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Camden News - by TOM FOOT
Published: 19 February 2009

Members of the newly formed Friends of Argyle Square group

Weighty opposition: Muscle most foul?

CAMDEN’S iron-crunching “Muscle Beach” project – the idea of laying out free gym equipment in parks and garden squares for public use – has been hit by unexpected and weighty opposition.
The plan, ripped from the famous Santa Monica Muscle Beach stretch in Los Angeles, is to encourage park users to fight their flabby bits without having to fork out on the expensive membership to private gyms.
But the Friends of Argyle Square group, formed for the first time on Tuesday morning, began its business with a thumbs-down to the scheme.
They fear the intrusion of the luminous green exercise equipment – which include exercise bikes, cross-trainer machines and weight-lifting benches – in their listed King’s Cross conservation area. The machines, objectors warned this week, will prove more popular with teenage vandals than fitness freaks.
Resident John Hartley said: “Argyle Square is one of the historic London squares of which Camden is rightly proud. One end of the square is covered with a large multi-use ball court, which is well used, and so, surely, Argyle Square is already doing its bit in the battle of the bulge. If they are so concerned about health and fitness, why don’t they close down McDonald’s?”
Richenda Walford, who also lives nearby, said: “There has been no proper consultation – it just feels rushed through.”
King’s Cross ward Labour councillor Jonathan Simpson said: “I think people will
use it but I do not think a conservation area is the right place – Brunswick Gardens might be better.”
Basic gym membership typically costs around £50 a month and the council says the free machines, paid for by the government, will help people stay healthy during the recession.
Leisure chief councillor Flick Rea said: “I can’t really see how these machines will do anyone any harm. The value of them far outweighs any minor visual interference. I am sympathetic to conservation issues but something like this is so obviously for the public good. I’ve seen the equipment and it’s very jolly – the machines aren’t hideous. I hope that in time people will come to accept them.”
She added: “When you are offered funding you have to take it.”

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