• AT Camden’s planning committee, a correct and brave decision was made about the Construction Management Plan for the 24-storey tower at 100 Avenue Road.

The CMP was rejected by councillors and sent back to the developer for reconsideration. This victory for common sense was achieved through impassioned local effort.

Unlike a planning application, this technical submission cannot be refused entirely, merely considered insufficient or incorrect.

In this case the problems with the plan hinged largely over the traffic impact: from Winchester Road to Swiss Cottage Open Space to Swiss Cottage market.

On this topic there was glaringly a missing player. Transport for London have not only made the current, insufficient, plan harder to devise but have also held tight to their own priorities of the bus operation and the construction of cycle superhighway CS11. This stubborn position has not helped one bit and their absence was well noted.

For any reasonable outcome to this, they must be brought to the table and into being far greater contributors to the difficult construction phase of this unpopular building and the wholesale reorganisation of the area.

It may be that a more combined thought process would yield improvements for everyone and the CMP could be agreed that did far less harm to the residents of Belsize, Swiss Cottage and all those who pass through this part of Camden.

CLLR STEVE ADAMS
Conservative, Belsize ward