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The Prince looks at children’s entries in the New Journal sponsored competition in 1988
SPECIAL REPORT: AS THE TOWN HALL PREPARES TO GIVE THE GO AHEAD TO A £2BN SCHEME THAT WILL CHANGE KING’S CROSS FOREVER, RICHARD OSLEY INVESTIGATES

18 years on and pupil's dreams of housing are up in smoke

CHILDREN dreamed of how King’s Cross should look in a competition sponsored by the New Journal and admired by Prince Charles.

But, 18 years on, few of the imaginative ideas produced by the class of 1988 have been taken on board.
The King’s Cross 2000 competition – named because back at the end of the 1980s it was thought the redevelopment would be complete by the millennium – was entered by primary school pupils from across Camden.
It led to an exhibition at the St Pancras Chambers in King’s Cross which received national newspaper coverage and was attended by Prince Charles.
Given his interest in the area, the New Journal yesterday (Wednesday) agreed to send the new designs to the Prince’s office at Clarence House to see what he thinks.
Drawings and written work from King’s Cross 2000 have been saved by Marian Kamlish, a former teacher at Primrose Hill Primary School who helped organise the contest. They now serve as pertinent historical documents. Students asked for more leisure facilities and extra places to play. They also wanted homes so they could live near their friends and family.
One pupil dreamed up the idea of putting a disco, bingo hall and museum in the gas cylinders on the site.
Another said the whole site could be flooded to create a boating lake and underwater buildings, while a fellow student said the land could be a giant maze.
Amongst the youngsters asking for new homes one supplied an entry with touching innocence: “Great houses are for posh people. But some great houses are for old people and the old houses are for poor people and I do not think it’s fair because some people have to live in a burnt down house.” Only one student said he wanted more offices to be built on the site. He said: “The people I want to work in there are people with education.”
Mrs Kamlish, who worked on the project with community activist Terry Hargrave, said: “The children showed real imagination – they came up with some great ideas. It is a shame that the developers don’t have the same imagination for King’s Cross.”
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