Procurement is ongoing for the fire safety works
- Credit: Mandy Ryan
Residents have called for a “complete overhaul” in how Camden Council listens to their long-running concerns ahead of major works on the Chalcots Estate.
The town hall’s planning committee recently approved changes including replacement cladding, windows and radiators.
However residents fear these “massively disruptive” works could become a “nightmare”, claiming the new “tilt and turn” windows aren’t wanted by the majority.
Construction will start in November and will be completed in 2023, the council says, after it evacuated the estate in 2017 to remove its unsafe cladding following the Grenfell Tower fire.
Oliver Cooper, Opposition leader, Camden Council
Published:
6:34 PM May 10, 2021
Veolia have contracts with 14 London boroughs
- Credit: Veolia
Lots of things have changed because of Covid. But one thing has been an ever-present on our streets and the urgency of solving it accentuated the pandemic. And that’s rubbish.
People will continue to spend more time at and near home, and making sure household waste is collected and not just strewn on our streets will be vital to a cleaner, greener, and more beautiful borough.
However, the rubbish has sadly kept piling up in Camden. New official national statistics show that Camden has the most fly-tipping of any council in England, with 35,000 fly-tips in the twelve months up to March last year.
The Hoo building in Hampstead.
- Credit: Harry Taylor
Plans for three luxury family homes in the Royal Free s old mental health building in Lyndhurst Gardens were approved on Thursday.
Planning committee chair Cllr Heather Johnson used her casting vote to approve the scheme after the committee was deadlocked at four votes in favour, four against, and two abstentions.
Developer Jaga Developments is to convert the listed building - formerly known as The Hoo - into two five-bedroom homes and one four-bedroom home.
After disputes over the value of the land at the site, the developer said it accepted it would pay a higher community infrastructure levy (CIL) fee as part of the plans. But it said this and other rising costs meant providing an up-front affordable housing contribution was not viable .
Taplow tower in the Chalcots Estate. Picture: Polly Hancock
- Credit: Archant We need to get on with it was the refrain from Camden Council s planning committee as it approved new plans for replacement cladding and windows to be fitted on the towers of the Chalcots Estate.
Councillors unanimously approved the new designs, but some raised concerns about the level of consultation with residents on the estate.
Cllr Oliver Cooper questioned the support for the scheme among residents, while Belsize ward councillor Steve Adams (Con) criticised consultation documents provided to residents of the Swiss Cottage estate, saying they had been poorly served during the process.