After a campaign which has lasted more than eight years, local people will be glad to hear that Hampstead Police Station has been saved.

Last Thursday 30th July the Police Authority Sub Committee met and withdrew closure plans from all but three Boroughs. Camden is no longer facing station closures – for now.

This great news follows a hard-fought campaign by local residents and a petition by Ed Fordham which amassed nearly five thousand signatures.

Kilburn residents have welcomed the news that Khalid Sheikh, and his sons Rafi and Sami, have been jailed for sixteen years for running a London-wide DVD piracy scam.

Kilburn resident and local campaigner Ed Fordham says “This is great news for Kilburn and finally breaks the supply chain that has been plaguing our streets for years. For too long traders and shop keepers have struggled in the face of aggressive and persistent illegal trading and this is a major breakthrough.

“This illegal operation also involved the abuse of vulnerable immigrants from China for financial gain and so it’s particularly pleasing to see the scale of the jail sentences.

“This conviction comes on the back of the arrest of four of the sellers themselves following work by local police. This is good news for residents, traders, the police and of course for the film industry – pirate copying to generate cheap DVDs for street sale benefits no-one.”

A new independent assessment of the General Election has identified Ed Fordham as the local candidate best placed to beat Labour.  The report, by Insight Public Affairs goes on to tip Ed as a ‘Parliamentary Candidate to Watch’.
 

Ed Fordham has backed Camden Council’s initiative to see justice is done by expanding the Community Payback scheme for offenders. 

Under the measures, local residents are getting a say in how offenders should be punished ranging from renovating community centres to removing graffiti.

It is the latter sentence which was chosen by local residents in West Hampstead recently, who saw offenders cleaning the walls of the Lithos Passage.  

Two days before the European elections the leader of the Liberal Democrat Party, Nick Clegg MP, visited the new Hampstead & Kilburn constituency as part of his ‘Outside Westminster’ tour. He met members of the local community, consulted with their Lib Dem representatives and spoke to young activists in the area.

Local Liberal Democrat campaigners are calling for specific recognition of a local grave for two former Gurkha Officers.  Major General Henry Boisragon and Guy Huddleston Boisragon are buried in Kensal Green Cemetary just off the Harrow Road.

Cllr Carol Shaw (Brondesbury Park), Cllr Simon Green (Queen's Park) and Ed Fordham have brought the grave to the attention of Joanna Lumley and the Gurkha Justice Campaign.