Bid to scale down improvements

DESPERATE housing chiefs have begun haggling with the government in a bid to cobble together enough cash to patch up one of Camden Council’s most rundown estates, the New Journal has learned.
Private discussions have seen government officials tell the Town Hall’s housing department to scale down its plans to improve the Chalcot estate in Adelaide Road, Swiss Cottage, which in the past year has been hit with damp, fire, broken gas supply, cockroach infestation and lift breakdowns.
The New Journal understands that Whitehall wants Camden to slice up its original £117 million Private Finance Initiative plan for the estate, which collapsed two months ago, and come back to the table with an improvement plan worth just £55 million.
In a complex funding system mapped out by government, Camden would then qualify for enough credits to embark on a half-sized project.
A council press official said: “We are looking to see if there is a scheme for Chalcot which can be done for £55 million. We are looking at bottoming out the scheme and seeing what the priorities for tenants are.”
Tenants and leaseholders, who have been promised improvements for five years and tantalised with showflat viewings, are now facing the prospect of drawing up a wish-list.
The estate’s future remains at the centre of a fractious disagreement between Labour Party members in Camden, including the Town Hall’s housing boss Councillor Raj Chada, and their colleagues at Westminster.
Terse negotiations have been running since the Treasury’s shock decision to withdraw support amid spiralling costs brought the project to collapse.
Cllr Chada said the council’s efforts to find a £55 million scheme to qualify for government credits did not mean that the Town Hall had been too ambitious with its original gameplan. He said: “I think the government has got it wrong on this one. This was a chance to transform the estate.
“We now have to look at what we can do with £55 million but the credits will be used on Chalcot. We are in discussions with the government to see how we can go forward.”