Frank Dobson MP has criticised Lib Dem / Tory run Camden Council’s decision to cut funding to UK Online centres in Camden by more than 80%.  Frank said:  “The Lib Dems running the Town Hall were cutting our local services long before Nick Clegg’s call for ‘savage cuts’.  But the words of their leader seem to have given them renewed determination in their slash and burn approach to funding in Camden.

“UK Online centres provide the neediest in Camden with much needed access to the Internet, as well as computer training and English classes.  Children and young people use them for homework support and older people use them to keep in touch with friends and relatives.  They are a vital support network for many people.  This cut will result in some of Camden’s sixteen UK Online centres closing and reduced services at others, as well as job losses across the organisation.  It also comes at a time when more and more council services are going online.

“This latest cut is part of a worrying pattern.  The Lib Dems and Tories have made cuts to advice services, including Citizens Advice Bureaus to youth funding and recycling on estates, as well as hiking prices by 20% for meals on wheels for the elderly.  What upsets me most of all is that these cuts always seem to be aimed at the poorest and most vulnerable in Camden – the most socially polarised borough in London.  Why can’t the Council spend some of the £100 million it holds in its reserves on saving this vital service?

“There will be a public meeting about the cuts to UK Online at 7pm on Monday 1^st February, which I would encourage as many people as possible to attend.  I also urge everyone to sign the petition against the cuts at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/supportcamdenukonline-stop-the-c/”

Frank has sent a message to local residents who attended last night’s meeting about progress on plans for a school south of the Euston Road:

Dear Fellow Resident,

I am sorry I cannot be present at tonight’s meeting as I would like to hear what Camden representatives have to say about the current position on the new secondary school our area so clearly needs.  The Lib Dem/Tory Council has had nearly four years to plan and build one but they haven’t done a thing.  Instead, the Council has missed a golden opportunity.  For many years no money was available for a new secondary school.  But in 2006, the Government guaranteed Camden the funds to build one.  The big question was ‘where?’  Camden has nine secondary schools.  Camden needed a tenth secondary school.  The area south of Euston Road has a tenth of Camden’s child population but no school.  The Government’s Building Schools for the Future programme presented a once-in-a-lifetime chance to provide one.  Did the Lib/Dem councillors jump at the opportunity to build the school in our area?  No, they did not.

They ignored the children of this area, ignored what parents said at public consultations and announced they would build the new secondary school in Hampstead.  When local parents in this area and I protested they said

-          that they couldn’t reconsider the decision because there was a deadline

-          that any delay would hold up investment in other Camden schools

-          that the Government wouldn’t agree to a four-form entry school

-          that there wasn’t a site for a school in this area

-          that there weren’t enough children in the area to justify a new school

None of what they said was true.  I took a delegation of local parents to meet the Schools Secretary, Ed Balls, and he made clear, and later confirmed in writing, that the Council would be allowed more time if more time was needed, that nothing need hold up the investment in other Camden schools and that a four-form entry school would be acceptable.  Then the local parents’ campaign identified the Wren Street site which the Council had ignored.  And the Council was forced to admit that the child population figures I supplied were accurate and would justify a new secondary school.

But the Council still refused to reconsider their decision and continued to ignore the needs of families south of Euston Road.  They are putting the investment into a new school in Hampstead and are trying to fob off parents in this area with the promise of expanding South Camden Community School north of Euston Road.  But there are enough children living either side of Euston Road to fill two secondary schools and the numbers will increase with new developments.  So, it’s very important tonight to find out exactly what they are now doing.  Actions speak louder than words.  If they had acted sooner, building could have started on our new school.

Yours sincerely,

Frank Dobson MP

Frank Dobson MP has welcomed the Labour Government’s Cold Weather Payments, which have helped more than 500,000 people across London towards their fuel bills.

In addition to £250 winter fuel payments for the over-60s (£400 for the over-80s) an extra cold weather payment of £25 has been made available to help pensioners heat their homes during the cold snap.

Frank said:  “In the 1980s Tory minister Edwina Curry told pensioners to ‘wear woolly hats and long johns’ in the cold weather, and in 1997 the Tories spent just £60 million a year on helping pensioners meet their fuel bills.  Labour now spends £2.7 billion a year.  These extra payments are automatic, so everyone entitled will get one and shouldn’t worry about the cost of turning up their heating.

“Labour has invested to ensure that pensioners don’t have to worry about staying warm in the winter, spending £13 billion more on pensioners than if we’d stuck to the Tory policies of 1997.  But all of this investment would be threatened under David Cameron’s ‘age of austerity’ or Nick Clegg’s ‘savage cuts’.”

Housing Minister John Healey today announced £3.6 million for 63 new council homes in Camden.  This funding is part of a £500 million national scheme to build more than 4,000 council homes across the country.

The homes, which will be built in Highgate, will all be highly energy efficient and contribute to the mixed make-up of local neighbourhoods.

Holborn & St Pancras MP, Frank Dobson, said:  “I’ve been pressing the Minister to invest in new council homes in Camden so I’m delighted with this decision.  New energy efficient homes to meet people’s needs are what we need.  It is also good for local jobs in the construction and building supplies industries, so it will help the economic recovery.  This investment is exactly what Cameron and Clegg say should be cut.”

“When I was the Labour Leader of the Council in the 1970s we bought up around 6,000 homes to ensure that people could have an affordable place to live.  But now the Lib Dems and Tories who run the Council are doing exactly the opposite and selling vacant properties to private developers.  Following today’s announcement I once again call on the Lib Dem / Tory coalition to halt the sale of council homes.  Otherwise they will be undermining Labour’s efforts to increase the number of council homes in Camden and reduce the borough’s colossal 18,000 long waiting list.  The Lib Dems seem to be more interested in playing estate agents than in looking after tenants’ needs.”

John Healy, the Minister for Housing, said:  “This year’s Government spending for affordable housing will be the largest for at least two decades.  More affordable homes for rent are needed in every part of the country.  We’re using the power of public investment to help economic growth by building the homes we need and creating jobs and skills for the future. And we must get the most for every taxpayer’s pound, so I am requiring all councils getting this government money to offer new jobs and apprenticeships to local people.

“Today’s announcement also signals a new style of council housing that adds to the mixed make-up of local neighbourhoods. Forty per cent of the homes being built will be three and four-bedroom family homes which are designed to high energy efficiency standards and will often be built alongside existing private housing.”