• ONCE again Labour regeneration chief Danny Beales has been reacting with indignation on Twitter to Green Party councillor Sian Berry’s scrutiny of Camden’s record on building council homes.

Cllr Beales calls this scrutiny “opposing” new council homes, when what the Green Party has actually been doing is our job as a proper opposition in a democracy, making public the true facts on the Labour administration’s record and suggesting ways it could do things better.

In the case of Camden’s Community Investment Programme – in which residents on a number of estates face having their homes demolished – that’s really important.

Camden Greens have consistently asked questions and suggested practical, budgeted, ways Camden could use its CIP to build more new council homes.

These ideas include using the £36million surplus the council is expecting across its various developments to create more council homes in these schemes.

Why are we seeing only a handful of net new council homes at Agar Grove, for example, in return for nearly a decade of work and the demolition of over 200 homes?

Cllr Berry worked with local campaigners to get the facts and build a website so that residents could see for themselves – cipchallenge.org.uk – which also details ideas for building more new council homes in Camden.

Rather than listening to our suggestions, what we’re seeing from Cllr Beales is a touchy sensitivity around scrutiny typical of “one-party-state” Labour councils with big majorities across London.

It’s exactly why we need effective Green opposition to keep Labour honest after the upcoming elections on May 3.

JOHN HOLMES
Green Party candidate for Highgate ward