The O2 Centre site on Finchley Road

• FOR several months, the north west of Camden has stood in the shadow of Camden’s proposals to earmark the O2 Centre for replacement by up to 2,000 flats.

Camden Council’s (Labour) cabinet was due to formally sign off its proposals next week, but I am pleased that Camden has now quietly delayed its plans.

It is crucial that Camden uses this delay to consult residents fully, listen to their views, and drop the proposals that threaten the area.

A delay without a meaningful consultation is just a political stunt by the administration, distracting from the red carpet that it plans to roll out to the skyscrapers that will dwarf Swiss Cottage, West Hampstead, and South Hampstead.

Actually listening is vital, because Camden’s approach has been an insult to the local community.

Last year Camden consulted on proposals for 950 flats at the O2, and the public response was overwhelmingly negative. Yet instead of retracting it Camden doubled it.

In response to this change, I asked Camden’s chief planning officer in July for a full consultation. But he answered that “we need to crack on” without consultation.

I tabled a motion to Camden Council in September calling for this proposal to be reconsidered. Camden’s cabinet member for planning said, “It is not considered necessary to carry out a new public consultation.”

Last year the same Labour cabinet member said that Conservatives’ request that Camden consults residents on what happens locally is an “obsession with process”.

So it’s good that there’s a delay before this guillotine falls on the community. But it can’t just be a delay for the sake of delay – to ultimately make the same decision anyway.

Camden Conservatives have held a survey of almost 2,000 local residents, and found 97 per cent opposition to Camden’s plans. Camden must listen to the public, not pay lip service to it.

That means that unless Camden holds a full consultation and unless it finds a solution that works for the community, it must drop these plans.

CLLR OLIVER COOPER
Leader, Camden Conservatives