The apartment building next to Talacre Park

• JOHN Gulliver is right to point the finger at the suspicious, under-priced, sale of £300,000 for a prime piece of parkland the developer paid to build his 36-flat Talacre development, (What should puzzle a Talacre inquiry, August 13).

The total price received from the sale of such flats is, according to campaigner Nick Harding’s calculations, some £21million.

In the industry it is well known that such a development would normally be broken down as follows: one-third for the land; a third for the material and construction, and a third for profit.

Using this well-known equation the price for the land should have been worth some £7million. So what is the excuse of the then Camden Council to let such a prime piece of land go at such a reduced price?

What is needed now is:

– an inquiry as to what happened and who was responsible; and

– Camden should sue the freeholder to recover the overage due to them.

More questions come to mind however.

Even taking into account the social housing flats provided, why did Camden agree to an overage and why they did not hold a lien against the property until they had recovered all the payments due to them?

No one in Camden should rest until we have the answers.

PETER G CUMING
Chair, Friends of Talacre Town Green