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Be careful who you vote for next month
• WE in Gospel Oak would like to issue a health warning to our neighbours in Kentish Town about extravagant Tory promises – especially to tenants on housing estates.
The Tories were elected on the strength of these promises and we have seen little evidence that they have come good on any of them.
In fact having promised to do something about young people who hang around our streets – a major concern round here – their first act was to cut youth services in the ward, so residents have seen youth disorder rise here significantly in the past six months.
Cuts are now planned to the law centre and the Citizen’s Advice bureau and the council also plans to cut the council’s repairs service for tenants – despite Tory promises to improve it.
All these services are predominantly needed and used by our most vulnerable residents.
SALLY GIMSON
Oak Village, NW5
FIONA PARKER-REES
Kiln Place, NW5
DEREK GILL
Wendling, NW5
FIONA MILLAR
Estelle Road, NW3
LUCA SALICE
Mansfield Road, NW5
• ST Pancras Lib Dem party chairman David Simmons, who wrote to the CNJ to complain about criticism of the Tory/Lib Dem alliance, clearly does not get it (By-election will be a verdict on alliance, Nov 9).
By arguing that the key question facing Camden is how to expose the local Labour Party he seems to have missed the point that the Lib Dems are now in power here with the Tories.
This means that the Lib Dems have to take responsibility for what is going on in the borough, from their voluntary sector cuts, to their total absence of a policy to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour.
People across the country who have lived under Lib Dem rule soon discover that while the party likes to pose as left wing in opposition, it is little different from a Tory council when they are actually elected.
HILARY PATERSON
Torriano Avenue, NW5
• IT is extraordinary that a personal attack should be aimed at Councillor Ben Rawlings because of his young age. Ageism is now illegal (By-election will be a verdict on alliance, Nov 9).
The attack is, in fact, wholly ill-founded.
There was indeed a very unpleasant level of anti-social behaviour around Frederick Street this summer.
But it had nothing to do with party politics. Nobody did a fantastic job, although after some weeks the police and then the council began to get a grip on the worst of disruption.
One thing is clear, all the people who had these youngsters in their care have failed. Who is to say that a young man’s perspective and energy at the helm of the council will not offset these middle-aged failures?
E JONES
Heathcote Street, WC1
• Pierre Giraud is entirely wrong to suggest that criticism of Lib Dem community safety boss, Cllr Ben Rawlings, is directed towards his age (Age and religion are no barrier to office, Nov 16).
The criticism is of his inexperience in the role and the Lib Dems’ lack of understanding of how to protect Camden residents from drug crime.
As a 24-year-old newly elected councillor, Cllr Rawlings was catapulted into one of the most important jobs in Camden – even though he had no experience whatsoever of local government, never mind fighting crime.
There may be some jobs where being put in charge on your first day without any experience is appropriate, but running one of the key departments in an inner London local authority is surely not one of them.
Dr NEIL GOULBOURNE
Greencroft Gardens, NW6
• I AM very pleased to invite the residents of the new Hampstead and Kilburn parliamentary constituency to select the Conservative Party candidate for the next General Election, at our open primary selection on Tuesday December 12.
The open primary is a new and exciting way of selecting a parliamentary candidate..
The open primary will take place at The Old Town Hall, Haverstock Hill with registration from 7pm and a 7.30pm start. You must pre-register by either calling 0207 794 5679 or on our website www.camdenconservatives.com
JOHN SAMIOTIS
Chairman Hampstead and Kilburn Conservatives
• JUST six months after the unpromising Lib Dem-Tory alliance took power in Camden, it is becoming evident that a combination of messy compromise and ideological intransigence has the potential for dire effects on essential services and the quality of life.
To cement their coalition with the Tories, the Lib Dem group on the council accepted a freeze of council tax levels.
Allowing for inflation, this will mean that in real terms the council’s income will be cut by £80 million.
In such a situation, it will be impossible for the ruling group to avoid implementing disastrous cuts on services across Camden.
Youth services are being marked out for closure or curtailment across the borough, with the area south of the Euston Road in danger of being left bereft of any provision at all.
When combined with the Lib Dems‚ inexplicable ideological objection to Asbos, these cuts leave Camden facing a dangerous doubly whammy of increased disaffection among young people and decreased community safety.
With one hand the council is removing the facilities which provide engagement, training and leisure opportunities for young people, with the other it abandons an effective tool to tackle anti-social behaviour, which is so often caused by the lack of such facilities.
The people of Camden are being asked to make unnecessary sacrifices in order to cement a grubby political deal aimed at keeping two minority parties in power.
JO KIBBLE
Theobald’s Road, WC1
• THE times they are a-changing. Last week the council’s development control committee overturned a planning application from Orange for a mobile phone mast in a residential street.
Thanks to hard work by residents who got up a petition, attended the meeting and spoke out, the councillors on the committee decided that the officers’ recommendations should be turned down and that residents’ views about the impact of the phone mast on the local area should be listened to.
All the Lib Dem members of the committee voted against the phone mast application. It’s good to see visible evidence of the new Lib Dem-led administration keeping its promises and listening to local views in making its decisions, even within the constraints of planning law.
CLLR JANET GRAUBERG
(Lib Dem)
Cotleigh Road, NW6
• A COUPLE of weeks ago the Lib Dem candidate for the Kentish Town by-election wrote to this paper saying how pleased he was that the new Tory-Lib Dem administration is going to support a credit union for Camden.
I find it quite ironic that while they are admirably setting up a credit union to assist people who are unable to access banking services, they are at the same time slashing legal advice services across the borough.
While a small number are unable to access a bank – a large number of people in the borough need legal advice to help them avoid debt.
Now with the many senior lawyers in Camden joining forces to attack this proposed cut, I sincerely hope that Kentish Town residents will make their voices heard on December 7. We cannot allow the new right-wing thugs in the Town Hall to introduce such savage cuts to our services.
ALAIN DAVIDSON
Mayford, NW1
• THE pending by-election in Kentish Town has thrown the spotlight on the threat to voluntary sector organisations such as the Citizens’ Advice Bureau there.
But we should not lose focus on the fact that the cuts being pursued by the Tory/Lib Dem coalition will affect the whole borough.
For instance, we have yet to be told how their decision to slash funding for the advice sector by 43 per cent will impact on the Citizens’ Advice Bureau in Kilburn.
Across the whole of Camden there are vulnerable residents – like pensioners, people with disabilities and those with mental health problems – facing all sorts of problems, often relating to low incomes.
As Helena Kennedy said, Citizens’ Advice Bureaux are incredibly important resources providing a real lifeline for the most needy, across all of Camden.
It is important that these vital services are maintained throughout the borough. There are people who need them in NW6 and NW3 as well as NW5. Let’s hope it isn’t a case of Kentish Town today, Kilburn tomorrow.
MIKE KATZ
Chairman Hampstead and Kilburn Labour Party
Gladys Road, NW6
• AS a former Labour supporter I was disappointed to see that, although Reverend Sam McBratney hasn’t been involved in Camden politics for long – he was a candidate in Islington in May, he has already picked up some of the worst traits of Camden Labour.
How dare Rev McBratney say that those who booted Labour out in May really wanted them back in power? Could you ask for a clearer example of Labour failing to listen to the electorate?
Many Camden residents were desperate to rid themselves of a Labour administration that had become increasingly arrogant and out of touch with voters’ views.
Labour’s unfair parking policies, mishandling of the Kentish Town Baths issue and ever-increasing Council Tax were just some of the issues which alienated their natural supporters.
I am delighted the new administration has acted quickly to start to put these things right.
LAURA NOEL
Courthope Road, NW5
• SO ex-councillor Gerry Harrison is disillusioned with the new Town Hall alliance (Green pledge to bring breath of fresh air to streets, Nov 16) because “there is a race to set the lowest council tax in London without a care for who gets hurt in the scramble.”
Such a change from the last Labour council who raced to have the highest council tax in London and who won the prize for inner London.
And as to people getting hurt in that scramble, just consult the past 10 years of the CNJ for examples.
Name and address supplied
• IN your report last week (Green pledge to bring breath of fresh air to streets, Nov 16), you seemed to ignore the fact that the Lib Dems have an exemplary record when it comes to tackling climate change.
They campaigned consistently about the greenhouse effect throughout the 1980s and 1990s – before it became fashionable.
They also campaigned on a “polluter pays” platform during the 1983 General Election.
I’ve heard that the environmental pressure group Friends of the Earth has gone as far as to say that “they’re greener than the Greens”. And unlike single-issue parties that feed on cynicism, the Lib Dems are tackling green issues in a positive, practical way.
Locally, I know that the Lib Dems are boosting recycling by businesses, while carrying out an audit of recycling arrangements to make sure, for example, that Camden is not defeating the point by shipping our recycling to China. They have appointed a dedicated eco-champion to investigate how we make all Camden borough’s activities greener.
BEN GREENING
Chalk Farm Road, NW1
• I CAN'T be alone in finding Councillor Anna Stewart’s comments in last week’s CNJ deeply disturbing? The present leader of the Labour rump is quoted on consultants spending at the Town Hall (£500k bill for advisers hired to save money, Nov 16).
“We began it as a pilot scheme because it was in the middle of an election campaign. We told officials they could use consultants but we did not say how much could be spent on it”.
Aside from the point that Labour started a new scheme in the middle of an election campaign they had no hope of winning, what really shocks me is that at the time Cllr Stewart was the executive member for resources.
The one person in the whole council who had real responsibility for spending had no idea how much money would be spent.
Not only does this sum up Labour’s wasteful habits over the past few years (tax and spend) but also leaves me wondering, if this is the best Labour can do for leadership then they’d better all start following Lucy Anderson’s lead and resign.
CLLR ARTHUR GRAVES
Lib Dem
Belsize Ward
• I MUST respond to Luca Salice’s letter criticising the Lib Dems’ partnership with the Conservatives (Age and religion are no barrier to office, Nov 16).
Labour made it clear very soon after the election that they wanted no part in the administration.
That left the Lib Dems with a choice – either a partnership with the Conservatives or the chaos and muddle of a minority administration.
No doubt the second option would have suited the Labour Party, but it would have been bad news for the people of Camden.
We need a stable administration in the Town Hall, with a clear strategy and sense of direction. Many ordinary people I speak to are very pleased that two parties with different underlying philosophies and principles are working together for the good of Camden.
The partnership comprises parties that won well over 50 per cent of the votes cast in May.
That is not something that could be said of the Labour administration that ran the Town Hall for 35 years. We now have the administration Camden people voted for.
CLLR ALEXIS ROWELL
Lib Dem
Belsize Ward
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