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Simon Jenkins |
Developers assure objectors that fresh plans will protect heritage
Author joins campaign to save historic horse tunnels
PROPERTY developers building 76 homes on the site of a unique piece of Camden Town’s Victorian railway heritage have been accused of historical vandalism.
Political commentator Sir Simon Jenkins has called for work to be halted on flats and offices in Oval Road which will block Victorian tunnels used by horses to move goods from canals to railway sidings in Chalk Farm.
Peter Darley, chairman of recently-founded Camden Railway Heritage Trail, is mounting a campaign to force developers Mandrake Properties and the Town Hall to keep the tunnels intact and their entrance open.
Mr Jenkins, the author of Britain’s 100 Greatest Homes, is calling on the Town Hall to withdraw planning permission and force the developers to come up with a new scheme.
“I find this incredible,” said Sir Simon, who lives in Primrose Hill. “The Camden Lock complex and the linear features of the old canal are such an important part of our heritage. The developer has to design around this historic feature – and I can’t imagine a better feature. It should be a selling point rather than anything else.”
Roundhouse Trust chairman Torquil Norman, who turned the derelict 19th-century railway shed in Chalk Farm into a concert venue, is supporting the campaign. He said: “Camden’s railway heritage is so valuable. Everything should be done to expose this heritage, preserve it and make people aware of it. It is surprising that the developers of 30 Oval Road have not paid regard to the fact that it is listed.”
Other voices calling for work to be stopped include Dr Ian Dungavel, chairman of the Victorian Society, a campaign group which works to preserve historically important sites.
He said: “This is terrible. This is highly important in the context of Camden Town and the industrial archaeology of north London.
“This work could be illegal as you need listed building consent as well as simply planning permission.”
A Town Hall planning officer met the developers at the site on Tuesday and asked them to re-submit plans, but with the horse tunnels marked on them.
A spokesman said: “We’ll then be able to judge whether they need listed building consent.”
Chris Shaw, a property adviser for developers Mandrake and London and Newcastle, said that revised plans, which would ensure the horse tunnels were not blocked, were being sent to the Town Hall.
He added: “This was an oversight. No one wants to damage them.”
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