The O2 Centre site in West Hampstead

• CAMDEN’S planning meeting on March 30 confirmed the deepest fears of the community near to Finchley Road.

The newly-elected Labour councillors of South Hampstead and West Hampstead promised to block the O2 Centre redevelopment as proposed in 2022.

Not much has changed since May 2022 and yet their colleagues on the committee voted through the Landsec proposal against the expressed wishes of the community.

After many articles in the press questioning the viability of the O2 project and the ability of the developer to complete the project in a reasonable space of time, Camden was forced to admit in the meeting that the viability was in question.

They also had to ask councillors to trust that the benefits put forward in the proposal would be gained even though the project’s viability was in question.

If the project proved to be unviable in its present form, residents will have to live with a massive hole in the ground for decades with a substantial loss of amenity and nothing to show for it.

Shame on the Labour councillors who went against residents’ wishes and played roulette with their future.

DON WILLIAMS, NW3