Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Unprofessional area assembly meetings
Once again Haringey Council have let the local residents down by their unprofessional behaviour. The invitation to St Ann’s and Harringay Area Assembly for Thursday 28 May 2009 at St Ann’s Library Hall, Cissbury Road, sent to me as a resident one week before, contained an Agenda which was not actioned on the night of the meeting. There was no one to feedback on the special Traffic Area Assembly or the Green Lanes Festival and Local Charter or the HMO Working Group. As I live in a road of HMOs and shop everyday locally in Green Lanes, they were the items I wanted an update on. I am interested in plans to bring some sort of value back into a street which has become full of polluting noisy traffic, estate agents and betting shops.
Instead I sat through a very poorly attended meeting of mainly St Ann’s Area residents and listened to their problems of anti-social behaviour , rubbish dumping , Polish workers who have now become Bulgarians surrounding Wickes, the need for a hospital in Haringey and a necessary one way traffic system. The meeting as usual became rather heated but Cllr Gina Adamou chaired it in a very able manner.
Which is more than can be said for the inarticulate mumbling and hedging around the answers to residents’ questions of the other council members sitting at the table. Once again questions were not answered because no one is professional enough to do their homework or even a walk around the Borough having a look at what is happening on the streets and a chat to those who need to walk there and a bit of doorstepping might help. One question was asked as to what qualifications certain councillors had for the cabinet positions they were given and on reflection that worried me a great deal too. Do councillors need any qualifications to fill any roll on the council other than a sort of do-good feeling? It doesn’t often look as though councillors in Haringey know much about the area they are in charge of. I do not include Cr. Brian Haley in that statement. I would certainly be interested in knowing what qualifications, vocational and academic and life experience each member of the Council has and especially those elected to the cabinet. I read in the Totenham Journal that the Leader of the Council has appointed the cabinet herself in this reshuffle so I would be interested to know how she came to her decisions. Why is she in a position to make judgements which affect all the resident s of Haringey?
I am not saying that the problems brought up at the meeting are not important, of course they need to be solved for those residents who live with them daily, but there were not many Harringay Ward residents who made the journey into their neighbouring ward so we only got dog dumps in the Harringay Passage and the need for CCTVs from that direction. There were probably other things too but I had given up listening by then.
Is it time for Harringay and St. Ann’s to be covered by two separate Assembly meetings? The problems are the same issues of antisocial behaviour , traffic, rubbish, pollution, but they come from slightly different perspectives of the residents and need to be sorted out according to their actual location. Residents of St Ann’s Ward may not visit Green Lanes often and those in Harringay Ward may not be particularly concerned by the crowd outside Wickes or the anti social behaviour in Victoria Crescent.
The issues raised at each meeting take a lot of time to answer coherently and councillors need to be properly briefed to satisfy residents’ concerns. This is not being achieved at present and maybe could be done in a professional manner, so that residents did acknowledge their councillors had some worth, if there was more time for feedback and informed discussion at meetings.
Instead I sat through a very poorly attended meeting of mainly St Ann’s Area residents and listened to their problems of anti-social behaviour , rubbish dumping , Polish workers who have now become Bulgarians surrounding Wickes, the need for a hospital in Haringey and a necessary one way traffic system. The meeting as usual became rather heated but Cllr Gina Adamou chaired it in a very able manner.
Which is more than can be said for the inarticulate mumbling and hedging around the answers to residents’ questions of the other council members sitting at the table. Once again questions were not answered because no one is professional enough to do their homework or even a walk around the Borough having a look at what is happening on the streets and a chat to those who need to walk there and a bit of doorstepping might help. One question was asked as to what qualifications certain councillors had for the cabinet positions they were given and on reflection that worried me a great deal too. Do councillors need any qualifications to fill any roll on the council other than a sort of do-good feeling? It doesn’t often look as though councillors in Haringey know much about the area they are in charge of. I do not include Cr. Brian Haley in that statement. I would certainly be interested in knowing what qualifications, vocational and academic and life experience each member of the Council has and especially those elected to the cabinet. I read in the Totenham Journal that the Leader of the Council has appointed the cabinet herself in this reshuffle so I would be interested to know how she came to her decisions. Why is she in a position to make judgements which affect all the resident s of Haringey?
I am not saying that the problems brought up at the meeting are not important, of course they need to be solved for those residents who live with them daily, but there were not many Harringay Ward residents who made the journey into their neighbouring ward so we only got dog dumps in the Harringay Passage and the need for CCTVs from that direction. There were probably other things too but I had given up listening by then.
Is it time for Harringay and St. Ann’s to be covered by two separate Assembly meetings? The problems are the same issues of antisocial behaviour , traffic, rubbish, pollution, but they come from slightly different perspectives of the residents and need to be sorted out according to their actual location. Residents of St Ann’s Ward may not visit Green Lanes often and those in Harringay Ward may not be particularly concerned by the crowd outside Wickes or the anti social behaviour in Victoria Crescent.
The issues raised at each meeting take a lot of time to answer coherently and councillors need to be properly briefed to satisfy residents’ concerns. This is not being achieved at present and maybe could be done in a professional manner, so that residents did acknowledge their councillors had some worth, if there was more time for feedback and informed discussion at meetings.
Tags for Forum Posts: area assembly, area forum
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) on
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The Cissbury Road Library venue is no more central for Harringay residents than St John's Church Hall is for those of St Ann's. When the venue alternated between Chestnuts Primary School and South Harringay School it was a little easier to attract a reasonable attendance from both wards to most AA meetings.
Of course no venue will make up for the abject lack of preparation and unprofessionalism Margaret complains of last night.
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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I ALSO read in the paper that the Leader of the Council appointed the cabinet herself in the reshuffle - but we're unlikely to get an explanation of of how she came to her decisons. There are two related matters that are remarkable: the Leader's own appointment (after the Baby P resignations late last year) and the more recent appointment of Cllr Adje to the Overview and Scrutiny committee.
The current majority group leader was former chief whip and was such an effective whip that for example, at the time of the Baby P vote, not a single majority group councillor broke ranks. This, in spite of (one hopes), reservations that individual majority group councillors may have had about the council's conduct over Baby P. The appointment seems to be more one of a party ultra-loyalist rather than a mature person with varied life experience (Ms Kober is aged 30).
At the time of the Baby P vote, someone in the public gallery shouted "you've damaged the Labour Party in Haringey for years". Are the leader's assurances about learning lessons over the Baby P case, any more credible than the assurances that were mouthed after the death of Victoria Climbié?
I don't think Ms Kober can be held responsible for the appointment of Cllr. Adje to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. This is the most surprising effect of the reshuffle. Cllr Adje has a list of questions to answer about his involvement with a property deal and Andre Grant Solicitors, which I understand, in the past he has referred to as "independent". Cllr Alan Stanton's Flickr blog refers.
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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Margaret, everything you say about the Area Assembly is spot on and reflects my experiences of it. I think the fact that hardly anyone has responded to your post (except AA stalwart OAE and Clive answering your points about the leader of the council) shows how little anyone really takes these exercises in local democracy seriously. They are largely an irrelevance to the majority of Harringay residents.
This may not have been a problem had I not had it confirmed that the Area Assembly format is the central plank in the good ship 'Haringey Have your Say' and that there are no plans to overhaul it (or keelhaul it?)
I am very worried about the state of the AA in this area. I'm told that they are run and handled differently elsewhere in the borough and so we must perhaps look to engaging at a Harringay level to demand change and a better attitude. Half the time not even all the cllrs are present at our AAs, unlike ones in the west of the Borough where even the local MP turns up.
I read the Haringey Independent report on the lack of delivery of the traffic report. Its a disgrace and time to call into question the constant stalling about talking to the people about traffic in this area. Just what is the issue? Why are figures not released about accidents? How can the cabinet member for traffic simply fail to report back as promised and the chair excuse him in the way she did?
You know, as well as I, Margaret just how much people cared about the traffic issue and the large numbers who showed up for the special AA on it (including people who never came to such things normally). There was a lot of thoughtful insight, useful ideas generated and good connections made but they seem to have disappeared into the giant pigeon hole marked 'To Do' and are no doubt sitting under a coffee cup somewhere in the civic centre.
One of the most memorable things that night was Haley's refusal to give even the vaguest timescale for when people would hear about the next stage...that should have told us all we need to know about the good cllr's real committment to solving the traffic problems and putting real value back into our high street.
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'except AA stalwart OAE'!!!???
Not to be taken in the sense of a strongly unquestioning supporter of AA's status quo.
I would be much more in favour of packing the next AA with all the disaffected and angry attenders (not attendees btw) of past AA meetings to put Haley, Canver and all the rest on notice that they will be toast and dead meat within 12 months if they don't stop insulting the residents and electorate of these wards with their incompetent posturing and empty promises.
Let's not pretend that a community website that talks about everything under the sun should be apolitical when our local politicians regularly raise our hackles both online and off. Now there's a noble cause for an online petition. Don't worry, we'll do the same to the other lot if they don't prove themselves a great improvement within their first year.
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No, no, OAE, I meant only in the sense that you keep on giving it another go and asking probing questions about the way things are done...not at all that you support the way things are done now.
I imagine the only people in the room that like it the way it is are the cabinet members who are allowed to wriggle off the hook and are not brought to account by the meeting ever.
Perhaps we'll get some buzzers like these in the future just to ensure local residents feel even more like participants in a bad game show?
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Permalink Reply by PeterPiper on
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Where were the cabinet councillors?
Like the previous respondents to this post, I am deeply disturbed by the “meeting” that purported to be an Area Assembly on May 28th for Harringay & St. Anne’s wards.
The agenda was published in the Haringey People, and said that on the agenda would be – Making the Difference Bids, Green Lanes Charter & Festival update, report back on traffic issues, and a SNT update.
The published agenda at the meeting had all of the above plus a report back from the HMO Working Group, and also a talk about Haringey Link, an attempt to link individuals & representatives from community groups to work together to improve the planning and delivery of Health & Social care services.
Without the talk and the SNT update the area assembly would have struggled to last half an hour, BECAUSE when the rest of the items on the agenda came up the, the relevant cabinet councillor was absent!
Where was cabinet councillor Canver to report back on the Green Lanes Festival and Local Charter?
Where was cabinet councillor Haley to report back on traffic and the consultation?
We were told that the next AA would have a full discussion about traffic & the consultation, and that TfL would be represented, though, so look out for that one.
As for the HMO working group, that’s really in the long grass, as they’ve commissioned a report which they hope to receive this month, and will report back at a later date.
What really gets me though, is that not only is public money used to pay for the cost of running these Assemblies, but also that the cabinet councillors are paid for their services from public funds – our council tax. Now, if I should absent myself from a meeting at which I was expected to deliver a report…
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