Time for common sense with our local high streets

Published: 18th March 2010

• JOSIE Hinton’s article (Little “love” lost as shops face closure, March 11) more than adequately sums up the abysmal state of our local high streets due to the crass lack of consideration, common sense and insight by Camden Council.
How, may I ask, can we love our local high street when we are faced with a plethora of closed-down retail units due to long-established businesses having finally to throw in the towel due to exorbitant rents, commercial rates and what appears to be virtually an embargo on parking in the vicinity with the added burden of a parking warden lurking on virtually every corner, waiting to pounce?
Last year’s “Love” banners strung from lamp standards throughout all high streets under the auspices of Camden Council were a disgraceful waste of money, ratepayers’ money, that should have been channelled into more appropriate projects. This was a local propaganda exercise. All of us who live in Camden’s catchment area know exactly where our high streets are, so do not have to be told.
We actually walk along them but obviously the council have not, as yet, clocked onto this simple local fact of life.
It should also be noted that this foolhardy and expensive folly, allegedly costing around the £100,000 mark did not penetrate any further than Camden’s boundary so in no way could this have been instrumental in attracting any visitors to Camden’s various retail areas.
The only benefit derived from this was to provide pigeons with a few hundred additional convenient high-level perches from which to sit and defecate over the pavements below them.
How very convenient for them when you consider the much-depleted number of public toilets that are still available throughout Camden for the poor suffering people who need them the most.
Hampstead is said to be one of the wealthiest areas within Camden but; even so, it has more than its fair share of silent shops; just a short walk down Heath Street from Elm Grove confirms this without adding on those in the high street and Rosslyn Hill.
Last year Camden closed their Environmental Local shop just opposite Hampstead tube station but they, not having removed their livery, have clearly demonstrated that they, too, cannot afford to continue to run it.
With the new financial year, the general and local elections rapidly approaching, will we see a turn around for the benefit of common sense and respect for ratepayers’ hard-earned money?
Personally I don’t feel too optimistic but I suppose one can hope Camden may eventually come round and show more respect for those who keep them afloat.
JOHN P GRAHAM
Holford Road, NW3