Too many conservation areas, he says

Cllr John Thane

A WAR of words has broken out between the Town Hall’s environment chief and a leading conservation group over the creation of three new conservation areas in the borough.
Speaking at a meeting on Tuesday, Labour councillor, John Thane, who heads the council’s environment committee, said that he was concerned about the growing number of conservation areas in the borough and dismissed some of the buildings in one of them as “crap”.
He said: “There are three conservation areas in my ward alone. While I can understand Highgate and Holly Lodge, Dartmouth Park frankly is a hotch potch. Some of the buildings are crap and I would be happy to see them pulled down.”
He added: “What is the sense of preserving something that is not worth protecting? Most of the buildings of any value in Camden are listed so are pretty well protected anyway.”
But his comments were attacked by the chairman of the Dartmouth Park Conservation Area Advisory Committee (CAAC), Mary Port, who accused the councillor of failing to understand the importance of the “domestic street scene”.
She said: “It absolutely reveals how little Cllr Thane understands architecture and the importance of the domestic street scene in this area.
“We have some very good council estates in Dartmouth Park. What Cllr Thane’s own council has has done is reduce the quality of many of those buildings by the terrible repairs they have done. They have further deteriorated the area by putting in appalling street furniture.”
Ms Port added: “The purpose of a CAAC is to preserve and enhance the area so if there really was an appalling building then we would support a move to pull it down.”
Despite Cllr Thane’s comments, the environment sub-group has given the go-ahead for formal consultation on the three new areas, which will include West Kentish Town, Camden Broadway and Harmond Street.
If there is a positive response from the public, the council is likely to grant conservation area status to the three “historic 19th-century neighbourhoods” in the summer.
There are currently 36 conservation areas in Camden, designated by the council to preserve and enhance their character and appearance and to control and manage change within it.
Well known conservation areas include the villages of Hampstead and Highgate, the Georgian area of Bloomsbury, stuccoed terraces fronting Regent’s Park and a handful of innovative nineteenth and twentieth century housing estates.
Edmund Bird, head of conservation and urban design at the council said: “We have a duty to protect the borough’s historic character, but we must also ensure we do not devalue the concept of conservation areas by designating streets lacking special interest.”