• CAMDEN Council’s communal heating upgrade projects will make a nonsense of its 2030 net zero CO2 target.

Residents of the Alexandra and Ainsworth Estate (erroneously known as “Rowley Way”) are worried about this. Like the leaseholders on the Weedington Estate, we ask “is there not a more environmentally friendly way?”

On our estate, Camden’s proposed new heating system will retain the existing gas boilers until 2039 at the earliest, far beyond the net zero target.

Their excuse is that the boilers are nearly new. But that’s a very poor reason for continuing to burn methane gas and emit CO2 for the next 20 years.

What’s worse, Camden has no plans to insulate the concrete floors and walls to stop the massive loss of heat through the fabric of the buildings.

Our balcony windows will be double-glazed, but no other heat-saving works will be done.

Residents will end up paying a lot extra for heat that is lost straight through the walls and floors, requiring bigger radiators operating at a higher temperature; pointlessly and wastefully.

The whole point of upgrading our heating system is to minimise running costs, but the failure to insulate – before anything else is done – means it will all be a waste of time and money.

Camden has done no serious work on how the buildings can be insulated without affecting their Grade II*-listed status, and have come up with all kinds of excuses as to why this is not possible.

Various solutions are in fact possible, if only Camden’s officers could be persuaded to sit down, think them through, and incorporate a coherent insulation strategy into their plans now, before it’s too late.

Instead, they are steamrollering ahead with their own energy-wasting plans. Is Camden’s 2030 net zero CO2 target just a fantasy?

NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED, NW8