Children call for the restoration of their playground in Camden Town in 2004

A FORMER playground which tenants campaigned in vain to get refurbished is set to be used for a new housing block.

Residents at the Castle Road estate, Camden Town, fought a sell-off plan 22 years ago in the hope that the play area would one day be restored.

Now, with only one councillor from that time still at the Town Hall and the demonstrations a distant memory to many, Camden has released plans to construct a complex of 16 social homes.

It is part of the “small sites” policy of finding corners of council-owned land for new housing – a strategy which has already led to conflict at sites in Dartmouth Park and Gospel Oak.

The now familiar see-saw debate emerging is Camden’s attempts to soothe the chronic shortage of affordable properties and council flats in the borough, clashing with neighbours’ concerns about the scale of some of the proposed schemes and the loss of open space.

Former council leader Raj Chada, who left council politics in 2006 when he lost his seat, might be allowed an ironic smile when he sees the plans for Castle Road, after once finding himself at the centre of angry protests.

Mr Chada was confronted as at public meetings and was met with a spirited campaign – led in part by Johnny Murphy, a tenant who had lived on the estate since it was built in 1969.

Mr Murphy, a well known black cab driver, passed away during the coronavirus pandemic.

“My long-experience of living around here tells me that we are already over populated and that any more housing would turn the place into a ghetto where more children would be forced to play on the streets,” he said.

And he was supported by the late Holborn and St Pancras MP Frank Dobson who wrote to the council asking it not to allow building on the site – and that it should be seen as an opportunity for a new play area.

He described his concerns as “outright opposition”.

The late Johnny Murphy during the campaign to get the children their play area

Eventually, Camden abandoned the sale, but did not restore the playground, which had been removed due to its dated equipment.

It had sat on top of garages at the Heybridge block, which have since been demolished, leaving the space which council chiefs think is now ripe for housing.

Labour councillors are bullish about the importance of the “small sites” strategy at a time when even rival politicians agree that building more housing is vital – and crucial to keeping communities intact.

As with other “small site” planning applications commissioned by Camden, opponents say they are not against the efforts to provide new housing, but are concerned by the design.

“This building bears no relation to surrounding Victorian architecture,” said a resident in nearby Hadley Street in a letter of objection filed at the Town Hall.

“The building is aesthetically very ugly. It’s a great big block with no interesting or redeeming features and zero ‘kerb appeal’. Good design is fundamental, both for those who have to look at it and those who have to live inside it.”

The site next to the Castle Road estate and, below, designs for the new complex of homes

It has been claimed that Camden has a strict policy stopping people adding attics to their historic homes in Hadley Street, which objectors say is not consistent with putting a new block in front of them.

Another Hadley Street resident said the site had been unused for decades and so they supported the idea of housing on the corner, but added the scheme was a “mish mash of design.”

Architects say the residents of the existing Heybridge block will be allowed to use a new courtyard area included in the scheme, and that children in the area had access to football pitches and the park at Castlehaven.

Their plans are currently being reviewed for a building consent decision – with Camden’s own planning department once again holding the key say over whether it will be constructed.

Regeneration chief Councillor Nasrine Djemai said earlier this year: “We are doing everything in our power to build more council homes to help ease housing pressures and support the thousands of people on our housing waiting list.

“Working closely with our communities, we’ve been able to identity a number of suitable areas for housing.”