• I HAVE lived in London now for over 50 years, mostly in Camden borough, and I have been very happy to live and to bring up our children here.

I’ve been pleased to be in a Labour-controlled borough, which has pursued what I considered enlightened and forward-looking policies.

However, in the past few years, I have started to wonder what on Earth is going on.

Local decisions are being made without proper consultation, popular local schools closed, housing estates demolished and left desolate for years.

The latest fiasco is the closure of Grafton Road next to Queen’s Crescent Market, which is threatening the existence of the market and the livelihoods of its traders.

I have been using the market for many years, and love it. It used to be thriving, but over the years Camden have seemed intent on killing it off.

OK, they have spent a load of money putting up fancy signs, but otherwise what do they do to help? Zilch.

I, and many others, need a local street market which is lively and supplies what we need without our having to go to big supermarkets.

This market is also an important centre for the Bangladeshi community, about whom Camden seem to care little.

There is no accountability. Approaches to the council are met with silence. Consultations are a sham. One might as well be dealing with the home office.

We know we are living in an increasingly corrupt country. Boris Johnson’s regime has become corrupt through cronyism and the awarding of massive contracts without competition.

The Metropolitan Police Service have been revealed to be deeply corrupt and racist, whatever Cressida Dick says, and I am sadly coming to the conclusion that my local authority is also corrupt. What other reason can there be for their obvious failings?

I consider myself to be a quiet, respectable, and law-abiding citizen, but I am at the end of my tether.

At the age of 75 I am rapidly coming to the point of being deeply ashamed of both being British and a Camden resident. Surprised?

DEREK FARNWORTH
Oak Village, NW5