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Local councillors supported the proposals to expand Castlehaven Community Centre
After a thorough consultation with the local community, Castlehaven Community Centre in Camden Town has been granted permission to expand.
The plans will see this excellent local charity almost doubling in size, with two side extensions providing an extra hall, kitchen and offices. Once built, the revamped community centre will be able to help even more local people in the Camden Town area, which is probably why so many residents enthusiastically backed the proposal.
If you were one of those who joined me in sending in representations urging Camden Council to give the plans the go-ahead, thank you. You can take a look at what the completed development will look like here.
Camden's prestigious UCL Academy is set to go ahead
So, after a tortuous four years in which Labour grabbed every opportunity to throw a spanner in the works, the UCL Academy is set to go ahead (together with Swiss Cottage Special School and refurbishment at South Camden Community School).
As the Camden New Journal highlights today in a pretty fair article, this is another manifesto promised ticked off for the local Liberal Democrats, who promised a new secondary school with a public sector sponsor if an academy was the only way of getting one. The school will provide much needed new places in the North and South of the borough, and give all Camden pupils a great link with one of the world’s top universities.
It’s right to remember, though, those Camden schools who won’t be getting the extra cash they were hoping for and, though we don’t often delve into national politics on this blog, I think it’s important to set a few things straight on the end of the Building Schools for the Future programme.
Firstly, we all agree that schools all over the country, including Camden, are in urgent need of renovation. After thirteen years of Labour government there remains a real shortage of school places in our borough, and many school buildings are simply not up to scratch.
However, it is incumbent on politicians to offer solutions as well as to identify problems. Last year, the former Chancellor, Alistair Darling, announced that Labour would cut all capital spending by 50%, without saying where those cuts would fall. Despite this, Labour politicians continued to travel around the country posing for their local newspapers with large cheques supposedly for new school buildings. There is no way that Labour cannot have known that, by promising more money than they could afford, in the face of cuts they had already announced, they were deliberately and irresponsibly raising schools’ hopes and leaving a future government to break the bad news.
Meanwhile, the money that was allocated to Building Schools for the Future has been spent in a grossly wasteful way. Schools that wanted to receive funding for building work have had to jump through ridiculous bureaucratic hoops (four years worth, here in Camden); £1.35 million has been paid out in consultancy fees to a single individual; and £10million was shelled out on procurement processes before a single brick was laid. Those schools who achieved good results were penalised for their success and put to the back of the queue, whatever the state of their buildings. I cannot believe there is not a more fair and effective way of helping schools with their refurbishment.
This is why the new coalition government is reviewing the whole system of rebuilding schools. Fortunately, the end of the bureaucratic Building Schools for the Future programme does not mean that schools in Camden will not be refurbished under the new scheme, and we all need to work together to make their case when more details are announced.
And, whatever the disappointment elsewhere, we shouldn’t take away from the fact that the new UCL Academy will transform educational provision in the borough and help thousands of young people in Camden in doing so.
The new boxing club will be great for local young people
Two projects given planning permission last night show how decisions taken by the Liberal Democrats are set to benefit young people in Camden for many years to come.
Firstly, the Talacre Boxing Club is set to be fully rebuilt, with much needed new housing above. This is something that Jill Fraser has pushed on for years, and was steered through by my colleague Ralph Scott when Liberal Democrats led the Council. Together with Kentish Town Baths, another achievement that we can be proud of, and the ongoing success of the Talacre Sports Centre, the new boxing club will provide an answer to the much repeated moan “there isn’t anything to do around here”. There is, and there will soon be even more.
Also, the UCL Academy, a partnership between Camden Council and a first class local university, was granted planning permission and is now just waiting for government money to be approved. The Academy was a key manifesto commitment for the Liberal Democrats in 2006 and, although slowed down by national Labour’s painful bureaucratic hoops and local Labour’s delaying tatics and sabotage attempts, it now looks well on the way to becoming a reality.
Good news for all those who care about Camden’s young people, both at school and out of school.
UPDATE: The government has now confirmed that building projects at the UCL Academy, Swiss Cottage Special School and South Camden Community School will go ahead. Read what Camden Lib Dem Leader Keith Moffitt has to say here.
Jill, Matt and Rahel are defending local sports facilities
It’s vital that we protect sports and leisure facilities, particularly those aimed at young people, so we are delighted that Liberal Democrats on the council were able to secure a make over for the Boxing Club on Talacre Road.
A planning application has now been submitted to demolish the existing club building and replace it with a brand new club house with flats above.
You can look at the plans online, here, and if you want to make any comments you have until 29th June 2010 to submit them online, here.
Matt celebrates Castlehaven's lottery award last year
I’m delighted to learn that Camden Council has just announced £65,000 for Castlehaven Community Centre, which serves people in the Camden Town area.
One of the most rewarding parts of my role as a Councillor is getting to work with the great team at Castlehaven, which is often held up in the national press of an example of what a modern day youth and community centre should be. Young people in this area have phenomenal attitude and potential, and it’s places like Castlehaven that give them the time and space to be themselves and to get to grips with what the world has to offer.
The capital grant will allow Castlehaven to re-plaster and paint their internal walls, adapt an area in the main hall for cookery classes, and to buy new tables and chairs.
Liberal Democrat councillor Janet Grauberg, who is responsible for Camden’s youth services said “Liberal Democrats believe that every child and young person deserves a fair start in life. That’s why we were determined to find the extra £1million pounds in last year’s budget to improve youth services across Camden. Projects like this one are really making a difference to young people in this area and I’m so pleased that they have now got this extra funding.”
Castlehaven Community Centre, which does great work in the local area with both young and older people, has been awarded £350,000 from the National Lottery Fund. The money, which is richly deserved and a real tribute to the hard work of all the staff and volunteers, will guarantee the HELPS programme for older people for another few years.
They also put on a great barbecue and today was the perfect weather for it!
There was a great atmosphere at the child poverty march through London this morning, with a huge number of groups, organisations and individuals coming together to demand action against child poverty.
It is depressing just how far we still have to go. In Camden, one of the biggest things that traps children in poverty is their housing situation, with too many properties just falling apart. I’m pleased the Liberal Democrats have finally come up with a plan to invest in local housing, and many residents in my ward will soon be seeing the benefits of new kitchens, bathrooms, windows and wiring as a direct result. But we need more homes, too, and that means the government has to stump up the cash.
If a child doesn’t have a decent home, they have no where to do their homework, no where to play with friends and their health will probably suffer too. I often hear heart wrenching stories of families arguing and falling apart simply due to the pressures of living on top of one another. If we want to end child poverty we could start by tackling the housing crisis.
