|
|
 |
| |
Site by the British Library must not be given up to more private housing
WHAT will be the future of the large plot of land behind the British Library in Euston, one of the biggest brownfield sites left in Camden?
Unless the voice of the public is heard and heeded, it will be meekly handed over to private developers. And the possible result? Towering blocks of expensive flats with a small number of affordable homes thrown into the mix, largely to keep Camden councillors and the London mayor happy.
Who owns the land? It was acquired by the government in the 1980s when the British Library moved on to the site. But its public ownership goes back much longer than that, back, in fact, to the mid-1940s when it would have been acquired by British Rail on behalf of the government.
The sale of the land was all mixed up with the then birth of the new nationalised industry.
Though times have changed since then, that should not alter today’s political equation. Insanely, at this very moment when the new government under Gordon Brown is putting public housing back on the drawingboard, what do we find? That the seven-acre site – big enough to build a mix of housing and leisure similar in size to the Swiss Cottage development – be handed over to private developers?
Naturally, the mere whiff of such a large piece of land has worked up an appetite among developers. This week 150 have put in bids for it.
Holborn MP Frank Dobson has a special interest in the site. Back in the 1970s he, almost single-handedly, engineered a campaign to site the British Library there instead of in Bloomsbury. He knows the value of the site – and sensibly wants it to remain in public hands.
Two weeks ago he poked around the issue, asking questions in the Commons, that made ministers feel uncomfortable.
Now, the local Co-operative Party are concerned about its future (See Page 19).
Basically, what they are suggesting is that it becomes co-operatively owned, run by trustees, and provides housing and leisure facilities – something similar to the Coin Street development, one of the few successes in public housing development of the last two decades.
This is a golden opportunity for an all-party appeal by the Lib Dems, Tories, Labour and the Greens on the council to the government. They should lobby to keep the site in public hands.
This is not the time for any form of hesitancy. The bids are in. Time is ticking.
It may be felt our councillors are socially obliged to ensure public housing goes up on that site. It will be scandalous if they allow the site to slip through their fingers.
|
 |
|
| |
|
|
|
