Labour members of Haringey council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee have voted to uphold plans to spend £155,000 of public money on schemes selected by officers with no evidence of public support. The Neighbourhood Community Infrastructure Levy (NCIL) is paid by developers when they build new homes, and it is meant to be spent on projects which reflect the priorities of local residents. A total of £1.7m will now be spent on a range of projects, but critics say that the council failed to justify why some schemes were picked ahead of others.
“It looks suspiciously like the council had already decided which projects it wanted to fund, and was determined to make the results of the consultation fit their predetermined answer,” said Liberal Democrat Councillor Alessandra Rossetti, who brought the challenge to the committee.
“The Labour politicians in charge of Haringey want to spend £123,500 on murals as part of the ‘London Borough of Culture’. In the initial report, they put this project into the category of ‘cultural facilities’, but when I pointed out that this was a much lower priority for the public, the council conveniently redefined the murals as ‘street and kerbside improvements’!”
Cllr Pippa Connor, the only LibDem councillor on the scrutiny committee, voted to uphold Cllr Rossetti’s complaint and send the decision back to Cabinet “I’m all in favour of public art, but we need to prioritise the essentials first. My local residents have been crying out for improvements to make the town centre more accessible, like replacing uneven pavements, improving street lighting or installing benches. How can I tell them that there’s no money for the things they really need, while Labour are spending £123,500 on murals?”
A proposal for a new “parklet” in Bounds Green received over 300 votes on the Council’s website, and another project at Trinity Gardens received over 60 votes, but both of these were rejected by the Labour Cabinet, with £32,000 instead being allocated towards the cost of landscaping around the new Civic Centre, which no resident appears to have asked for.
“We know best” attitude
Liberal Democrat Opposition Leader Cllr Luke Cawley-Harrison said “NCIL money is meant to fund the priorities set by individual neighbourhoods, but the politicians running the council are more interested in siphoning the funds into their pet projects like the Civic Centre and the Borough of Culture. This is just typical of Labour’s ‘we know best’ attitude which is driving people away from that party and towards the Liberal Democrats who have a track record of listening to and respecting the views of local residents.”