New, revised consultation on the Adelaide Road vent shaft – do hedgehogs fly?

• READERS may wish to know that as a result of their concerns following my January 6 letter to the CNJ, (Designs on a vent shaft), Camden planners are rerunning the planning consultation about HS2’s gigantic neo-brutalist tunnel vent shaft and head house that replaces a large nature reserve woodland at Adelaide Road.

The new deadline for your comments is midnight February 6. Camden have to approve the appearance of the building which HS2 contend is “integrated into the landscape”.

And also (as a result of the public’s concerns), Camden have also asked HS2 to produce accurate visualisations from the Regent’s Park Road railway bridge at Chalk Farm, which is the main pedestrian route to Primrose Hill, to establish whether HS2’s denial the building would be visible – to residents and tourists – was correct or not.

And if incorrect, and there is visual impact, Camden have to require mitigation measures to make the appearance of HS2’s engineering structure suit the local context

So Camden have encouraged me to ask you to send them more comments. You can use the QR code which links to a comments box on Camden’s consultation web page (below).

For example, is this prominent building integrated into the landscape (or does it stick out like a sore thumb)?

Will it visually impact Primrose Hill (or will it be invisible from across the railway)?

Should much more of the building be screened by vegetation (trees and green walling)?

Can you see any sign of the green corridor (for wildlife) between the building and the railway required by the HS2 act? Or do hedgehogs fly?

JEFF TRAVERS
HS2 Euston Community Representatives Group