| |
Projects crucial for King’s Cross
• THE opening of King’s Cross Skills Centre, which will continue the good work of the previous Construction Centre (opened in 2004) in getting people into local jobs, is a step forward for our borough.
However, with the deputy mayor of London having opened it, I am still at a complete loss to find the reasoning why Boris Johnson’s London Development Agency (LDA) has chosen to remove hundreds of thousands of pounds in funding from April 1, leaving the Camden ratepayer to pick up the bill for a project which supports jobless people from across north London.
Even more so with the job brokerage Camden Working, started in 2004 and which has a base in my ward, where Camden had suddenly to find £2.8million to plug what the council called a “financial hole” left by the sudden withdrawal of funding in December. These two projects are crucial for the development of King’s Cross, where there are projected to be 30,000 jobs created from now to 2017.
Does the mayor not see King’s Cross, which is literally ready to be built, as strategically important for London? The 60-acre site has real jobs in the real economy and is ready to give people the chance for a new job and a new career right now.
No one is asking for continual subsidy, but with no guaranteed funding in the long term from Camden, is it right that the Mayor of London should overlook such an exciting opportunity to give a boost to London’s economy? The LDA and the mayor should tell us which priorities are higher up the list.
CLLR THEO BLACKWELL
Labour, Regent’s Park ward
|
 |
|
|
| |
| |
