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Our green spaces must be preserved
• I HAVE moved to the French countryside to enjoy peace and quiet. While visiting my friends in Kentish Town, I find that the only thing which makes this busy area bearable is the green space of Talacre Gardens.
It is a welcome oasis of calm amidst a cacophony of modern noise which typifies London for me.
The news that the Parks Department is actually considering allowing vehicles going through Talacre Gardens fills me with sympathy for residents.
I have kept myself informed about what has been going on a Talacre and Dalby Street. It is hard to believe that such an abuse of local amenities could take place.
It is encouraging, however, to observe that residents are rebelling against an apparently uncaring council and Town Hall officials (Trauma at Talacre: Hands off our park, Nov 2)
I will continue to support their cause from afar. Fight on!
ERNIE TODD
Maire L'Evescault, France
•WE have two boys who play at Talacre gardens all the time. The little one is always asking us to take him to the small children's playground near the sports centre.
So far, my husband and I have felt confident that the boys were safe at Talacre.
Now, however, we learn that that there might soon be large vehicles crossing the park to go to and from the centre with all the attendant health and safety risks, noise and pollution. (Trauma at Talacre: Hands off our park, Nov 2). This, because the developer at Dalby Street seems unwilling to provide an alternative route to Dalby Street until some unknown date in the future.
This is an outrageous prospect. How could this be allowed? Surely, it is upsetting enough to the community losing a huge important part of our former open space and a busy highway without suffering further bother from the developer.
Our sports centre should be protected by ensuring that full vehicular access is available at all time.
Futhermore, the developer should not interfere with the normal and safe conduct of all activities at Talacre Gardens.
No user of these facilities should be put off frequenting them as a result of the developer imposing himself or his will on the community.
I hope for the sake of our community, especially our children, that the council will listen.
CAROL HOYTE
Athlone House, NW5
•AS a mother of two (six and 11) I wish to join those who object to the proposal to close Dalby Street at Talacre and the intrusion of Talacre Gardens for vehicular access to the sport centre. (Trauma at Talacre: Hands off our parks, Nov 2).
Both the Talacre Sport Centre and the Talacre Gardens are very important to my family. Easy and safe access to the sports centre is, therefore, crucial to the continuing success of the sport centre.
No closure at Dalby Street should, therefore, be granted unless a proper alternative vehicular access road is first provided. That is just common sense.
A quiet peaceful, safe, unpolluted and unencumbered park is vital to the entire community surrounding Talacre. My family can always nip across to the Heath, but those who live in the Talacre area (this includes several of my children's school friends) have only this park.
This is their own green space and it needs to be preserved. Once the developer gets his way in using the park for access, it is inevitable that he will then push for further and permanent access. This should never happen.
Everyone involved in this project, from councillors and town officials, seem to be completely out of touch with the public and their needs.
ELIZABETH WEEKES
Savernake Road, NW3
•RE Housing association refuses to talk about scheme: All hush hush over Dalby Street plan, Nov 2.
Silence usually breeds suspicion and we have had plenty of silence from everyone involved in the Dalby Street scheme saga.
JULIE MAURICE
Upper Park Road, NW3
•ALL I read about the Dalby Street scheme and road closure makes me feel extremely uncomfortable. All the secrecy from Town Hall and the politicians lead me to believe that some hanky panky may be going on. I do not approve.
Under Labour such shameful behaviour took place, but under the new regime we are expecting more open dealings.
Thankfully Cllr Mike Green now writes saying: "We are listening over Dalby Street" (Oct 19). He promises that the executive (environment) sub-group will consider all the relevant objections. Let us hope this will come to pass.
However, let it be known that everyone so far is put to shame by what is going on at Talacre. The poor road planning which is being proposed is a disgrace.
Wanton destruction and misuse of open spaces should not be allowed. Those who promoted this shameful scheme and those who fail to stop it when they could will be haunted forever for their crime. I am doing my bit by writing to the CNJ as there seems little else I could do.
From my perspective, this is Third World stuff thinly disguised as Western sophisticated business value and style.
RAJ PATEL
Fleet Street, NW5
•WHEN the average person in the street can get hold of the LBC Unitary Development Plan Open space map to determine what land at Talacre is designated open space, I find it disturbing that Town Hall officials seem to be totally unaware of the facts (Fears developer will use park to access flats site, Oct 26, Is it just highway robbery? T Rush's letter of Oct 19 and The Dalby St developer is just taking the Mickey, Oct 26.)
The facts are that all the land once occupied by travellers, the forecourt to the Talacre Sports Centre and its parking lot which the developer is encroaching upon was designated Open Space.
Furthermore, all the proposed changes at Talacre, including the (new) Dalby Street and the turning circle will become the sole and exclusive property of the private developer.
That land will no longer belong to Camden.
The council press official who is quoted as saying that the latest plans would not encroach on open space should be put right and apologise for misleading the public.
DUNCAN MCMILLAN
Prince of Wales Road, NW5
•THE CNJ's comment about the then forthcoming election hit a chord among voters (Say it quietly, Labour may lose, Dec 29 2005).
At the time, I wrote to the CNJ that this was not only a possibility, in my view, but a growing certainty. That prediction became a reality. Voted out were Councillors John Thane and Phil Turner. Sensibly, Cllr Mills quit before he was pushed. So those involved in one way or another with the Dalby Street scheme are now mercifully out of the way.
The only person who does not seem to appreciate that he might not be able to throw his weight around as he once did under a Labour-led executive, however, is the Dalby Street developer himself.
His bold assumption that he could keep pushing the boundaries and use formerly designated open space land and the green park next door to facilitate his building work shows an arrogance that is beyond belief.
His latest stunt is that he would have traffic go through the popular Talacre Garden to gain access to the sports centre (Fears developer will use park to access flats site, Oct 26).
Astonishingly, this extraordinary development seems to be under consideration by the parks and open spaces department.
The Labour members of the executive responsible for the approved gross invasion of our public land and highway are no longer around. So why is the head of parks and open spaces so apparently eager to help this pushy developer in any way?
The reason that there is widespread curiosity in what is going on at Talacre is that all eyes are now on the newly-elected leaders. What is happening in Kentish Town and how they handle this sensitive situation will reveal how different the new team really are.
SIMON HOWARD
Rosecroft Avenue, NW3
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