Council accused of 'done deal' over cycling on the Parkland Walk
MP Lynne Featherstone has accused Haringey Council executives of misleading the public over plans to increase cycling on the Parkland Walk. Lib Dems have now urged Labour to come clean over Parkland Walk funding after documentation revealed the intention
MP Lynne Featherstone has accused Haringey Council executives of misleading the public over plans to increase cycling on the Parkland Walk.
Lib Dems have now urged Labour to come clean over Parkland Walk funding after documentation revealed the intention to increase cycling speeds on the Parkland Walk through "decreasing journey times for cyclists" and to "increase in the number of people cycling", in spite of assurances to the contrary from council officials at the recent Area Assembly.
The MP's discovery came through a Freedom of Information request into Haringey Council's submission to Transport for London.
Ms Featherstone commented: "Hundreds of local residents were completely and deliberately misled at the recent Area Assembly as Labour council executives sat watching and saying nothing. Haringey Council clearly have been given money to turn the Parkland Walk into a cycle track.
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"I could point to a hundred roads in the borough where the cycling provision is poor to dangerous and where money to improve cycling could be well spent and yet £400,000 is being spent on cycling for the Palkland Walk nature reserve.
"The Council should have consulted residents before they entered into a Faustian pact with Transport for London. Labour must come clean and reassure us that they will not prostitute the Parkland Walk in their bid for cash."
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Councillor Laura Edge, Crouch End, Hornsey & Stroud Green Area Assembly Chair adds:
"The Parkland Walk is first and foremost a nature reserve. Money is needed to improve drainage and enhance facilities, but not at any cost.
"It is shocking that after they've got this conditional money are they bothering to ask local people what they want, even though it's clear what Transport for London want to happen with this money."
The document shows that the improvement work, which would attract more cyclists to the former train track from Finsbury Park to Highgate underground, and from Highgate to Alexandra Palace, would take place after consultation and an ecological review.
