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Prince Charles |
Station bridge: plea to Prince
Campaigners seek backing after feasibility study rules out pedestrian link
PRINCE Charles is to be asked to support a campaign for a pedestrian bridge linking two communities on either side of King’s Cross station.
The move follows the results of a £30,000 feasibility study which concluded that a footbridge – which would stretch across the station between Wharfdale Road and Battlebridge Road, linking Islington and Camden – is not financially viable.
A bridge, at an estimated cost of £10million, would mean residents would not need to walk around the perimeter of the station, which is being redeveloped at a cost of £400million. Pedestrians could also avoid “sleazier” areas and busy Euston Road.
The Town Hall study, carried out by highly respected Buchanan Partners, was dismissed this week by campaigners as “not worth the paper it was written on”.
Leading campaigner Sophie Talbot said the wishes of thousands of people living and working around the station were being ignored.
Network Rail has already said a footbridge would be too costly.
“We’ve run out of places to go, so we are going to talk to Prince Charles,” Ms Talbot said. “He’s an environmentalist who is concerned with the way communities can be alienated by insensitive developments just like this one.”
She said an hour-long television documentary about the King’s Cross redevelopment, screened at the weekend, had been all about architecture. “Nothing about the communities who live here,” she said.
Caledonian ward Labour councillor Paul Convery said the study was meant to have developed a business case for the bridge, not to demonstrate it was not viable.
He added: “They haven’t said what King’s Cross will be like 10 years from now. All they’ve done is sit down by the road and count pedestrians.” |
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