• INTERESTING to see Richard Olszewski ushered in as new leader of Camden Council.

It was with Olszewski – and Danny Beales now MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip – that Nick Harding (labelled “vexatious” by Camden, but in reality indefatigable) and I had an hour Zoom call in October 2020.

Nick, in particular, had been hammering away at Camden Council over a dozen years for failing to collect £3million-plus in “overage” from the appalling Talacre development.

This was a debt owed to the people of Camden, but which – according to Olszewski and Beales. – could not be collected from the developers because the contract, drawn up by council officers, was “unenforceable”.

The Zoom meeting elicited an apology, but despite Harding’s arguments for negotiating a settlement, Olszewski and Beales said their legal advice was that nothing more could be done and the debt was written off.

They were unable to provide us with the questions asked of the legal experts (let alone the answers) but promised to get back with a written response.

Despite subsequent pressure, nothing was ever received; as Harding said at the time, “This is embarrassing for Camden and I don’t think we will ever get a proper reply.”

Of course, this scenario (of not replying on difficult matters) will be unsurprising to many Camden residents.

Not only did Olszewski fail to reply as he had promised to do after the Zoom call, but the council also failed to supply information about the collection of “overage” from other developments in Camden, despite Harding’s Freedom of Information request.

I do hope we can all look forward to a period when the public interest is better served by our new council leader.

BRIAN LAKE, NW1