How the new artwork will look, and Argyle Square Gardens [Stephen McKay]

THE Town Hall wants to put up a special sculpture celebrating Camden’s South Asian communities in a King’s Cross park– under a plan to get more people feeling welcome in the green space.

But the project has lead to accusations that the council has got its priorities wrong for Argyle Square Gardens after neighbours said it had been ruined by alcohol fuelled anti-social behaviour, and people taking drugs and scaring away visitors.

The three-metre high steel sculpture – roughly the height of a basketball hoop – has also led to claims that a volunteer-sown flower bed will be ruined and one of the trees they planted could be lost.

The sculpture has been commissioned by Camden’s culture service and is a series of shapes which references to elements of Bangladeshi culture.

“The Bangladeshi community was selected for this work as they are Camden’s largest minority ethnic group and are often overlooked and under-represented in Camden’s public realm,” council officials said, adding that they had consulted “over 200 members of the local Bangladeshi community through “creative workshops, conversations and public consultation events”.

But not everybody feels as if their views have been surveyed, including the 20 year-old Friends of Argyle Square group.

It said that it had previously campaigned against outdoor gym equipment because of fears it would be taken over by drug users and street drinkers.

Play equipment which has been removed was not used for this reason, the group said.

“Argyle Square should be a green oasis for everyone, but it is not, due to poor management,” said chairman Bill Reed.

“The Square is underused by everyone except vagrants throughout the day due to lack of management or security, it is not due to diverse communities living in the neighbourhood nor their representation.”

It has been claimed the sculpture was originally planned for Bramber Green in Judd Street, but the idea was abandoned due to residents’ objections.

Mr Reed said that there was no need for the council to set up a new gardening club for Bangladeshi residents because they could join the Friends group and take part in their planting – when the square became safer.

The Bloomsbury Conservation Area Advisory Committee, meanwhile, has questioned the height and scale of the artwork in a listed Georgian garden square.

Some of the hotels around the square have called for money to be spent on security or cleaning up the gardens, rather than a sculpture.

The project has the support of the Chadswell Healthy Living Centre in Harrison Street and former councillor and two-time Mayor of Camden Nash Ali said: “It will help local residents feel more connected to Argyle Square and hopefully more residents will start to use it.”

Camden said the project is part of its strategy for “diversity in the public realm”.

One of the inspirations for the designs is the Shaheed Minar monument in Dhaka and will include Bangla lettering.

“The abstract nature of the overall design will mean it can be enjoyed as a beautiful artwork by all visitors to Argyle Square Gardens”, the council’s culture team said.