How the new development will look

A DEVELOPMENT firm which wants to cut affordable housing on a major scheme in Chalk Farm is set to hold an open weekend to showcase private flats that will cost up to £2.1million.

The price to move into the complex planned for the Camden Goods Yard site was revealed as developers Berkeley St George press ahead with a legal case to cut 40 per cent of the 573 cheaper homes it promised to create when it won planning consent.

The marketing will entice potential buyers with a 24-hour concierge, gym and wellness spa.

A rooftop terrace and restaurant will also be included. Camden Council has refused to allow the cut in affordable homes. A Whitehall inspector is due to now rule on whether the Town Hall has been fair in its refusal – with the company claiming it could all become financially unviable if it does not win an appeal.

Camden Town ward Labour councillor Pat Callaghan, a deputy leader of the council, said there should be no wriggling out of agreed commitments.

She said: “What some developers are currently doing is completely soul-destroying. It is an awful situation for all our tenants who are in desperate need of decent, affordable social housing. We bent over backwards for St George to get the scheme permission on the agreement that it would be 40 per cent affordable.

“People living nearby have had to put up with three years of hugely disruptive building works, with the understanding there is a public benefit.”

She added: “It is terrible for St George to turn round and say they will not fulfil the terms – that was the reason they got planning permission in the first place. They promised and agreed to 40 per cent affordable housing.”

Councillor Pat Callaghan

Cllr Callaghan added the appeal was a further issue.

She said: “I dare not think what it is going to cost in barristers’ fees for the council to defend what is the right decision.” Her views were echoed in an objection lodged by the influential Primrose Hill Conservation Area Advisory Committee. Chairman Richard Simpson said the appeal “profoundly undermines” the aims of increasing affordable housing, adding: “If this threat is successful it would demonstrate that the reliance on private developers to provide affordable housing is a failure.

“It would undermine housing policy fulfilment in Camden, London, and the whole country.”

A six-day appeal hearing is scheduled for early December.

Berkeley St George said after work began in 2020, changes to fire safety rules and “economic constraints” meant they could not afford to complete the project as they originally intended.

A spokesperson for St George said: “Both private and affordable homebuilding has now fallen to record lows in Camden due to rising regulatory costs and high build-cost inflation. These pressures mean that private developments like Camden Goods Yard can no longer self-fund as much affordable housing while also meeting the higher tax and planning requirements placed upon them. Publicly funded housing projects have also stalled because of these same challenges.”

They added: “The council has refused to accept changes to the approved Camden Goods Yard plans, meaning that an appeal is the only way to prevent this site stalling altogether like so many others.”