Lynne Featherstone

A busy local car park in Muswell Hill looks set to receive long overdue safety improvements, after a sustained eight year campaign by local Liberal Democrats and residents.

Haringey Council has agreed that plans will be drawn up soon for the car park in Summerland Gardens, behind Marks and Spencer in Muswell Hill Broadway.

The car park is often used by parents and young children as a route to local schools and the Community Centre. The proposed scheme should include an entire pedestrian safety audit of the car park and two-way vehicle access.

In February this year fears for the safety of local families and children using the car park were heightened after Haringey Council agreed that the local Community Centre would provide additional services, meaning that more people would be using the route through the car park. Residents were concerned that, due to the lack of pedestrian access and pavements, the increased number of residents using the area was an accident waiting to happen.

The news that plans are due to be published at the end of November has been welcomed by local Liberal Democrats.

Cllr Gail Engert (Muswell Hill) comments:

“This is great news and testament to persistence by local residents. The increasing concern for the safety of young families using this car park, meant that Haringey Council needed to do something soon. I am glad that they have, after eight years campaigning, finally taken note and I hope plans are forthcoming and are fully funded sooner, rather than later.”

Lynne Featherstone MP adds:

“Finally, after a long fight, it seems that local residents will be safer when using this car park.”

Cllr Martin Newton, Liberal Democrat transport spokesperson, added:

“Fundamental to improving safety for pedestrians in the car park, was to provide a two-way vehicle access. This will help to alleviate daily road rage incidents and will mean that local residents will not have cars exiting the car park, into their streets.”

Here’s my latest column for the Muswell Hill Flyer and Highgate Handbook:

Finally I managed to get Transport for London (TfL), Haringey Primary Care Trust (part of the NHS) and me together in the same place to bang heads together about the need for better bus links to the new Community Health Centre on the old Hornsey Central Hospital site.

We have this wonderful new facility but, despite the transport issues being raised as a key issue at every public and private meeting (literally for years) by many people, nothing has been properly planned, delivered – or even promised for the future.

And of course now the new Health Centre is here – and operational – but not a new bus in sight. Loads of people joined in my campaign for a new bus to enable them to access the new centre when referred there from wherever they live in Highgate, Crouch End, Muswell Hill, Fortis Green or Alexandra wards by their own GP.

Imagine my shock when TfL said they had no idea that there were services were already being provided (with lots more to come) which would bring people from all over the west of Hornsey & Wood Green to the new facility. TfL seemed to be under the illusion that the only thing happening was that two GP practices had moved in and only they would need transport.

To be honest – I couldn’t believe it!

Given the promises on transport, the supposed discussions on transport – to be sitting there listening to the two key agencies basically saying that there was such a gap in communication that TfL didn’t know that there was an ongoing and expanding need for access to the site from provision of new services on the site was truly shocking.

From this ‘discovery’ TfL have now agreed to take away the issue and look at it properly. At least they now both seem to understand there is a problem with providing a major new health facility with no extra transport provision.

I have been contacted by many local people on the back of our campaign giving examples of problems they have encountered. One example is a team who have already moved into the new facility and whose clients will commonly have reduced mobility – albeit still very capable of getting on a bus if it can deliver them near to the health centre – are concerned about how their patients will get to them.

Another example is that of one local health worker who has contact with people with very differing needs in the borough who wrote to me to say that a number of people she is in contact with through her work have mentioned their concerns about the lack of usable transport links to the new site.

I don’t know what on earth has been going on – but you can bet my language to both the Chair of Haringey PCT and Peter Hendy (Commissioner of Transport in London) will be pretty strong as I bring this smartly to their attention.

Clearly this is a mess – and I just hope that both Haringey PCT and TfL sort it out now they have acknowledged that they haven’t even been looking at the right problem.

I was shocked by the leaked letter (see my earlier post) that showed the Whittington would lose it’s A & E department under all four options being put forward for the reorganisation of health services in what is called London North Central (LNC) Sector of the Strategic Health Authority (Islington, Camden, Barnet, Enfield and Haringey).

I had not been reassured by the hasty press release by LNC saying that the first letter had been confusing and re-issuing a version which changed the Whittington’s fate to being designated a ‘local hospital’ in the options rather than mentioning A& E at all.

‘Local Hospital’ if you look up its meaning on the Department of Health website means that A& E would be reduced to effectively ‘urgent care’ for between 8 and 16 hours per day with no emergency surgery on site. Given the level of need locally – the idea of people having to travel to the Royal Free which has appalling public transport access – does not seem to be designed with local people in mind at all.

Moreover, Haringey which doesn’t actually have a hospital, relies on both the Whittington and The North Middlesex for A & E – and the North Middlesex’ A & E is also under threat in one of the current four options.
Anyway – today I had urgent meetings with both LNC (Stephen Conroy) and the Chief Exec of the Whittington (Rob Larkman) – separately. In terms of LNC – Mr Conroy was very keen to emphasise that nothing was final, that options were still being discussed and drawn up, that no decisions had been taken – and that the options (whatever they ended up as) would go to the Review Panel in December and pre-consultation in January. To avoid the elections – the public consultation on the options would be in September 2010. So if the letter hadn’t been leaked – local people would not have had any say before the election.

The proposals are all around what should be provided where and which of UCH, The Royal Free, Barnet, North Midds, The Whittington and Chase Farm would become ‘major acute’ hospitals and which local.
When I pushed for assurance that the 24 hour A & E service at the Whittington would not be terminated – Mr Conroy could not and would not give that assurance.

I also asked him what autonomy and status the Whittington Board had in all of this. From his answer it is quite clear that whilst the Whittington Board’s opinions are important, they are considered ‘organisationally loyal’ and when looking at the bigger picture of service needs in the ‘sector’ it would be the LCN who would take the decisions.

We also pushed (I was accompanied by Cllr Nigel Scott, LibDem local health spokesperson and Ed Butcher, my Head of Office) for openness and transparency about the processes. We are concerned that by the time there is a wide public consultation (as I said – after the election) – the basic decisions will have been made. That first letter stating that the Whittington would have no A & E even though withdrawn – has left its mark – and I can’t help thinking that where there’s smoke….

It has also been pointed out to me that the Whittington sits on top value land – and that letting the hospital wither on the vine of ever reducing services might at some point enable land sales to a cash-strapped Strategic Health Authority – I hope not!

At the subsequent meeting at the Whittington Hospital, Rob Larkman (CEO) said that they had been shocked too by the letter stating that A & E would not be provided in any of the options and that it was his challenge on that letter that had forced LCN to put out the second letter.

In fact I think the Whittington Board may, to an extent, be an ally of local people in the fight to retain A & E and maternity and obstetrics. The Chair of the Board was also in attendance at this meeting and he said that the Board also fought for what the local community wanted and needed.

So to me, the crucial issues are not the labels that LNC may wish to give their new configurations of major acute, acute, local and so on – the key is still keeping important services like 24 hour A & E and maternity and obstetrics local at the Whittington – whatever the configuration.

I made it quite clear that I would, apart from keeping in close contact with what is happening, make sure that local people are kept informed about what is going on and about what I regard as a real threat to both the 24 hour A & E and the continued provision of maternity and obstetrics at the Whittington – and that I would be campaigning along with my Liberal Democrat colleagues in Haringey and Islington for what local people want and need.

It’s Mitzvah Day today. Mitzvah is the Hebrew word for ‘good deed’ and Muswell Hill Synagogue had about one hundred of its congregation out doing those good deeds today.

The Rabbi, David Mason, joined parents and children at Stationer’s Park planting tulips, daffodils and crocus bulbs around the base of the trees. In February – it will be awash with blooms! There were also lots of other activities such as outside Sainsbury in Muswell Hill where more volunteers asked those going into shop to buy one extra thing to give to a local charity. Last year – when I helped with this activity – people were so generous we could hardly keep up with the volume of stuff being donated.

What is so fantastic is that it is about giving time not money – and that makes people feel good about themselves too! And given the storms and the downpour – the sun actually came out for the day’s planting. They say the sun shines on the righteous.

Well done to Muswell Hill Synagogue and all those volunteers across the country who have given up their time for Mitzvah Day.

Finally I managed to get Transport for London (TfL), Haringey PCT and me together in the same place to discuss the need for local people to be able to access services at the new Community Health Centre at Hornsey Hospital.

We have this wonderful new facility – which we all hope is going to be filled with services that local people will access – making life much easier for all. Fly in the ointment is that despite this being raised as a key issue at every public meeting (and all the private ones I have had with TfL or the PCT) nothing has been planned or delivered – or even promised for the future.

And of course – now the new Health Centre is here – and operational. But not a new bus in sight. Loads of people joined in my campaign for a new bus – or more accurately bus links that would enable them to access the new centre – when referred there from wherever they live in Highgate, Crouch End, Muswell Hill, Fortis Green and Alexandra.

When the original hospital closed – they took away the W2 – but as it stood as of Friday – there were no plans for any new services at all. For the years of planning and campaigning that everyone has been involved in – it was always going to be needed – so imagine my shock – when at this meeting, which I had convened, TfL said they had no idea that there were services being (and much more to be) provided that would bring people from all over the West of Hornsey & Wood Green to the new Centre when they were referred on by their GP etc. TfL seemed to have thought that all that was happening was that the two GP practises had moved in and only they would need transport.

To be honest – I couldn’t believe it!

Given the promises on transport, the supposed discussions on transport – to be sitting there listening to the two key agencies basically saying that there was such a gap in communication that TfL didn’t know that there was an ongoing and expanding need for access to the site from provision of new services on the site was truly shocking?

I don’t know what the hell has been going on – but I will be writing to the Chair of Haringey PCT, Haringey Council and Peter Hendy (Commissioner of Transport in London) to bring this smartly to their attention.

Coming out of this ‘discovery’ the agreement was that TfL would now, in its new informed position, take away the issue and look at it. Haringey PCT would provide them with the report from the early transport study they commissioned (unbelievable that they hadn’t provided it already), their green travel plan (can’t imagine what that is if it doesn’t beg the question of public transport access). The PCT would provide some mapping – showing where GP surgeries are and where patients live – and therefore the gaps in public transport access to link into a route that serves the site.

At least they now both seem to understand there is a problem with providing a major new health facility with no transport provision. TfL kept saying it was well served by buses already – but then given they seem to have only been looking at the W7 trundling regularly in both directions between Crouch End, Park Road (where the health centre is) and Muswell Hill – they clearly haven’t even thought about other links at all.

I had been contacted by many local people on the back of our campaign to improve bus links to Hornsey. I can give you a couple of the examples from groups who have also backed this campaign which illustrate the point pretty clearly  I think. One local organisation who have moved into the new facility already and whose clients will commonly have reduced mobility – albeit still very capable of getting on a bus if it can deliver them near to the health centre. They are concerned about how their patients will get to them. Also another professional who has contact with people with very differing needs in the borough writes to me that a number of people she is in contact with through her work have mentioned their concerns about the lack of usable transport links to the new site. They were told by the Chair at the Mobility Forum that this wasn’t a pressing problem as there were only two GP practises present on the site.

Clearly – this is a mess – and I just hope that both Haringey PCT and TfL sort it out now they have acknowledged that they haven’t even been looking at the right problem

On a better note – Haringey PCT thought that any transport provision to get to services, for example, that had previously been provided by the Whittington that might in future be provided by the Health Centre, if NHS transport had been used to transport people to their hospital appointment – that same provision should hopefully be switched to the new facility. They will pursue that.

But then, to add insult to injury – and despite the consultation on moving the critical bus stop on Muswell Hill only just having finished – TfL now say that they can’t see where to accommodate the move onto the flat of the Broadway or the roundabout. They say it’s up to Haringey Council to decide if they want to do something up at the roundabout. It’s so easy (and much cheaper) for TfL to say ‘not me gov’ – over to the Council or over to the PCT. And of course – in turn I have no doubt that the PCT and Haringey Council will say that it is TfL. So round and round that goes – with no one taking responsibility for ensuring that people can access the one bus that does go to the hospital direct from Muswell Hill – but which because it is sited on a steep, steep hill – is a hazard for those who are mobility impaired, mothers with buggies, wheelchair users and the older resident. To be continued…….

There is a bus stop on Muswell Hill – and Muswell Hill is aptly named. The steep gradient sees toddlers tumble, mothers with buggies hang onto them for dear life, wheelchairs needing restraining and older people picking their way fearfully to get to said bus stop. As for when it is wet or slippery….

It has been there a long time – but what has changed is that this is the primary bus stop that local people in Muswell Hill will have to use to get to the new community health centre at Hornsey Hospital at the bottom of the hill.

We (Liberal Democrats) have campaigned successfully on this to the point where Transport for London (TfL) agreed to consult on moving this badly sited stop. I have now submitted my own and local residents submissions to that consultation.

My LibDem colleagues Cllr Martin Newton, Cllr Gail Engert and myself met TfL officers at the bus stop in the summer to point out how dangerous it was for the young, the old and the disabled. As TfL agreed to look into the issue I wrote to local residents to get their views on moving the bus stop and then included all responses in my submission to the consultation.

For example, one of the letters is from a woman in her seventies, trying to push her husband in a wheelchair down the steep slope, and literally having to bend over backwards not to lose control.

So – let’s hope that TfL are moved to action by the responses to the consultation.  

 You can watch more about this story in this YouTube clip:

The video is also available on the YouTube website.

If I ruled the world I would ………….. that’s the challenge I have set local children in Hornsey & Wood Green schools to tell me in 200 words for Local Democracy Week.

I launched my mini-writing competition today at Alexandra Park School – where the amazing Jo (Citizenship teacher extraordinaire) had agreed to set up to undertake this project with the Citizenship and the English classes working together. So today I was attending the Citizenship class where Jo was brainstorming with the children to get them involved and engaged in beginning to think what sort of things might need changing or what worried them – and then – how that might be changed.

The first round of ideas were just brilliant – from the young girl who wanted to make life better for young carers, to world peace and beyond. I’m not going to go through the list – but suffice to say – that it is completely fascinating to to listen to the ideas they had about what worried them – and recognise where the input came from. Some clearly came from school work, much from television and newscasts  – but Jo was really clever – and as well as those sort of universal issues tried to move them onto a more personal level of what worried or concerned them in their own lives.

So I am greatly looking forward to reading all the submissions when they come in. I always feel very uplifted when I come out of a school visit like that.

Gruelling advice surgery – it can be so draining as people’s problems can be so deep and so distressing. I’ve noticed over the years how simply listening properly to someone who has been frustrated or downed at every turn often results often in the person crying, just because they can finally talk to someone who listens to them. At first I found this really hard – but now I understand that it is a release as finding someone to listen is hard in today’s society.

Then it was straight on to meeting with Fortismere’s Chair of Governors, Jane Farrell, to discuss the ongoing state of the school’s move to Foundation Status. The informal consultation being finished, we are now in the statutory consultation period. The informal stage results were that out of only a 6% response rate, 70% were against (to some degree).

I put forward the suggestion that – based on such a low response rate – the school should go back and ballot the parents, accompanied by a recommending report from the majority Governors who are for the proposal with an accompanying minority report from those Governors opposed. That to me is a way forward that would then, upon the result, re-unite a community which has been divided by this issue creating at times a pretty unpleasant atmosphere. Whatever, the outcome, the school must move forward with any divisions healed.

However, the school’s position is not to offer a ballot. The Governors feel that the statutory consultation period instead offers another opportunity for local parents and others to make their case – and that they as the Governing Body with the remit and duty for making decisions will take the decision based on the responses.

There are some complaints from parents who are asking the Government to review the processes on the informal consultation and consultation with stakeholders because they believe due process has not been followed and I have written to the Minister to ask that he investigate these claims.

One of the other real problems about the process is that the responses to the informal consultation were not available for public scrutiny as indeed neither will be the responses to the statutory consultation now ongoing and closing July 16th. I asked for the responses to be published and Gail – Gail Engert who is the Liberal Democrat Education Spokesperson on the Council and who came with me – very helpfully suggested that the Governors could even anonomise the responses so that we can all see the reality of the responses – but not who had made them. Jane said she would consider this. And I think if they will not ballot all parents – then we (all of us) need to see what people have said in their responses so that we can understand on what basis the Governors make and take the final decision.

So – a not altogether satisfactory outcome – as I do believe an all parent ballot would have been a way to settle the business that all could then fall in behind. Second best will be if the Governors agree to publish the responses. Otherwise, for those for whom the decision goes the ‘wrong’ way will never truly believe that the Governors did their duty and had ‘regard to the views of parents’. The Governors have always told me that they believed that the ‘silent majority’ support the proposal. They may be right – but seeing is believing.

Some issues on which I asked for clarification additionally which people have raised with me are as follows:

- people have been concerned that the land that Fortismere owns would and could be sold off. Jane assured me that both the Head and Governors are opposed to selling off any of the land whatsoever. Furthermore, that should this ever arise, it has to be agreed to by both the Secretary of State and the Council. The school has put two people together in a bursar role to start fund-raising for the money they need as a consequence of lack of financial support from both Government and LEA in terms of new buildings monies and the decrease of other funds.

- I had had reports of very worrying behaviour amongst pupils and was assured that the new Head has put in many new initiatives to tackle bad behaviour including a ‘tariff’ by which each misdemeanour carries a different weighting and therefore punishment, employing a behaviour manager, extra staff training on discipline etc. However, one of the problems brought to light is the number of exclusions which are overturned on appeal – something I will pursue.

- statemented children – during the proposals for Foundation Status many parents have been worried that the number of statemented children at the school will be reduced. This would be against the law and cannot happen. However, the school does have issues with the funding for statemented chikdren as if the statement gives the child over 15 hours teaching assistance – then that is extra funding – if not – then it comes out of the normal budget.

Anyway – there was quite a lot more – but this will do for now!

So – Fortismere – our local educational star in the Haringey firmament – has decided to move out of our close-knit school community and change to foundation status. That will now go out to statutory consultation for a very, very short four weeks – so if you want to have your say have it quickly. My understanding of the ‘informal’ consultation results were that there were 70% against this move albeit from a rather small response rate of 6%. I stand to be corrected on those figures as they are from reportage and memory.

The community is upset and divided on this issue. My personal position – as I am asked continually – is that the school should simply stay a good local community school. My role, however, is to try and make sure that the parents and community have a fair say in the future of this excellent school.

This proposal and decision has set parent against parent and has been extremely distressing for many of those involved. Parents of statemented children have come to me worried that the school will reduce their number. Parents in favour of the proposals have contacted me to say that they have been intimidated by those against the proposals – to the point of feeling unable to even voice their views in public.

I receive so many different stories about promises unmet on mode and extent of consultation, on one group thinking x and another wanting y. That is why I very early on wrote to the Head and Governors to hold an all-parent ballot. This was refused. But how else can we really know what parents want as a body? And the teachers? And the pupils? And the local community? We are all inter-linked.

The LEA are not blameless in all of this either. Nor the Government. One of the factors that prompted the school to take this path – or at least seems to have confirmed it in the direction it is bent on taking – is the Labour Government and the Labour LEA between them refusing to grant enough capital funding to deal with a degrading sixth form building and Portacabins that have been there for decades.

I went with the Head and school governors to Ministers before all this started because the Building Schools for the Future fund provided by the Government for new buildings and apportioned to Haringey schools by Haringey Labour LEA had put Fortismere at the very bottom – with clearly no potential to solve their building problems for the next ten years. The Government wouldn’t consider giving any more money – saying it was up to the LEA to distribute that fund. The LEA said they couldn’t distribute it any other way as the Government controlled the funding allocation by criteria which were weighted less to do with the need for new building and much more to do with deprivation factors. Inevitably the poorer areas received more funding – even if buildings in less deprived areas were more in need of work. That means that a high-achieving school like Fortismere with a relatively comfortable catchment wasn’t even in the game despite having crumbling building fabric.

So – I feel that the combination of LEA and Government has given the school the ideal excuse to go to parents and explain that if they didn’t take this path etc etc they would not be able to have the desperately needed new buildings. Only control over their own assets – which comes with this change – would supply the funding they need. Of course – a whole raft of other concerns are involved from possible selection to reducing the numbers of statemented children. Denials of this from the school. Counter denials from the campaigners who want to keep the school comprehensive.

I don’t know if the moves to call for a judicial review on the grounds of flawed consultation will come to anything – there may well be some mechanism and maybe some mileage. I still believe that there should be a ballot – not just to canvas true opinion but also so that once the decision is finally made it could have been fair and seen to be fair and therefore all parties could move forward together and put this miserable experience where no one trusts anyone behind them.

I offered to broker a meeting between Fortismere and the LEA but the LEA could not find a suitable time or date for such a meeting. A great shame – but seemingly the process rolls on, and now – in the last phase – there is just this statutory consultation and that will finish mid July.

Tonight is the meeting on the way forward for Fortismere School, to which my colleague Cllr Gail Engert is going on behalf of the Lib Dems (as I can’t go) and putting forward our proposals.

There is a great deal of angst and bad feeling grown up in response to the school’s seeming desire to move to foundation status. The concerns are around moves to selection; reduction in intake of statemented children; and changing the criteria to enter the sixth form to only those students attaining A or B grades. People are worried that it will cause disharmony in our community of schools. However, the Government’s policy is to allow such applications.

There are, as I said, very strong views against the proposals – and yet a seeming determination from Head and Governors to go forward. The consultation is coming to a close. I asked the school to at least hold an all-parent ballot – but they have refused at this point in time.

So, what is to be done? What the Liberal Democrats have proposed is a five-point plan:

1) The closing date for the consultation should be extended and the consultation should be widely publicised in order to gather the views of the whole local community.

2) The Head and the Director of Education should meet urgently to try to resolve the conflict between the school and the Council. I’ve offered to facilitate the meeting in the hope that a way forward can be found that avoids the school pushing for foundation status.

3) The school should hold a proper public meeting to allow all points of view to be presented to parents and local community.

4) The school should be transparent and undertake to publish all the results of its informal consultation.

5) The Head and Governors should make their intentions on selection clear – and guarantee Fortismere remains a school for the whole community.

Gail’s comment for the press on this issue was, “Our five point plan ensures that all groups are properly consulted on the future of this successful school and that the results of the consultation are fully transparent. This school is a fundamental part of the local community and decisions on its future direction should take their concerns fully into account.”

Whilst I said, “It is clear that there has been a breakdown in communications between the school and Haringey Council, which has resulted in Fortismere pushing for foundation status. I want Fortismere and Haringey to resolve their differences and start working together for the benefit of parents and the local community. I have offered to broker a meeting between the two sides so we can resolve this dispute. I am hopeful that this issue can be resolved if all sides focus on what is important – the future of the school and the children.”