Camden New Journal
Publications by New Journal Enterprises
spacer
  Home Archive Competition Jobs Tickets Accommodation Dating Contact us
spacer
spacer
spacer
spacer
spacer
spacer
spacer
ELECTION COUNTDOWN By RICHARD OSLEY
 

Cllr Jill Fraser: ‘Not the place’
'Slums' fears spark housing policy row

THE Lib Dems and Labour are locked in a furious row about housing sparked by plans to redevelop a Victorian building in Kentish Town.
Labour rivals have pounced on comments made by Lib Dem councillor Jill Fraser, who has campaigned to save Lyndhurst Hall in Warden Road. She wants the hall, sold by the council two years ago, to become a community centre again.
The building is due to be demolished and replaced with a complex of new homes provided by Notting Hill Housing Group.
But Cllr Fraser said more cheap homes risked turning the neighbourhood into a “slum” with wall-to-wall social housing. She said: “This area was a slum in the 1930s. I fear that in 2030 it will be a slum again if we do not have a mix.”
Cllr Fraser said that it would have been better to build more affordable homes for families on the King’s Cross railway lands in the deal struck between developers and Camden Council earlier this month.
She added: “We already have a lot of social housing in our area. Camden needs more homes but this is not the place to do it.”
Labour council election candidate Mike Katz, who will take on Cllr Fraser in the split ward of Haverstock, said the Lyndhurst Hall project should be supported rather than opposed. He said: “It is an insult to say the area will be a slum.
“The one thing that Camden is crying out for is more affordable homes. We should be welcoming a scheme like that.”
Lib Dems have made council housing a prime election issue and are taking on Labour over the way its colleagues in Whitehall have withheld the millions of pounds needed to bring council homes up to the government’s decent homes standards.
Mr Katz said: “It is a great inconsistency. On the one hand the Lib Dems are saying that they believe in social housing. On the other, they are opposing a project that will bring more inexpensive homes to Camden, just what we need.”
Cllr Fraser said on Tuesday: “The money for council housing was promised to Camden by the government with strings attached. It should now be provided in direct investment immediately.”
spacer
» A-Z of Theatre
» Local Reviews
» Local Listings
» West End Reviews
» West End Listings
» Theatre Tickets
» Theatre & Hotel Packages













spacer


Theatre Music
Arts & Events Attractions
spacer
 
 


  up