Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
HARRINGAY: Council elections 22nd May 2014 -- THE CONSERVATIVES
Labour have been running Haringey for the best part of half a century and throughout that time have consistently refused to take responsibility for their own failings, blaming every mistake and foul-up on the government--especially if it was a Conservative one--and frequently refusing to acknowledge internal faults until some outside authority took charge.
That is why beautiful Harringay is today cursed by a legacy of HMOs, weeds in the pavements, overgrown trees, traffic mismanagement, late night licences, betting shops, uncollected rubbish, rubbish and more rubbish and a punitive, excessive and expensive CPZ. All of these are solely the responsibility of an out-of-control, self-obsessed and completely unopposed local Labour Party.
We say "unopposed" deliberately. Although some more imaginative Labour voters finally lost patience in 2010, the resulting LibDem group have had little effect on Labour's performance. Traffic is still a problem, speedbumps still damage house foundations, CPZ charges are still extortionate, late-night licences and betting shops still proliferate, unkempt trees still lift pavements and block light from homes. At the same time the "strategy" groups multiply, go nowhere and pile up attendance bonuses for the committee chairs. There is no change because Labour regard the LibDems as a 'lite' version of themselves and do not find it particularly embarrassing if a few council seats pass back and forth between them.
However, 50 years of extremist rhetoric and two generations of justifying all sorts of cheating on the grounds that they are in the service of Good against Evil have propagandised the local Labour Party into an absolute terror of any sort of Conservative gain--which presents voters with a unique opportunity.
Conservatives on the opposite benches would be a mortification for Labour and would send a message impossible to ignore. The shockwave could even be the saviour of the local Labour party itself, perhaps forcing them to abandon their vicious internal power-struggles and concentrate on restructuring.
Personal:
We, Lydia, Sean and Massimo, are not hung up in political theorising and we do not forget that the Council is using tax-payers' money. Borough-wide, this money should be used responsibly and to make the lives of Haringey residents easier, not more complicated and uncomfortable. We believe that the purpose of a Council at the very least is to keep the streets clean, well-lit and safe; to keep the traffic flowing, to educate our children and take care of our elderly. This is a basic requirement and any Council which does not do that, has broken down and needs repair or replacement.
What we want to do:
CPZ reform
Parking controls are clearly necessary on the Ladder, but why such punitive charges when we are already paying a heavy Council Tax? Why are we, in practice, being fined for having visitors? Fairer, cheaper–even free–parking control systems exist elsewhere in Britain. They do not exist in Haringey quite simply because the Council has learned that holding our cars to ransom yields easy pickings. The extra 'eco' charges fool no-one and are a tax on the least well off who cannot afford late model cars.
Borough of Haringey
Conservatives want to re-open the day centres for the elderly which were closed by Labour, and to focus on Children's Services. Lydia Rivlin has a long record of calling Haringey to account over their murderous inefficiency in this sector. Sean Rivers, a disability lawyer, is keen on coming to grips with provisions for the disabled in this borough and Massimo Rossini who was a council officer for many years, knows much about the inefficiency and wastefulness of this administration and how it can be rebuilt.
We all proudly support the Wards Corner Coalition. The approach taken to regeneration there will be a template for the rest of the borough, so we have to get it right. On our own patch, there is major construction proposed for the Arena. Detailed information is still difficult to find (possibly because the Planning department learned lessons of obfuscation during the Wards Corner rebellion). However, we worry that this "development", like others, will ignore local social unity, will be overcrowded, will force more vehicles on to surrounding roads, will create insoluble access problems and will lack adequate infrastructure back-up. Without sympathetic planning we could be opening the door to all sorts of problems for the future of The Ladder.
Council meetings
For several years now, there has been very little sensible deliberation in the Council. A noisy student-politics Labour clique turn debates into rows, stifling dialogue. Councillors are also paid far too much. Except in some specialised areas, being a councillor should not be a career but a civic duty and the current squabbles within the Labour group are battles for resources, not for the people of Haringey. We want to create an environment for sensible decisions to be made.
Tell Labour that they have got things wrong.
Tell them in the most powerful way available:
vote Conservative.
@tottenhamtories @loveharringay
loveharringay@gmail.com www.loveharringay.co.uk
Tel: 020 8374 6305
Promoted by Justin Hinchcliffe, on behalf of Tottenham Conservatives,
both of 178 Walpole Road, LONDON N17 6BW Tel: 020 8374 6305.
Tags for Forum Posts: 2014 elections
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Lydia R on
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"money per head for pupils in Haringey is still one of the lowest?"
Right, C-hemp, I have some background.
For years -- and under the Labour governments -- Haringey was classified as an outer London borough. Outer boroughs got lower allocations because they were nice and leafy, not so prone to deprivation and under minimal population pressure. Yeah, well we all know how well that worked, don't we?
It was the present Conservative/LD government that changed the classification of Haringey into an inner London borough. I don't know who was the exact originator of that blinding bit of realisation but whoever it was deserves a medal just for the concept. This has enabled central government also to allocate a 'pupil premium' to Tottenham schools.
Oh, btw, until recently, Haringey Council had a well-documented practice of diverting education funds into their own, non-education projects. Nasty, huh?
Now we can stop wondering why such a high proportion of people who have a stake in Haringey Council are against Free Schools. Free schools are completely insulated against Council pilfering.
Lydia Rivlin: Conservative Candidate for Harringay and fed up of finding out more about Haringey Labour dishonesty.
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Permalink Reply by JP on
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I actually agree that there is a need for more of an opposition to Labour within the borough, but I sure as hell don't believe that the best way to do that is to vote for the party which is selling off the NHS, funding free schools at the expense of kids with real needs and turning a blind eye to all sorts of corporation tax evasion and avoidance.
The Lib Dems have proved themselves to be just as bad.
No, I think the Greens are our best chance of a credible opposition
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"the party which is selling off the NHS, funding free schools at the expense of kids with real needs and turning a blind eye to all sorts of corporation tax evasion and avoidance..."
Ah, JP,
If only I had the comprehensive understanding of economics and the sort of contacts who would keep me informed about all the financial resources which we have to run public services! My goodness me, you are well informed -- and you manage to encapsulate ALL THAT KNOWLEDGE into no more than 70 words as well! Astonishing.
Unfortunately, I am neither an economist specialising in public health and education financing nor do I have the omniscience necessary to rebut your argument in anything more than the most general terms. I do envy your complete certainty in your own command of the truth. It must be so relaxing.
First of all, though, I don't mind you passing on the benefit of your opinion that the Greens are a credible alternative. We are all entitled to our own opinion, so I can respond with my opinion as well. I do hope you are OK with the symmetry. First of all, I am a horserider. There are about 4 million UK horseriders outside the competition circuit and I don't think that you will find one who is not an environmentalist. However, they don't make a fuss about it, they just get on with things, keeping bridle paths open, watching over SSIs, pressuring for traffic calming in their neighbourhoods. The interesting thing is that when people in the Green Party do that sort of thing they are doing good for the planet. When horse-owners do it, they are a bunch of toffs, keeping their estates secure so they can ride like marauders and hunt small furry creatures. It's all a matter of perception, isnt it? I am an ex-teacher and most of my friends at the yard are 9-5ers just like everyone else, but that still doesn't stop people regarding them as bloated capitalists. And it doesn't stop people like you thinking that if you care about the environment and actually put most of your spare time into it, you cannot belong to another political party simultaneously.
Avoiding tax: there are two things here, tax evasion and tax avoidance. If a certain course of action offers an opportunity to evade tax, the person taking that course of action goes to jail. If a course of action allows people to avoid tax then it may be morally reprehensible but the only thing to be done is to CHANGE THE LAW. We need to revamp the tax system altogether. It has become impossibly complicated. Meanwhile, a free society which cannot prevent rich people from leaving, has a problem. If the Authorities stamp in with draconian tax laws, rich people leave and the country ends up with nothing at all. Legal (but less than moral tax avoidance) has been happening for years; Starbucks and Google were around long before 2010. Globalisation has made it worse and more blatant and governments haven't caught up. In most cases it isn't 'turning a blind eye', it is simple incompetence on the part of civil servants not wily enough to catch up with the multinationals. So, as I said CHANGE THE LAW. When I am voted in as a humble Councillor for Harringay ward, I shall accomplish a complete overhall of the UK tax laws. Perhaps you can give me a hand with that, since you seem to think I am responsible for it.)
Free schools. A wonderful idea. Can't claim credit for it, though. Sweden got there first. As for 'kids with real needs', free schools are all over the place, both in wealthy and deprived areas. Don't free school children have 'real needs' as well? I don't understand what you think you are trying to say with that one.
Now to the NHS. Again you seem to believe I am personally responsible for it. I don't think that the very well-funded and orthodox NHS North Staffs Hospital is any shining light, do you? There are others coming up as well -- one in Wales recently. I am sure they are not the only ones. As long as the state is responsible for the care of the sick, and does the job, then I don't see a problem.
However, back to reality, because all this talk is completely off the point. I am running as a Harringay councillor not because I think I can change the government, which I can't (and neither can any of the other councillors from Green to Tusk btw). I my bid is because I want to make sure the Council does the best it can with the available resources and doesn't get carried away by mad schemes. That £19m that the Bank of Iceland blew away for us could have been used by local people. It still can if the Council actually gets round to reclaiming it instead of complaining that this government isn't giving them enough. As for national policies -- we can do any protests on our own time. Harringay needs flat pavements and regular rubbish collections. At the moment we don't have the time for philosophising.
Lydia Rivlin: Conservative candidate for Harringay ward, even though not as all-knowing as JP
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"neither can any of the other councillors from Green to Tusk"
Many apologies to TUSC, btw. It was a simple typo referring to them as "tusk".
There was no insult intended and at the time, not a thought crossed my mind that you might assume I was making reference to the mastodon in the room.
Lydia Rivlin: Conservative candidate for Harringay ward
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We'll never have decent local government in the UK until our local councils are held accountable for their own performance. And that means getting voters to vote on the basis of that performance, rather than on the basis of their tribal loyalties, views on the parties' performance in parliament, or on national issues.
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Presumably then you don't want to follow Westminster in imposing eye wateringly high parking charges?
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No I don't.
I know there are people on this forum who believe CAR=EVIL, but I am not going to hide my admiration for the personal conveyance. The last time I looked, I was living in the 21st century where communities are diasporic and people no longer live in tight-knit little precincts where everyone is popping round to borrow a cup of sugar every five minutes. What we should be doing is thinking about building intensive parking areas and then providing shuttle busses. St Ann's might be a good place to start thinking of something like that. Or possibly the Harringay Arena development. Car clubs are a good idea in principle (again, based in proper car parks, not on the road and not organised in the rapacious way they are currently set up). And in general we should be encouraging everyone, either through tax or parking allocation, to buy much smaller cars.
btw. congratulations, Philip, on avoiding the rant this time. It is so much easier to talk to someone who doesn't have steam coming out of his nose and ears.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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But Lydia, isn't one of the problems that the more capacity you build for cars, the more cars appear to use it up? The M25, when first built, was to take cars away from Central London. Now it's nose to tail as is the north circular; one of the roads it was supposed to help ease congestion.
Would a better way to spend money be to use it to provide accessible and reasonably priced public transport? A bus with 50 people on it takes something like 3 car spaces on the road and pumps out far less pollution than the equivalent number of cars.
I occasionally use the overground service to Gospel Oak and it's jam packed during work time. Do you think that money spent on helping the few, and car ownership is a minority sport in Central London, would be better used aiding the many?
Michael (already cast postal vote) -
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I know what you mean about attracting more traffic, Michael. You are correct, it is a problem.
But you see, when people have families, they really do need cars. So do older people with physical problems. Taking my own situation as an example: visiting my family ooop north would have been next to impossible when I had to schlep kids and the dog and the luggage along as well. So although I use public transport a lot (never drive into town, etc) we got a car to get OUT of London or go round the periphery. Seeing as I do have the car, I use it. If, however, it were parked in a car stack at a slight distance from the house, I would be less inclined to use it for local journeys.
Same thing with the family shopping: it is a good thing that some supermarkets deliver but not all do and in any case buying online isn't always the best or the cheapest shopping strategy. I always make an effort to take my wicker basket to the local shops, but then, I don't have a small child or two to handle. Car-lessness is fine for strong singles.
I don't think you are wrong in your wish to reduce car ownership but I don't think I am wrong either in my desire to support motorists. I would certainly like to see the introduction of a sort of public taxi which I have seen in Israel. It is called a "sheroot" and is basically a mini-van that plies certain defined routes but unlike a bus will stop anywhere to pick up and let down passengers, ad hoc.
Lydia Rivlin: Conservative candidate for Harringay ward
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Many families in Harringay operate without a car. The transport links are much better than in Muswell Hill.
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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Agreed John. I was told that I'd change my tune about car ownership when I had kids. I didn't for the simple reason I don't drive. Yet I have managed to take my children 'ooop' North to their family, even as tiny babies, or out East (Anglia) way to the other family (a dream of trip Train -Harringay to Moorgate, walk to Liverpool Street, Train to t'East or by 141 bus to Moorgate when I had a buggy and a toddler).
For older people who can't get around or disabled folk, it's a different matter but families most certainly can manage very well in cities without cars.
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