• ACROSS Highgate ward, parties have knocked on our doors, and then wrote to us to tell us they have knocked on our doors.

The fact is they can’t rub shoulders with many of the issues. To do so they would need to come across residents on a daily basis.

Where? At bus stations, meetings, booking halls, making tea, inviting council officers, discussing and kicking the issues along, as neighbours do.

There’s a difference between dropping in at local meetings and having to negotiate with a host of local issues on a weekly basis, as a way of life.

The legacy of Highgate ward is its division between a huge expanse of wealthy households, and a densely populated small area.

But now its bed-rock of stability, its housing is undermined, bringing anxiety and loneliness into our ward.

Mostly low-income, over 40 per cent of ward residents are hard-working families, living in social housing and as private tenants.

They keep our London running and they are threatened. For all our sakes, we must try to reverse the trend.

I know that most council officers and councillors are not insensitive to individual stories of abject housing exploitation.

If elected, I will keep those stories coming and contribute tried and tested solutions to local and Camden-wide social and housing policies.

CONSTANTINE BUHAYER
Independent candidate for Highgate ward