Monday 30 Nissan – Crime Surge in Golders Green – Mortgages under 4% are back but dangers lurk for borrowers – US judge arrested after allegedly obstructing immigration agents – IDF strikes Hezbollah missile warehouse in Beirut, kills operative in south Lebanon

IMPORTANT NOTICE TO LOCAL RESIDENTS

School Street Consultation – Your Voice Matters
Dear Resident,
Haringey Council is planning to implement a “School Street” scheme around Crowland Primary and Gladesmore schools, which will restrict vehicle access on several local roads during school drop-off and pick-up times (8am-9am and 2:45pm-4pm on school days).
The consultation runs from 24 March to 2 May 2025. With the deadline approaching soon, it’s crucial that all residents understand how this scheme could impact daily life in our community and have their voices heard before time runs out.
How to Respond to the Consultation
When you receive the consultation document, please take time to respond. If you have concerns about the scheme, we have provided a sample response below that you can use or adapt to your personal circumstances.

Where to Submit Your Response:
You can submit your response in several ways:
• Online at: https://www.haringey.gov.uk/streets-roads-travel/travel/smarter-travel/school-streets/have-your-say-about-school-streets
• By post to Haringey Council
• By delivering your response to your local councillor at 29 Rosstrevor Road, who will ensure it is submitted
Sample Consultation Response
“I am writing to express my strong opposition to the proposed School Street scheme around Crowland Primary and Gladesmore schools. While I support initiatives to keep children safe, this proposal will create significant problems for our community:
1. Traffic Displacement and Child Safety Concerns
The scheme will simply push traffic onto surrounding roads like Fairview Road and connecting streets. My children don’t attend Crowland or Gladesmore, but they walk to their own schools during these same hours. The displaced traffic will increase road danger for them and other local children. Why should our children’s safety be compromised to benefit others?
2. Increased Pollution on Surrounding Streets
Redirecting traffic does not reduce pollution—it merely shifts it to other streets where other children live and walk. Since the St. Ann’s LTN was installed, we’ve already experienced a significant increase in traffic during rush hour. The School Street will only worsen this situation, increasing pollution levels that are dangerous for all our children.
3. One-Way System Concerns
The proposed one-way system on Elm Park will make Fairview Road even more congested, as it will become the only route to and from Tottenham High Road. The council has failed to properly assess the traffic impact on these connecting streets.
4. Religious Access Restrictions
As a member of the Jewish community who relies on Crowland Road Synagogue, this scheme will severely impact my ability to attend religious services. Many elderly members of our community don’t qualify for Blue Badge exemptions but still need vehicle access to participate in services. We need a quorum of worshippers to hold services, and these restrictions will prevent many from attending.
5. Extended Travel Times
I live in the [Brad Lane/Hermitage and Gardens] area, and it takes me 20-40 minutes to walk to the synagogue. Services often start during the proposed School Street hours, which means I will be unable to attend prayers. This effectively discriminates against our religious practice.
6. Excessive Restriction Hours
The proposed hours (8am-9am and 2:45pm-4pm) are excessive when the actual school pickup/dropoff issues only last for about 20 minutes. Closing roads for over an hour is disproportionate and unnecessarily disruptive to local residents and businesses.
In conclusion, while I support child safety measures, this proposal creates more problems than it solves. I urge the council to consider less disruptive alternatives.”
Alternative Solutions to Suggest
• “Instead, implement a limited school street covering only the junction of Elm Park/Crowland Road”
• “Install flashing warning lights that operate only during actual drop-off and pick-up times”
• “Improve enforcement of existing parking restrictions which would solve many of the problems”
• “Implement a one-way system to prevent bottlenecks”

• “Create designated drop-off zones managed by the school”

Make Your Voice Heard! – DEADLINE: 2 MAY 2025
It’s vital that you respond to this consultation before the 2 May deadline – low response rates may be interpreted as community approval. Please encourage your neighbours to respond as well, as the consultation period ends very soon.

Shomrim volunteers are stepping up their efforts as a wave of aggressive burglaries hits the Bridge Lane area.

On Friday night, Shomrim remained at the scene of a break-in for five hours, waiting four hours for police and ensuring the premises were secured. On Motzei Shabbos, members responded within two minutes to another suspicious incident. While the latest event does not appear linked to the burglaries, all intelligence was immediately passed to police.

Shomrim reminds residents that while they react swiftly to emergencies, community vigilance is essential, urging everyone to report suspicious behaviour without delay to help keep the area safe.

All major UK lenders are now offering fixed mortgage deals with an interest rate of less than 4%, but brokers say further cuts are not guaranteed.

A mini price war has broken out between mortgage providers, although many of the lowest-rate deals still require borrowers to provide a hefty deposit and a substantial fee.

More frequent cuts in interest rates by the Bank of England are expected this year, amid global economic turmoil.

However, lenders are already reflecting those predicted cuts in their latest deals, suggesting borrowers could be taking a risk by relying on ongoing drops in mortgage costs.

“If the base rate does come down then there is a chance fixes could get a bit cheaper but there are no guarantees,” said Aaron Strutt, from broker Trinity Financial.

A Milwaukee County Circuit judge was arrested by the FBI Friday and charged in federal court for allegedly helping an undocumented immigrant avoid arrest.

Judge Hannah Dugan is facing two charges for obstruction and concealing the individual from arrest. She made an initial appearance in court and was released.

The arrest on federal charges is an escalation in the Trump administration’s focus on judges’ conduct, particularly as it relates to immigration enforcement. The Justice Department has repeatedly asserted that it will investigate any local officials who do not assist federal authorities on immigration matters.

We believe Judge Dugan intentionally misdirected federal agents away from the subject to be arrested in her courthouse, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, allowing the subject — an illegal alien — to evade arrest,” FBI Director Kash Patel said on X in a post Friday morning. “Thankfully our agents chased down the perp on foot and he’s been in custody since, but the Judge’s obstruction created increased danger to the public.

Wisconsin’s Republican US Senator, Ron Johnson, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “I would advise everyone to cooperate with federal law enforcement and not endanger them and the public by obstructing their efforts to arrest criminals and illegal aliens.”

Dugan was first elected as a judge in 2016, and was re-elected to a second six-year term in 2022.

Judicial elections in Wisconsin are non-partisan, however Dugan was endorsed by Milwaukee’s Democratic mayor.

The obstruction charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, while the concealment charges can be punished by up to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine.

At least 28 people have been killed and 800 injured in a massive explosion at one of Iran’s key ports, authorities say.

The blast took place at Shahid Rajaee, the country’s largest commercial port, near the southern city of Bandar Abbas on Saturday morning.

It blew out windows and roofs of nearby buildings and destroyed cars. Residents reported feeling the impact of the blast up to 50km (31 miles) away. Six people remain unaccounted for, state media reports.

Videos verified by the BBC show a fire growing in intensity before a huge explosion, with people subsequently fleeing the blast and others lying wounded on roads surrounded by smoking debris.

“The entire warehouse was filled with smoke, dust and ashes. I don’t remember if I went under the table or was thrown there by the blast,” one person who was in the area told Iranian state TV.

Aerial footage showed at least three areas ablaze and Iran’s interior minister later confirmed that the fire was spreading from one container to another. Schools and offices in the region have been ordered to remain closed on Sunday.

One private maritime risk consultancy said it believed the affected containers had contained solid fuel destined for ballistic missiles.

The fire was the result of “improper handling of a shipment of solid fuel intended for use in Iranian ballistic missiles”, Ambrey Intelligence said.

Ambrey added that it was aware that an Iran-flagged ship “discharged a shipment of sodium perchlorate rocket fuel at the port in March 2025”.

The Financial Times newspaper had previously reported that two vessels had shipped fuel to Iran from China.

State media quoted witnesses as saying the explosion occurred after a fire broke out and spread to unsealed containers storing “flammable materials”.

Customs officials later released a statement reported by Iranian state TV saying the explosion had probably resulted from a fire that had broken out in a hazmat and chemical materials storage depot.

In a later update Ambrey quoted Iran’s National Disaster Management Organisation as saying officials had previously issued warnings to Shahid Rajaee port regarding the safe storage of chemicals.

A journalist who appears prominently on the BBC’s Arabic channel to report from Gaza called for Jews to be burned “as Hitler did”, it can be revealed.

Samer Elzaenen has appeared on BBC Arabic more than a dozen times since the conflict erupted following the October 7 Hamas attacks on southern Israel.

He reported live last month and his dispatches have included reports from the Nuseirat refugee camp in June last year, after an Israeli military operation to rescue four hostages, held by Hamas, led to hundreds of Palestinian deaths.

It has now emerged that Elzaenen, 33, has issued a stream of social media posts which single out Jews for condemnation and even appear to call for violence against them.

The Israeli military struck what it said was a Hezbollah precision missiles warehouse in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sunday, after killing one of the Iran-backed terror group’s operatives in a drone strike in southern Lebanon earlier in the day.

There were no immediate reports of casualties in the Beirut-area strike, which came after after the military warned residents to evacuate.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a joint statement that missiles stored in the Lebanese capital “posed a significant threat to Israel.”

“Israel will not allow Hezbollah to grow stronger and pose any threat to it – anywhere in Lebanon,” the two men said.

They stressed that Israel will not allow Beirut’s southern suburbs — historically a Hezbollah stronghold — to serve as a sanctuary for the terror group.

“The Lebanese government bears direct responsibility for preventing these threats,” they warned.

Shortly thereafter, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement: “The storage of missiles in this infrastructure site constitutes a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon, and poses a threat to the State of Israel and its civilians.”

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the strike in Beirut, in a statement issued on his behalf.

He called on “the United States and France, as guarantors of the ceasefire agreement, to assume their responsibilities and compel Israel to halt its attacks immediately.”

He also alleged that Israel was attempting to destabilize his country and warned that it would intensify tensions in the region.

It was only the third time that the IDF has carried out an attack in the Beirut area since a ceasefire in Lebanon went into effect in November 2024.

The previous attacks took place on March 28, when Israel also issued a warning after two rockets were fired from Lebanon at northern Israel, and on April 1, when an unannounced strike killed four people, including Hassan Bdair, a member of Hezbollah’s Unit 3900 and of the elite Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

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