‘Islamophobia is a form of racism’ meeting of Haringey’s Full Council has declared. The meeting resolved to adopt a definition of Islamophobia produced by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims that say it “is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.”

Following details of a stabbing on Muswell Hill on the 29th April, Cllr Julia Ogiehor, councillor for Muswell Hill and Haringey Liberal Democrat spokesperson on crime and communities, says that:

“We are saddened to hear of the stabbing in Muswell Hill last night. We would like to thank the police for their speedy response to the incident.

“Overall crime in our area has reduced in recent months but we recognise that our young residents can feel unsafe. This morning, we had urgent discussions with the police about how to ensure residents are kept safe. In addition, we will be pushing the Council to speed up the implementation of the new Young People at Risk strategy in our area.”

The long battle to save the historic Winchester Tavern site on Archway Road continues as the developer puts in another application to convert the function room at the rear of the pub into a residential unit.

Labour councillors have delayed measures to keep pollution from exhaust fumes away from schools, drawing criticism from Haringey Liberal Democrats.

At a Full Council meeting on Monday 18^th March, Liberal Democrat councillors proposed a motion warning that children in Haringey are being exposed to dangerous level of nitrogen dioxide and other pollutants travelling to and from school and as a response resolved to “implement School Streets or No-Idling Zones around every primary school in the borough by 2022”.

However, despite pleas from parents at local schools who had come to the meeting specifically to raise concerns about air pollution, Labour councillors voted to amend the motion, so that it only committed the Council to producing a report.

A third member of Haringey Council’s 9-person Cabinet has quit.

Cllr Patrick Berryman (Lab – Bounds Green) wrote a scathing resignation letter to Cllr Joseph Ejiofor (Lab – Bruce Grove), the Leader of Haringey’s Labour administration, objecting to a lack of “proper process” for decision making, that manifesto pledges have been “watered down or ignored” and for “decisions that I consider financially risky and imprudent”.

A recording has emerged of a Labour Cabinet member in the London Borough of Haringey dismissing the problem of anti-Semitism within the Labour Party, whilst praising the disgraced Member of Parliament Chris Williamson.

‘Cut comms, not cops’ was the message from Haringey Liberal Democrats as they moved an amendment to Haringey Council's annual budget.

The 15 strong group of Councillors called for the Labour-lead Council’s expenditure on publicity to be capped at £1 million a year. This would have saved taxpayers £400,000 a year, which the Lib Dems advocated using to reverse plans to cut six police officers from the borough.