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Town Hall
Labour are Blair's slaves
• With the local elections in May, it’s
a bit rich of Councillor John Mills telling us there are two
Labour parties – one in Camden Town and one in Whitehall
(Don’t judge us by the standards of Blair, February 16).
According to Cllr John Mills Camden New Labour Party’s
record is excellent. Would you call the closure of care homes,
cut backs in home helps closure of sport centre, swimming pools,
law centres, police stations and many more cut backs too numerous
to mention, excellent?
And what about Whitehall’s New Labour Party? The unlawful
war in Iraq, identity cards, education reforms, students loans
and many lies – too many to mention.
Patrick Cawley
Broomsleigh Street
NW6
• COUNCILLOR John Mills attempts to separate the Blair
government and New Labour from Camden’s Labour council.
This argument would be more believable if Camden didn’t
slavishly follow the government’s dictates so enthusiastically.
Just as Wandsworth was the ‘jewel in the crown’
for Mrs Thatcher, so Camden has been for New Labour.
Camden was on of the first councils to implement the totally
undemocratic executive ruling body, announcing proudly they
were leaders in the adoption, as well as arguing they had no
choice.
The fact remains that most local councils in Britain have not
gone down that road.
The council tried to break up council tenants’ protest
meetings over the government’s arm’s length management
organisation scheme, (Almo) and when that failed, it tried to
bribe tenants with new kitchens if they accepted the scheme.
It was of course voted down by the tenants for which Cllr Mills
now takes the credit.
But the ultimate accolade for loyalty to the government went
to the the most slavish of all Blairites, the former leader
of the council Jane Roberts.
But in one area Camden is truly old Labour, and for that we
have Cllr Mills to thank. In his long stewardship as finance
chief he has managed to keep Camden’s rates among the highest,
if not the highest in London.
OWEN ROSSAN
Address Supplied
• Councillor John Mills claims that Camden is well managed,
well run and democratic.
How would you rate an outfit which spends a great deal of
Sports England’s money to refurbish a very popular Sports
Centre at Talacre (200,000 visits per year), then turns around
and sells a big chunk of this public funded space to a private
developer?
Whether this is acceptable to Sports England or not, Camden,
under Labour, appears to make two steps forward, one step backward.
Swiss Cottage has become a shining example of local Labour’s
ineptitude. Disruptive project, gross-looking building, reduced
swimming facilities, needlessly expensive. A modest refurbishment
would have made more sense on every front.
As for the word “democratic”, Camden under Labour
is the least democratic local government you can possibly imagine.
Our local elected councillors have no power. The public is powerless
except at elections. The Executive (of which Cllr Mills was
a driving force) made all the decisions without any regards
to Camden voters.
J Treadgold
Leighton Road, NW5
• It’s a bit rich of the Town Hall’s former
finance chief Councillor John Mills to suggest that a Labour
vote in the local elections in May 2006 is going to be a vote
for local democracy.
The executive of which Mills was an integral part was run
and continues to be run undemocratically.
The councillors we elect have little or no say over important
decisions the all powerful executive councillors make on our
behalf.
Yet these decisions affect our neighbourhoods, our daily lives
and future. Important decisions concerning planning consents
involving dubious deals with private developers are stamped
and approved by this totally undemocratic bunch. You and I can
object all we want, it is to no avail.
The Executive and Camden’s Planning Department for which
we, the voters, pay dearly, make their own arrangements with
each other and with private developers. We aren’t allowed
access to details of those arrangements on grounds of commercial
sensitivity or so they claim. We have no rights of appeal if
they should make some terrible mistakes such as the ones at
Swiss Cottage or at Dalby Street or Euston Road.
T N Nash
Priory Road
NW6
• John Mills boldly argues that a Labour vote in the
local elections in May 2006, is going to be a vote for local
democracy.
This is incidently the same Town Hall former finance chief
responsible for selling the family silver from right under our
nose.
Despite protests, he sold off Swiss Cottage; a travellers’
site, a substantial part of the Talacre Open Space and an entire
highway at Dalby Street; and Lyndhurst Hall, just to mention
a few.
Under this present Labour government there is no democracy possible
locally. The executive which Prime Minister Blair pushed forward
ensure that democracy locally is the very last consideration
on Labour’s mind.
Unless local Labour makes a clear announcement now, before the
election, that they will abolish the executive and go back to
the democratic assembly whereby our individual elected councillors
are given a fair chance to represent their electorates, I will
cease voting for Labour.
As for his outrageous statement about local democracy, how dare
he?
He sounds like George W Bush!
Monica Cramer
Daleham Gardens
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