Cllr Sarah Hayward was elected as the new leader of the Camden Labour Group at last night’s annual general meeting. Sarah will take up the post of Cllr Nasim Ali, who recently decided to stand down. The Labour Group will propose Sarah as the Leader of Camden Council at the next council meeting on Wednesday 16 May.  Cllr Pat Callaghan was elected as Deputy Leader.

The Labour Group also agreed new Cabinet nominees.  They are:

Cllr Nasim Ali

Cllr Theo Blackwell

Cllr Julian Fulbrook

Cllr Pat Callaghan

Cllr Abdul Hai

Cllr Tulip Siddiq

Cllr Phil Jones

Cllr Angela Mason

Cllr Valerie Leach

Cabinet portfolios will now be discussed and then formally allocated after the next council meeting.

Camden Labour have secured a victory for local residents as the government have accepted one of the party’s key demands in the campaign against High Speed 2.  It has been revealed that the government is now in the process of buying the National Temperance Hospital site in Euston in the expectation it will be used for new homes for those forced to move if HS2 goes ahead.

“We remain opposed to HS2. There is still a very long list of very negative impacts that Government must act to mitigate. But this early victory for Camden’s Labour administration on behalf of our residents is significant.”

A further boost to the Camden Labour campaign also occurred this week as Labour’s Mayoral candidate, Ken Livingstone, and London Assembly candidate for Camden, Andrew Dismore, visited residents and businesses in the area most heavily impacted by HS2.  The Labour candidates are pledging to do all they can to get HS2 rerouted to stop Camden homes being demolished.

Meet Camden Labour activists at 6pm on Wednesday 18 April at Chalk Farm tube (Northern Line) for campaigning for the elections on 3 May.

As well as our Mayoral candidate, Ken Livingstone, we will be supporting Lazzaro Pietragnoli, Labour candidate in the Camden Town with Primrose Hill by-election, and also heading to the key ward of Haverstock for the London Assembly race to help Labour’s Andrew Dismore unseat Tory Brian Coleman.

All Labour members who attend the campaigning will be invited to a private drinks and discussion event later the same evening with David Miliband MP. Cash bar.

To register, please send your name, phone number and CLP to camdenlabour2012@gmail.com.

Camden council has announced a legal challenge to the Secretary of State for Transport over flawed proposals for the High Speed 2 rail project, which will devastate the borough.

In a letter published in the Camden New Journal, Lazzaro Pietragnoli, Labour candidate for the Camden Town with Primrose Hill by-election (pictured below), said:

“Although there is nothing corrupt in the series of private talks between senior representatives of the government (including the Prime Minister) and bosses of HS2 developers, Arup Ltd (New Journal, March 29); they do offer a pretty damning contrast to the attitude so far shown to local residents in Camden concerned about these plans.

These plans will devastate our borough.  When local people, including in my own area of Primrose Hill, tried to raise concerns about the social, economic and environmental impact of the project, what did they get as a response? Not an invitation to supper at Number 10, but a dearth of information plus a series of poorly organised forums that the press and some members of the public were apparently banned from attending.  This is unacceptable.  These concerns are not matter of party allegiance, as demonstrated very well by the unusual alliance between 15 local councils, many of them run by the Conservatives, that are challenging the government in court. Camden is among them and is rightly defending the interests of its residents.

Hundreds of homes, many local streets, small businesses and even a school will be destroyed if the project goes ahead as it is at the moment. We do not want simply to tinker around the edges; we want the project to be at the very least fundamentally revised and we want our local representatives to have a formal say on it.  Most of all, we want the Government to listen to the people on whom the project will be imposed and not only the companies that stand to profit.”

Published and promoted by P Jones on behalf of Lazzaro Pietragnoli and Camden Labour Party, all at 110 Gloucester Avenue, London NW1 8HX

The Camden Labour Party have selected Lazzaro Pietragnoli as their candidate for the forthcoming Camden Town with Primrose Hill by-election on 3 May.

Lazzaro Pietragnoli first moved to Primrose Hill in 2004 and currently lives in the heart of the area with his wife and four year old son. He works as a journalist for a range of British and international publications and has been a key activist on the campaign to save Chalk Farm library.

Lazzaro said, “I’m really looking forward to meeting more of my neighbours in this by-election campaign. I’ve already been out and about talking to people in both Camden Town and Primrose Hill and they are concerned about the recent cutbacks to our police support officers, the threat of High Speed 2 to our area, and how we can best protect local services from government cuts.”

For several months Lazzaro has worked with other local people on the Chalk Farm library steering committee. The group ensured that a credible bid was proposed to the council to guarantee the library’s financial sustainability through the generous support of local donors. Lazzaro remains involved to make sure the library is preserved under a new community management model that the council has introduced.

Lazzaro added, “Both Camden Town and Primrose Hill are unique areas and I love living in such a special place. I am proud of our lively diversity, our social cohesion and our beautiful open spaces. However we cannot take any of them for granted in such difficult times so I am determined to stand up for local residents against the threats we face.”

“Having been involved in various activities for the local community, and in particular working with other local people this past year to help save Chalk Farm library from closure proved to me that we can achieve a lot when we get together and fight to protect the things we care about. This is the approach that I would take if I was elected as local councillor and the basis on which I will ask local people for their support.”

Published and promoted by Phil Jones on behalf of Camden Labour all at 110 Gloucester Avenue, London, NW1 8HX.