Impression of how the One Museum Street/Selkirk House development could look

• THE Bloomsbury Residents Action Group (BRAG) was formed in 2016 to remind decision-makers that “residents matter”.

When it comes to planning matters residents also have experience, expertise and the benefit of local knowledge.

This has been highlighted by Save Museum Street campaigners who have even produced a positive, alternative development approach to the contentious application submitted by the owners of Selkirk House and adjacent heritage buildings in Museum Street.

The SMS campaign is a reminder to Camden Council that a large number of residents’ and community groups have come together in a coalition to oppose this development.

Of course, there are Camden planning policies which matter too. Climate change, for example.

So why demolish the former Travelodge tower when it’s possible to retain and retrofit?

In post-pandemic times where is the justification for more and more office space?

Heritage matters (when it’s gone, it’s gone) so why wreck the Bloomsbury Conservation Area by constructing an office block whose scale is utterly inappropriate in context?

Why demolish the adjacent historic stable block, a vestige of a vanished past?

The significance of setting should not be underestimated.

We are told that Camden’s elected members will be interested to hear the views of the local community on the night of the planning committee meeting, which will be held in the council chamber at 7pm on Thursday November 16, at Camden Town Hall, Judd Street.

Councillors need to be fully aware of the groundswell of opinion against these proposals. Come and join us!

If local resistance had not defeated the developers’ plans for Covent Garden 50 years ago, the area would not be the popular destination it is today.

DEBBIE RADCLIFFE
Bloomsbury Residents’ Action Group
Save Museum Street Coalition