THERE are many procedures in place these days for indicating whether or not a local authority is doing a decent job – rewarding them, like hotels or restaurants, with gold stars when they get it right. But it is universally accepted that a council is fai

THERE are many procedures in place these days for indicating whether or not a local authority is doing a decent job - rewarding them, like hotels or restaurants, with gold stars when they get it right.

But it is universally accepted that a council is failing in its duty when, in its attempts to solve one problem, it succeeds only in creating another. This is especially a worry where the safety of children is concerned.

That being the case, what was Haringey's cabinet thinking of when it glibly ushered through the flawed proposals to have two competing CPZ schemes running alongside the supersized Coleridge Primary?

On some roads, restrictions will operate from 2pm to 4pm, driving a considerable amount of traffic into two other unrestricted roads that run adjacent to the school extension at the very time the school is at its busiest.

While it is difficult to see the logic in this, it is all too easy to see the inherent dangers to children, and also the problems such an arrangement will cause for residents.

The entire consultation process on this issue has been shown to be far from satisfactory, but the listening council has turned a deaf ear to protestations and barely a word of dissent was heard after Lib Dem councillor Lyn Weber presented the proposals to this Labour-run cabinet, thereby involving politicians of both hues.

Leader of the council George Meehan indicates that the decision to stagger CPZ hours is a sop to traders but it is difficult to see how traders will benefit, especially as the unrestricted area will become a bottleneck in the afternoons and shoppers will be unable to park there.

If the council really cared about traders, it would open its own empty car parks, situated within a minute's walk of Crouch End's busy Broadway, for public use, and make itself a few bob into the bargain.

But that would be too much trouble, wouldn't it, what with the need to arrange public liability insurance cover, and going through the bothersome process of upgrading the bay markings, installing a ticket barrier or two and finding a couple of capable attendants who can offer a pleasing level of customer service?

Far easier to put children at risk, create a traffic bottleneck in an already congested area, and leave residents and parents to deal with the chaos that will almost certainly ensue.

Unfair! Unfair! the cabinet may protest, but that is how Tuesday night's performance was regarded by the very people the council is supposed to be representing, and no amount of righteous indignation on their part will change that view.