Lynne Featherstone

For the avoidance of any doubt as to Haringey Labour's last minute conversion in terms of stumping up some funding - and how without it there wouldn't have been Arts Council funding - here's the Arts Council press release on the matter:

Following receipt of a commitment from the London Borough of Haringey to double its investment in Jacksons Lane, as well as seriously considering the investment required in the building, the London Regional Council of the Arts Council England has agreed to award one further year of funding to Jacksons Lane at £135,712.

This is subject to Haringey Council and Jacksons Lane agreeing to conditions regarding continued business growth, and the development of a realistic refurbishment scheme for the building.

Moira Sinclair, Executive Director of Arts Council England, London said:

'This was a very welcome last minute offer by Haringey, without which we would not have been able to continue our commitment to Jacksons Lane.

'We retain serious concerns about the financial viability of Jacksons Lane and the physical condition of the building, and will be working closely with Haringey over the next 10 months to ensure that these are addressed.'

In early 2010 the Arts Council will review the progress which Haringey and Jacksons Lane have made and make a decision on further funding at that point.

Thank goodness - the Arts Council have been as good as their word and approved the grant to Jacksons Lane. They said it was dependent on Haringey Council showing commitment by increasing the core funding to Jacksons Lane. It was a narrow thing - as the money was only agreed by Haringey at the very last moment. But the really good news is that this time the grant is continuing for at least another two years which is brilliant news. Thank you Arts Council. And thank you to the hundreds of people who took time to write and email in support of Jacksons Lane - this made all the difference.

Hurrah! Good news for Jacksons Lane Arts Centre.

It has been under threat of closure since last year when Cllr Neil Williams and I went personally to beg the Arts Council to carry on with its grant - and got a one year reprieve. The year is up - and on Wednesday the Arts Council will decide its future. Haringey Council has been the absolute sticking point - unwilling to commit any extra money at all - which is the price the Arts Council has been demanding as they want to see council commitment if they are going to put in their money too.

We (myself and the Highgate councillors) sent out an email asking people to email Matt Cooke (Labour Exec Member in charge of this) to give more money and save the centre. Cllr Cooke by the looks of it is not happy to have had pressure applied and is trying to say Haringey was always going to find some money. And pigs might have flown. People power has really made the difference. Thanks to all those who responded.

Here's Neil's email update on the issue:

In a letter sent from Haringey to the Arts Council on Friday - after your huge response - Haringey has now relented, and finally upped its offer of funding! This is very encouraging, and the ball is now back in the court of the Arts Council.

Claims from Haringey Council that it was always prepared to meet the Arts Council's demands are totally untrue.

The Arts Council has long since insisted that Haringey take more responsibility for the funding of the centre – something that Haringey Council has persistently refused to do. Over the past year, Haringey has refused to up the centre's core grant of £55,000, as the Arts Council has urged. In their own report to their decision-making body due next week, the Arts Council states:

Haringey has consistently stated that it is not in a position to offer additional capital and revenue funding to Jacksons Lane.

When we asked again for the the extra £50,000 on 22 December, the lead councillor didn't even reply. As recently as last week, Haringey Council was refusing to help, offering only to provide half a day in officer time – nowhere near enough to help Jacksons Lane.

It really is your pressure that has made the difference – so many may thanks! We will keep you updated on progress.

Highgate councillor Neil William has the story, about the closure threat facing Jacksons Lane Community Centre - and what you can do about it.

UPDATE: More news here.

Hurrah! Brilliant! A reprieve for Jacksons Lane Community Centre. The Arts Council decided to fund us for one more year. Of course am over the moon, having petitioned, met with them, done my column on Jackson's Lane and generally lobbied and agitated as much as I and my colleagues could.

Thank goodness.

We now have time to make sure that when that year is up - Haringey Council has put in place the commitment and funding necessary to reassure the Arts Council that it is really supported by the local authority. Lack of commitment by Haringey Council was the stated and only reason it was in the firing line for cuts in the first place.

So - onward and upwards! Saved - for now!

Well - Neil Williams (Lib Dem Leader of the Opposition on Haringey Council) and I met with Moira Sinclair of the Arts Council this morning to plead for the Arts Council to overturn their proposal to cut funding to Jacksons Lane Community Centre. The Arts Council meet to make this decision on Thursday.

We have been swamped with responses to our petition which we handed in - thanks to everyone who responded; we will keep sending them in.

I was very impressed with Ms Sinclair. She was thorough, rigorous and efficient in her summation of why our beloved Jackson's Lane is under threat. And it was crystal clear that she felt we are in this position because Haringey Council has not given it the necessary backing - neither financial nor emotional - over the last five years. And that has given the Arts Council concerns over the future financial management and property maintenance.

It was made quite clear that there is hope and the decision is overturnable - but at this eleventh hour I think perhaps only Haringey Council coming forward with complete commitment to the repair and renewal of the building and some matched funding would sway the members of the Arts Council when they sit on Thursday.

Haringey have - at this late point - responded to the consultation positively - but will there be any money on the table? It is their track record over the years before that I fear has led the Arts Council to put this terrible question mark over the centre's head. Neil and I put our best foot forward, saying we would do our utmost to ensure that the corner had been turned.

Labour on Haringey Council really need to come up with the rescue package that can influence the final decision on Thursday. We certainly made it plain that this is a vital arts and performing arts facility in West Haringey and much loved and much needed by local people.

Perhaps the chink of light is that out of 75 organisations that are to have their funding completely or partially cut - there will probably be a couple who are saved from the axe. Let's hope that Jackson's Lane is one of them. With the enormous local community support and Neil and my pleas - we wait with baited breath and everything crossed!

Whoosh! Over four hundred people have already signed the petition to save Jacksons Lane Community Centre. Thank you to everyone who has signed so far, whether online or through the petitions we've been distributing in the area. If you've not signed yet, please do add your name - just have to click here and fill in the online form.

Highgate councillor Neil Williams and I feature in the Journal's coverage of the story this week, which you can read here.

Following up on my earlier posting about the threat to the future of Jacksons Lane Community Centre, I've now got an online petition up and running. Please do sign it!

I've just demanded a meeting with Arts Council London to try to secure the future of Jacksons Lane Community Centre - one of our much-loved local resources that has provided so much to residents of Highgate, Archway and beyond.

Organisers at the centre were told in December that its £125,000 annual grant may be cut this year. And without that grant the centre, which has already endured nearly a year of closure, may have to close permanently. Not good!

The problem is that Arts Council London has questioned the commitment of Haringey Council to the centre - not surprising given the delays in funding repairs after roof damage in January 2006 and also Haringey Council's failure to provide a long lease - which meant the centre missed out on applying for a £1 million grant.

But the annual grant is absolutely vital to the future of the centre and I will not see it disappear without a fight.

Ming comes to launch our local election campaign in Haringey - where we have a real chance to take Haringey Council after 35 years of Labour rule. The Leader coming confirms this position!

I and Neil Williams (LibDem Council Group Leader) meet Ming at Harringay station. He arrives at 9.15am on the dot. I love people who are on time and organised. We go to the Tottenham side of the station - to Harringay ward - to photograph Ming with the Harringay candidates and then to the Hornsey & Wood Green side for photographs with the Stroud Green candidates. Both sides are to emphasize our campaign for CCTV on the scary entrances both sides of the bridge.

Ming (Sir Menzies Campbell to give him full title) is looking very dapper and smart. We proceed to the campaign HQ at The Three Compasses where Ming will launch our campaign, meet local members and activists (all stuffing envelopes - and boy there are a lot to stuff) and do one-to-one interviews with the journalists covering his visit.

One of the journos lets it be known that a hastily scrambled together 'launch' by Labour Minister Hazel Blears is now to take place at 11am same day having heard about Ming's visit. I know Labour are terrified of losing the Council - but please!

If it's true - then Hazel (who is my opposite number as I am her Shadow Minister) will do her duty and attack the LibDems and me as usual. It doesn't matter which way we vote on anything - be it the police budget at the GLA or the Violent Crime Reduction Bill.

We supported the funding for the police and the Violent Crime Reduction Bill - but whatever we say or do - Labour's mantra is always the same and always untrue. In politics, as opposed to pretty much every other walk of life, lying is just shrugged at and you are just meant to grin and put up with it - but I think that is why politics is in the state it is in - because people can't be sure that what they read is the truth.

I know I digress - but there is an absurd letter going out in Stroud Green. It purports to be from a Bernard E who lives in Stapleton Hall Road (curiously there’s no-one with the first name Bernard on the electoral register in that road). It basically attacks me for supposedly being a known right winger and supporter of the Orange Book. (A think tank book of essays and ideas by LibDems - one of which was a 'right-wing' suggestion about funding in the NHS - thrown out robustly by the party at the following conference).

This would make the party laugh - as that is hardly my reputation or position in the political spectrum. Anyway - there are two versions - one with a Labour imprint and one without (although election law requires all leaflets to have an imprint) - and the writer says he is an old friend of one of the Labour candidates, though doesn’t mention that said person is already a councillor in another ward but was deselected by the Labour party there and so has had to find another ward to stand in.

I mention all this because - whilst we are standing at Harringay Station with Ming - a man comes up to Lib Dem Cllr Laura Edge and me and asks if we have seen this anonymous (in the sense there is no surname and no address) letter going out and how awful it is and how obviously a Labour smear letter. I am heartened by the public's ability to see through this type of rubbish.

What is odd about the attacks on me is that I am not even a candidate in the local elections as I am stepping down after eight years as a local councillor and five as Leader of the Opposition. But I know that for Labour (and the defunct Tories who have no seats on the council at all) I am a symbol of all of their troubles and political losses.

So at the Three Compasses and into the working room where the stuffing tables are. A big cheer from quite a crowd gathered there and Ming delivers a rallying speech to encourage the troops - as does Neil. Ming clearly thinks we can do it - if we do the work between now and polling day.

Then the series of one-to-ones with reporters. Ming is in fine form - and truly a professional. Interviews over - a couple of members take him for a short tour and then off to Euston to get a train to Manchester for the next big launch. The cry is that we will make great gains across the board - more votes, more councillors and more councils!

Straight back down to earth and surgery at Jacksons Lane Community Centre. Run into Melanie - the Director - who is in happy mode as Haringey 'found' the funding to save the centre. I knew they would. Having made it explicit that I would turn this into an election issue if they didn't I think that may have played a part in focusing their attention on resolving the matter quickly and before the election got under way - although they will undoubtedly claim that had nothing to do with it. That's where politics works! A situation where Haringey has ignored or not responded on such an important matter - and suddenly with a political spotlight about to shine and me poking my nose in – then things happen.

I remember a similar thing when Labour Haringey wanting to close Muswell Hill library. But the library campaigners, local residents and the LibDems turned it around - with the fortuitous advent of a local ward by-election at that very moment.

In the evening I go to meet Linda Alliston who leads the Coldfall Woods Group. There have been huge problems with gangs of youths on motor bikes 'buzzing' dogs and walkers and then burning their no doubt stolen bikes. There is raw sewage (long term problem) being fed into the stream.

The solution to the bikes is to make the woods and football pitches secured by 'kissing' gates so that motorbikes can't enter. For this they need to access the Section 106 money (£500k) from the Lynx Depot development. Cllr Martin Newton (Lib Dem, Fortis Green) comes with me and he has already secured a promise that they would have no problem with a bid for the gates - so they need to write in and I will support that bid. Also - Martin has got the new Safer Neighbourhood police team (which is just in place) to agree that they will come and look at how they can tackle the youth/bike problem.

In the meantime however, Haringey needs to deal with the perennial dumping - and to notify the allotment owners and houses (whether Haringey or Barnet) that back onto Muswell Hill playing field that throwing their BBQ waste over into the fields is not acceptable behaviour. Sadly, there’s an anti-social minority who do this. The good folk who love the fields and the woods have two major clear-ups a year.

Anyway - it was nice to meet the group who look after and love the fields and the woods - a wonderful local amenity - and Martin will pursue the issues and I will also be writing to support the case.

Go back to campaign HQ for a last hour of stuffing envelopes to sooth me down to sleep mode!