With the London borough elections now imminent we joined with the Highgate Society to ask all candidates to provide short statements covering:

• What you see as the main problem/s in Highgate
• What would you do about these problems?
• What positive contribution you think you could make to Highgate?
• Highgate is on the edge of your borough. Say how you will draw attention to issues particularly concerning Highgate.
• Say how you will work with the other borough on ‘cross border’ issues such as parking, traffic and signage

There was a disappointing number of replies from Haringey candidates but a heartening response from those standing in our Camden ward. The statements received are below and are listed in alphabetical order by candidate name.

Highgate Haringey Candidates

Cllr Nick da Costa, Cllr Scott Emery, Marsha Isilar-Gosling, Lib Dem candidates for Haringey (Highgate).

We are absolutely delighted to be standing as the Councillor candidates for Highgate Ward as the Liberal Democrat candidates. Firstly, we want to thank Liz Morris, Bob Hare and Paul Dennison for the amazing work that they have done as the LibDem Highgate Councillors, standing up for the residents of such a wonderful part of London.

As local councillors standing up for your residents on a range of issues is so vitally important, from ensuring that we have accessible transport, ensuring that our pavements and roads are looked after, scrapping the unnecessary garden waste tax that Haringey Labour have brought in. We want to protect the Parkland Walk, such an important asset in Highgate and will continue to challenge Haringey Labour on its wasted multimillion pound property vanity projects, instead ensure that the money is being spent on local communities.

We want to work with the community groups, like Highgate Neighbourhood Forum to ensure that the issues and concerns of residents are represented. We want to ensure that we tackle issues across Highgate and across the borough boundaries. It is vitally important that the councillors in both Highgate wards are able to work together to stand up for the residents where issues cross borough boundaries. We support the Highgate Society’s campaign on treating Highgate village as one shopping centre, so that the two boroughs can properly work together on transport and ensuring the unique high street atmosphere is preserved, and if elected we would look forward to working with the Camden Highgate councillors to make this happen.

We need to reach across the borough boundaries, and if you elect us as your councillors we look forward to working with local residents and both boroughs to ensure that together we can stand up for the residents of Highgate.

William MacDougall   Conservative Candidate for Highgate Ward, Haringey

I was previously a Council Member for the Highgate Ward in Haringey, as a Conservative, and am pleased to be standing for re-election again.  My wife and I have lived in the ward for over 25 years, and our son attended a local Haringey state school.  I’m a member of three cross-borough Highgate groups: the Highgate Society, the Friends of Parkland Walk and the Highgate Literary & Scientific Institution.

When I was a Councillor I sat on and was especially active on the Planning Committee; working closely with the Highgate Society to keep Highgate beautiful and efficient.  I was also on the Social Services Committee, and was shocked by the Council’s failures in social care.

We live near Parkland Walk, and walk it regularly, so I am especially concerned with its beauty and saving its trees. There are fewer than 10 electric charging stations across the ward; establishing more is a necessity for cleaner air.

The Labour-run Council has among the highest taxes in London, while Lib-Dem run councils also have a terrible record for high taxes; we would freeze council tax until 2026.  The Council has wasted millions of pounds on questionable property deals; these need proper investigation.  There is a great need for effective opposition on the Council, which only Conservatives can provide.

Nathan Steinberg    Conservative Candidate for Highgate Ward Haringey

I am standing as a Conservative candidate for the Highgate Ward for the first time as I would like to put something back into the local community having lived in the ward for 35 years .During this period I have seen the Labour Council, aided by the Liberal Democrats , increase Council taxes to one of the highest levels in the country. Accordingly we need Conservative members of the Council to challenge the current leadership.

As a longstanding Highgate Resident I have enjoyed living in the Ward and as such would like to ensure that its character is saved for future generations , particularly preserving the trees of Parkland Walk, a precious resource. In addition I am deeply concerned by the failure of the Labour Council or the Lib Dem opposition to address violent crime in the less affluent areas of the Borough, with a significant number of murders involving children. I believe we must take steps to protect vulnerable children from crime and as your local councillor, if elected, will address this issue across the Borough .

I qualified as an accountant in 1978 and continue to serve as a London elected member since 2007 of the Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and I believe this experience will enable me to serve the Highgate Ward as a Conservative to improve services and the general standard of life in Haringey

Highgate Camden Candidates

Panny Antoniou – Labour candidate for Highgate Ward Camden

Highgate is an incredible place to live in so many ways, but the area also suffers from a number of issues with over 20% of children in the ward living in poverty. If elected, I pledge to work on Camden Council’s SureStart program and ensuring that the Highgate Newtown Community Centre is delivered as soon as possible. Having somewhere for our children to go which is safe, keeps them off the street, and provides them with the nurturing environment they need must be our number one priority.

I have also worked extensively on environmental policy and have written a pledge on rewilding which will help form the basis of our conservation efforts across Camden.  I would also want to expand the number of parklets on the borders between our area and provide access to green space for all, regardless of what side of Highgate or what borough people are coming from.

Being on the edge of the borough, bordering Islington, and being split between two different London boroughs means it is easy for people in Highgate to fall through the cracks and not get the help they need. That is why I pledge to work with my Haringey counterparts from day one – regardless of party affiliation, I believe this cooperation is key so that we can get things done for residents.

Our community spans borders and cultures and celebrating the richness and diversity of Highgate must be at the heart of everything we do as local representatives. If elected to serve Highgate, I will bring my energy and enthusiasm to the role and ensure that no one is left behind, whatever their circumstances.

Camron Aref-Adib, Labour Party Candidate for Highgate Ward Camden

Highgate is where I was born and raised, with Highgate Newtown Community Centre and Lauderdale House providing the best memories of my childhood. I have seen first-hand the positive and far-reaching impacts councillors have on their local community with Camden Council housing my parents and older sisters in Highgate when they arrived as refugees from Iran in the mid-1980s. Now I want to serve the Highgate community that welcomed my family and gave them a home.

I am running for election because Highgate needs fighters who will stand up for residents. Diverse communities make Highgate thrive, and I am committed to ensuring higher levels of affordable housing and protecting community spaces in our ward.

I care deeply about our environment so I will prioritise a cleaner and more environmentally sustainable Highgate with more bike hires, more air quality monitors, and more electric vehicle chargers. We also need a safer Highgate. I know Highgate can feel unsafe at night, especially for women and girls, so I promise to make Highgate more liveable for everyone if elected in May.

Highgate village stands at a unique intersection between Camden and Haringey. Too often border communities are neglected, and I know this first hand as I live near the Camden-Islington border in Dartmouth Park. If elected, I will prioritise cross council collaboration so that border communities are listened to, and will ensure that policies regarding parking and traffic are never implemented in silos.

 Sian Berry – Green Party Candidate for Highgate Ward Camden

As your councillor since 2014, I have listened and brought concerns to the council on many issues affecting Highgate. I believe strongly in community-led planning and I am proud Highgate’s cross-border neighbourhood forum has brought together the two sides of the village to be a clear community voice.

At the edge of the borough, it is my job to protect local services from neglect. In my first term I worked cross-party to make budget proposals that pushed Camden to reverse plans to close or charge for our valued public toilet. More recently I met with residents about proposed cuts to buses and made detailed objections to Transport for London, helping stop the reductions.

If re-elected I’ll have a focus on mobility, making bus stops more accessible, getting better pavements and crossings on both sides of the High Street, and supporting the HNF to turn the 271 bus stand into a quality space for all residents to enjoy.

I am passionate about transparency, and Greens are fearless in our scrutiny, pushing Camden’s Labour majority to do better. With residents I have won transparent data on the Community Investment Programme developments, bottom-up action on climate change and the removal of unfair Council Tax charges on our poorest residents.

How much we can do in future depends on how many Greens we win and your votes make the difference. Your choice is a council held to account by hard-working Greens, or more Labour councillors to add to their huge majority. Green votes count.

Henry Potts LibDem Candidate for Highgate Ward Camden

Highgate has long been my home. I grew up on the Holly Lodge Estate and went to Highgate School. I now live off Swain’s Lane. I love my neighbourhood and understand that our community ties don’t stop at council borders. I work at UCL and my old office was just the other side of the Camden/Islington border, on the Whittington Hospital campus. Both professionally and as a patient/carer, I have seen the “postcode lottery” that can impact on patients at the Whittington living either side of that border.

When I first stood for election in Highgate in the early 1990s, my key campaign idea was to introduce door-to-door recycling, something the other parties dismissed as impossible. Times have changed since then! Today, I’m concerned with fixing Camden’s contract with Veolia so that we get a better service and keep recycling rates high. You can read more about the LibDems’ plans on this and other topics at https://ldcamden.nationbuilder.com/2022_manifesto

I’ve been working on COVID-19 since February 2020. I’ve seen in my research and in my own experiences how the pandemic brought communities closer together. We can carry that community spirit forward as we face other challenges. I’m not standing because I want to work my way up the political ladder. I’m not trying to lead a national party. My focus is on representing Highgate, which can be a forgotten corner of Camden in the Town Hall.

Lorna Jane Russell – Green Party Candidate for Highgate Ward Camden

Highgate is a very special and unique place. I live locally in the Holly Lodge Estate in the HNF area and I truly love the community I live in and hope to represent.

Living in a Council estate, I understand the benefits of having mixed and diverse communities and I want to ensure that our area remains this way. I have long been concerned that spiralling house prices are pushing people out of our area, including key workers and young people.

Therefore, it’s extremely important that all new developments in the area contain genuinely affordable homes at social rent levels – this is something I raised in my recent objection to the Murphy’s Yard planning application. I am proud to stand for a party that is pledging to hold developers to account, to ensure developments are co-designed with communities, and to introduce a new target that 65% of homes in large developments should be affordable.

I have been a Camden councillor the last eight years, and I am currently Deputy Mayor of Camden and a former Cabinet Advisor on a plastic free Camden. I understand the challenges of being on the edge of the borough as my current ward borders two other boroughs – if elected I would work in a non-partisan manner with councillors in Haringey, Islington, and Barnet to coordinate on cross-border issues to ensure that our corner of Camden is not neglected.

I want to continue to work hard to support local communities and ensure Camden delivers for everyone.

David Stansell – Green Party Candidate for Highgate Ward Camden

I have been involved in local community action for many years and am ready to serve as your councillor, bringing experience in engineering and project planning to help make things work better for everyone in Highgate.

I was Parliamentary candidate for Hampstead and Kilburn in 2019. I am chair of Camden Greens and vice chair of governors in a Haringey school. I am very keen to support improved cross-borough coordination.

The key issues I will work on are making sure new developments deliver for our community, improving estates with better heating, lower bills, and reducing our impact on the environment. Speaking with residents, I hear time and again about heating on estates and issues with recycling. With my engineering background, these will be my first issues to tackle.

Camden needs a new strategy to reduce waste. Lorna Jane Russell made many proposals to improve plastic recycling which the council has not taken up. I want to fix this and make waste services simple and user-friendly for all households, bringing more services in house to save money in the long term.

No matter how they vote nationally, many residents are commenting on the hard work they have seen us doing and are voting Green because this is one of the few places in Camden that can elect good opposition councillors. The Conservatives and Lib Dems are not in contention in our ward, so please consider using all three votes to elect Green representatives to serve you for the next four years.

Anna Wright – Labour Party Candidate for Highgate Ward Camden

Since my election as a Camden Labour Councillor for Highgate in 2018, I have worked hard to represent the interests of our community and have listened, responded and supported hundreds of individuals who have contacted me for help. I have secured money for local community projects, fought for increased police presence to tackle crime and ASB, challenged developers on planning applications, argued consistently for investment in social housing, youth services and education and demanded better consultation processes to ensure that the voices of local people are taken into account.

I have secured nearly £2 million emergency funding to help our voluntary and community organisations recover from Covid lockdowns, won support for an ambitious programme of eco-friendly insulation for Highgate Library and garnered a cross-party and cross-ward coalition to save Mortimer Terrace Nature Reserve.

In the Highgate Village area, the issues most frequently raised with me by residents relate to traffic and air quality, parking, support for local high street businesses and planning applications. The Highgate Village community are energetic and challenging, always full of ideas and ambition to improve the area. I listen and offer support to help realise these ambitions. For example, I have just succeeded in securing commitment from Camden’s Transport Design team to work with the Highgate community and with Haringey on proposals to redesign the 271 bus stand and intersection of South Grove/Pond Square and Highgate Hill.

I have a strong track record of getting things done and I always strive to be hardworking and responsive.