|
|
 |
| |
Sir Menzies Campbell takes a close-up look at the new St Pancras on Tuesday |
Library site – Brown must honour pledge on homes
PRESSURE on the government to review its sale of a chunk of prime land in Camden’s most deprived ward grew as voices across the political spectrum called on Gordon Brown to honour his housing pledges.
During a visit to St Pancras on Tuesday, Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell added his call for social housing on brownfield sites to Frank Dobson’s demands that government plans to sell 3.2 acres of land behind the British Library in Somers Town to the highest bidder should be axed.
Mr Campbell said: “As a matter of principle, we have to do everything we can to provide new housing, and especially social housing – and that is best provided on brownfield sites. It would be good to think that government departments are acting on what Gordon Brown has said.”
The decision, first reported by the New Journal in April, by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to sell the site produced a flurry of interest from developers drawn to the vacant site’s location between the burgeoning financial districts of King’s Cross and Euston.
But it also prompted concern that a one-off opportunity was about to be missed to reduce the housing list and address the lack of facilities in Somers Town.
The New Journal has written to PM Gordon Brown and his culture and housing ministers asking them to justify the sale of the land in the light of Camden’s 15,000-strong housing waiting list and the Premier’s pledges last month to use government land for social housing and regeneration.
But the government has responded by citing its duty to taxpayers to get the best price for the land – and placed the onus of determining what will be built there on planning authorities in Camden Council, who will have to give any development the green light.
Frank Dobson, whose Holborn and St Pancras constituency includes Somers Town, said on Tuesday he was pressing ministers for a commitment to ensure that the site was not sold to the highest bidder if that would result in the building of ‘bland’ offices. He said: “The most pressing need in our area is for places for ordinary people to live, who are being priced out or cannot find a place in social housing. The council needs to make it clear that that is their priority as well, from both a planning and a housing perspective.”
Mandy Berger, Camden housing convener for Unison and vice-chairwoman of the union’s national housing forum, also called for the sale to be reviewed. She said: “As a branch we are wholly in favour of the Defend Council Housing campaign and the drive to build new council housing. I am in favour of new council housing being built wherever there are brownfield sites like the one behind the British Library.”
At grassroots level, Somers Town councillor Roger Robinson was joined by residents and tenants association representatives Alan Patterson and Helia Evans as well as ex-mayor Barbara Hughes in demanding assurances from DCMS about the site at a meeting with officials last Thursday.
Timeline of a sell-off
April 19: New Journal reveals that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport intends to sell the land behind the British Library to the highest bidder.
A DCMS spokeswoman said: “We’re keen to secure best value for public money. We’re not putting any terms and conditions on the sale.” Somers Town residents call for housing, sports facilities and shops.
April 26: Frank Dobson calls for surplus land to be used for housing or open space.
May 3: The Medical Research Council met DCMS permanent secretary Jonathan Stephens to discuss the site as a venue for an international science centre.
It is told to bid in the open market.
May 22: David Lammy, a DCMS junior minister, tells Parliament that £246,000 has been spent on the sale through estate agents Atisreal.
June 14: Mr Lammy tells Parliament that the site is valued at £26.6 million.
June 20: Marketed as “Somerstown
St Pancras – a New Chapter”, the 3.2-acre site is put up for sale through estate agents Cluttons and Atisreal. More than 150 developers express an interest in the first week.
July 11: Gordon Brown pledges a new housing green paper and a review of all government-owned land for housing. He tells MPs: “Putting affordable housing within the reach not just of the few but the many is vital” and promises initiatives “bringing surplus public land into housing use to deliver more social and affordable housing ”.
July 23: Frank Dobson MP asks housing minister Yvette Cooper in Parliament if the housing review includes DCMS land. He tells CNJ: “It would be bizarre for this sale to go ahead under these circumstances.”
August 2: Deadline for bids for the site.
The Medical Research Council, as well as hotel operators, property developers and financial companies are known to have bid.
August 6: CNJ writes to culture secretary James Purnell asking: “Given Camden’s acute housing need and marked health inequalities, would you be prepared to review the decision to sell the site on the open market and consider options that provided for community-focused development?”.
A spokeswoman answers on his behalf: “The government took the decision to sell the site in order to secure best value for taxpayers’ money. Decisions on the future use of the site are quite properly for elected local councillors. This is NOT something that DCMS could – or should – become involved in.”
August 16: CNJ reveals detailed plans of MRC, which include no housing on the site
August 22: CNJ writes to Prime Minister Gordon Brown and housing minister Yvette Cooper, asking them whether they are prepared to review the sale in the light of their housing proposals.
A No 10 official declines, while a press official responds on behalf of Yvette Cooper: “No. In bringing this site to the market for disposal the government has complied with government accounting procedures.” |
 |
|
| |
| Your Comments: |
| |
| |
| |
|
|
|
