Review of the Year: December (From Haringey Independent)

Review of the Year: December

3:30pm Tuesday 1st January 2013 in News By Bruce Thain

In December, Haringey Borough Council defended its spending on agency staff and consultants after figures revealed it spent more than £40million since 2010.

According to Liberal Democrat councillors, the authority spent £38million on temporary agency staff and £1.6m on consultants.

In response the council said the use of agency staff saves the authority money in the long term which can then be spent on vital social and care work.

Between 2010 and 2012 more than 6,000 people were hired on a temporary basis with only 500 employed more than 12 months.

A jeweller who had his shop burnt to the ground in 2011's riots said plans to cut opening hours of Tottenham’s police station will make little difference to the policing of the area.

Stephen Moore, 58, ran Paradise Gems before it was burnt to the ground in the disturbances and said he had been robbed 25 times during his 35-year career.

He said slashing opening hours at the borough’s police station would not make any difference as only one incident involving his shop was resolved by the police.

His comments come after Mayor of London Boris Johnson confirmed the police station in High Road Tottenham will not close but will have its opening hours reduced from 24 hours a day to 40 hours a week.

In December there was also shock as a man and woman set their dogs, believed to be Staffordshire bull terriers, on a teenager in Tottenham.

Police appealed for information about the attack on an 18-year-old man in St Ann’s Road in the early hours of the morning.