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Sir Terry Farrell
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KX plans should have been left to Ken, says architect
INTERNATIONALLY-renowned architect Sir Terry Farrell believes a decision on the King’s Cross redevelopment should not have been left solely to councillors.
The architect, speaking exclusively to the Tribune, said the £2 billion development on the 58-acre site behind King’s Cross and St Pancras stations should have been referred to Mayor of London Ken Livingstone – and that the controversial scheme was an example of the flawed nature of planning decisions.
He argued that a project of this size is too important to be decided solely by local councillors, who may not have time to study hefty and complicated planning documents.
Sir Terry said: “All big schemes in London must be decided by the mayor, and not the local authority. These schemes must be decided in the context of what is good for London, not just one part of it.
“King’s Cross goes even further – what happens here has important repercussions for Britain as a whole. For this reason, the decision cannot be solely dependent on councillors. This does not happen anywhere else in the world.”
He said that, although the threatened Culross and Stanley Victorian buildings were good examples of their type, they should not simply be preserved because of their age. He added: “I am a great believer in conservation, but you have to be able to build for a metropolis to thrive.”
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