Full Council Meeting: 4 May 2021
There was a virtual meeting of Camden Council on Monday, 4th May. As part of my accountability to residents, below are the actions I took at the meeting. As it was the Council’s annual “mayor-making” ceremonial meeting, there was – for once! – very little business involving me, but here it is: I was reappointed as Leader of the Opposition, having been re-elected unopposed as Leader of the Conservative Group (the largest opposition group). (V)
read moreFull Council Meeting: 19 April 2021
There was a virtual meeting of Camden Council on Monday, 19th April. As part of my accountability to residents, below are the actions I took at the meeting. On behalf of the Conservative Group, I paid tribute to HRH the Duke of Edinburgh after his passing. His century of service was unparalleled and unprecedented and set an example for all of us to live up to. (S)I gave my speech as Leader of the Opposition by paying tribute to Eric Gordon, the editor and proprietor of the Camden New Journal, who passed away recently after four decades at...
read moreFull Council Meeting: 1 March 2021
There was a virtual meeting of Camden Council on Monday, 1st March. As part of my accountability to residents, below are the actions I took at the meeting. I paid tribute to the late former councillor Sally Peltier. I did not know Sally, but I noted a number of similarities between her and my friend and former Belsize councillor Leila Roy, who also passed away recently. (S)A deputation was made by a group opposing increases in motorcycle parking charges. I noted that a large number of key workers needed to use motorbikes to get to work at...
read moreFull Council Meeting: 18 January 2021
There was a virtual meeting of Camden Council on Monday, 18th January. As part of my accountability to residents, below are the actions I took at the meeting. In my speech as Leader of the Opposition, I noted the coming Holocaust Memorial Day and the importance of ensuring light always banishes the dark. I went on to continue the debate on high streets that had opened the meeting by noting disappointment that Camden had not disclosed or discussed at all its proposals to bid under the Future High Streets Fund. Camden was entitled to bid for...
read moreFull Council Meeting: 23 November 2020
There was a virtual meeting of Camden Council on Monday, 23rd November. As part of my accountability to residents, below are the actions I took at the meeting. In my speech as Leader of the Opposition, in the aftermath of Remembrance Sunday, I paid tribute to those that had made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom and democracy. I furthermore expressed concern at Camden’s poor vaccination rate, which I have raised time and time again, in light of the likely coming and urgently needed roll-out of the Covid vaccine. There is only one...
read moreFull Council Meeting: 12 October 2020
There was a virtual meeting of Camden Council on Monday, 12th October. As part of my accountability to residents, below are the actions I took at the meeting. I helped businesses on Haverstock Hill to present a petition, which 95% of businesses on the hill signed, opposing Camden’s proposals to replace all parking on Haverstock Hill with cycle lanes without any consultation. I asked the deputation what the impact would be on outdoor dining and hospitality, as I believed it would be negative, not positive as the council has claimed (to...
read moreFull Council Meeting: 7 September 2020
There was a meeting of Camden Council on Monday, 7th September. As it was a virtual meeting due to coronavirus and also had to double as the council’s annual meeting (“Mayor-making”), the agenda was brief. Nonetheless, at my insistence, motions were still heard and questions taken. As part of my accountability to residents, below are the actions I took at the meeting. I was reappointed as Leader of the Opposition, having been re-elected unopposed as Leader of the Conservative Group (the largest opposition group). I abstained...
read moreFull Council Meeting: 13 July 2020
There was a meeting of Camden Council on Monday, 13th July. As it was a virtual meeting due to coronavirus, the agenda was brief. As part of my accountability to residents, below are the actions I took at the meeting. I asked the Cabinet member for Planning why Camden was sitting on the country’s largest pile of unspent payments in lieu of affordable housing and also writing off more than any other council. Camden sells off the right to demand affordable housing on site or nearby, leading to a hollowing out of communities. But it...
read moreLetter: We need more homes fit for families in the borough
The Camden New Journal has published the below letter from me regarding Camden’s failure to build family homes even in its own developments. The lack of family homes has a deleterious effect on the sustainability of schools and communities. Camden closed St Aloysius last year and plans to close Carlton next year and more in years to come – all because, as it accepts, there aren’t enough family homes being built locally. That must change, as Camden Labour’s obsession with building tiny shoebox flats is killing...
read moreFull Council Meeting: 2 March 2020
There was a meeting of Camden Council on Monday, 2nd March. As part of my accountability to residents, below are the actions I took at the meeting. I tabled an alternative budget, which among 53 different costed budget lines. As well as items from previous years, it would have been the most anti-crime budget that Camden has ever seen: putting more police on the street, opening police bases in Hampstead and Swiss Cottage, ending burglary by deploying SmartWater forensic liquid kits, and installing more CCTV. It also would have frozen core...
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