• CAMDEN’S communities have faced unprecedented challenges over the last two years, with the Covid-19 pandemic having had a devastating social and economic impact on our residents, businesses, and voluntary sector.

This inevitably served to exacerbate the existing challenges they are already facing, following more than a decade of government cuts and now the prospect of a rising cost of living crisis.

In the face of this adversity, we have been impressed that our communities have all remained resilient and strong, but we know that they need our support more than ever.

We were therefore pleased to present our first Green Budget amendment together at this week’s council meeting, focusing on four simple yet impactful changes that would have brought the following benefits to our communities:

• Empowering residents to have a greater say over the future of their own neighbourhoods through a new £100,000 Resident Empowerment Fund

• Supporting the recovery of our voluntary sector through additional transitions funding

• Keeping the Council accountable and saving revenue in the long term by bringing more services in-house

• Making our streets healthier and greener by raising the diesel surcharge to fund 200 new cycle hangars and 60 new fast charge electric vehicle charging points during the coming year.

Taking the Resident Empowerment Fund first, we strongly believe that in order to transform our communities and housing for the better, development projects must have the support and buy-in from local communities and residents from the outset.

This should particularly be the case with the Council’s own Community Investment Programme (CIP), though we have strong concerns about the top-down model used for this programme.

We therefore proposed this new fund to enable residents and groups affected by large developments to access independent expert support to assess the impact of these plans or develop alternatives.

In addition to this, Camden Council is currently spending around £1billion on outsourcing its services to private contractors, yet we are concerned that it is not securing best value for money nor providing the best services to meet residents’ needs.

Our Budget amendment therefore recommended that Camden takes steps to move towards an in-house first model, reviewing all outsourced contracts during this financial year.

We have indicatively estimated that bringing just three contracts in-house – relating to housing repairs and parking enforcement – could save Camden £4 million a year in the longer term.

While we are disappointed that our proposals were not approved by councillors on Monday, we hope to have a strong standing in the May elections so that we can continue to put forward positive policies designed to transform our communities and services for the better.

CLLR SIAN BERRY
CLLR LORNA JANE RUSSELL
Leader and deputy Leader of Camden Green Group