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What is an election without a promise?
• HAVERSTOCK hustings took place in a church hall and, necessarily, there was a collection.
The event was like a church service, but without the fun.
What are elections for if they are devoid of undertakings, gifts and bribes?
No wonder local election turnout is so dismal. Not long ago it seemed the winning of an election hinged on parking or swimming pools promises. The Haverstock by-election promised boredom.
Thanks to the council officials’ legal advice (or so we were told) the parties were warned off making election promises.
With such officials in the Town Hall, local democracy risks early extinction.
Perhaps we need a political Attenborough to help us avoid this fate? Set politicians free.
No child is sent home from a party without gifts, however small.
No clear-cut promise from the Liberal Demo rat-Tory coalition for a protected Town Green status at Talacre Gardens was offered.
No real practical solution to the anti-social and policing problems in Haverstock emerged. Nothing.
At the end of the hustings meeting we all shuffled off back home into the night ‘empty-handed’.
PETER CUMING
Acting chairman of the Friends of Talacre Gardens
Deputy co-ordinator of the Talacre Gardens Neighbourhood Watch
London NW5
• ONCE again I find myself completely confused about the intentions of our
council regarding our much-loved Talacre Gardens (Genuine fears about future of open space, June 21).
The Liberal Democrats talk about supporting the Friends of Talacre Gardens in their bid to attain the protected status for the park. Yet when approached with an application for the
coveted Town Green, they hide behind electoral rules topostpone the application.
What are our chances of getting them to pay any attention whatsoever to what we want after a by-election?
I am beginning to think that this new council is treating us just as badly as Labour once did. They just do what they want and disregard our wishes.
I can tell the leader of the coalition that being a good leader means being able to exercise good judgement in every circumstance and take appropriate action. This may seem an insignificant matter but this refusal to deal with this small issue appropriately speaks volumes about leadership.
My family and I are terribly upset about this turnaround.
JOHN KILGALLON
Athlone Street, NW5
• RUSH hour. A packed 24 bus is brought to a standstill on Malden Road, the aftermath of a fight between four youths armed with wooden bedposts and an iron bar in broad daylight.
The engine has been temporarily disabled by one of them as another is hammering on the windows, another escapes into Leysdown.
All passengers – including young children – must disembark, their daily business disrupted.
The police respond quickly and we, the residents, are assured that the police will be patrolling the area that night.
The Camden Talks survey shows that nearly all types of anti-social behaviour have been seen to decrease across the borough, yet the figures in Haverstock show a marked increase in anti-social behaviour and it is patently evident to people who reside and work in the area.
Last week, when Ken Livingstone heard directly from residents and shopkeepers the detrimental effects of anti-social behaviour in our area, he offered Haverstock ward a piloted scheme of 24-hour Safer Neighbourhoods Policing reminiscent of the old bobby on the beat.
In a similar pilot in Hammersmith and Fulham, local business made a contribution to the cost, but so did the local council.
A pilot here would need contribution from Camden’s already reduced budget in conjunction with funding from the Mayor of London’s office.
If, however, the suggestion is not implemented, it would seem that the residents, tenants and shopkeepers are not worthy enough to receive this help.
We’ve already had our deputation to full council refused.
We are now aware that there are moves behind the scenes to help our beleaguered area, including provision for our youth, to which we may finally have some direct input, but once again the public at large remains uninformed and unawares, which in turn encourages the tide of apathy and fear, that which has prevailed for far too long.
Enough is enough.
YASMIN ALLEN, ABDI MOHAMED, STAN BARTLE
D Joshi, Nala Malalage,
S Vijithan, Nancy Wild
Malden Road, NW5
Beverly Gardner
Athlone Street
• HAPPILY I live on the periphery of the Haverstock ward and do not have to vote on July 12.
Labour first granted planning permission for the unpopular Dalby Street seven-storey scheme early in 2006, just before they lost the last local election.
No sooner had the Liberal Democrat and Conservative coalition been formed in May 2006 than they approved the stopping-up order at Dalby Street. This gave the Dalby Street scheme the final go-ahead.
In my view, these were huge mistakes and the long-term effects will prove calamitous for the Talacre Sports Centre and the community as a whole.
Yet neither Labour, Liberal Democrat nor the Tories seems to have thought this through.
Even the imposition of a necessary condition to assist the inadequate alternative access road to the sports centre will be unsustainable, full-time traffic wardens at the New Dalby Street, will cost some £200,000 per year to operate.
I understand this cost will not be covered as it should be.
Assuming the sports centre and the 19 social housing flats will be exempt, the other 36 ordinary flats will be burdened with a service charge of some £5,555 per flat per year for traffic marshalling alone or some £107 per flat each week.
Unbelievably, only 13 flats will be allowed a car. The coalition had a chance to minimise the negative effect of such a decision by granting a Town Green status for Talacre Gardens.
This would have reassured voters that their park was safe at least.
In their wisdom the parties chose not to.
JAMES BRANDER
Hadley Street, NW1
• I ATTENDED the hustings meeting with the goal of securing a promise from the coalition that they would grant Talacre Gardens Town Green status. I was desperately disappointed. Neither party committed to this worthwhile cause.
Residents wanted to feel their local park was safe from development.
DAVID LANDMAN
Southampton Road, NW5
A number of letters we received concerning today’s Haverstock ward by-election, including those from two of the candidates have been held over.
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