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Amy Silverston |
‘Ignore Archway plans at your peril’ warning
Fears over knock-on impact of station closure as tower is toppled
PLANS to redevelop neighbouring Archway could have a massive knock-on effect in Camden, the Town Hall was told this week.
Highgate Green councillor Maya de Souza has added her voice to warnings that the threatened closure of Archway Tube station during redevelopment will make “impossible demands” on nearby Tufnell Park station.
Plans being considered by Islington Council include options that would involve the demolition of the 16-storey Archway Tower, resulting in the closure of the station underneath, possibly for up to three years.
Cllr de Souza wants her council’s ruling executive to consider the potential effects on Camden should development involve wide-scale demolition. She said: “Tufnell Park Tube is a very small station, and I’m not sure it could cope with an increase in passengers.”
Cllr de Souza added that she preferred a less disruptive, low-level development – one of the options put out to public consultation.
Amy Silverston, chairwoman of Tufnell Park Parents Support Group, has warned Camden residents: “You may or may not like visiting eyesore Archway at the moment – but you ignore the plans to develop the area at your peril.”
Ms Silverston has also hit out at Camden Council for not alerting residents to what was going on just across the border, including the possible Archway station closure. Ms Silverston, from Dartmouth Park, added: “This will mean most of the 22,000 people per weekday that go in and out of Archway Tube station, a total of 6.757 million per year, will try to use Tufnell Park Tube station. “It will not be the usual problem of struggling to get on crowded trains, just getting into the station could be difficult. “Using buses to go down to Kentish Town Tube may not be an option as these will be full of people coming down from Archway.”
She added that three of the four schemes being considered would have a direct impact on people using Tufnell Park Tube station or catching buses along Junction and Fortess roads.
• An exhibition of the redevelopment plans in the vacant shop at the corner of Vorley Road and Junction Road runs from 10am-5pm today (Thursday) and tomorrow, and from 10am-4pm on Saturday at Caxton House, 129 St John’s Way. |
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