Ken Livingstone's much vaunted plan to turn London into a 24-hour city takes a step closer to becoming reality as Camden Council announces plans to designate three areas within the borough as suitable for 24-hour drinking and dancing - Camden Town, Finchley Road & Kilburn Road. But is it a good idea or not ?... We want to know what you think.

Camden Council's arguement is that if they restict late night activities to defined areas, they can make sure it is properly regulated and policed, enabling them to balance the needs of local residents, local licensees and people who want to go out. Clubs, cinemas and clubs are to be included in the scheme.

Some residents are saying that the 'Night in - night out' scheme will actually lead to an increase in the anti-social behaviour including drug dealing which already takes place in these areas. The council say in response that the police say that there is no link between crack and heroin dealing being associated with licensed premises and that the scheme will actually allow them to bring in measures to better control crime such as better lighting, crime prevention activities etc.

What do you think? Will the scheme have the positive effect of increasing the night time economy of the local area, or will it lead to an increase in anti-social behaviour?

Is this a sensible policy bringing London's nightlife into line with other European cities or the thin end of a wedge that will lead to increasing problems for Camden residents?

Are you a local resident who has something to say? We'd love to hear from you.

Log onto our Message Board discussion.

Join celebrities including Michael Palin, Bill Oddie and Esther Rantzen for Camden's Car Free Day on Sunday 22 September.

Car Free Day will see four kilometres of streets in Camden closed to traffic from Endsleigh Place to New Oxford Street.

Former Monty Python star Michael Palin will open the day's event at 11am, while ex-Goodie and birdwatcher Bill Oddie will be reading at a Teddy Bear's picnic, just one event at the fun-packed day. And That's Life and children's charity supporter Esther Rantzen will host the grand finale from 4.40pm - a parade of giant puppets organised by Rise Phoenix, an arts and theatre group.

Esther is also there to support fundraising activities for local charities, such as The Camden Mayor's Charity, Coram Family and Great Ormond Street Hospital which is celebrating its150th anniversary.

Other activities include a concert on a huge outdoor stage, a Victorian fair, market with foods from around the world, horse-drawn bus, free skating lessons and a skate competition. The British Museum will be offering two-for-one tickets to the Queen of Sheba exhibition, as well as classical and theatrical and martial arts performances on its forecourt. There will be a 'green highway' offering demonstrations of low-pollution transport, such as rickshaws, electric and horse-drawn vehicles.

Camden's Executive Member for the Environment, Cllr John Thane, said: 'This event is getting even bigger and better by the hour. We want people to enjoy entertainments on the streets without the usual dangers of traffic noise and fumes.'

The event is free and open to all.

More details can be found at: www.camden.gov.uk/carfreeday

Police will hit the streets in an effort to reassure Camden residents after a crime filled summer that has seen six killings, two stabbings and two drive-by shootings.

The over rising fear of crime and violence in the community has led to the organisation of a meeting, Camden Town: A Matter of Life or Death.

Reverend Nicholas Wheeler of St Michael's Church in Camden Road, told MyVillage that the meeting is a way of "inviting people who belong to Camden Town to come together to build some new partnerships, to think of some new ways of moving forward."

The reverend continued, "I think there's a lack of focus, and there needs to be some joined up working that might involve talking to drug users and local residents, trying to understand what's going on. It's not only about drugs; there are some bigger questions like how Camden holds together as a community. There are so many people that come to work here in the week, and those that come on the weekends. The local community struggles with that. And the social needs here are so great and the sheer number of demands and diversity of those demands sometimes overwhelms the agents that deal with them. Camden is physically a crossroads and that makes it a very transient community, so it's quite hard to establish a community at the best of times, and then these other factors come into play."

Meanwhile officers from Operation Trident have been placed into Camden to investigate drive by shootings, of which there were two in August. Reverend Wheeler believes that this recent influx of violence is "partly because of a lack of focus on Camden as an area, the whole agenda around improving pavements and street cleaning and those kinds of physical improvements and reducing street crime are important, but they're only one part of the jigsaw. I've sensed myself that there are more people on the streets who are struggling with drink and alcohol addiction and conversation can be a risky business."

He added, "We must be careful of being alarmist, that's when fear sets in and people become paralysed and resort to demonisation and you do more damage to your community."

The meeting will be held in partnership with Camden Town Centre Management and the Metropolitan Police; there is also an internet initiative to be launched soon called the Camden town safety net, which will allow people to report incidents on line.

The meeting will take place at 7pm in St Michaels Church, Camden Road, on 25 the September.