• FOR many months the CNJ has published a barrage of articles and letters about the parlous state of Camden Council’s services.

Some of the worst cases included the failure to meet fire regulations and the fire death of a council tenant, the state of many council flats with mould and damp, and the latest inhumane destruction of the tent homes and personal possessions of 12 homeless people.

In hardly any case does a councillor respond or explain. But last week some 26 did so about – guess what – the removal by Sainsbury’s Camden Town of tills with cashiers. They cite the importance of being able to speak to real people. They obviously have not tried to contact their own officers.

My recent limited personal experiences have been hanging on the phone for an hour concerning a query about a bill, waiting seven weeks to get a response from the blue badge department, and leaving unanswered voicemail messages about parking permits for an officer “working” at home.

No mention that many approaches to the council have to be done via the internet, yet an estimated 25 per cent of residents do not have full access. Frequently many councillors themselves do not answer emails.

Our local councillors were asked what they were doing about the inhumane treatment of the homeless. No response!

In many cases the only way to get responses is either through members’ enquiries or by use of the Freedom of Information Act.

As to their unctuous words about Sainsbury’s, Sainsbury’s replaced the tills because customers threatened to shop elsewhere, not because of the council.

Unfortunately residents have no such alternative in their requests for urgent repairs, blue badges, or residents’ parking permits.

For councillors it would seem that tills at Sainsbury’s are more important than the lives of tenants and the homeless.

NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED, NW5