Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Emergent Finsbury Park Neighbourhood Forum in Harringay Land Grab
One of the leading members of the emergent Finsbury Park Neighbourhood Forum has been in touch with me this week to let me know that the group is currently eying part of Harringay and all of Finsbury Park for inclusion within its boundaries.
Do we really want our neighbours being such a key influence over what's been Harringay for over a hundred years?
Tags for Forum Posts: finsbury park neighbourhood forum
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Arkady on
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I suppose I feel that the blurb at the top of the survey, and the detailed information on the rest of the site, give sufficient information.
I also think that the need for recognition from the boroughs, and ultimately a successful referendum before any plan can be enacted, are sufficient democratic checks and balances.
As always I very much welcome your input if you think we can be more clear.
I'm curious about a comment you made upthread - have you seen convincing evidence that Neighbourhood Forums lead to higher council tax?
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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I suspect many people won't have read the blurb, Ben, nor does it tell the whole story. A question or two to clarify what the survey what about would have made it much more legitimate in my view.
As to cost, yes, the NF will have the power to levy a precept that will be collected via Council tax. The Queen's Park NF adds about £50 to a Band D property Council Tax bill.*
Given all the local services being cut, I'd be happy to pay an extra £50 a year, but to maintain services not to fund another unelected tier of local governance.
*Since corrected. In fact NFs do not have the power to raise money directly. This only applies when they take the next step and become a fully fledged community council.
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Maybe you're right Hugh. I find it hard to imagine why someone would fill in a survey without knowing why they were doing so, but perhaps I'm being naive.
That precept would only be levied if people agreed via a referendum though?
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You know what it's like these days, Ben. People see something on their phone and they deal with it quickly whilst doing something else. It would have been very easy to have dealt with this by simply adding a couple of pin-sharp question that made the situation unequivocally clear.
As to the precept and referendums, no it's my understandig that a referendum is not required at the moment, though there is talk of it amongst the current dicussion of requiring councils to run referenda before raising council tax levels.
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Can you recommend some possible questions that I can put to the group?
Right, so if the increase in council tax isn't agreed via a referendum it must be agreed by the democratically elected borough councils? Fine with me.
As far as I know, using the precept hasn't even been discussed for FP yet - the main desire is to strengthen local involvement in site allocation and design, and help to remedy some of the problems created by being on the boundary of three boroughs.
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Permalink Reply by Gordon T on
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Beyond what the Finsbury Park Accord (yes I realise it's not an NF) is already doing?
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Part of the concern (as confessed off the record by one of the councillors recently) is that the Accord isn't really doing very much. there's still a lack of joined-up thinking when it comes to planning across the neighbourhood.
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Okay, time for a bit of humble pie and back-tracking. Queen's Park is actually the next stage of development. It's a community council with elected members and it can raise finance through a precept.
Contrary to what I believed, neighbourhod fora on the other hand cannot raise money by setting a precept on council tax, but can obtain funds through grants for specific projects.
The funding seems to come in through the back door. Here's more about it from the Local Government Association.
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Ah, thanks for the clarification. And here I was thinking we could annex Harringay and then tax you 'till the pips squeaked. Gutted.
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Permalink Reply by JoeW on
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So we will have to pay extra tax so that neighbouring districts can tell us how much traffic should be using the Ladder?
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