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Cllr Paul Braithwaite |
It wasn’t us, it was our officers!
Lib Dems rule Town Hall, but blame staff they control for slashing youth club funding
LIBERAL Democrats who claim to be trying to save a Camden Town youth club have suffered accusations that it was their own administration which delivered a funding blow.
Last night (Wednesday), the party was at the centre of claims they have used the Maiden Lane Community Centre as a “political football”.
Parents whose children use the youth club on the estate say they want politicians to cut out the bluster and work to keep it properly funded.
In a move described as “conniving and underhand”, the Lib Dems have leafleted the estate with claims that they are the ones trying to save it.
But the move looked like it might have backfired this week as it has become clear that the decision was taken at the Town Hall, run by the Liberal Democrats in partnership with the Tories.
The final decision on grants lies with elected councillors and the Lib Dem cabinet member Councillor Janet Grauberg. Instead, the Lib Dems blamed unnamed council officials for the cuts.
Labour deputy leader Councillor Jonathan Simpson said: “The Liberal Democrat councillors are trying to wash their hands and blame council officers for this decision. Politicians should come forward and explain their decisions openly – if there is a justification as to why they’ve cut excellent projects such as the one on Maiden Lane they should try to justify it. The Lib Dems are once again willing to use our kids as a political football for their own shameful political gain.”
The Maiden Lane centre provides activities and services for more than 130 young people from nearby estates in St Pancras and Somers Town.
Parents and residents only found out about the plans to withdraw the youth service funding at the end of September when they received “Save the Centre” leaflets from the Lib Dems through their doors.
Pauline Stafford, of the United Maidens group for mothers on the estate, said: “It feels as if Maiden Lane is being used for Town Hall issues. As parents our main interest is the youth club.
“We’ve got both parties very interested but nobody’s answering our questions. It’s like the buck is being passed. I’m just a mum whose kids have grown up on this estate. I’m not getting involved in politics.”
Cllr Paul Braithwaite, one of the three Lib Dem councillors who represent Cantelowes ward, dismissed Labour claims: “The councillors were not consulted at any point in the process. We are horrified by the decision. It’s not about political point scoring – this is about improving the quality of life.”
Fellow Lib Dem Ben Rawlings added: “This was an officers’ decision. We found out at the same time as everyone else.”
The only thing it seems both parties can agree on is that the centre needs to be saved.
Labour Cllr Roger Robinson, of St Pancras and Somers Town ward, said: “The stop-start regime of youth funding on estates has to make way for stable investment that people can trust. Here we have a club which is doing an extremely good job in an area that is highly deprived.” |
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Your comments
It WAS the officers wot dun it.
The Councillors were not consulted and, to my mind, that's not right. Labour loyalists are out in force, having some fun in the CNJ letters column at our expense this week, but we ARE seeking to find ways of continuing to fund the much appreciated youth services at ML Community Centre. And the core issue is inadequate funding from Central Government for youth services.
Paul Braithwaite
Total and utter rubbish Paul - the government is not at fault, nor is the local Labour party Camden council is and you run it. You set and voted for budgets, and decide where the money goes and what to prioritise. For example, you didn't have to pay 3 of your backbench councillors and extra £5k or pay a parking consultant massive amounts of wonga a week...
Theo Blackwell
Come off it Theo, even by your standards that's cheap! This is nothing to do with the Council's budget - it's a direct funding stream from central government. And the fact is they don't give us enough to fund all the high quality youth clubs in the area... Maybe your government could spend less on pointless ID cards, nuclear weapons and illegal wars??
Ben Rawlings
Oh now it's the Iraq war's fault etc! Youth funding is for the large part discretionary, as we all know (except for projects they funded from the Respect pot etc, which you weern't too keen on). You set the budget, distribute the resources and set the priorities.You can point fingers, but it's your responsibility. Denial ain't a river in Africa.
Theo Blackwell
Theo, it's where you say "You set the budget, distribute the resources and set the priorities" that we disagree. I think you are being a little deliberately obtuse here. As you know full well this was an entirely officer run process and no elected official of any party had any idea that it was happening until we read about it in the CNJ.Now if I were to point fingers I would blame the ludicrously top-down officer heavy model of local Government that successive Labour and Conservative Governments have both engendered and imposed by statute. As a result councils have been stripped of almost all real power and within councils councillors have been stripped of much of what remains - with unelected officers making many of the most important decisions behind closed doors. Even the few powers which are left to councillors are kept well away from local backbenchers who (perish the thought) might actually know something about the services affected.But personally I think all this finger pointing and point scoring is rather sad and I'm disappointed that you turned our non-partisan attempt to look for alternative funding for the MLCC into this rather dispiriting party political slogfest. It draws attention away from the real story which is that people of all parties and none are doing everything they can to find alternative sources of funding so that MLCC can continue to offer the excellent services that they do.
Fred Carver
When the Council cut over 50% of the funding to our local youth centre last year they said part of the reason was to give money to other youth centres. They specifically mentioned the Maiden Lane centre.It seems clear that the Council have no problem with cutting funding to youth centres and that they have in place method for providing funding which gives no stability or security to youth centres.
Thomas Neumark
Thomas Neumark is 90% correct. The only thing I'd say differently is that the council has a huge problem with cutting youth services but it has no choice in the matter. It spends the ever dwindling amount of money that Government gives it, which is never enough (as Ben rightly points out the Government has to redirect money to its "priority areas" such as abusing asylum seekers, committing mass murder and establishing a police state). And yes the system for doing so is awful, but the system was forced on the council by the Government.
Fred Carver |
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