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From left: Lib Dem candidate Chris Basson, Sir Menzies
Campbell, candidate Ed Fordham, candidate Laurence Nicholson
and Lib Dem leader Cllr Keith Moffitt at the Chalcot Estate
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'Labour
has failed you,' says new Lib Dem leader Ming
Sir Menzies Campbell visits crumbling
Chalcot Estate to see ‘extent of neglect’
LIB Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell visited a crumbling council
estate on Thursday and told residents that Labour had failed
them.
In a coup for local party organisers, the recently elected Lib
Dem chief was persuaded to see conditions at the creaking Chalcot
Estate in Adelaide Road, Swiss Cottage, for himself.
The four tower blocks are widely recognised as being amongst
Camden’s worst kept estates due to its history of cockroach
infestations, leaking windows, lift breakdowns and interruptions
to gas and water supplies. During his visit, Sir Menzies saw
how paint is peeling off the wall and windows rattle in the
wind.
Repair work is only beginning this year after negotiations surrounding
a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) took seven years to complete.
Sir Menzies told the New Journal: “Here you can see the
extent of the neglect on this estate. The fact is that people
are being asked to live in conditions that they should not have
to. Look at the outside of this building, I guess you get extremes
of temperature, I guess you get wind and rain penetration.”
He attacked the Labour government’s rigid policy of withholding
the millions of pounds needed to bring homes up to national
standards. Ministers earmarked £283 million to Camden
two years ago but snatched the money back when tenants voted
against transferring control of their homes to an independent
company.
Sir Menzies told the New Journal: “Money has been held
back because people didn’t vote the way the government
wanted. There is not much democratic about that. The government
has essentially fined the people of Camden £283 million.”
He said that Lib Dems would follow choices made by tenants but
campaign directly for investment in homes. Camden members are
discussing whether it is possible to launch a judicial review
against the government’s refusal to fund repairs.
Sir Menzies said: “It’s not for me to say how it should
be done. It’s for residents to decide what it is the best
way forward. They are entitled to exercise democratic choice.
If they do that at the moment, then they get penalised by Labour.
That seems to me to be unfair.”
Two Chalcot tenants, Chris Basson and Laurence Nicholson, will
stand as Lib Dem candidates in council elections on May 4.
Mr Basson, who invited Sir Menzies into his weather-hit 20th
floor flat, said: “When you get a hard westerly wind, the
rain pours through the top of my window. We have to put a towel
across it.”
Even patch-up repairs have been delayed during the PFI negotiations.
Sir Menzies, voted as the party’s leader last month, is
visiting a series of key Lib Dem targets ahead of the elections.
In a dig at former Labour council leader Dame Jane Roberts,
he said: “There is a strong sense that Labour has let people
down. People feel that Labour has not fulfilled its promises.
When people have been in control for too long then they lack
ambition and take the electorate for granted. One or two senior
members of the Labour administration seem to have taken voluntary
early retirement which tells us something. It won’t be
easy but it’s finely balanced.”
Rival parties have dismissed Sir Menzies’ visit to Camden
as opportunist and have questioned the Lib Dems commitment to
council housing. They say that the party has not appeared interested
before.
Conservative leader Councillor Piers Wauchope said: “Sir
Menzies is the first Lib Dem politician ever to set foot inside
the Chalcot Estate. It is the Conservatives that have campaigned
for a better deal for tenants and leaseholders.”
Labour leader Councillor Raj Chada added: “We welcome the
Lib Dems to the party but it’s a bit late. We’ve been
battling for improvements for years and that why the estate
will be refurbished this year.
“We won’t let a single tenant down.” |
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