How the plans will look if planning consent is granted 

HIGH-RISE housing reaching up to 15 storeys could be built in Chalk Farm – promoting renewed fears of over-development in Camden Town.

Housing Association Riverside will hear tonight (Thursday) if controversial plans to demolish a celebrated 120-home estate off Chalk Farm Road and replace it with five new blocks will be approved.

Riverside say it will provide much-needed new housing.

But critics say plans will change the area “beyond recognition” and create “poorly designed forests of expensive flats”.

Juniper Crescent, which won architec­tural awards, was built in 1997 and includes homes up to four storeys high, set around an open space with a playground.

Plans for high-rise blocks have been severely criticised.

Andrej Mecava, who lives opposite the plot, said designs revealed an “astonishing scale and magnitude of buildings, which will completely devastate the character of multiple beloved areas, particularly when one takes into account the cumulative impact of the neighbouring proposed developments.

“Chalk Farm, Primrose Hill, and Camden Market will be transformed beyond recognition into poorly designed forests of expensive flats. It is a true dereliction of duty from everyone involved that the schemes in this area have been allowed to progress.”

A ballot of residents was held, with 63 per cent voting in favour on a turn-out of 83 per cent.

Riverside vow that every “eligible” resident will  be offered a new home on the estate at the same rent levels and a one-bed property will be offered to adult children living there at the moment.

Other objections have come from the Primrose Hill conservation area advisory committee and Climate Emergency Camden.

The Primrose Hill CAAC say the affordable housing is inadequate – and raised concerns whether it would be built at all.

They feared the embedded carbon on site would be lost by demolition and light pollution would hit neighbours and biodiversity.

One neighbour, living in nearby Gilbeys Yard, told the Town Hall: “The ballot process was unethical, rushed through and enforced for the benefit of the landlord, with no regard for residents. As a result, many feel betrayed and disempowered.”

Juniper Crescent Tenants and Residents Association secretary Eleonora Andronaco has lived on the estate for six years.

She accused Riverside of “gerry­mandering” the ballot to ensure a favourable result, adding: “Social housing residents were moved out and replaced with intermediate tenants.”

This amounted to “manipulation.”

She said the landlords had followed a divide and rule plan, setting residents against each other by offering the children in some households new flats, adding: “Many of these adult children would have never stood a chance to be housed in Camden through existing social housing stock, as they would have not even met the requirements to be added to the housing register. This was advertised as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, which created tensions not only between neighbours, but also within households.

“The way this was handled undeniably tore a community apart.”

In the application, planning officers, who have recommended approval, said: “The development has signif­icant health and safety benefits and helps to address housing inequality. As well as making more efficient use of the land, redev­elopment offers an opportunity for… an open, inclusive and more welcoming envir­on­ment, much improved with greening, flood manage-ment and bio­diversity gains in high-quality open space.”

The applicant added there were dedicated community facilities with a new hall.

Built in two phases, the plans would see some tenants remain in place while work was done – and moved into empty homes during construction.