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Is it a future of cuts or value for money?
• KENTISH Town people who voted for the Lib Dems in the May elections must be feeling totally betrayed.
Straight away, the Lib Dems joined the Tories to seize control of Camden Council. And now we are seeing the results. Cuts to services that many ordinary working people depend on and an end to the use of Asbos to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour.
The Lib Dem-Tories plan to cut funding for Camden Law Centre and the Citizens Advice Bureau by nearly half. What good will that do for people desperately seeking help to deal with debt and rent arrears?
The Kentish Town by-election gives people the chance to oppose Lib Dem-Tory cuts and the best way to do that is to support Labour's Sam McBratney. He is the only one of the three main candidates who will oppose these cuts.
RICHARD OLSZEWSKI
Westbere Road, NW2
• ANALYSIS released by Camden Council on December 4 shows that over the last four years of Labour control, from 2002-2006, its employee costs went up by 35 per cent and spending on temporary agency staff increased by 63 per cent.
I welcome the new Lib Dem-Conservative administration's provisional budget for 2007-8 starting to reverse this appalling trend while making good our election pledge to hold down Camden's share of the overall council tax
It is clearly possible through a long-term efficiency programme to achieve significantly better value for money so as to deliver services that are better and less expensive.
CLLR DUNCAN GREENLAND
Lib Dem, West Hampstead
Greville Place, NW6
• I AM disappointed by Cabinet Minister Hilary Benn's plea in the Kentish Town by-election campaign ('Forget Iraq' plea by minister as polls judgement day nears, November 30).
My question is: how can you forget this illegal war, which has affected the lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent people in Iraq and has taken the lives of British soldiers? Taxpayers' money used on bombing Baghdad could have been spent in Britain on housing, NHS and education.
The Labour government has failed us with its belief that there should be no space between our foreign policy and that of President Bush and the neo-cons in Washington.
Even MP Glenda Jackson has described the government's foreign policy as "an undiluted failure".
Of course, local issues are important to us, but when Labour was in power in Camden for three decades many youth clubs were closed and funding cut for day centres. So what local choice is Mr Benn talking about?
I would urge people in Kentish Town ward to give a clear massage to this government by not voting Labour. This is the only way the government will listen to our feelings, whether on local or national issues.
MUKUL HIRA
Chalton Street, NW1
• TWO recent events show why Camden residents need a strong Labour opposition to the Lib Dem-Tory council.
First, the Lib Dem-Tory alliance announced even more cuts to services. The plans include axing play projects, cutting recycling on estates and introducing a price hike for meals on wheels. Only a strong Labour opposition can fight these cuts.
Electing Sam McBratney, the Labour candidate, will send a clear message that residents do not want service cuts. If elected, Sam would also be able to work with other Labour councillors across Camden to fight Lib Dem-Tory cuts across a range of services, from play projects to meals on wheels. No other candidate can do that.
Second, the Lib Dem-Tory council has put back until January the findings of its anti-social behaviour review. This means that for most of their first year in office, the Lib Dems and Tories will have had no clear strategy for tackling crime and anti-social behaviour.
Labour has been the only party holding the Lib Dems and Tories to account for their policies on crime and anti-social behaviour. Only Labour takes the problem of anti-social behaviour, especially on estates, seriously. Only Labour will continue to press for measures to protect residents.
The by-election won't change who runs the council, but it can help make sure a close eye is kept on the Lib Dem-Tory administration. Electing Sam McBratney will mean an even stronger Labour opposition standing up for residents in Kentish Town.
OMAR SALEM
Dynham Road, NW6
• A WEEKEND going through the fine print of the joint administration's budget casts a different light on recent newspaper comment and indeed by-election literature.
The reality is that the Conservative manifesto pledge not to raise council tax will be honoured, combined with an increase in spending in several key areas of front-line services. For example, there will be a £5 million increase in the amount budgeted for adult social care and, at the other end of the generation spectrum, a £600,00 increase in special educational needs funding.
For the young at heart there will be a £1.5 million revenue contribution for the capital refurbishment of Kentish Town baths. The overall amount given to the voluntary sector will remain unchanged.
Executive members from the Conservatives and Lib Dems have joined forces to cut through the fat that had built up in years of Labour rule at Camden, with the result that spending can be increased in these key areas at no additional cost to the council tax-payer.
This is the budget that many Camden residents have looked for over many years, providing better value for money and more efficient services.
CLLR ROGER FREEMAN
Conservative, Swiss Cottage
• I AM very concerned about the proposed cuts by the Lib Dem-Tory administration.
On top of all the cuts to advice centres and voluntary sector funding, they are now proposing to cut the entire Building Stronger Communities team. This team of officers has worked with voluntary sector organisations and the community to tackle inequality and promote social cohesion.
The Building Stronger Communities officers were based within the most deprived wards. The officer based in West Euston has been helping to raise funds to refurbish the youth centre.
This will enable young people to have a place where they can get involved in positive activities rather than hang around estates smoking drugs, getting into fights and getting involved in anti-social behaviour.
Paulo, the officer involved, is an excellent example of a person who is dedicated to tackling inequality and working with the community to develop social cohesion and support the needs of local people.
The deletion of the entire Building Stronger Communities team will be damaging to the Tackling Inequalities work and will set back the excellent work done in Camden over decades to develop a sense of belonging and social cohesion. I would urge the new Lib Dem and Tory administration to think about the people of Camden when making these crucial decisions, which will affect the most deprived communities, especially members of the white working class, Somali, Bangladeshi and other refugee communities.
CLL NASIM ALI
Chairman, Camden Labour
Group
• ALL eyes are now on the Kentish Town by-election.
We watch the candidates and listen to what they have to say. Like Christopher Marvin and Duncan McMillan, I too wonder why none has mentioned the topic of the hour: saving Talacre Gardens (Is politics finally coming of age? November 30).
What has happened to politics when politicians steer clear of controversy in order to be re-elected? I would not bother to vote next week if I were in Kentish Town.
KATHY REID
Pilgrim's Lane, NW3
• OVER recent weeks there has been a number of letters that have criticised Councillor Ben Rawlings for being too young to be up to the job of dealing with crime and anti-social behaviour in Camden.
I think these letters have been unfair to criticise Cllr Rawlings purely on the grounds of his age and should focus more on his capabilities for the job.
As things stand, the Lib Dem councillors in Cantelowes ward have barely been seen since they were elected in May.
Presumably, Cllr Rawlings has decided he is not interested in being a community activist and is attempting to use his spell in Camden as a springboard for a career in politics.
Whatever the reason for his apparent disinterest in Cantelowes, it is highly unfair to raise his age.
ANNABELLE STEWART
Cliff Road, NW1
• IT'S good to see that in Camden we now have a council administration which keeps its promises.
The Lib Dems and Conservatives came to power in May promising that Camden's share of council tax will not go up in 2007.
This is welcome news, because under Labour council tax went up every year.
Stopping the rise in council tax does not have to mean damaging cuts. Lib Dem-led Camden has already announced that, by centralising and modernising the way it pays its bills, work that was being done by 50 people can now be done by 20.
Simply joining the management of the Boulevard project with the rest of street management saves £123,000.
Unifying reception for council tax and housing benefit services will mean people no longer have to run up and down between the first and third floors of the Town Hall to sort out their payments. It also saves £388,000.
Bringing together human resources staff across the council to create a central specialist team saves £500,000.
Bringing children in foster care back into Camden not only brings them closer to their connections. It will also save £430,000.
Simplifying the way schools claim for extra costs associated with children with special educational needs saves £140,000, even while spending to ensure the children get the help they need goes up by £600,000.
Just re-tendering the contract for care of the borough's trees saved £85,000.
Under Labour anybody could see the council was flabby and wasteful. Under the last four years of Labour administration, employee costs rose by more than a third, while spending on temporary staff ballooned by almost two thirds.
Now we have an administration which is ensuring that the public's money is spent where it can do most good. Inevitably, there will be a Labour-led outcry about "cuts", but while these fall on projects that have been anomalously expensive or under-used, there will be no real cause for complaint.
ROBIN YOUNG
Bedford Avenue, WC1
• I LEFT the Labour Party because of the Iraq War and because it seemed to me that Tony Blair (and Gordon Brown) were leading Labour to moral bankruptcy.
I considered joining the Greens because I believe climate change is by far the most important issue facing us all. However, after a detailed analysis, I concluded that the Lib Dems' environmental policies were as strong as those espoused by the Greens.
Most importantly, the reason I went into politics was to change the world for the better not just to shout about it.
As part of the ruling Lib Dem group on the council I have been able to set up the Camden Sustainability Task Force, a cross-party body with a remit to green Camden.
I hope we'll be able to encourage Camden's businesses, residents and organisations to move to a lower-carbon lifestyle. But as a Green I would not have been in a position to set up and chair the task force.
So, if Kentish Town voters want to play a real part in the battle against climate change rather than just register a protest, then I would encourage them to vote for a party that believes in effective action and is in a position to effect real change.
CLLR ALEXIS ROWELL
Lib Dem chairman, Camden Sustainability Task Force
• CAMDEN'S Tory, Lib Dem and Labour councillors who oppose extension of the blue badge scheme to WC1 and WC2 would do well to read what David Cameron MP (Conservative) told Disability Now's December issue: "It drove me crazy that we couldn't get a disabled parking badge until our child was two years old.
"When you've got a severely epileptic child with cerebral palsy, it's very difficult to use public transport and you need that badge straight away."
Those who think it strange for Green Party councillors to support use of the blue badge system miss the Green Party's emphasis on human as well as planetary well-being.
Green Party programme content differs markedly from "council house TV" fare and the "public service broadcasting" output that tells "you, the datytime TV viewer" how to invest in a second home abroad.
Green Party programme content helps people more effectively say: "Hello, world. Here I am, an equal citizen."
ALAN WHEATLEY
London Green Party disability spokesman
Croftdown Road, NW5
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