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Flower stall brings colour to the area
• WHY is it that tidy-minded bureaucrats and planners, who are invited to their own ugly surroundings (such as the Royal Free Hospital and Camden ‘new’ town hall), tend to want to replace or remove small, lively human-scale corners of this borough, such as a flower stall?
Anything that diverts the eye from the lumbering mass of the Royal Free is welcome. Thank heaven for the trees.
But John Atkins flower stall is much more than a colourful and attractive site in the street scene.
Yet he has just been given four-months’ notice to leave by Camden Council’s planners, a decision not even made by the new councillors, who are so anxious to appear keen on ‘greening’ the borough.
On dark winter nights, trudging home tired from the hospital where I worked for over 20 years, the sight of the wonderful flowers and plants on the stall lifted my spirits immediately.
It was a real treat to buy flowers to brighten up the house or my office, and many hospital staff are regular customers.
Even in summer the flowers are the only explosion of colour visible around South End Green. Mr Atkins’ stall is ideally placed for patients, their families and friends’ comings and goings to the hospital and shops.
The flower shop inside the outpatients department is tucked away, so many people do not pass it, and it is more expensive.
Planners and bureaucrats frequently use ‘health and safety’ arguments to oppose individualistic businesses and services.
They would rather lose traders into concrete cubicles to house yet another restaurant chain or ‘local’ superstore and then charge much higher rents.
The human dimension in our London villages is under threat and public spaces are being squashed by developers and compliant councils – Swiss Cottage, Talacre, Camden Town etc.
I hope the new council is aware of the seriousness of this situation.
SHEILA PATTON
Spencer Rise, NW5 |
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