Designs for a state-of-the-art underground terminus in a new Euston Station that could now be scrapped

Published: 7 March, 2013
EXCLUSIVE by TOM FOOT

A SHOCK overhaul of the high-speed railway project that could strip Camden of an estimated £1billion investment has been hatched behind closed doors.

The New Journal has learned that HS2 officials have drawn up designs for a “cheaper and less disruptive option” after discovering the £33billion scheme would be finished late and way over budget.

Millions of pounds have already been spent on consultants to draw up designs for a state-of-the-art underground terminus in a new Euston Station.

That plan would have created a huge space – the size of 17 football stadiums – above the station that had been earmarked for replacement public gardens, homes and businesses affected by the demolition.

But now HS2 Ltd wants to leave Euston ­Station as it is – meaning there will be no new space for redevelopment.

The government-funded company will submit their recommendations to ministers later this month.

HS2 this week held confidential meetings with the leader of Camden Council Sarah Hayward, Frank Dobson MP and Euston Community Forum chief Robert Latham, among others, to ­discuss “a new map”.

When approached by the New Journal, Mr Dobson, the Labour MP for Holborn and St Pancras, said: “They are now proposing changes that will remove every one of the benefits from the locality from HS2 coming to Euston. The housing and jobs disappear. The new station disappears. All gone.

“Local people will be paying the price of the professional incompetence.”

He added that HS2 officials had told him they had underestimated the cost of the changes for the Euston project by 30 to 40 per cent.

HS2 admitted yesterday (Wednesday) they were considering “different options” but did not want to publicise any details of the new proposals and were asking for information about the leak.

When approached, Cllr Hayward said: “We have seen the new designs. HS2 has asked us not to comment and we are concerned that if we speak about this it will impact on our discussions with them on housing. But I urge HS2 to come clean.”

The New Journal understands that by retaining Euston Station, the famous Drummond Street curry quarter would be severely affected by the changed plans.

Public information meetings with Camden Cutting group – representing Mornington Crescent and Camden Town residents – and the Gloucester Avenue Association (GAA) have been cancelled because of the volte face.

Barrister Robert Latham, chairman of Euston Community HS2 Forum, told the New Journal: “I was told that they are coming up with a new option that would leave the existing lines where they are. That might mean there would be no new open space to replace St James’s Gardens, or new social housing.”

He added that the new lines proposed could mean disruption extending “deeper into the Regent’s Park Estate”.

HS2 has dismissed concerns from the council that the Gillfoot tower block in the Ampthill Estate will be affected. But Camden Council says it cannot be sure that works will not undermine the 21-storey block.

A judgment in a long-awaited judicial review hearing on the HS2 consultation process, brought in part by Camden Council, is expected within a few weeks.

Yesterday, during Prime Minister’s Questions, David Cameron told the House of Commons: “When you launch a project like HS2 it causes a lot of local concern, a lot of local unease. If we are going to win in the global race economically, we have to invest in new infrastructure – whether that is roads, bypasses, bridges, tunnels or railways, including HS2.

“The rest of the world is getting on board the high-speed revolution – and we should be too.”

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