Highgate Library faces threat to its survival – Labour has no answers

By Cllr Maya de Souza

The recent outcry about plans to slash funding for Highgate Library, reflects the current administration’s lack of openness and transparency about its plans for our libraries.

In mid-2011, a decision was made to radically reform our library provision, taking three libraries out of direct council control and giving them to communities to fund.

Two other libraries, Highgate and Regent’s Park, were also subject to change: the former to lose over 60% of its funding, and the latter to be closed and for a homework club-type arrangement to be set up instead.

I immediately raised questions about the cuts, pointing out that it seemed that if no alternative funds were found for Highgate Library, it was at risk of closure. It was not possible to see how a library already running on a shoe-string could struggle on with such severe cuts – if it did, it could not have anything like the same level of service.

And there was no evidence at all that any of the possible schemes and sources of funding mentioned by officers and Cabinet Members would come to fruition at all.

When Alexis Rowell, our Green candidate, pointed out in by-election material – leading up to the narrow election of Labour councillor Sally Gimson, that Highgate Library was clearly still at risk, Labour denied this strongly. They said that the library was not at risk and that it would stay open.

However, this June – nine months later – the Council held a public meeting led by Cllr Leach where it was stated that almost 75% of funds would be lost and admitted that they had no thought-out plans for ensuring sufficient funding for the library come April 2013 – now only about nine months away.

Cllr Leach admitted that the current funding level involves running a library on a shoestring. Clearly without 75% of its funds the library is at risk!

Residents have now put forward a proposal for a community-led steering group to explore options and guide the council as to the library’s future, and they have asked for the funding cuts to be put on hold until after a solution has been found.

Highgate Greens and I are pushing for funding cuts to be reduced, and in any event put on hold pending a solution.

We will be seeking to ensure that we do not lose this invaluable community resource. We think the library needs to be made even better, NOT starved of funding.

The sums involved are manageable, considering that Camden has cut its budget faster than is necessary.

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Camden’s traffic wardens deserve a fair wage

by Natalie Bennett

Defending traffic wardens, speaking up for them, is not always going to be a popular cause, but I’m proud that’s what Camden Green Party has been doing lately, including through letters to the local papers. Yesterday I was pleased to be able to speak at a Unison rally for them at the Town Hall marking the fact that they are now in the middle of a second strike for decent wages.

They’re currently receiving £8.09/hour for a 42.5-hour week – not even the London Living Wage – and certainly not enough for a tough, physical, stressful job in the midst of high-cost central London.

Inevitably, their role has been outsourced (by a Labour council some years ago), and they are employed by NSL (formerly part of NCP), a corporate giant that Unison reports is taking a fee of about £6 for each hour of work from the attendants (remember they’re getting just £8 for the same hour – although their compatriots in Waltham Forest are already getting £10/hour – what the Camden workers are demanding).

The long-term solution is clearly to bring these roles back “in-house” at the council – parking attendants are enforcing our democratically agreed rules for the good of all of us and should be subject to proper democratic oversight – but the contract has three years to run, and until that point, Camden council should be doing everything possible to get their contractor to pay a decent wage.

Here’s a video of what I said yesterday.

More videos from the rally can be found here.

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Today’s Camden housing summit

by Natalie Bennett

Some interesting, if disturbing, figures from today’s Camden housing summit. Across England and Wales the average house sale price is £160,000, but in Camden it is £596,000.

Camden council is the landlord for about 100,000 homes, and with other social landlords in total more than a third of the borough’s housing is owned by social landlords.

Private rentals provide about a quarter of the homes in the borough. In South Camden the average rental is £550/week, in the North £350.

Camden council has insulated about 70% of its cavity wall properties and aims to have completed work on 95% by the end of this year. Around 2,000 lofts have been insulted and 1,000 further identified for the treatment.

Officers say that given the age of homes, the best average energy efficiency standard may be C, although new homes should be “near A”. The biggest challenge by far is solid wall installation. The current average is Band D, 65.4.

A workshop debate on priorities for spending put decoration and repairs to communal areas highly, and downgraded from its current priorities work on kitchens and bathrooms.

Camden Council is currently conducting a consultation entitled Is  A Council Home for Life? We’d urge all Camden residents to have their say – and answer in the affirmative.

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The health and wellbeing of Camden’s older citizens are threatened by loss of services

by Cllr Maya de Souza

The Camden New Journal report on Sir Derek Jacobi’s plea to save services provided for our older citizens by charitable giving brings home just how badly services for the elderly are likely to be hit by cuts in Camden’s budget.

Services are provided through different departments and through voluntary sector bodies such as Age UK. Cuts in these different budgets are chipping away at our services and are already forcing the voluntary sector to concentrate on fundraising, rather than providing services.

The impact on the health and well-being of the elderly is much more serious than the “granny tax” that led to a general protest earlier in the year.

To date, Camden has had a good provision of services from luncheon clubs to exercise classes. But the combined effect of central government cuts and cuts in the Council’s revenue through freezing Council Tax for around six years is likely to be severe. Years of freezing the council tax below the rate of inflation has meant a loss of revenue of about £15m a year, a sum which would have made a major dent in the £80m cuts that are now required.

Leaving aside the issue of whether the cuts are necessary on a national level considering the potential to save money from unnecessary wars and Trident nuclear weapons and to raise it by addressing tax avoidance by large corporations and wealthy individuals, at a local level Greens will be seeking transparency and dialogue as to how best to fund these services, as well as cross-party pressure on central government. That’s the sort of politics we would like to see – open and honest dialogue with residents and cross-party working so that the Council and residents together can do our best to protect services.

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Have your say on the planned Grange Park 18-day summer music festival

by Charlie Kiss

Camden Council has received an application to hold an Irish music festival in Grange Park, Kilburn, from July 26 to August 12, when the Olympic Games are being held. This would be fine and welcomed by many people in Kilburn if this was a standard weekend festival, but to have a music festival for 18 days is excessive.

It seems like a blatant attempt to make as much money as possible from visitors to London during the Games, and there has been little thought about how this will affect the lives of local residents.

Grange Park is very small and not well know outside of the local area but it is immensely enjoyed by local people. Jogging, playing tennis, children playing, relaxing; there are not many green spaces in Kilburn but this is one and it is a treasured.

To have this park inundated by up to 5,000 people will place considerable strain on such a small area. Not to mention the noise late into the night. (With a licence up to 2am on Fridays and Saturdays!)

This will affect other people living and working in other areas around Kilburn as well of course.

To have your say about the plan write to the licensing team at:
Camden Town Hall Extension
Argyle Street
London
WC1H 8EQ
or visit: http://www.camden.gov.uk/licensing
and search for ref: APP\PREMISES-NEW01117

BY 12TH MARCH!

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