Simply the best

The Roundhouse has been voted best music venue in London by TimeOut. Well deserved!

More Northern Line misery

The private company Tubelines has announced that it will suspend services on the Northern line on weekends for 20 months from March.

Read more about it here http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23801527-outrage-at-plans-to-shut-northern-line-for-82-weekends.do

Nash Ali, Labour's leader the borough of Camden said: "The borough of Camden, from Tottenham Ct Road up to Hampstead and Kentish Town, will be disproportionately hit on weekends. It may have a massive impact on the Lock market, one of London's largest tourist attractions and a source of local jobs and trade."

"This plan seems designed to protect the shareholders of Tubelines, rather than the interests of travelling Londonders. I urge Camden Council to make immediate representations on this and take action, just like it did when private companies wanted the Channel Tunnel works to go 24hrs after similar contract slippage."

If you agree sign this petition here;

http://www.petitiononline.com/nthlinex/petition.html

World cup matches in Regent's Park?

Plans to use Regent's park for screening of world cup matches have been put forward.

These have been opposed by some locals.

If you want to put in an objection you can click here for more details.

No action on Camden Town tube

As local residents will know Camden Town tube does not work properly. We cannot get into it on Sunday. The escalators down are often broken, meaning that people in wheelchairs or with prams cannot use the station. All of this makes it disappointing that neither the Mayor nor the Liberal Democrat/ Tory council are doing anything to improve the situation.

We asked the Mayor what plans he has to improve the tube. We just got his answer

"I am aware that Camden Town is an extremely busy station, and it is certainly far from ideal that the level of demand at certain times on weekends means that the station is open for exit and interchange only.

Camden Town station has recently benefited from the modernisation of the station, which meant improvements to passenger information, accessibility, safety and security as well as the overall decor. However, this has not addressed capacity issues at the station.

London Underground (LU) identified the station as a priority for extra capacity some time ago. However, the proposals originally put forward were unsuccessful in a Public Inquiry in 2004, despite the transport case being accepted.

There is currently no funding available to pursue the redevelopment of Camden Town station. However, it does remain LU’s aspiration for the longer term if an acceptable scheme can be found."

In short, he realises that it's a problem but he is not going to do anything about it. We, and Camden Council, must continue to put pressure on the Mayor to ensure that London Underground's "aspiration" is made into reality.

Criminal behaviour in Camden Town

Everyone knows that Camden Town is a high crime area. Recent figures show that there has been much less success in making Camden safer than in making everywhere else in the borough safer.

Not only is there the problem of drug dealing, there is also alcohol related problems, like fighting and vomiting.

We, as residents, should not have to accept this.

This underlines the importance of our campaign to have a police station in Camden Town.

Email us at Camdentown.primrosehill@camdenlabour.org if you agree that Camden Town needs its own police station and if you would like to help on the campaign to get one.

New housing for Highgate

Good news that the Labour government is investing substantial sums in building new social housing in Highgate. As Councillor Ali points out this is quite a contrast with the Lib Dem/ Tory council who continue to sell off empty council properties to private investors.

Support Camden's UK Online Centres

Camden Council is proposing to cut the budget for UK Online Centres in Camden by £170,000 from April 2010. The budget for the current tax year is £206,000 so this represents a massive 82.5% cut.

There are 16 UK Online Centres in Camden based in local communities and offering free Use of the Internet , Computer Skills Training, Help back into Employment, English Classes, Help with Words and Numbers and much, much more. In today's economic climate these centres represent a vital support network for the most vulnerable and needy in Camden and a bridge to those left behind by modern technological developments. They also enable all to access the increasing number of on-line services which is important for both Council and residents needs.

The cuts proposed by the council will lead to some of these centres being closed and others having services cut. Jobs will be lost. Everyone who uses or works with Camden UK Online Centres will be affected.

Pat, Tom and I call upon the Camden Council to drop these proposals to cut funds to this much valued Camden service.

Please sign the petition, available here: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/supportcamdenukonline-stop-the-c/

From Camden to Kabul

A new BBC documentary following the story of Nel, Camden resident who has lived here since she was six, returns to Afghanistan after fleeing the war. This should prove to be a fascinating programme, one I'm really looking forward to...

...From the BBC...

Nel has lived in Camden, London, since she was six, after her family fled the war in Afghanistan. Now 21, Nel longs to know what her life would have been like if she'd grown up there.

On returning to Kabul, Nel learns what life for women was like under the Taliban and sees at first hand how some things have changed for the better. But Nel also finds a world alien to her and discovers some of the heartbreaking restrictions that women still face.

She meets girls who face being attacked just for going to school; visits women who have been imprisoned for "morality crimes"; and, behind the closed doors of women's shelters and hospital wards, discovers a world of extreme violence. Nel also meets a relative who is sympathetic towards the Taliban.

You can see a clip of the programme here.

Happy New Year!!

Pat, Tom and I wish you all a very Happy New Year! Here's to a productive, restful and happy 2010.

Banksy

http://blog.artofthestate.co.uk/blog/_archives/2009/12/20/4408571.html

Climate change statement

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climatechange/news/latest/uk-science-statement.html

Chalcot Square at night

Camden Town xmas lights

Oyster Card

Hurray for the Oyster Card. It saves us all time and money. The papers agree. Proof of what a clear sighted determined city government can achieve.

Waiting lists in context

Shelter have published some new numbers on council housing waiting lists.

As they point out Barnet council has the worse score. Families in Barnet have to wait 33 years for a flat! All the more worrying that in some ways Camden Council is following Barnet's policies and that they continue to sell off council housing.

In this country we have pursued the ruinous policies of selling off council housing and failing to build any significant number of new social housing. Despite this we still have, when compared with other European countries, a decent stock of social housing (http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/LSELondon/pdf/SocialHousingInEurope.pdf see page 9).

This is a testament to the achievements of the post war generation. However, the reason that we are in such a mess over housing allocation in this country is the starkly unequal distribution of income which exists here when compared to other countries. This means we have far more people in need of social housing than a country like Sweden.

The solution, therefore, must involve building more social housing but also efforts to create greater income equality.

Housing does not exist in a vacuum.

Public meeting over Hawley Wharf

Anyone who lives near the Hawley arms should come to a public meeting on Thursday about the plans for a massive development in the area.

You can find out more details on this blog which I helped to start up.

The meeting will be at 7pm on Thursday 3 December.

It will be at Holy Trinity Church, corner of Hartland Road and Clarence Way.

This event is being jointly organised by Camden Gardens Residents Association, Camden Town Unlimited, Castlehaven Community Association, Clarence Way Tenants and Residents Association, Harmood, Clarence, Hartland Residents Association and Hawley Residents Association.

All residents welcome.

Labour party video

Swindon showing the way?

Swindon (a Tory controlled council) have introduced free wireless internet for all residents! Read more here

This could be very expensive. However, it could also make the area much richer by supporting people with good ideas to start businesses.

I think this is something London councils should seriously look at. What do you think?

Auden Place fire

As you may know there was a serious fire in Auden Place a few weeks back.

A complicating factor in what was a horrible incident was that the fire engine was not able to get into Auden Place because of the parking in Kingstown Street. We have petitioned Auden Place and almost everyone agrees that the parking should be removed.

Frustratingly the Lib Dem/Tory controlled Council is dragging their heels on this. We wrote to the Camden New Journal about this issue last week. We will continue to press them on this.

Phonebox 2: The Truth comes out

Excellent letter in this week's Camden New Journal about the telephone box at the bottom of Inverness street which we wrote about in August here.

Pat has just had this statement from the Lib Dem/Tory controlled council;

"This particular kiosk obtained an automatic "deemed" approval even though the Council would have refused it. This is because the Council unfortunately did not issue a notice of refusal within the 56 day time limit. This is due to the application not being dealt with correctly when it was first received."

The excuse given is that the Council was incompetent. Needless to say this is not good enough.