• JOHN Lawson is yet another reminder of the growing dysfunctionality of our council, (Councillors squeak when they should roar!, March 21).

Councillors have allowed to develop an officer cadre that is answerable to nobody. Back-bench councillors, when they are not scrambling for the patronage and financial rewards of a chair of a scrutiny committee, are queueing up at meetings to “congratulate” officers on their work.

This is also true of cabinet members who regularly refuse to acknowledge any faults; for example the “new” council website, and sweep as much as possible under the carpet, for example the £2.5million compensation paid to a developer for a botched tendering exercise.

What the borough needs is a strong “opposition”, not only to policies but stronger scrutiny. When officers fail to do their jobs effectively or fail to answer reasonable requests for information from councillors (never mind from ordinary residents) they should be disciplined.

Many councillors seem to prefer putting party before people. Perhaps a solution is for ward Labour (and other) parties to take a stronger role in overseeing the performance of their elected councillors, going for deselection where they are justifiable dissatisfied on this ground, not on grounds political.

I know of a small number of councillors who are prepared to take on this critical role, but unless more are the present Camden Council dysfunctionality will continue.

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