Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Cllr. Mike Hakata “… to step down from elected office”. Full statement:
The announcement will not trigger a by-election and residents in Hermitage and Gardens will be represented by Cllr Anna Lawton.
- Back-peddling on Net Zero
- Shelving of progress on climate
- On the side of motorists (New Labour's election pledge)
Tags for Forum Posts: Cabinet, Cabinet Member, Environment, Transport and Climate Action, Haringey Council, Mike Hakata
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson
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On the issue of it not triggering a by-election I assume that’s because of the full council election taking place on 7th May where the seat would be up for grabs again anyway.
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton
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Clive, thanks for trying to keep track of these changes. But without a little more clarity from Mike Hakata himself, aren't we having to make guesses about who does and who doesn't call the shots? Luckily there is a bit of time for residents to find out more about the candidates for each ward; in preparation for choosing who among them is worth a walk to the polling station. The current fragmentation of parties also suggests that this May voters could have a little more power than in previous years. Negative power to identify the likely useless new candidates. ( I assume that many voters already know who has been a passenger for four years.) Mike Hakata who has been an active councillor has also been honest in resigning, rather than as some who turn up for the legal minimum of meetings - and simply draw the allowance.
Mike has also helpfully begun to describe the range of tasks which a good elected councillor is likely to take on. Which is far wider than - as an ex-councillor described to me: cutting ribbons and smiling.
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter
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ALAN,
… aren't we having to make guesses about who does and who doesn't call the shots?
It's only my tentative guesswork, but my wild guess is that it is the Group Leader with their closest cronies who call the shots.
… who has been "a" passenger …
Surely you mean the plural?!
Too many in the Ruling Group fancy themselves as Parliamentarians if not Members of the real Cabinet. For them, this Borough is only a stepping stone to ambition on the national stage.
The most recent following this path were New Labour's Jogee & Strickland. In my view this explains the lack of action and the lack of attention to the needs of residents within the Borough boundary.
There is disappointment with New Labour at national level and this may translate into reduced electoral support at local level next May. This may not necessarily mean Labour support flows to other Parties. Normally-Labour supporters and normally supporters of other Parties, may choose to sit on their hands (a plague on all their houses).
A key metric will be voter turnout.
REFORM
In a properly functioning democracy, voter interest and voter turnout is actually desirable. In my view, this would be enhanced by two innovations: (a) Proportional Representation and (b) at the foot of the Ballot, below all the candidates, a required check-box, "none of the above". That might encourage Parties to take more care in selection. We need reform.
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It seems, Clive, that you've forgotten the time, during Britain's membership of the EU, when my old friend Narnov Theabav was planning to leave his temporarily rented home in Bristol and offer us his many talents.
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GETTING SERIOUS NOW, there have been a very few times when I've voted for only two of the three names on a local council ballot paper. I've never completely spoiled the paper. Nor yet have I taken the option to stay away from the vote as a sort of very quiet protest.
I've been trying to imagine circumstances when I'd want to actually vote negatively. So ticking a box marked: "None of the above" seems like it might feel a teensy bit satisfying. Equivalent perhaps to: Is this the pathetic best all you wretched parties can come up with?
Though having taken part in the elections I strongly suspect that hardly anybody in the local Party machines worries about low turnout provided all the parties votes are shrinking at the same rate.
If I detested all the names on a ballot paper so strongly don't I have some sort of responsibility to take some action? . I think back to everyone who struggled for the right to vote. To spoil my own ballot paper obviously and deliberately, what has gone so very very wrong? If a Trump and a Farage figure can be successful and persuade hundreds of thousands - even millions - isn't there some sort of sickness?
If Keir Starmer no longer sees and feels the dangers of climate change, what mental virus has taken hold? If the religion of greed and endless exploitation of the world's resources reigns unchallenged, what future for our society?Are we- as Jared Diamond once wrote - one more disastrous natural experiment like he described in Collapse?
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NEARLY seven years ago, at a Full Council meeting, Haringey Councillors unanimously declared a Climate Emergency: 19 March 2019.
12 months later the council published their climate action plan. It was launched in Committee Rooms 1 & 2 with fanfare. I was there and remember the fanfare. It was a PR success.
Another 12 months passed and the council published a final climate action plan—i.e. in March 2021 . The most salient feature of the highly attractive, 50+page document is it's sheer emptiness. The lack of serious intent is confirmed by the vagueness. In some places, the term "deadline" referred, not to a particular year, but to a bracket of years. This is what Haringey Council means by "emergency".
Since 2019, we have heard less and less about the council's Declaration. The current Leader now says nothing about the Declaration seven years ago.
The absence of co-ordination among council departments was reflected by the setting up of a climate action unit, led by Cllr Hakata.
Has anyone heard of it?
Former Councillor Mike Hakata understood the issues. He spoke well and knowledgeably about the subject. His departure underlines this Administrations sub-zero commitment to action in this area (apart from PR).
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Meanwhile, the current leader's main interest appears to be keeping the peasants entertained.
In a political context, this can too easily be seen as Bread & Circuses.
The leader is happy to be photographed by an official council photographer, standing alongside a Promoter of Major Events on the Licensed Premises of a Licensed activity. And for the images to be promoted by the Local Authority.
The Buggin's Turn Year of Culture 2027 is a particular focus. And distraction.
The rebel-Borough year-of-culture would be well and good if our finances were sound and the council got the basics right in the first place. On the first point, the council's accounts were literally un-auditable (by the external Auditor) for three years (anyone paying attention?). When Cllr Ahmet took over after the 36 months of absolutely chaotic previous leadership, getting our accounts ship-shape ought to have been an early focus.
Despite the near-bankruptcy of our council, attention and public money is poured into the leader's pet project. A Director of Culture is employed on an annual salary of approximately £165,000, plus an annual pension contribution of more than the annual salary of a librarian. At the same time as Library opening hours are slashed by a third. The Director of Culture also has two part-time Assistant Directors, also on huge salaries.
Council Bread and Circuses may or may succeed in distraction from the absence of meaningful climate action.
As a whole, the local cabinet placed climate action on the back burner some time ago. Now, Cllr Ahmet and her closest cronies have turned off the gas. Even Joe Ejiofor was able to say the right things in this area.
Oh and by the way, since Haringey Council's declaration of Emergency almost seven years ago … the last three years were the world's warmest ever recorded, bringi...
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