Great news for children due to start school next year – Belsize Primary School is on track to open in September 2013. Local Lib Dem Councillor Tom Simon has been working closely with the parents and campaigners behind the school and helped them get approval from the Government earlier this year. This school will mean […]

Labour-run Camden Council has rejected a motion to guarantee that none of our libraries will be closed, claiming this would be pre-judging the results of its consultation. The motion was the subject of an Extraordinary Meeting of the Council that had been called by the Liberal Democrats in order to allow a proper debate and […]

Camden Council’s library consultation has been launched. The consultation document should be available in libraries and community centres across Camden. It is also available online here. Along with other budgets, the library budget in Camden is being cut. Critics have attacked the consultation as lacking imagination and being front-loaded on the assumption that the library […]

Show your support for Belsize library on 5th February. Come and take part! With many of our local libraries under threat of closure by Camden it is crucial that the community shows how much it values this wonderful asset. Please come along and join in. All ages are welcome. The library opens at 10am and […]

Labour-run Camden’s new Community Investment Programme includes nothing to help with the shortage of primary school places in the Belsize/NW3 area. This is despite there being an acute shortage of places in reception classes, which is set to get worse over the next few years, due to a rise in birth rates.

The much-loved library on Antrim Grove may be closed   Belsize Library on Antrim Grove is under serious threat of closure by Camden’s Labour administration, despite it having 50,000 visitors a year. This would be a huge blow to the many residents. The library is popular across age ranges, being particularly valued by the elderly, […]

Great news for Camden parents and children in both the north and the south of the borough. The coalition government has announced that three key schools projects are going to go ahead – the UCL sponsored academy on Adelaide Road, the rebuild of South Camden Community School and the rebuild of the outstanding Swiss Cottage […]

Camden is set to receive £1 million from the government to pay for additional primary school places. In May this year over 140 Camden children were without an offer of a place in a reception class, and Belsize was particularly badly affected.   This funding is a tribute to the amazing campaign waged by parents […]

Good news at last on primary school places. Following a suggestion from a Belsize parent, Camden Council has secured the use of classrooms for up to 90 children at the Hampstead Hill School site in Courthope Road in Gospel Oak. It’s not ideal – Courthope Road is too far to the east – but it’s […]

The public meeting on 14th May was very well attended. Parents made it very clear to the education department how serious the problem is and just how stressed, frustrated and angry they are about the lack of primary school places in the area.  Andrew Mennear, the executive member for education, and his department were unable […]