Full Council Meeting: 8 July 2019
There was a meeting of Camden Council on Monday, 8th April. As part of my accountability to residents, below are the actions I took at the meeting. I paid tribute to Martin Morton, the most recent Conservative to lead Camden Council (1970-71): noting not just his achievements as a councillor and as Leader, but the support he gave me in understanding long-term issues affecting the borough and his humble and self-effacing approach.I was not called in the themed debate on supporting and championing Camden’s LGBT community, but I wanted to...
read moreFull Council Meeting: 8 April 2019
There was a meeting of Camden Council on Monday, 8th April. As part of my accountability to residents, below are the actions I took at the meeting. In the themed debate on Health Inequalities, I raised two specific issues: regarding the incredibly low vaccination rates in Camden and (again) the incredibly low take-up rate of free school meals. A third of all children in Camden do not receive their MMR: three times as many as nationally. Meanwhile, almost half of all Camden secondary school pupils that claim free school meals don’t...
read moreCamden’s Clean Air Plan misses wood for the trees
The Camden New Journal has this week published the below letter from me about the woeful performance of Camden’s trees department. I was astonished to read the revisions to Camden’s Clean Air Plan, including the gratuitous addition of a whole page arguing that trees are bad for air quality.Yes, that’s right. Trees. Bad. For air quality.In writing this new section, Camden’s administration outsourced its entire thinking to a single study, which it then proceeded to misquote.Although it is true the study says that trees can...
read moreOliver writes ACV letter to help re-open Magdala
I’ve written a letter on behalf of the three Hampstead Town councillors to support re-listing the Magdala pub on South Hill Park as an Asset of Community Value. The pub’s listing, which I fought for alongside former councillor Tom Currie, was vital to Camden’s refusal of the application to convert the first floor to flats. The Council found that the conversion of the first floor would ‘compromise the long-term viability and future of the pub’ as a whole. As with the Old White Bear on New End, this listing was due...
read moreOliver reveals that Camden has the most empty council homes in England
New statistics show that Camden has the most empty council houses of any council in England. Its 890 empty properties is up 280 in the last year and is five times as many people as are sleeping on the borough’s streets. Under Labour, Camden Council has become a delinquent landlord: overseeing both the most empty properties and the second-most sub-standard properties of any council in the country. At the same time, Camden is going on a spending spree of using compulsory purchase orders to seize empty residential properties. The Camden...
read moreFull Council Meeting: 25 February 2019
There was a meeting of Camden Council on Monday, 25th February. As part of my accountability to residents, below are the actions I took at the meeting. I thanked Jessica Learmont-Criqui for bringing a petition about traffic in Hampstead. I further asked whether enough was being done to mitigate through-traffic, noting that paragraph 6.17 of the Neighbourhood Plan requires the Council to secure through planning obligations a reduction in through-traffic in Hampstead whenever a development attracts more. (D)I gave my speech as Leader of the...
read moreOld White Bear granted ACV renewal
I’m delighted that the Old White Bear has been re-listed as an Asset of Community Value: helping to bolster the campaign to re-open it, and making it harder to convert it to any use other than a pub for five years. The law requires assets of community value to be re-listed every five years. I spoke to a number of stakeholders and I wrote a letter in December backing the renewal of the status. Hundreds of residents also signed a petition backing it: considerably strengthening our hand. This ought to make it much harder to do anything...
read moreHampstead’s zebra crossing saved
I’m delighted that Hampstead Village’s zebra crossing – from Oriel Place to Flask Walk – has been saved. This comes after a proposal to scrap the crossing in order to make it more convenient for through traffic: a prospect that fills me and most residents with dread. I contributed to the consultation on behalf of Hampstead Town’s councillors, noting that the zebra crossing was essential to preserving Hampstead’s village feel, and was invaluable to local residents and shops alike for the very reason that it...
read moreOliver calls for stronger action against female genital mutilation
On Monday, I’m tabling a motion that would commit Camden to a zero-tolerance approach to female genital mutilation (FGM) and Unlike many council motions, this is neither partisan nor so woolly that it doesn’t mean anything. It commits the Council to looking at specific actions to make ‘zero tolerance’ into reality. I’m grateful for feedback from Labour councillors, including the relevant Cabinet member, relevant Committee chair, and the whip, who ensured the motion could get Labour’s support and reflected a...
read moreOliver highlights risk that Camden pupils become spectators of top universities
I have raised deep concern about the precipitous decline in the proportion of pupils attending top universities that come from Camden: driven, of course, by Camden’s schools falling behind other London boroughs. The Camden New Journal has highlighted my concerns. Despite being home to one Russell Group university and within metres of two more, pupils in Camden are half as likely to go to a Russell Group university as pupils in Barnet. Indeed, they’re half as likely as pupils in Newham, so it’s not because Barnet is leafy and...
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