• RESIDENTS of Queen Alexandra Mansions, which has 177 flats and occupies the rectangle of Judd, Bidborough, Tonbridge, Hastings streets, just south of the Euston Road, have been waiting with interest and trepidation the opening of the new luxury hotel, The Standard, which has been converted from the annexe of Camden town hall.

The hotel is now in its opening phase and we have discovered that our recycling bins, four large and two small, which are the main vehicle for residents’ recycling (owing to the structure of Queen Alexandra Mansions which precludes the use of in-house bins) have disappeared from the corner nearest the hotel; without warning to local users and, it would appear, without warning to the group of residents who have been liaising with the developers over the past several years.

Why is this? What are we supposed to do? It would seem Camden thinks that the denizens of a luxury hotel are too posh to have a view of our bins. This is, in a way, an insult to taxpaying residents and a perverse undermining of the council’s much-vaunted support for recycling. Let’s hope that Camden puts residents’ (and voters’) needs before the delicate sensibilities of rich visitors.

META ZIMMECK
Judd Street, WC1