Published: 23 February, 2012
by RICHARD OSLEY

THE Town Hall is all set to plunder its high-value property and land portfolio to maintain spending on schools and council homes during the financial squeeze.

Camden Council chiefs have drawn up a list (see below) of buildings and land which can be sold on the private market or used in regeneration schemes with outside developers.

The chart of sites that may be offloaded is still in a provisional state and councillors are pledging further “conversations” with residents, but most of the proposals are advanced enough for consultants to have been brought in to weigh up the options and explain how much money the council can expect to collect.

Council officials believe that Camden is in an almost unique position in its defence against cuts to public spending with an opportunity to exploit London’s sky-high property prices.The idea is to lever in money through sales and development deals in every corner of the borough, allowing them to kickstart a programme of repairs to schools and council homes which risks being frozen by lack of central investment.

This sell-to-spend tactic has been nicknamed the “North Sea oil stra­tegy” – a reference to the idea that Camden, by fortune of geography and its inner London location, has a potentially rich source of revenue to tap in times of trouble.

The schemes on the list range from one-off pro­jects such as turning storage areas in Great Russell Mansions – Camden’s most sought-after council block opposite the British Museum – into marketable flats and converting unused garages on council estates, to large-scale re-ordering of estates. For example, the Peckwater estate in Kentish Town could get 60 new homes built in a development deal aimed at maximising space.

In many cases, developers will get the chance to build on estates with the proviso that they replace or even build new social housing. More homes are expected to be built on the Clarence Way estate in Camden Town. The scheme has been branded the Community Investment Programme, which sceptics say puts the emphasis on what money will be spent on while glossing over the fact valuable assets will fall into private hands.

To counter that, the Town Hall will publish a list of all its property assets online, apart from people’s council homes, to show that it is not a complete clearout of land and property.

As the projects in the scheme have so far been released almost on a drip-drip basis, some quarrels about how public buildings should be used have already broken out, such as the dispute over what should happen to hostels in Belsize Park which campaigners wanted to turn into a school, and the Mornington Sports ­Centre, which may not be a leisure centre in the future.

Regeneration chief Councillor Sarah Hayward said: “A lot of these projects are about how we can bring something new to an area and we are doing this without selling any council homes. The properties that we are selling are mainly the scrotty ones which would cost a lot of money to put back into use.”

She promised “anti-flipping” clauses to stop developers seizing cheap deals and making big, quick profits, and pledged that buildings such as the old Lodge in St Pancras Gardens – deemed no longer of use to the council – would only be sold to buyers who complied with restrictions on its use.

The Town Hall believes the ward-by-ward strategy is a way of covering a £403million bill to refurbish the borough’s schools, while also making some  inroads into a £500m backlog on repairs to council estates in a climate of receiving less money from government.

These bills are part of what is known as the “capital” deficit at the council.

In simple terms, the backlog of council home repairs is laid at the door of successive Labour governments’ withholding of money for housing in a well-documented dispute over who should manage Camden’s homes, while the sizeable bill for schools is blamed on the current Coalition government’s axing of the Building Schools for the Future money.

“If we don’t address it now, then the bills for maintenance in our schools and other buildings is just going to get worse as time goes by,” said Labour finance chief Cllr Theo Blackwell.

“It’s tough choices: would we be selling the Fleet Community Centre if we still had schools money from the government? No, we probably wouldn’t, but here is a council that is investing in its portfolio when other councils are just cutting.

“We have pledged to make Camden schools the first choice for our families and we can only get there by investing. [Housing Minister] Grant Shapps and [Education Secretary] Michael Gove should be seeing what we are trying here and think about matching our efforts.”

The council is billing the programme as a unique fightback against cuts and one of the biggest reviews of council-owned property since the 1970s.

Again, council chiefs will ask residents to concentrate on what the incoming money will pay for ahead of which assets will be lost.

“People will start voting with their feet if we do not invest in our schools,” said Cllr Blackwell, an oblique reference to the fact academy schools in neighbouring boroughs have been kitted out with new facilities.

Liberal Democrat councillor Keith Moffitt, leader of the opposition at the Town Hall, said the idea of reviewing council properties stemmed from work done by the former Lib Dem and Conservative coalition which ran Camden until 2010.

But he added that the current Labour regime was “rushing to sell off buildings rather than working more on regeneration schemes”.

Cllr Moffitt said: “They need to be very careful because the thing about selling your property is that you can only do it once. You have to look at what each building offers. People are talking about the Mornington Sports Centre in Camden Town. Children and young people need places like that to go to, it’s not just about what their schools look like, it’s broader than that.

“I think the Labour group talk more about investment in schools to try and cover up the housing side and the backlog of work caused by the Labour government taking money away.”

Conservative group leader Councillor Andrew Mennear said he would not oppose using council assets to bring in investment, but he issued a warning on how it is done.

“A lot of this is just common sense rather than the Labour Party  doing anything extraordinary, but it needs to be carefully joined up,” he said. “For it to be smooth, you need to look at the infrastructure and how it all fits together. You can’t add a large number of homes on a block and not think about what amenities are needed in the area for the people who will be living there.

“The council shouldn’t think they have carte blanche to just sell everything or to change everything without full consultation with people living here. So far, we’ve only really seen one paper on the plan go before the council.”

CASH CRISIS: 'Why we must act now,' by Councillor Theo Blackwell

CAMDEN has suffered some of the biggest funding cuts from central government in the country. Yet on top of service cuts in our budget, we have the added burden of a five-year capital infrastructure deficit of £403million for public buildings, with even more needed to repair council estates.

As Labour councillors we believe passionately in the future of public services and maintaining Camden’s social mix – unlike other central London boroughs to the west of us. But maintaining investment in our infrastructure – roads, parks, council estates, schools, nurseries and community centres – poses a massive long-term financial challenge we cannot ignore.

It is morally wrong and ultimately wasteful to the taxpayer in the long-run to neglect the needs of our schools, homes and community buildings.

Without investment in schools, the fear is that in less than a decade people will start voting with their feet and leave the borough if the services don’t cut it.  Failing to invest in council estates in the worst condition is the source of continuing inequality in Camden, which we must address.

We must act now to create local solutions.  The council bought a lot of land when it controlled business rates in the 1970s, land which continues to rise in value. We now have the chance to consider how the value of these assets can be reinvested in school repairs or land redeveloped to build better community facilities, make repairs to our 57 schools and build new council housing.

We will do this with safeguards. Money raised will be reinvested in the community. Camden is not going to auction council flats like the previous administration, and we will guarantee tenant security in our estate regeneration schemes. An additional 850 council and intermediate homes could also be gained in the borough. The programme will last over 15 years, not overnight. The amount of land proposed for sale is relatively modest – only 1 per cent sold and 8 per cent redeveloped – nevertheless it still represents the most significant building programme since the 1960s.

Our “Plan B” helps us – as a community, we tackle problems together and develop solutions locally to protect and improve Camden’s public services from the impact of government cuts.

The New Journal’s Richard Osley looks at Camden Council’s full list of buildings for sale and possible redevelopment projects

HOLBORN AND COVENT GARDEN

Tybalds Estate: Officers exploring parts of the estate which could be redeveloped. More housing planned here.

Bourne Estate: Tenants hall set to be redeveloped for new housing. Layout of estate could change including moving the sports pitch.

Great Russell Mansions: Basement storage areas in sought-after mansion block could be converted into three new flats.

KENTISH TOWN

Greenwood Place: Long-running debate continues over plans to redevelop former industrial building currently used by the Camden Society to help people with learning disabilities. New purpose-built support centre planned to group together services elsewhere in the borough, allowing other centres to be sold.

Caversham Road: District Housing Office building could be offloaded when lease expires in June 2015.

Peckwater Estate: Areas identified on the estate for a regeneration project which could see 60 new homes built in a deal with outside developers. Feasibility study in process on 'infill' options.

Montpellier Nursery: Planning permission secured for a new, larger building.

Falkland Road: Garages at the end of the terrace provides a 'modest opportunity for redevelopment to provide new family homes'.

Gottfried Mews: Garages identified as a potential site for a shop or 'small scale residential development'.

Willingham Close, Leighton Road: Parking spaces and garages set for a revamp.

Holmes Road Hostel: 'Partial rebuilding' could open up development opportunity. Currently used as a temporary accommodation hostel.

KILBURN

Webheath Estate: Plan to group together community facilities in the area to free up sites on the estate for redevelopment.

Abbey Area: All under review for redevelopment options are Abbey Co-op, Abbey Estate, Alexandra and Ainsworth Estate and the Belsize Road car park.

Kilburn Vale Estate: Small property projects identified on the estate including "inaccessible land next to a commercial building". Council warn that "initial soundings indicate no real enthusiasm for development".

KING'S CROSS

Cromer Street Mosque: Working group looking at how mosque in Sandfield block could be expanded to "improve the facilities for the benefit of the wider community as well as existing users".

Calthorpe Street: Twelve industrial units already on the market to private buyers.

Regent's Park: Hardwick House, Harrington Square. Residents being canvassed about a possible redevelopment deal in parking area.

Clarkson Row Car Park: For sale by auction. Buyers likely to order a housing development.

Netley School: Big redevelopment project with neighbouring Surma Centre on the table. Deal with outside developers would look to trade space for private housing for improved school buildings and new community centre.

Regent's Park Children's Centre: Plan to bring in new residential development on hold while council waits for clearer plans on proposed High Speed 2 rail link.

58-60 Hampstead Road: Camden's Peoples Theatre. Officials looking at unoccupied top two floors. They admit building could be sold. HS2 again a potential factor in final plans.

Metropolitan Police Station, 52-60 Albany Street: New police station plan also on hold while HS2 is discussed.

Dick Collins Hall: Discussions ongoing about how space could be turned into new housing development with current community facilities provided on the site or elsewhere. HS2 confusion is a factor here too.

Varndell Street: Space on corner of Varndell Street and Stanhope Street identified as a development opportunity for family housing. HS2 could see idea spiked.

Robert Street car park: Council working out how parking spaces next to Browndale and Rydale Water could move elsewhere so developers could come in and build new homes here.

ST PANCRAS AND SOMERS TOWN

St Pancras Community Centre: Considered tatty and costly to maintain, community facility could be headed to new development in Plender Street allowing the Camden Road site to be redeveloped.

62-67 Plender Street: Parade of five shops and a GP surgery identified as "at the end of their economic life". Redevelopment with outside interest here would take in replacement facilities lost by the potential bulldozing of St Pancras Community Centre and the St Martin's Community Centre in Carol Street. A new GP surgery would be provided "within half a mile of existing premises".

Godwin and Crowndale Estate: Developers may get the chance to build ten to 20 homes at the end of gardens at Godwin Court.

Ampthill Square Estate: Retail units identified as "underused" but officials so far found "limited scope" for the site. Discussions ongoing.

The Lodge, St Pancras Gardens: Historic building in park next to St Pancras Coroner's Court up for sale. Once used by Camden's park department, officials and councillors will set restrictions on who owns it next. Could become a local heritage centre.

13 Mandela Street: On the market. For sale.

FORTUNE GREEN

Shoot Up Hill Day Centre: One of the facilities set to be accommodated in the Greenwood Place project in Kentish Town. Building in Shoot Up Hill could then potentially be sold.

WEST HAMPSTEAD

156 West End Lane: Council's District Housing Office and a builder's yard currently let to Travis Perkins will be sold.

Liddell Road: Site containing light industrial units may form part of a regeneration deal with outside developers which could lead to the opening of a new primary school.

CANTELOWES

Maiden Lane: Large council estate set for redevelopment at York Way end. Town Hall believes there is space for new homes here.

GOSPEL OAK

Lawn Road/Fleet Road: The site of the Fleet Community Centre, car park and industrial units has been identified as an 'opportunity for an attractive development' but community concerns already vocal here.

Kiln Place Estate: Council says it has reached agreement with tenants to look at development opportunities on the fringe of the estate. Ten new homes could be built.

Lamble Street/Mansfield Road: Small sites at both end of 17-79 Mansfield Road at the centre of redevelopment discussions.

Maitland Park/Grafton Terrace: Council paperwork suggests "several sites" for redevelopment are being discussed with tenants.

Waxham and Ludham: Consultants examining structure of blocks to see if new floors containing some private homes could be built. The cash from bringing in private homeowners to the estate would be spent on new heating.

Southampton Road: The potential for a whole new block of flats next to Waxham and Ludham – with the help from private developers – under discussion.

Wendling: Small site next to the railway line close to Rochford Street may be offloaded.

1-12/13-62 Barrington Court: Residents split on whether to support a refurbishment scheme on the estate. Council needs to raise money to fix windows, damp problems and lifts here.

Allcroft Road: Four workshops set to be sold after leases run out in April.

CAMDEN TOWN WITH PRIMROSE HILL

Carol Street: Community Centre facilities moved to Plender Street development. Future of site at No.43. will be discussed in October when council is likely to agree its sale.

Hawley Infants School: Well-regarded junior school could move to the Hawley Wharf development at Camden Lock, currently under discussion between developers and planners. Current school site considered cramped and expensive to run would then be freed up for a development deal.

Hawley Mews: Former car park identified as an area for a new housing development but opposed by ward councillors.

Clarence Way Estate: Garages and 'infill' sites on one of Camden Town's larger estates earmarked for development projects.

Heybridge Gardens, Hadley Street: Once the subject of an intense debate over whether homes or a children's playground should be built on underused garage site. Architects have been to the site to review the options.

Mornington Sports Centre: Recently refurbished leisure centre in Arlington Road declared 'surplus to requirements'. Sale details expected soon.

SWISS COTTAGE

194/194a Goldhurst Terrace: Day centre property could eventually be sold if services inside are accommodated elsewhere.

177 Finchley Road: Estate has car parking area that could be redeveloped. Options appraisal due shortly.

Finchley Road Commercial Units: Officials working out whether commercial properties in Finchley Road, Lithos Road and Rosemont Road are maximising potential.

Hilgrove Garages: Vacant garage blocks may become important bargaining chips in development deals aimed at providing housing and play facilities in the area.

Broadfield End, Broadhurst Gardens: Open site earmarked as potential for a development deal with private operators.

HAVERSTOCK

Ferdinand Street garages: Ward councillors opposing the disposal of small garage site seen as having good potential for development.

Ashington garages: Another garage site identified for a property deal.

HIGHGATE

Chester Balmore redevelopment project has been in the pipeline for more than a year. Plan is to bring in new retail space in parade considered underused. Council eyes 53 new homes in the shake-up.

Holly Lodge Estate: Regeneration project already in advanced stage.