‘Now would be a good time for an open design competition for Euston, with residents not Mammon centre stage’

• NEARLY three years ago I wrote that the single biggest issue in Holborn and St Pancras during Sir Keir Starmer’s five-year tenure has been HS2 and that while he’d always made the right noises to us locals, on the national stage he’s been notably silent.

This silence has continued to this day yet I note that in his current local election leaflets he claims that his number one pledge as: “More homes for local people” and “I take huge pride in staying engaged locally and serving our community.”

Well now would be a good time to deliver on those and speak up for the long-suffering residents of Euston. He could state unequivocally that HS2 should terminate at Old Oak Common. And acknowledge that what his constituents want is lots of new affordable social rented homes, reinstatement of their huge loss of green spaces and trees and the existing classic Euston station upgraded.

That’s totally at odds with what Camden Council, its officers and Lendlease, the government-imposed Euston master developers, greedily want to impose on the land freed up from the current half-sized HS2 station envisaged.

By chance there’s a combination of circumstances that facilitates a total rethink. Rachel Reeves should summarily stop pouring good money after bad on HS2 (£30billion already spent), completely rethink Euston and give Old Oak Common the boost in opportunity it desperately needs.

Fortuitously Lendlease has just announced it will no longer be the developer of its UK projects like Euston but it will seek to sell them on with planning consents.

Since this government has halved its planned HS2 station at Euston, removed all its multi-billion-pound funding and relieved HS2 Ltd of overall control because of profligate incompetence, surely all bets are off?

Further our deaf-eared council, which has so consistently ignored residents’ opinions, is also at a crossroads whereby the key cabinet members are likely to be off to the Commons (where arguably they can do far less damage), there can be a refreshed new cabinet team who might actually listen.

Risibly, right now, Euston HS2 is meant to be paused until April 2025. But HS2 Ltd outrageously continues to weasel around the pause, claiming they’re only doing “no regrets” works.

Well, it really should be paused! Now would be a good time for an open design competition for Euston, with residents not Mammon centre stage.

PAUL BRAITHWAITE, NW5