Letter to the Editor

• MONDAY’S meeting about the proposed drug centre south of Euston Road was the third that I have attended over the last year and each leaves me even more frustrated at this cynical pretence of consultation.
This one at least has agreed to distribute the minutes, rather than keep them secret. We all left our contact details and I will be interested to see what is, and what is not, in the minutes.
The meeting was packed. Not surprisingly nobody wants the drug centre near them.
The most ludicrous and deliberately confusing feature of their procurement strategy is to have the potential providers choose the location. The selection of the provider is then done partly on the basis of the quality of their recommended location. What we learned is that the location was given “very little weight” in the selection process.
This is absolutely damning. The one thing that residents care about is given “very little weight”.
A preferred provider has now been selected, but the team are still refusing to be clear about which locations are, and which are not, being considered.
Their current report to the Camden executive says the Gray’s Inn Road area offered the “best fit”.
And one of the few criteria for the location is that it should not be in King’s Cross. Confused? So were we.
Many other authorities operate quite successfully by taking the service to the drug addicts, in their hostels, on the streets, etc.
The team’s response was that Camden already does this.
In which case why do we need the drug centre?
John A Hartley
Address supplied