• CLIMATE Emergency Camden calls on Camden Council to refuse permission for the demolition of Selkirk House, because of the carbon emissions that will result adding to climate breakdown and the waste of existing material resources.

Michael Gove, secretary of state for levelling up, has shown the way with his intervention to save Oxford Street’s Marks & Spencer building from demolition.

He said he had made the decision partly because it would “fail to support the transition to a low-carbon future, and would overall fail to encourage the reuse of existing resources, including the conversion of existing buildings”.

Camden has appointed specialist consultant Hilson Moran to scrutinise the application submitted by Lab Selkirk House Ltd for the demolition of Selkirk House and its replacement with a much larger building.

Their report reviewing the options for reuse confirms that:

— the case for demolition has not been proven;

— difficulties in adapting the building to office use (its original use) could be overcome;

— the use of the building for residential use has not been shown to be unfeasible;

— demolition of the existing building is not justified in terms of optimisation of resources.

It is encouraging that the council realises that it needs help in assessing these matters. Now it needs to make decisions based on this evidence.

Unfortunately all indications are that planning officers are set on recommending that the scheme is approved.

The council have the policy instruments to refuse this application (namely the requirement to retain existing buildings) and it is urgent and imperative that they do so.

It cannot have escaped the planners’ notice that the Earth is approaching crisis in terms of climate change and dangerous biodiversity tipping points, and that the future of humanity is at stake.

We need Camden to wake up to this reality and change course away from “business as usual” development as represented by this application.

CLIMATE EMERGENCY CAMDEN