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.