Brian Coleman: Paying half the rent of the single mum he berated

I don’t want to be seen hounding  Barnet and London Assembly Brian Coleman on this website but his latest outburst takes more than the biscuit. The man who takes £128,000 from the taxpayer in council allowances – he’s probably about the third highest paid councillor now – has recently berated a desperate single mum with a six-year-old son for complaining that she is  facing a £150 a month rent rise to £1100 a month.

 She wrote to him for advice as she said ” out of desperation in the hope that someone can offer me guidance”. Mr Coleman was unsympathetic to say the least. Ms Sharada Osman wrote back surprised at his lack of empathy.

Mr Coleman told her ” I am afraid you have to live in the real world where the country has no money and residents will have to deal with their own issues rather than expecting  ” the system” to sort their lives out.”

What Mr Coleman did not tell her was that he was living in a subsidised  flat, courtesy of the Finchley Methodist Church charity, where he doesn’t even  have the responsibility of painting his windows.

His  rent is £546 a month – half that of Ms Osman. In the real world – the rest of the road-people are paying £1100 a month, according to local estate agents.

Don’t believe me. Well his fair rent agreement is a public document obtainable on-line from the Valuation Office Agency. Search Electronic Rent Register and put in N3 1ND and you can read for yourself and even print your own personal copy.

Then I might suggest – as Mr Coleman seems finally to have got over his technophobia and can use e-mail, send him a e-mail about what you think about it. His work e-mails are