ABOUT CAMDEN ASSOCIATION of STREET PROPERTIES (CASP)

Association for Tenants and Leaseholders, serviced by Camden Council. Group linking residents of  London Borough of Camden (LBC) street properties, to discuss common aims and concerns. This covers issues like repairs, capital works, housing management, etc, and works toward policy and procedural change via Camden Council. Committee meets monthly and communicates with residents through  borough-wide meetings and newsletters.

The CASP Management Committee is democratically elected annually at an Annual General Meeting which every LBC street property tenant and resident is invited to attend in order to hear the Chair’s report, receive a statement of accounts (CASP’s budget is held in-house – not grant aided - and its accounts are prepared by Camden Council) and vote in a new committee.

The Committee (made up of volunteers) has organised a number of public meetings where the following items have been discussed. Housing Management (including the introduction of the new tenancy conditions) Camden’s Housing Management Improvement Plan, Rents and Service charges, Camden’s Housing Strategy (including the sell-offs), Anti-Social Behaviour (including Camden’s Review of Anti-Social Behaviour), Capital Works, Repairs to Camden Council street properties and Camden’s tenant participation strategy as well as a number of other issues affecting Camden Council street properties.

Membership of the Association is open to all 6500 LBC street properties in the borough, however, due to cost implications, CASP proposed at its AGM in 2006 (details were sent to every LBC street property tenant in Camden and a vote was taken at the meeting), and members agreed, the idea of introducing a free membership, much like the type adopted by some TA's. Meetings would continue to be advertised in the same way (CASP website, local press, etc) but flyers, updates, etc, would only be sent to those tenants who registered as formal members of CASP. However, CASP felt it was essential that one quality mailout per year is sent to all LBC street properties in order to keep all tenants informed about the work of the Association and to give all members a further opportunity to register as formal members of the Association. It was also agreed that the number of CASP general meetings per year would be reduced from three to one, including the Annual General meeting - if you would like a formal membership form, please contact the Association - CASP already has almost 400 registered members (households) throughout the London Borough of Camden!

Since July 2005 a CASP Management Committee sub-group was involved in developing a formal Compact with Camden Council. The Compact is not a legal document but it does provide an additional tool for CASP to use to ensure that tenants and residents are properly represented. Discussions around the development of the Compact have been guided by issues and concerns raised directly by Camden Council street property tenants and residents - one of the main aims of the Compact is to ensure that CASP is provided with the right level of support by Camden Council to enable it to function as an Association by meeting its day-to-day needs, and to involve LBC street property tenants and residents in the decision-making process regarding the management , maintenance and future funding of Camden Council street properties.

After numerous drafts (and many, many disagreements!) including much input from Camden's legal team, the final draft document has now been signed by CASP, Camden's Executive Members for Housing and Community Safety. The document was also signed by Camden's Director of Housing and Camden's Head of Community Safety.

As well as producing a Compact document, which includes a general Action Plan, the Committee has also agreed an Annual Action Plan / list of priorities for 2008/9 in order to help guide the work of the Association -  please see Annual Action Plan / list of priorities 2008/9.

The Association has also initiated the idea of holding a pre-meeting housing surgery (attended by Camden’s housing / repairs staff) so that members who are unavailable during the day can attend a surgery and discuss any housing matters in confidence with a Camden Council officer.

Much of CASP's work since its re-launch in October 2004 has been to try and put in place a workable structure in which to progress the work of the Association and to raise the profile of Camden Council street properties and the issues affecting these propertties - the enormity of the task involved in building an organisation from scratch can be understood when one considers that some housing committees have been in existence for over 30 years! CASP has also faced the additional challenge of being a borough-wide Association, which was set up to represent the interests of tenants and residents who reside in Camden's scattered street properties, as many of these properties are not represented by traditional TRA's. Historically, this has meant that many tenants and leaseholders living in these properties have not been afforded an equal opportunity in having a say on issues that affect their housing and communities.

Since March 2009, and after much discussion, CASP has been formally registered as voting members on Kentish Town, Gospel Oak, Holborn and Hampstead District Management Committees (DMC's) - Camden Council's main consultative housing forums for council tenants - and it is crucial that the Association does everything possible to raise the profile of issues affecting our members - see 'District News' and 'Participation' for more details!

In response to concerns raised by council street property tenants and residents about the lack of opportunity to get involved in walkabouts in their districts in order to raise issues of local concern, the CASP Committee have drawn up and agreed a workable CASP walkabout model and actively encourages any council street property tenant or resident to contact the Association if they would like help and support in organising a walkabout in their district (Camden Town, Holborn, Gospel Oak, Hampstead or Kentish Town)

Formal membership of the Association also means that invites on CASP walkabouts and to CASP District meetings will automatically be sent out to registered members - this means that we can manage our limited resources more effectively!  

The CASP Committee is also in the process of setting up a formal Editorial and Publicity sub-group (as well as two other CASP sub-groups) to help aid the work of the Association and help highlight issues that are important to our members. Work will also commence shortly on producing the next CASP newsletter and we would very much like to hear from Camden Council street property tenants and residents who would like to submit an article on the subject of Camden Council street properties.

The CASP Committee can be contacted at camdenstreetproperties@yahoo.co.uk (Please note: e-mails to this address are accessed by the CASP Committee). Alternatively, contact Dawn Aldred  (Camden’s Tenant Participation Manager) on 0207 974-2377 and ask for your details to be forwarded to CASP.