• RESIDENTS in Gospel Oak were extremely interested to read the leader of Camden Council’s comments on the construction delays at the HS2 site, (Fury as – after years of demolition and disruption in Camden – HS2 is delayed to the 2040s, March 16).

There Georgia Gould warns that the 60-acre site should not be left as fenced off but opened up to the community. Cllr Gould appears to have forgotten this is exactly what the Camden Labour administration have done extensively in Gospel Oak.

Three working allotments and gardens on Grafton Road were seized from the residents on a renowned architectural estate despite widespread opposition. For more than six years they have been unused and surrounded by 12-foot hoardings awaiting sale for private development.

Same situation at the former Bacton Low Rise site, residents were removed and decanted elsewhere with substantial replacement and additional housing due for completion in 2017.

The community have not been given any indication of the future timescale related to this site.
Instead, this huge area remains a mere hole in the ground entirely invisible and fenced off from view.

Efficient and time-bound operations would have been desirable, however, in both cases, these sites could and should have been kept available to local residents for gardening and recreation in an area which is desperately short of such spaces.

Cllr Gould would be well advised to look at this, apologise to residents and immediately remedy the operations of her own council before she turns on the HS2 consortium.

JULIETTA COCHRANE, NW5