• IT’S a lovely sunny Sunday afternoon and it is clear that many in Camden Town are following the government’s guidelines regarding staying at home.

Some, though, are not. As I type, a group of young people are partying on the towpath near the Baynes Street entrance.

Noise is a problem that residents who live adjacent to the canal towpath have every spring and summer, youngsters using it as a party space, boom box volume turned up, not giving a damn about the noise pollution for residents who, inevitably, want to open their windows on sunny days.

The Canal & River Trust seem not to give a damn either and that organisation has become one of those that knows how to say “no” rather than “yes”. It does nought to help local people enjoy their lives at home.

Indeed one gets the impression that C&RT wants the towpath to be used as a party space and for cycle speed training, so useless a body it is.

I never thought I’d write this but please bring back the quango British Waterways, for that body was less useless.

The partying youngsters – a group of four or five, perhaps – on the towpath cared not a jot for the COVID-19 guidelines and were dancing and probably having a whale of a time.

It’s a pity that C&RT does nothing to police what is tantamount to a public park. I hope the Borough Police Commander sees this letter and that his officers start to police the towpath in Camden Town.

If the towpath remains a recreation space during this pandemic, then it should be closed to the public.

LESTER MAY
Reachview Close, NW1