Camden Town Vision
Camden Town, at the heart of the borough, is loved by some people but many see it as a place with considerable problems to tackle, especially drugs. For this reason, residents and partners in the Local Strategic Partnership have developed a vision for Camden Town to help improve the area.
A summit meeting with ward councillors was held in November 2006 as well as detailed discussions with Camden Town Community Forum and Camden Town Unlimited.
People told us that Camden Town is a unique and exciting place with a diverse community. They also said that aggressive, visible drug dealing is spoiling residents’ quality of life and putting the success of the town centre at risk. Camden Town has a long-standing and international reputation as a cannabis drug market.
The community’s vision is of a Camden Town where drug dealing, especially visible dealing, is dramatically reduced and its unique character offers something for locals and visitors of all tastes and ages. Camden Town needs to have places where locals can shop for day-to-day needs and all types of people are attracted by high quality and wide-ranging shops.
The night time economy should be something enjoyed by people in their forties and fifties alongside younger people. When people think about Camden Town they should think about places like the Roundhouse not about street drug dealing and general seediness. Deprived communities should be sharing in the success of a thriving town centre through a range of job opportunities particularly in the service sector.
The LSP believes that to achieve this vision there needs to be clear focus on regenerating Camden Town rather than just coping with the problems. Drug dealing is clearly the top priority and will be addressed through a range of interventions:
- enforcement, including a much greater uniformed presence
- improving the state of Camden Town’s physical environment, including roads, pavements and lighting, building on the considerable investment that has already gone into the area through the “liveability” funding
- using enforcement against drug dealers and the improvements to the environment to change the area’s reputation, together with better marketing of Camden Town as a place for everyone to enjoy
Changing Camden Town to make it better without losing what is good about the place will require careful interventions. The Council and police are responding to the enforcement challenge.
There is more work to do on the physical environment and the area’s reputation. Business and residents can all make a contribution to changing Camden Town for the better.
