• EXCITING news from Gospel Oak. Camden’s cabinet is today (18th) set to ditch the results of the 2016 consultation on the area so we all can develop a vision for the area instead.

Until now the 2016 consultation seemed exemplary; a record response for a small area of Camden (over 900 formal responses) and, for the first time ever in Gospel Oak, the whole­hearted engagement of the neighbourhood’s large Muslim community.

Then there was the mass mailing, the 13 meetings and drop-ins, the market stalls, and George in the library. It must have cost a pretty penny. The then cabinet member for regeneration promised the next stage would be a draft strategic framework for the neighbourhood.

A proper plan for Gospel Oak/West Kentish Town where large tracts of land are being redeveloped and intensified seemed at last to be in sight.

But let’s not be petty about the cost, or the broken promises, or the lack of a plan for Gospel Oak. Eat your heart out wealthier parts of Camden. You may have enforceable area plans, but we’re going to get visions. I can hardly wait.

DINAH GALLOP
Oak Village, NW5