Work planned for Camden Gardens

A “PARK in a sky” WILL be built after council planners gave the green light for the Camden Highline to go-ahead.

Work on first phase on a new route linking Camden Town and King’s Cross via an unused railway stretch can now begin and this will start with refurbishing the arches in Camden Gardens.

Simon Pitkeathley, chief executive of Camden Highline, said: “To go from a Google Earth printout, sellotaped together on our table, to now a real designed thing with planning permission is amazing.”

The group is now looking to raise donations to get the “shovel-ready” designs up and running.

Tatiana von Preussen, from vPPR, one of two architectural firms on the scheme, said: “I live and work within a few hundred metres from the Camden Highline and I see it as local walk you can do with the family, joining up the canal and Coal Drops Yard [in King’s Cross] into a single loop. It would be a place to go and bump into friends, forming a central spine of the community.”

She added: “A small section of it threads through the private residence of Camden but the longest part of it serves a number of housing estates and parts of London which don’t currently have any access to local green space. I’m very excited about how the Camden Highline will bring Camden together through a beautiful, shared asset.”

The other architectural practice involved is Field Operations. Organisers have had to face sceptics who suggested it was all a nice idea, but would never come to fruition.

Plans are now firmly in place, however, for people to access views across Camden Town and enjoy an alternative route to the canal walkways, where pedestrians often say they have to compete with cyclists on a narrow towpath. Green space and children’s areas will be provided, while there will be event spaces along the route.

Revenue generated from new kiosks in Camden Gardens will help fund the project.

The first section to be built will be from Camden Gardens to Royal College Street, and then two more parts reaching Camley Street and York Way will follow.

While the project has captured the imagination of people across London, it did face objections in the planning process. Residents are concerned about how the new attraction and an overhaul of Camden Gardens may cause new disturbances similar to those seen in livelier parts of Camden Town. Other objectors said they had privacy concerns from people looking down at homes and gardens.

Fiona Trier, representing all residents associations which have raised concerns, told Thursday’s meeting “it is easy but wrong to consider that all areas of Camden Town are busy, noisy places”, adding that the council should be trying to protect the “quiet havens” where people lived.

“We need a safe and secure perimeter when the park is closed and safe oversight when it is open,” she said. “What do we consider inappropriate? We would suggest large group gatherings and events creating noise through talking in raised voices and the consumption of alcohol. We also think live music – it could be a band with drums or brass instruments or any amplified sound – is inappropriate.”

Ms Trier added: “Directing visitors to overlook private property in a purposely designed viewing point is inappropriate. The commercialisation of a protected square [Camden Gardens] and allowing the creep of commercial activities into our green space is also inappropriate.”

Camden Town councillor Richard Cotton said he supported residents worried about the scheme and told the committee that he was “struck by just how close the line is to the bedrooms and living room windows of residents”. He added: “Local residents understandably don’t want the problems that they have near the Lock brought to their area, and the proposed performance space is bound to generate noise, public drinking, live music and all the attendant problems that come with that.”

Mr Pitkeathley had told the meeting: “The positive applications are from people who are really genuinely excited about an extraordinary thing that will benefit all of us. And it is about green, it’s not about drinking and entertainment. It’s about a green infrastructure project that will benefit Camden and benefit London as a whole.”

Ms von Preussen said Camden Gardens was “currently completely unloved” and the project “should reduce antisocial behaviour”.