How part of the new development at Regis Road will look

HOLLYWOOD is heading to NW5.

Tonight (Monday) the Town Hall’s planning committee passed a controversial £1 billion redevelopment scheme to build a mega-film studio complex soaring up to 24 storeys on a Kentish Town industrial estate.

At a lengthy four-hour meeting, the 10-strong committee was tied at five votes each in favour and against, with committee chair Liam Martin-Lane using his casting vote to push the scheme through.

The project, which will be built on Regis Road, will see council land currently housing a recycling centre and a repairs depot redeveloped to accommodate an eight-studio complex, 500 new homes, film colleges, and a new recycling centre. Councillors heard that half of the new homes will be affordable, the scheme will generate more than 3,000 jobs, and it will provide new through-routes across an industrial estate that currently has none.

The meeting heard extended deputations from a range of Kentish Town civic groups, residents, and councillors urging the scheme be sent back to the drawing board.

Kentish Town Neighbourhood Forum vice-chair Dee Searle told the meeting that plans to build council homes above a new recycling centre posed a fire risk and could become Camden’s version of Grenfell.

She said: “Nowhere else in Britain are homes built over recycling centres — and with good reason. Recycling centres are a major fire risk, not least because of the growth in the disposal of lithium-ion batteries. If committee members would not wholeheartedly be happy to move into one of the proposed new flats above a recycling centre, please reject this application.”

Opposition enjoyed cross-party support, with Green Councillor Lorna Jane Russell joining Camden Conservative leader Councillor Steve Adams to speak out against the project.

Cllr Russell said: “I am deeply concerned about the height and massing of the proposals.”

Cllr Adams added that describing the scheme as causing ‘medium harm’ was “…far too positive an assessment.”

He continued: “At around 80 metres in height and immensely bulky, the film studio building in particular is an unacceptable megalith being plonked into an area of low-rise buildings. If the applicant’s position is that a smaller film studio complex is not viable, then this is the wrong use for the site.”

Developers Yoo Capital’s director Lloyd Lee told the meeting that they had worked for more than four years to bring together a comprehensive mixed-use scheme that delivered much-needed affordable homes.

He said: “Our job is to bring together industry and community to create a cohesive plan and deliver it. We have done this.”

He cited the success of a scheme his firm has embarked on in Olympia, which has created a new housing and business complex in west London.

Architect Trevor Morriss said: “For four years it has evolved as a catalyst for a master plan. We do not underestimate the concerns that have been raised and we have made changes. This is an ambitious scheme and ambitious schemes attract scrutiny.

“Throughout London’s history it has been ambitious schemes like this that have made the city. We will turn an underdeveloped area into a creative district. The Camden Film Quarter will bring new pedestrian streets and open up the neighbourhood for the first time.

“The large scale draws on the industrial heritage and is firmly rooted in the local context.”

Councillors voted [X] to [Y] in favour of passing the project.