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Deputation members from left: Sian Berry for the Green
Party, Judith Martin for Industrial Buildings Preservation
Trust, Una Sapietis for Railway Lands Group, local resident
Angela Inglis, Jeannie Burnett for King’s Cross CAAC,
and Lisa Pontecorvo for Camden Central Community Umbrella
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A homage to greed
CAMPAIGNERS FEAR KING'S CROSS PLANS
ARE A 'WASTED OPPORTUNITY' FOR THE FUTURE
TWENTY-three groups urged planners to throw out plans
for Europe’s biggest construction project, the £2bn
redevelopment of the King’s Cross railway lands last night
(Wednesday).
Opponents say the plans by Argent Ltd are a wasted opportunity
to invest in affordable, environmentally friendly homes, and
instead have planned a homage to greed which will see another
Canary Wharf for commuters who live outside the borough.
A major bone of contention is the amount of affordable housing
earmarked for the 67-acre site.
Brian Pordage, chairman of the Camden Federation of Tenants
and Residents Associations, told the meeting that new council
homes should be built on the site to meet the borough’s
crippling demand for accommodation.
Chiefs collide
LAST night’s (Wednesday’s) planning meeting
began with a bang as the council’s planning chairwoman
clashed with her ousted predecessor.
Councillor Heather Johnson told Labour colleague Cllr
Brian Woodrow to leave the meeting. He has fought allegations
of bias against the scheme in a still unresolved Standards
Board investigation.
Cllr Johnson said that the council’s lawyers advised
that he should step out of the committee because his participation
could lead to complaints that the Town Hall was prejudiced
when reaching a decision on the project.
But Cllr Woodrow refused to leave the room, claiming the
accusations were unfounded and “independent legal
advice” cleared the way for him to take part.
Security tight
COUNCIL chiefs have told King’s Cross protesters
not to cheer or clap during the two-night debate over
the future of the railway lands amid fears that the meetings
will turn rowdy.
Officials are also stepping up security in attempt to
stop campaigners from getting close to councillors holding
a vote on the applications. Members are even being escorted
to the toilet. Two police officers greeted spectators
at the main Judd Street entrance at the Town Hall and
crowd barriers were lined up outside.
Journalists have also been kept away from the main floor
and have been penned into a group of seats in one of the
public galleries.
Give John the job
The King’s Cross Railway Lands Group has asked
Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott to take the final
decision out of Camden Council’s hands, arguing that
the Town Hall is ill-equipped to handle the mammoth planning
application.
Michael Edwards, from the KXRLG, said
in a letter to Mr Prescott: “This is scheme is far
too big and far too controversial and far-reaching in
its impacts to be left to the local boroughs to decide.”
Noisy work fine
FOUR construction companies have been fined for ignoring
rules on late night working on the Channel Tunnel rail
link in King’s Cross.
The firms were ordered to pay up after Highbury Corner
Magistrates Court heard how workers on the project had
been making a din.
Each company was ordered to pay £2,500 each and
hand over another £1,000 each to cover the Town
Hall’s legal costs. |
He said: “We believe council housing is a fundamental right
for all. These plans are about money, office space and business
interests which have nothing to do with the people who live
in the area.”
Mr Pordage said the project was part of an ongoing shift to
make homes in central London unaffordable for current residents.
“We will all be forced to move,” he added.
Objectors added that Argent’s plans to build 1,946 new
homes are not good enough because too many of them will be expensive
flats for single professionals.
Deborah Burns, from the Goldington Estate in Somers Town, said
the balance against family homes was “not only wrong but
mischievous as well”.
She told the meeting that overcrowding in social housing in
King’s Cross had not been dealt with. Ms Burns said: “It’s
as if planners wanted to create a visitors’ play park rather
than a community. King’s Cross has a very large overcrowding
problem. This is King’s Cross life now – it’s
Dickensian.”
Una Sapietis, from the King’s Cross Railway Lands Group,
which has scrutinised plans for the site for two decades, told
the meeting that the scheme would instead provide offices for
out of town commuters.
She added: “It is not going to help local unemployment.”
Other objections involved the flattening of historic industrial
buildings. These include the Culross Building and the Stanley
South Building. The iconic gas-holders, meanwhile, will be re-located
and a block of flats will be built inside.
Jeannie Burnett, vice-chairwoman of the King’s Cross Conservation
Area Advisory Committee, said: “For the benefit of generations
to come we owe it to them to preserve our heritage and theirs.”
Angela Inglis, a Somers Town resident, said the gas-holders
should stay where they are and be converted into somewhere people
loved to go – possibly with a viewing tower with a panorama
across London similar to views from the London Eye.
She said: “It is iconic, it is where east meets west, north
meets south, old meets new. You could put anything you wanted
in it. You could make money. You could have services, you could
have offices.”
Ms Inglis added that the site was big enough to create a new
green space “comparable to Regent’s Park”.
Other objectors have told the meeting that there should be more
leisure facilities on the site.
Leigh Austin, another Somers Town resident, said the site should
include an Olympic size pool and a full size football pitch.
It currently makes provision for a 25 metre pool.
She told planners: “The kids in Somers Town don’t
just go to school in Somers Town, they live there as well. They
need somewhere to go. You councillors need to listen because
there is an election coming up. I’m not going to vote for
any of you lot unless you have these revisions.”
Campaigners also called for a mosque and community centres to
be built on the land during the three-and-a-half hour meeting.
Argent are due to make a presentation tonight (Thursday). They
are expected to tell councillors that their designs fit the
bill. So far a huddle of representatives from the company –
including chief executive Roger Madelin – have watched
proceedings from their own corner of the Town Hall chamber.
Councillors, ordered not to discuss the issues overnight, are
due to make a final decision today (Thursday). |
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