very careful about its push to shove people out of in-patient facilities towards care in the community. While I am sure that being at home and not institutionalised is a laudable t aim, if the patient isn't ready and the support networks are not adequate then we will see more and more problems on street or left for the police to deal with.

The other issue that struck me was the number (and cost) of secure beds that we pay for and that extraordinary numbers of people with mental health problems who end up in prison (also expensive) as opposed to getting preventative care prior to getting hospitalised or imprisoned. This resonates with my experience of warning after warning to the council or police that a local person is threatening neighbours etc. The authorities are always saying they cannot do anything until something happens. Eventually, the person assaults someone. Then they are put in prison and/or evicted. When they come out - they are found accommodation (if they are lucky) and the whole cycle starts all over again with new neighbours.

So - more early intervention and prevention needed. Otherwise we are just going to be creating more arrests, more problems, more misery.

I also have an appointment with the Primary Care Trust (PCT). Main issue on the agenda for me is the news (known for some time but not released to us mere mortals) that the future plans for the redevelopment of the Hornsey Central site are in jeopardy. Haringey Council has pulled the plug on their part of the proposals for the site and has, in the most ad hoc of fashions, decided not to proceed with the care home facilities. This leaves the PCT up the creek as they need the funding from that to fund the other community health services to be offered.

They have come up with a possible way of funding it. I’m not supposed to say publicly what it is yet (though can’t quite see why) – it is quite controversial and supposedly 'commercially sensitive'. I think they need to be bolder and work with the community on this funding problem.

Local campaigners, myself and others have been at this for years and years. We campaigned against closure originally. Continued through the wilderness years. But when the PCT was set up relations improved with campaigners. Now Haringey Council has jeopardised all of this by pulling the rug out.

The PCT was planning to present the options to their board in September. I suggested to them that rather than go to the board and then to a public meeting thereafter when their possibly controversial proposals were a 'fait accompli' it would be much better to share with the key stakeholders the challenges they faced and the options available and then go to a public meeting to genuinely consult. The acting Chief Exec, Geoff Sandford, said he would give that suggestion serious consideration. I hope he does!

Labels: Hornsey Central Hospital

I met up with team from Hornsey Central Hospital group, at my request as I am trying to work out the travel planning and public transport provision way before the start date.

Knowing how difficult it is to get extra routes or stops out of Transport for London, I wanted to add my help in any way possible. It was a really useful discussion and I hope that we can bring in Individualised Travel Planning for the staff, encouraging them to use public transport.

Labels: Hornsey Central Hospital