Camden's Latest Consultations (February 2020)

 

Although we are told by Camden that local groups that are registered on Cindex will be informed of consultation processes, this is not always the case, and we only hear about them through word of mouth or by clicking on the We Are Camden website.

​

Responding to consultations seems to be a full time-time job, and most people are juggling work and family commitments - so it does start to feel like a 'tick box' exercise whereby the Council and other organisations can say they've "engaged with the community". But how effectively?

 

Although there is a certain natural cynicism that this is just a ‘tick-box exercise’, and that the Council ‘never listen’, it is proven that in some consultations a well-organised group can sway the statistics. 

 

Although BRAG has concerns about the way consultations are run and assessed, residents do need to make their voices heard, and this seems to be the only way to do so.  So please keep an eye on the We Are Camden website.

​

Euston Planning Brief.  The deadline for feedback and comments is Friday 28 February.
.

Euston station is changing, with Network Rail, Crossrail 2 and Transport for London thinking about how to design the station, and HS2 preparing for construction. Camden has produced a planning brief to guide development above and around Euston station and tracks. Visit the the We Are Camden website. for details.

​

Camden Climate Action Plan. Closes 29 February 2020.

​

In the summer of 2019, Camden Council held the UK’s first Citizens’ Assembly on the climate crisis. Residents with a broad range of experiences and backgrounds, who closely reflected the demographics of the borough, came together over three days to learn about climate change and shape a new Climate Action Plan for Camden.  Visit the the We Are Camden website. for details.

​

BRAG was not alerted to this current consultation on the Action Plan (despite being on Cindex since 2016) and we have been in touch with Jackson Bylett, who is Camden's Sustainability Officer and can be contacted by email: jackson.bylett@camden.gov.uk

 

We have been told that Camden needs complete buy in across the borough to tackle the climate emergency and Jackson said he is happy to take any comments via email after the deadline and he will submit them to the consultation page himself.

 

In response to our query about the Citizens’ Assembly, we were told the recruitment process was designed to ensure that Assembly Members were reflective of Camden’s general population. "This means that we first worked out a representative profile of Camden’s population by ward, age, gender and ethnicity and asked Camden’s Community Researchers to recruit at random all across the borough. In our approach to engagement we have found that sending random letters has an impact on representatives of participation. The Community Researchers were given target numbers per ward to ensure representative borough coverage and recruited by stopping passers-by and knocking on doors. Potential participants were not able to put themselves forward for inclusion. The Community Researchers recruited more than 150 residents. Residents invited to participate in the Assembly were then selected at random but to be reflective of Camden’s demographic profile."

​

​

​