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Support is at hand
• WAKE up, New Journal, the headline (Town Hall ‘caught sleeping’ as recession grips borough, January 15) couldn’t be further from the truth.
Camden Council has a wide range of services that are already supporting residents and businesses in these difficult times.
We are helping people to find jobs through our three job shops in the borough, we have a new construction training centre at King’s Cross providing a guaranteed placement at the end, and we held a job fair in October with another planned for March.
We are backing necessary infrastructure spending in the borough including Kentish Town baths, extra highways repairs, a new school, and new elderly persons homes, all of which creates jobs and knock-on economic activity across Camden. We are providing support to those who are finding it difficult to pay their rent, service charges or council tax, including advice from our benefits service to see whether residents qualify for financial assistance.
We are also providing business support by supplying practical advice and actively encouraging small businesses to bid for council work.
At the same time, like other organisations, the council is facing pressure on its budget through reduced income and increased demands on our services.
Our priority is to ensure that we protect these vital services and safeguard our investment programme.
During a recession increasing efficiency is even more important and we know residents will want us to keep council tax rises as low as possible.
Coming up with a gimmicky recession plan that sounds good in the headlines is one way of dealing with the recession but we want to make sure that we can help local people and businesses over a sustained period of time. Our council budget for the coming year to be published shortly and will detail further important measures.
Cllr Keith Moffitt
Leader,
Cllr Andrew Marshall Deputy Leader,
Camden Council
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