Frank Dobson

Right in the heart of London, Holborn and St Pancras is comprised of nine wards from the area covered by Camden Council - Holborn & Covent Garden, Bloomsbury, Kings Cross, St Pancras & Somers Town, Regents Park, Camden Town with Primrose Hill, Haverstock, Cantelowes and Kentish Town.

Large numbers of people live in crowded streets and blocks of flats, which are spread right across the constituency, ranging from the North Terrace overlooking Regent's Park to hostels for homeless people. It includes bohemian and academic areas around Bloomsbury, the retail mecca and theatreland of Covent Garden, leafy residential streets of Primrose Hill together with the more industrial and commercial parts of Camden Town, Kentish Town, Somers Town and Kings Cross and Holborn with its many office premises. Most jobs in the area are filled by commuters.

The former railways lands around Kings Cross and St Pancras are currently undergoing a massive redevelopment with the building of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link terminus that will make Kings Cross/St Pancras the biggest transport interchange in Europe. By 2007 over 100,000 people will travel through the interchange at peak time. By 2020 it is estimated that 60 million people a year will use the interchange.

The project is a focus of regeneration for the whole area and will create many jobs both during and after the construction period. Much campaigning has been done to ensure that the redevelopment serves the needs of local people, as well as the commuters. This includes the building of the construction training centre, a joint initiative of Rail Link Engineering, P&O Developments, Argent St. George, Camden and Islington Councils, Jobcentre Plus, London Central LSC, the London Development Agency and the Construction Industry Training Board, to help local young people get the training needed to gain employment.

The nature of the redevelopment of the surplus railways land once the Channel Tunnel Project is completed is crucial to the future of the whole constituency and the people who live there.

Frank with Patricia Sharratt, Chair of the Maiden Lane Estate Management Board, as work gets under way on the estate's new play area.

Frank presenting awards to young people at the New Horizon Youth Centre, Somers Town, a project funded through the European Social Fund via the Learning and Skills Council London Central.

Frank presenting awards to pupils from local Bangladeshi families who did well in their GCSEs.

Frank with members of the Delancy Street Residents' Association who campaigned against the Crown & Goose becoming a noisy bar.