The high speed rail link from London to Birmingham (HS2) has a new proposed route in London – right under Fellows Rd and the Chalcot Towers. Recently I attended a briefing and Q&A session by HS2 at the Town Hall. In case you are not aware there was a previous proposed route along King Henry’s […]

Labour-run Camden have replaced the ‘Local Area Forums’ with ‘Area Action Groups’. Aside from a new name, the only real difference is that your ward councillors receive less support in setting them up and the meetings no longer have the annual £10k budget to spend locally.

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, […]

People who live or work in Belsize Park will be pleased to hear that postal services are returning to the area. From 4th October Budgens on Haverstock Hill will be home to a 12-month trial of the ‘Post Office Essentials’ service, which provides most post office services. One great thing is that it will be […]

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 […]

Fans of the Belsize Conservation Area will be delighted to hear that a controversial application for a large and inappropriate garden house on Belsize Square was rejected by the Development Control Committee on the 24th June. It was a close vote of 6-4 against it going through, so the outcome can be put down to […]

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 […]

Fantastic news – Camden Council has won a bid to make Belsize and the surrounding area a Home Energy Efficiency Programme pilot for the whole of London. That means up to 1,000 households will each receive 10 energy and water efficiency measures installed for free. The aim is to test the concept for the whole […]

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 […]