ATTEMPTS TO MAKE RESIDENTS PAY FOR DISABLED RAMP "A DISGRACE"

28.10.02

A Highgate Lib Dem councillor has labelled ‘a disgrace’ attempts by Haringey’s ruling Labour council to charge residents for the installation of a long-demanded disabled ramp at a block of flats in Highgate.

Lib Dem councillor Neil Williams, who has been campaigning for the need for disabled access to Dowding House, on the Hillcrest Estate, says the council is now telling the leaseholders in the block that they will have to fork out for the planned disabled ramp. When Councillor Williams raised this earlier in the year with the council, he was told that all matters would be up for consideration during the consultation.

The move comes on top of revelations, uncovered by Councillor Williams, that Haringey Council is raking in tens of thousands of pounds in profits from unsightly rooftop aerials fitted on the roofs of Dowding House and the other historic blocks on the Hillcrest estate. Despite the massive annual windfall of £50,000, the mean-spirited Labour council wants the block’s leaseholders to pay to bring disabled access up-to-date.

Neil Williams comments:

“Haringey’s handling of this matter is becoming a very distressing story. Asking all leaseholders to pay is putting disabled residents in an impossible position - and I was assured that this matter would be up for discussion. Instead, the residents seem to have been issued with a fait accompli.

“I am really outraged that the council rakes in £50,000 from the rooftop aerials but seems to want to do anything rather than pay for this improvement. This is a major building and it should have disabled access.

“It is deplorable that Haringey Council can earn so much money as a direct result of the buildings advantageous height, but when it comes to sorting out a design defect, they say the residents will have to pay. It is not good enough.”

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