Letter: 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 moreLetter: The PM has made it possible to go Green on boilers
The Camden New Journal has published the letter below about the Government’s latest and very welcome moves to reduce emissions from gas boilers. Gas boilers are by far the largest source of CO2 emissions in Camden, and if Camden doesn’t act on boilers, it can’t be serious about climate change. I WAS really pleased to see the Prime Minister announce last week that the government is launching a successor scheme to the Renewable Heating Incentive (RHI).This means green energy schemes – such as replacing gas boilers with...
read moreLetter: We need to see the back of HS2, so here’s a question for Labour
The Camden New Journal published the following letter following up mine two weeks ago regarding HS2, and comparing Keir Starmer’s continued refusal to call for it to be cancelled even now he’s free of the party whip with Cheryl Gillan leaving the Cabinet over it. I AM surprised Cllr Heather Johnson attacked me for having the temerity to ask Sir Keir Starmer to pledge to oppose HS2, (People don’t want empty words on HS2, January 9).She says she can’t remember me opposing it, but her memory must be faulty. Before Labour first...
read moreLetter: Come on Camden Labour, join Tories in the fight to scrap HS2
The Camden New Journal published the following letter from me calling for Keir Starmer – who obviously represents the constituency most harmed by HS2 – to pledge to oppose the project if he’s elected Labour Party leader, given he is no longer constrained by collective responsibility: I was delighted to see a large number of Conservative MPs unite to re-form the HS2 Review Group in the aftermath of the general election to push for HS2 to be scrapped.I have met with almost all of these MPs and made the case against HS2 over...
read moreOp-ed: Councillors passing the buck robs kids of a great education
Below is an op-ed that I have written for the Ham & High on Camden scrapping the full council debate on education and Labour eschewing responsibility for local services: The Ham & High is a great newspaper – and very generous when asking for my views. They’ve never censored them or told me what to write. But for this piece, they told me one thing: “Don’t mention the election.” Sorry, I guess I just did – won’t happen again.“Keep to local issues, not national politics.” And I’ve got to tell you – this was music to my ears.In Camden...
read moreFull Council Meeting: 25 November 2019
There was a meeting of Camden Council on Monday, 25th November. As part of my accountability to residents, below are the actions I took at the meeting. I paid tribute to Frank Dobson, who passed away last week. Frank was the Leader of the Council from 1973 to 1975 and one of the borough’s MPs from 1979 to 2015. I recalled a story of our first meeting, when I was dragged in at short notice to debate him when a student at UCL. (A)In response to a deputation to the council by Chalcots residents about the £76m works contract for the towers,...
read moreCore services matter but Labour wants them to be discretionary
The Camden New Journal published the following letter from me in response to Labour tabling the most absurd motion I have ever seen: calling for an end to block grants from government and legal duty to use it to deliver statutory services, despite Camden receiving a larger block grant than all but two councils nationally. I am astonished and appalled that Camden’s Labour councillors are set to pass a motion demanding the government allows them to cut Camden’s core services.Currently councils are required by law to provide some core services,...
read moreCamden Council gets in the way of going green
The Ham & High has printed my letter below about the UK’s world-leading decarbonisation of its electricity supply and highlighting about two areas where Camden Council’s own policies have gotten in the way of taking advantage of that massive decarbonisation. This week, it was revealed that the UK generates more electricity from renewable electricity than from fossil fuels for the first time ever. Since the Conservatives took office in 2010, renewables have increased seven-fold to over 40% of all generation, while coal...
read moreFull Council Meeting: 7 October 2019
There was a meeting of Camden Council on Monday, 7th October. As part of my accountability to residents, below are the actions I took at the meeting. I spoke on the themed debate on the climate crisis by noting that Camden was only rated as the top Inner London borough for climate change because Hampstead Heath’s trees. Without the work of residents 153 years ago to save Hampstead Heath, Camden would actually have been fourth, not first – and I thus implored people to think of the consequences of their actions 153 years hence....
read moreNow really is the time to scrap HS2 – and everyone needs to be pulling towards that goal
I’ve been fighting to stop HS2 since it was first announced in 2009. I grew two miles from its tracks, and have seen the heart torn out of countless communities by its bulldozers. First and foremost of those communities is right here in Camden. Large parts of Euston and Regents Park have been bulldozed. Works further up the track have hurt Primrose Hill, Belsize, and Kilburn. And yet despite the decimation, the Camden Conservatives are almost alone in continuing to argue in our borough for the scheme to be scrapped. I have written to...
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