Regents Park

Meet your 2010 Regents Park Ward Candidates...

Councillor
Nasim Ali

Councillor Nasim Ali (Nash) is leader of the Labour Group. He has been ward councillor for Regents Park since May 2002.

Nash is the executive director of the King’s Cross Brunswick Neighbourhood Association where he has recently completed the highly successful refurbishment of the Marchmont Community Centre.

Nash was born in Sylhet, Bangladesh and came to the UK aged 7. He grew up on the Regen'ts Park Estate where he has been active in the local community over the past 25 years. His early initiatives included the Camden Monitoring Group (1989) to combat racial harassment and the Camden United Poject (1994) to unite young people through their common interest in football diverting them away from racism, crime and conflict. Nash received one of the first Camden Good Citizen Awards.

Nash was appointed Mayor of Camden at the age of 34 (2003/4) when he was the youngest Mayor in the country. Nash achieved a number of firsts in Camden: the youngest ever Mayor; the first Bangladeshi Mayor; the first Muslim Mayor; the first Bangladeshi Executive Member and the first Bangladeshi Leader of the Labour Group . Nash saw his role as reaching out to all sections of the community to ensure that the political process was understood by all and worked well for everyone.

Nash is a member of the West Euston Partnership and chairs the Planning Working Group. He has sought to secure the maximum planning gain for community facilities in the ward, including the refurbishment of the Samuel Lithgow Youth Club, development of a community theatre and new premises for the West Euston Partnership.

Nash is the Chair of the Healthy Families Partnership at King’s Cross and on the Executive Board of the Community Empowerment Network. Nash also chairs the Camden Bangladesh Mela Committee. In 2009, the Camden Bangladesh Mela was celebrated at both the British Museum and in Regents Park. These were opportunities for all members of the community to value Bangladesh’s rich heritage.

Nash was also an advisor to the Metropolitan Police and a Governor for Westminster Kingsway College.

Nash works with the British High Commissioner in Bangladesh to promote the interests of Bangladeshis who live in Camden or who wish to visit the UK. In 2007, Nash arranged a reception for Professor Yunus to celebrate his award of the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in establishing micro-banking, a model which started in Bangladesh and which has spread throughout the developing world.

Nash attended the Netley Primary School, the South Camden Community School and the YMCA William’s College. He has been a governor of all these bodies. Nash was one of the first Asian students to seek a BA Informal and Community Education and has acted as a mentor to those following his example.

Nash is married and has three young children.

Email nasim.ali@camden.gov.uk

Councillor
Heather Johnson

Heather was first elected to Camden Council in 1994 and has represented Regents Park Ward since 2002.  She has lived in the West Hampstead/Kilburn area virtually all her life and was educated at Camden schools, consequently she identifies very closely with the borough.

During her time on the Council, Heather spent a long time as Vice Chair of the Housing Committee, has chaired Planning and Licensing Committees along with the HIV/AIDS liaison group.  In 2000/2001 she had a very successful year serving as Mayor of Camden, particularly auspicious as it was the Year of the Dragon - the year in which she was born! She is currently chairing Children, Schools and Families Scrutiny Committee.

Having initially worked in medical research, Heather moved into housing policy and law, representing and campaigning on behalf of private tenants in particular.  She currently manages a Law Centre project developing a community advice network.

Heather is an active board member of West Euston Partnership, the local regeneration partnership, and chairs the management committee of the Third Age Project, which provides services for older residents in the area.  She helped develop, and now serves on the board of, a Healthy Community Partnership, which was successful in obtaining Lottery funding to build the H-pod, and other health related community projects.

In her limited free time, Heather enjoys choral singing and going to the theatre, so she is happy to represent Camden Council on the board of Hampstead Theatre.

Email    heather.johnson@camden.gov.uk

Tulip Siddiq

Born in Surrey, Tulip spent her childhood in various parts of the world, including Brunei, Singapore, India and Bangladesh, and settled in North London at nine years old. She is currently working as a caseworker for a Labour MP and doing a second Master’s in Government, Policy and Politics part-time. Tulip has worked for the Labour Party since she was 17.

Under the Labour Government, representation of women in politics has increased, but there is still a lot of room for improvement. The latest statistics from the Equal Opportunities Commission show that women make up only 20% of MPs and 15% of council leaders. As Women’s Officer for London Young Labour she works hard to increase these figures.

She is the national BAME Officer for Young Labour and a member of the Camden Bangladesh Mela Committee. She is also a Governor at Beckford Primary School and on the executive board of her trade union - Unite: T&G section.