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Ines Newman and Angela Mason |
Thanks a million, but we all need to fight this recession
Camden Council’s belated £6million recovery plan excludes many who should be involved in tackling the financial crisis, write Angela Mason and Ines Newman
AS 2009 dawned, we were also aware that up and down the country, local councils, of all political hues, were preparing to protect communities from the impact of the recession. Yet Camden Council seemed strangely silent.
Through the columns of the New Journal we called a meeting in January to consider what we in Camden could and should be doing. The leaders of the Conservatives and Lib Dems argued back that their main response was freezing council tax for two years.
While this is understandable electoral politics, one needs to be aware that freezing council tax predominantly helps the better off in Camden since they are the majority, and many on low incomes receive council tax benefit. Cuts in council services and council employees to pay for the freeze will also exacerbate the impact of the recession on those most affected.
Then, last week, we were told of a £6million recovery fund. This plan comes late, is not based on a coherent strategy, and has not involved real consultation with local residents and businesses. A presentation was given to the Local Strategic Partnership, a forum with some 20 representatives among the borough’s key stakeholders which meets six times a year for strategic debates. But one presentation is not full consultation or debate.
We welcome the commitment, which we had called for, to increase resources for debt advice and benefit take-up (£380k) in the recovery fund. However, it appears that £4m of the £6m is to fill the financial hole left by Mayor Boris Johnson ending the Camden LDA (London Development Agency) area programme in March 2009. And while this £4m funds some excellent projects, such as the King’s Cross Construction Training Centre, they are not new initiatives.
We need an open Camden forum, with all interested parties engaged in open debate and evidence gathering to identify where the recession is impacting in Camden and what needs to be done to help those affected.
The priority for such a forum should be to deal with:
• The impact of unemployment: One in four of those made unemployed is under 25. We don’t want another lost generation of the young unemployed in Camden. There are many things the council could do, some of them costless to Camden residents, such as signing the skills pledge and receiving government Train to Gain funds to raise the skill levels of council staff or signing a Local Employment Partnership with Jobcentre Plus to ensure local residents get local council jobs. 137 other councils have done this – why not Camden?
We have called for the creation of 100 apprenticeships for local school leavers. The government pays for the training and the council builds a skilled, local workforce for the future rather than wasting money on agency staff.
We also believe a sustainable environmental programme for housing insulation would reduce carbon emissions and create jobs.
• Preventing unemployment: How would Camden Council know if a local business is going bust? Currently, if a business is in trouble, it would be unlikely to contact Camden Council, and if it did it would be unlikely to receive any significant help. Yet other councils have been working with their chambers and key agencies to put together co-ordinated teams who can work closely with companies to save jobs.
It costs £16,450 per employee more to create new jobs than to save jobs. Again, there is plenty of practice from other councils to help build a coherent response.
• Social Housing: There is unsustainable pressure on social housing both from those already homeless and from those who face terrible overcrowding. This will get even worse in this recession. We have called for an immediate freeze on the sell-offs of council housing and property – a particularly weak policy given falling prices. Instead, we endorse the calls from the New Journal for a major council house building programme and support plans for buying up empty property in the private sector to ease the pressure on social housing, help those who get into mortgage arrears and to provide investment in housing for the future. Camden Council has capital reserves of over £80m that could be used productively. There is currently no allocation in the recovery fund for housing.
We cannot wait for July 22 when the leaders of the council propose to discuss this again. We therefore propose to set up an independent panel, to meet shortly after Easter, with Camden experts in economic development, housing, environmental issues, and representatives of voluntary groups, tenants and trade unions. We are calling for evidence and for your views on what should be done.
So, if you have a story to tell about the recession and/or would like to get involved with this project, please contact us at: angela.mason@live.co.uk
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