Dear Supporters

Please find below a copy of the letter we have sent to CNJ which summarises Camden's response to the petition - they do not want to ban barbecues.
 
We presented our petition to Camden’s Culture and Environment Committee on 14th July, recommending a permanent ban on barbecues at Waterlow Park. It was to no avail, but the evening was an interesting one, as the item before ours on the agenda also addressed air quality.
 
We sat patiently for over an hour before our presentation, listening as the committee discussed the ban on cars during drop-off and pick-up at private schools in Hampstead. During introductions we were told that children who travel to the private schools in Hampstead come from further afield, rather than from a local catchment area as they do in state schools, which means their parents are more likely to drive.
 
A local representative explained that the lack of local transport links would mean that many children who currently get driven would be forced not just to travel to school by tube, but also to walk along major roads. Rather than reduce their exposure to pollution, as intended by the Healthy School Streets initiative, representatives explained the policy could do the exact opposite and expose them to increased pollution.
 
The committee, made up of local Councillors, seemed unmoved by the plight of private primary and secondary school children breathing in more pollution as they trudged along the Finchley Road and up Frognal, and voted to implement the proposals.
 
This decision - to impose a clean air policy at any cost - gave us hope that our petition would be supported. One committee member noted at the start of the discussion that Waitrose was no longer selling disposable charcoal barbecues because they significantly worsen air quality, and officers noted that every other borough in London had banned the burning of charcoal due to its highly pollutant emissions. We assumed the committee would naturally recommend a permanent ban on charcoal barbecues in Waterlow Park. We were wrong.
 
Instead of supporting our efforts to improve air quality, we were demonised. We were told that our petition was not truly representative of local feeling, as there were relatively few Camden postcodes amongst the signatories, despite over two thirds (1033 of a total of 1435 signatures) having been submitted with a Camden, or Camden border, postcode. We were told that our focus on the Park’s governance was “undemocratic” and that our proposal to ban the burning of charcoal “discriminated” against families without gardens.
 
Alternatives that could prevent pollution altogether, such as picnics, which would not undermine Camden’s notion of Waterlow Park as a ‘garden for the gardenless’ were never discussed - neither was the impact of barbecues on the environment. 
 
Camden will remain the only borough in London that has not banned the use of charcoal barbecues in its public green spaces.
 
In the end, it’s difficult to understand why Camden Council will not support our good faith appeal for social justice through clean air for all. Instead, they apply one set of rules to one polluter and a different set to another, and insist on using the language of inclusion to discredit us for expecting parity. I am left asking "Why is Camden so willing to be seen to invest time and money in reducing pollution on Hampstead’s streets, yet refuses to even discuss low-cost changes that could significantly reduce harmful pollution in its parks?"
 
Is it that one family’s freedom to choose is more important to Camden Councillors than another family? Or is it perhaps that when it comes to public health, the development of some children’s brains is more important to them than others? Either way, someone please make it make sense because frankly, it makes no sense to us at all.