• FORMER Conservative councillor Keith Sedgwick (Why effectively shut down the DMC? Letters, March 25), who writes on the council’s decision not to attend the June meeting of Gospel Oak District Management Committee, should really consult his own colleagues currently on the council before putting pen to paper.

Yes, I did reach out to the councillors that I could and, yes, they agreed with me that the behaviour they witnessed from some of the members in the March meeting was awful.

These were experienced, senior, resident representatives elected by their peers, shouting over each other and generally not respecting the authority of the chair.

It was like parents caught misbehaving in front of their own children, this despite being warned about similar behaviour as recently as last December.

DMCs are autonomous, self-governing, committees for council tenants and leaseholders.

It follows therefore that the council’s role here is not to dictate to DMCs but to provide guidance and support for its members to collectively take responsibility for the actions of some of its members, and come up with proposals themselves, on how they are going to reassure the council (and indeed their own members), that they will moderate their behaviour.

I do not see the council’s role as being to act as an arbitrator or enforcers of sanctions on members of an independent resident group.

The director of housing management made this decision and I support an approach which asks the DMC to review how they operate so that they can deliver what feels like a comfortable place for resident reps to engage and where dignity is respected and people are heard.

In the meantime Camden Council will continue to work with our Gospel Oak tenants’ and residents’ associations to support them. And while Gospel Oak District Management Committee members use this time to contemplate how they will take responsibility, the council will temporarily not attend their meetings.

If they decide to accept it, unintrusive support and guidance is available for the DMC as well.

CLLR MERIC APAK
Cabinet Member for Better Homes