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Watch out for sticks and carrots in the recycling bin
ARE the bin snoopers with their “charge sheets” coming to Camden?
We are assured by Councillor Alexis Rowell, responsible for recycling in the borough, that Camden is more liberal-minded than Barnet, a happy hunting ground, apparently, for the “bin” police anxious to fine hapless householders who cannot sort out what sort of rubbish to put in their bins. You are much better off in Camden, says Cllr Rowell (page 2).
Speaking in terms of “sticks and carrots” – a phrase that some could interpret as the threatening language of a municipal “officer class” – Cllr Rowell says he has enough “armoury” to persuade people about the need for proper recycling. Words are always subject to interpretation. We hope that at no point is there an iron fist lurking somewhere in Cllr Rowell’s glove.
Yes, we are sure Cllr Rowell is a genuine recycling enthusiast. We are equally aware of the desperate need for recycling in today’s climate changing world.
But Cllr Rowell and his cohort of bin officials are at risk of being insensitive to the feelings of citizens who help to keep the Town Hall afloat with their council tax payments.
There should be a two-way relationship of respect and civility between the politicians and civil servants at the Town Hall and those they serve – the tax-payers of Camden. Letters to this newspaper show that much of this is lacking. Readers feel officials are being “high-handed”. In the quest for recycling, officials need to negotiate a minefield of feelings. Are they aware of how carefully they need to tread?
Is it sell, sell, sell?
AS soon as Chancellor Darling made it clear last week that all possible “public assets” would have to be sold off to help reduce the national debt the green light was given to Camden Council’s present rush to sell off properties paid for over the years by the borough’s tax payers.
Forgotten were the promises by Gordon Brown who offered more money for council housing, suggesting there could be a moratorium on sales. Swept away, too, was the force gathering among Labour MPs in the Commons for a positive change in council housing funding.
In a U-turn a letter by housing minister John Healey (pages 6-7) effectively says to the council: Go ahead and sell, sell, sell.
Is the campaign for a giant programme of council housing now a thing of the past?
Those Labour MPs and Keynesian economists who say – sensibly in our opinion – that the only way to beat the recession is to spend your way out of it, have they lost the argument? What next for Camden’s tenants?
While funds from sales of properties will, no doubt, help to refurbish existing stock, they will not help to alleviate the housing shortage.
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