• THE leader of Camden Council, writing in your newspaper, tells us how serious the situation is right now. Just so.

Particularly for the large number of elderly, disabled and medically vulnerable residents of the borough, who have found the use of the streets where they live suddenly and radically changed, streets which in many cases have functioned in the same way for decades.

Camden residents, as they cope with Covid-19, have been subject to a barrage of proposals, experimental or otherwise.

One thing is certain, nobody is in a position to know what our situation will be in a year’s time.

If the council’s commitment to safeguarding the mental health of its residents is more than an empty gesture, it should show it by imposing an immediate moratorium on the implementation of any further traffic plans.

There will be an opportunity to take stock in the light of the, as yet unknown, conditions that will apply when the Covid crisis is at an end.

Some of the changes may be improvements, some not. But what should not be in dispute is that we do not need yet more of them now, and the question of the availability of funds from other bodies cannot be regarded as a determining factor in a council properly focused on the welfare of its residents.

Continuing to implement changes in the shadow of the Covid-19 emergency will further weaken relations between the council and the people. It is time to call a halt.

EDWARD GALLAFENT,
NW1