I'm delighted to tell you that the Liberal Democrats have gained another councillor in Camden - 24 year old Matt Sanders. He beat the Labour candidate in the Haverstock byelection by 160 votes. The Greens came third and - as in the Kentish Town byelection - the Tories came last.
I've been canvassing the "Belsize" bits of Haverstock quite hard in recent weeks. It felt close. Labour fought hard and dirty. But in the end the margin was bigger than I expected. Our candidate was good. We put a lot of effort into the campaign. When we were able to talk to people they listened and understood what we're trying to do.
We're selling some commercial and street properties to pay for upgrading the majority of social housing stock because the alternative is just to let it collapse into disrepair which is what Labour did. We have tried to secure value for money in Council services where Labour simply continued to tax and spend. We are putting sustainablity at the heart of everything we do rather than just putting a few tokenistic windmills on top of the Town Hall as Labour had proposed. We are putting a lot of effort into improving customer care and listening to residents.
There's always more to do but the voters of Haverstock seem to be saying that we're heading in the right direction and that's gratifying.
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