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Drawings of how the Hawley Wharf area could look under proposals put forward by Camden Market Holdings Ltd |
We’ll wait to ‘C’ what is planned at Hawley
Proposals for ‘Wharf’ on remaining industrial land near lock leave some room for concern
CONSERVATIONISTS and residents’ groups have called for developers hoping to transform industrial land near Camden Lock into a new canalside housing and retail complex to come clean about their plans.
Developers Camden Market Holdings Ltd this week gave their first presentation of proposals for the area known as Hawley Wharf, north of the canal between Camden High Street and Kentish Town Road, to a critical audience.
But while they outlined plans for new market stalls next to the canal and 130 new homes along Torbay Street and Hawley Road, a third of the site – a section known as ‘site C’ on Castlehaven Road – remained blank.
Camden Market Holdings have in the past denied rumours that a casino or high street shopping mall was earmarked for that part of the site.
After a private meeting of the Hawley Wharf working group, Camden Town and Primrose Hill councillor Pat Callaghan said: “There is still some apprehension as to what the developers have planned for the ‘C’ site.
“If the developers have plans for site C they should bring them forward so that residents can see the development in the round.”
Eleanor Botwright, director of the Castlehaven Community Centre, said the council should call for clarity over the site when assessing any planning application for environmental impact. She added: “How can you realistically make an assessment of a site when you don’t know what is going on it?”
The largest site yet to be cleared for development in the borough, Hawley Wharf has been bought up piecemeal by the owners of the existing Stables Market over several years.
Canal and railway heritage expert Peter Darley said: “The public don’t understand what’s happening in their backyard here. We have a community struggling to articulate what it wants to see from a major development.
“Camden should not accept a planning application with a blank in the middle of the site. We will try to get a redrafting of the Hawley Wharf planning framework to incorporate some tighter guidelines for the development.”
Camden Council’s “vision” for Hawley Wharf was announced as recently as February, following a consultation in October and November of 2008.
It states its aim as “creating a mix of appropriate town centre uses including retail, market retail, leisure uses, new homes, affordable housing, access to work and training opportunities and new business space.”
The site is owned by a series of subsidiary companies belonging to Camden Market Holdings Group.
Camden Market Holdings Group did not respond to inquiries from the New Journal this week, but asked about site C on October 8, director Mark Alper said: “We need more time for consideration, to be honest. One of the reasons we have waited is to hear things from the community.” |
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