Tenants face being forced out of their homes by HS2, as 21-storey tower is threatened rail link
Thursday, 21st February 2013
Gillfoot, on the Ampthill Square estate, could make way for HS2 trains
Published: 21 February, 2013
by TOM FOOT and LEO THOMAS
AN instantly recognisable tower on a council estate close to Mornington Crescent has become the latest landmark to be threatened by the government’s high-speed rail link.
It is feared that Gillfoot, one of the 21-storey skyscrapers that make up Ampthill Square estate, could end up being demolished due to its foundations being undermined by construction work.
Scores of tenants could then be forced to leave their homes, the latest victims in Camden of a £33billion plan to provide the HS2 link between London and Birmingham.
The tower blocks, marked in primary colours, can be seen across the borough’s skyline. They sit close to the existing rail line running through the south of Camden Town.
Letters were sent to residents last week to warn them of possible disruption.
Council leader Councillor Sarah Hayward said: “It is possible that the construction work could undermine the foundations of Gillfoot. It could lead to demolition. It could be that people actually have to move out.” She added that the council was now carrying out a housing needs assessment.
The council has written to residents in the blocks and on the nearby Regent’s Park estate to determine whether they have any “aspirations for rehousing”.
It was previously thought that only the tenants hall on the estate grounds would be affected by the HS2 land grab.
Cllr Hayward said the council was completely opposed to HS2 but needed to plan for a worst-case scenario.
A previous pledge from government-funded company HS2 Limited to buy the National Temperance Hospital to rehouse 300 residents on the Regent’s Park estate has collapsed.
Cllr Hayward’s letter to tenants in Gillfoot – which has also been sent to all council blocks on the Regent’s Park estate – says there will be consultation events to “explore locations where housing could be built in the local area”.
It adds that Camden “wants to influence where replacement housing” is provided.
The letter says council officers “will be coming onto the estate to talk directly to you over the next couple of months”.
The Gillfoot block is just outside the “safeguarding” area where HS2 wants to pay full compensation. Tenants have recently endured five years of home refurbishment work but those contacted by the New Journal this week said they had not realised their homes could be affected by HS2.
Fran Heron, who lives on the Ampthill Square estate and is part of the No to HS2 campaign, said: “I would hope and pray it wasn’t going to affect these people. I think they [the authorities] are covering their backs.”
About 25 per cent of buildings earmarked for demolition along the HS2 route – stretching to the north of England – are in Camden.
HS2 Ltd said it was considering responses to its consultation on compensation and the breadth of the “safeguarding zone”.
