Photograph at Euston on July 11 2011

• HS2 is the biggest issue in Camden.

It has blighted Euston for a decade and, under the government’s new redefined scenario, the blight is set to become open ended.

On October 7 the government announced that it would neither be funding the 7km of tunnelling from Old Oak Common to Euston nor the supposed £6.5billion for a revised six platform HS2 station at Euston.

These would now be wholly dependent on private investment. This has been universally ridiculed as “not having a cat in hell’s chance” of being achieved.

It’s clear that this government has set a cynical bear trap for the incoming government next year. To summarise, these are unstable days and now is the time to make Euston’s residents’ needs heard.

We do not want the mooted thousands of homes for foreign investors with minimal social rented accommodation provision for locals, as Lendlease has recently delivered in Elephant & Castle.

Lendlease pretends that “The Master Developer agreement contract with the Department for Transport still stands.”

But the reality is that agreement must be set aside under the totally changed circumstances and there needs to be a new competitive tendering process.

Ideally this would be based on confirmation that HS2 will terminate at Old Oak Common, thus removing local uncertainly and blight.

To seek to offer help, on October 18 I wrote to the acting leader of Camden Council Pat Callaghan to offer a comprehensively briefing on HS2 to her by Tim Stockton, myself and Martin Sheppard.

I’d venture that we three long-term residents know more about HS2 than anyone else in Camden, with the possible exception of the CNJ’s own Tom Foot.

We’ve been on the case for a dozen years and, for example, we’ve been actively engaged for the past decade with the only national politician who has consistently talked sense from a position of expertise throughout, the Labour peer Tony Berkeley.

After a month the leader’s office has come back to me with an alternative proposal: that Camden’s director of economy, regeneration and investment (with responsibility for HS2 programme delivery and Euston regeneration) “has kindly offered to meet with yourself, Martin and Tim”!

The bureaucrat nominated has been with Camden for just three years and his day job has entailed working hand in glove with both HS2 Ltd and Lendlease, the current nominated Euston master planners.

Understandably we’ve declined the delegated meeting because we seek a fresh political focus for the council’s representation of Camden residents’ interests.

Arguably it has been lacklustre ever since the toothless “Camden Assurances” agreed at the doors of the Commons’ petitioning process on December 1 2015.

I’ve replied by email politely to explain our rejection, including the following: “For a decade to date Camden Council has not represented its citizens adequately on HS2. The recent government announcements have created a hiatus which is also a massive opportunity. We believe there’s a need for a reset in Camden – a focus for the council to assert its residents’ interests.

“We offer, as very well-informed residents with ‘skin in the game’ to brief you, as the acting leader of the elected Camden Council. This is to help influence POLICY in our democracy.”

So, dear Pat, our offer remains open…

PAUL BRAITHWAITE
Bartholomew Villas NW5