Published: 26 September, 2013
by TOM FOOT and RICHARD OSLEY

CAMDEN’S horror at the government’s £50billion HS2 rail link project got worse on Monday after the project’s bosses revealed 10 new swathes of the borough that will be hit by months of building work.

Hundreds of homes previously unaffected by the initial plans for the London to Birmingham rail link have been brought into the mix as HS2 Ltd, the government-appointed company, works out where it needs to send its diggers.

A raft of letters have gone out to home-­owners and council tenants this week, explaining the list of heavy-duty works.

The latest development has left Town Hall leader Councillor Sarah Hayward “absolutely livid” as she learned the news while trying to convince shadow ministers at the Labour Party conference to drop their support for the HS2, set to cause 10 years of demolition and disruption in Camden.

A chink of light for her and the council’s opposition to the scheme came when Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls warned there would be “no blank cheque” for the scheme from the main stage of the Labour conference on Monday.

He began pondering out loud how else the vast investment could be spent.

Senior Labour members supporting the scheme then had to spend the rest of the conference trying to downplay his comments to HS2 loyalists.

The New Journal, meanwhile, won key assurances from shadow transport minister Maria Eagle, a HS2 backer, that she would look at the London leg of the journey after we challenged her on the issue at a fringe meeting.

She admitted that she was “not satisfied” with the way Camden has been treated over HS2.

Ms Eagle told us: “I don’t think there has been the same level of thought towards mitigation for Camden as there have been for other areas.”

But back in Camden, HS2 Ltd were this week already sizing up new areas where their construction lorries will go to bed new piping and cabling underground.

The new sites affected by the project are:
• The entire Churchway Estate, Somers Town, and a housing estate and businesses in Cedar Way, Agar Grove.

• Coniston, Langdale, Cartmel, Staveley, Waterhead, Newby, Derwent, Rydal, Scafell and The Tarns blocks in the Regent’s Park Estate.

•  Six large housing blocks opposite Cecil Sharp House at the south end of Gloucester Avenue, Primrose Hill, and more than 50 homes in Juniper Crescent, Chalk Farm, along with 24 homes in Adelaide Road, Primrose Hill.

• The whole of the Abbey and Ainsworth estates in West Hampstead, 40 homes in Cedar Court, Belsize Road, in West Hampstead, and 18 homes in Goldsmith’s Place in Kilburn.

Although residents in these areas will not face the same fate as people being forced from their homes in Euston, they are looking at having major works in their neighbourhood as the hole HS2 will make in Camden grows bigger.

A HS2 official told the New Journal that the “rights of access” to housing estates and “open spaces” could be affected during the works.

Cllr Hayward said: “HS2 need to work with residents and work with the borough about what they’re planning for Camden, and not send emails late at night when they think people won’t notice.”

She added that the new work plan had been sprung on Camden and not even mentioned at a community forum meet­ing a fortnight ago. “I’m absolutely livid about all of this,” she said. “It is a total disrespect to Camden and its residents.”

HS2 Ltd spokesman said: “HS2 Ltd has written to residents about the works, which are of the same nature that utility companies carry out on a daily basis throughout London.
 

"There will be no property acquisitions or demolitions. Residents will have full access to their homes during this period and we do not anticipate any disruption to gas, water and electricity supplies.”

>>‘Euston a must’ Mayor fights re-route (Click here)
>>LABOUR CONFERENCE: On the brink, the £50 billion rail link threatening the 'economic heart' of Camden (Click here)