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Camden New Journal - Letters to the Editor
Published: 15 November 2007

Setting the priorities for Kentish Town

• THE first Kentish Town Area Forum was held in Kentish Town Library on Tuesday.
Area forums are a new way for residents across Camden to get involved in the life of the borough. They are open to all and give everyone an opportunity to influence both council decisions but also to bring the council’s influence to bear on issues like Thames Water works and post office closures - which are vitally important to local people.
At our meeting the community set six priorities for Kentish Town: One, to organise an event in the area to promote Camden’s many cultures. Two, to tackle the problems associated with The Church club night at The Forum. Three, to look at ways of improving youth provision in the area. Four, protect the vibrant mix of retail shops on Kentish Town Road. Five, the need to protect and improve council housing stock. And six, work with the police to promote community safety initiatives, like the use of window boxes to deter burglary.
We also talked about other issues like cycle routes, trees, tackling congestion on Kentish Town Road and improving recycling services. It was a strong and and wide-ranging debate and I am grateful to the residents who took time out of their evenings to contribute. It was good to see new faces as well – often as councillors we see the same ‘usual suspects’ at all our meetings. It is good to have the involvement of these community activists but if area forums are to work they must reach out to people who would not normally get involved. It is important that these groups do not get politicised or captured by small groups with a strong voice. The best way to achieve that is for more ordinary local people to speak up about the issues that are important to them.
In the next few weeks we’ll be getting back in touch with people to tell them how we are going to tackle these priority issues. We’ll also be giving feedback on all the other things we discussed.
It’s never too late to get involved - if you are interested then either register at www.camden.gov.uk/areaforums or e-mail area.forums@ camden.gov.uk
Cllr RALPH SCOTT
Lib Dem, Kentish Town

Send your letters to: The Letters Editor, Camden New Journal, 40 Camden Road, London, NW1 9DR or email to letters@camdennewjournal.co.uk. The deadline for letters is midday Tuesday. The editor regrets that anonymous letters cannot be published, although names and addresses can be withheld. Please include a full name, postal address and telephone number. Letters may be edited for reasons of space.

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