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Town Hall must act now to make station safe and fit for purpose
‘Camden Town Tube isn’t just a shabby inconvenience… passengers tell me they don’t feel safe… they are right,’ warns Frank Dobson
SINCE the late 1980s, I have been raising concerns about the dangers resulting from the growth of the Camden Lock markets.
Above ground the biggest problem is that most of the crowds of visitors aren’t familiar with the complexities of some of the market area and in the event of a fire wouldn’t be able to find the best means of escape.
The other major risk is large crowds stampeding in panic away from danger or when attracted towards some “happening”.
I have been raising these problems with the police, the fire service and Camden Council for two decades. Some improvements have been made although still not enough.
Dangers remain.
But there has been no progress at all over my other main concern which is the clear danger caused by the overcrowding at Camden Town Tube station.
As long ago as 1990 I convened a meeting with the fire service, the police, London Underground Ltd and Camden Council to urge them to take concerted action. In particular I drew attention to the dangers of overcrowding at the Tube station.
We agreed it would be a good idea, in the short-run, to get more people to use Chalk Farm station.
I don’t know why we bothered.
Within two weeks London Underground put up posters saying “Visit Camden Market – use Camden Town Tube station”.
Eventually, after years of pressure from myself and some local users of the station, London Underground came up with firm proposals for a new and safer station with increased capacity and improved quality of access and interchange.
Their proposal involved the demolition of the buildings above and behind the station and their replacement by a commercial development, no doubt to help subsidise the cost of the necessary work on the station.
The scale and design of the proposed development quite rightly attracted a great deal of opposition, which I supported.
But I always made clear when making submissions to London Underground and to ministers that urgent major works were necessary to make safe the station itself.
I emphasised this in my written evidence to the public inquiry in 2005 and urged the inspector to take evidence from the London Fire Brigade and the Railways Inspectorate of the Health & Safety Executive and any other expert body he believed was appropriate to check on the safety aspects of the proposed new layout of the station.
After the fire last year I convened a further meeting about safety and Camden Lock Market, including the Tube station.
At that meeting Tim O’Toole, then managing director of London Underground, confirmed that they were in a position to go ahead with the major works to the station as soon as the planning dispute about the buildings above ground had been sorted out and the necessary funds allocated. Neither of these requirements has been met.
We must not let this drag on any longer.
Camden Town Tube station isn’t just a shabby inconvenience.
Passengers tell me they don’t feel safe.
They are right.
They aren’t safe.
So I call on Camden Council as the planning authority and London Underground to get together with local residents and businesses to thrash out an agreed development above ground and get the safety measures underway.
One way of financing it would be a special levy on the Camden Lock property companies who make a lot of money out of market and shop rentals and a smaller levy on the stakeholders and shopkeepers.
This should only apply to shops and stalls catering to visitors to the market, not to providers of local services.
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