PIC 1: ‘motorway box’ protests led by WHAT that took place shortly after the group was formed in 1973. Photo courtesy of Camden Local Studies and Archive Centre
PIC 2: current members of WHAT celebrate 40 years of campaigning.

Published: 26 September, 2013
by ALICE HUTTON

IT is one of the most powerful pressure groups in Camden, standing up to council bureaucracy, giant corporations and social injustice.

For 40 years its members have worked hard to give those in the NW6 postcode a coherent voice, tackling anything from plans to cancel all Thames Link trains for six months, flash flooding destroying basement flats, the ongoing saga of the West Hampstead interchange, or an invasion of abandoned shopping trolleys on streets.

West Hampstead Amenity and Transport (WHAT) is celebrating its 40th anniversary with a six-week exhibition marking the many milestones, victories and disappointments that make it not only a contender for longest-running campaigning body in the borough, but a force to reckoned with.

Chairwoman Virginia Berridge, who along with husband Geoff has been a member since 1977, told the New Journal how it all began in May 1973 when Greater London Council proposed to create the “motorway box”.

“They were essentially making mini motorways,” she said. “It was going to force all the traffic on to Mill Lane, Finchley Road, West End Lane and Fortune Green Road and fence off the streets behind as ‘environmental’ zones. Everyone was horrified.”

Angry protests took place, including a continuous zebra crossing march that held up traffic for hours, sparking the launch of many new civic groups who came together under the “No to the Network” banner.

And one of them was WHAT, then called West Hampstead Action and Traffic, formed by Don and Claire Hill.

Forty years on, and members have come and gone, issues have been fought over and other groups have risen and fallen, but WHAT has remained a stronghold of passionate protesters who are self-educated experts in transport, planning and environmental issues.

Even if you are not a member, chances are if you live in or have visited West Hampstead, Fortune Green or Kilburn, you have benefited from their work.

And they aren’t slowing down: next on the agenda is the lift access at West Hampstead station, disabled access at Kilburn Station and air pollution, to name but a few issues.

Ms Berridge said: “I don’t want to make out that we are the only group doing good work, or that we always achieve things, because we don’t.

“But I think what makes us unusual is that we have a long knowledge. We have been in the ‘game’ quite a long while. So if someone tells us something can’t be done, or is not an issue, we have the evidence to go back to them and say, ‘Actually you’re wrong’, and make them reconsider.”

Mr Berridge added: “Groups like WHAT actually have power to make things happen. You can change people’s minds.”

Martin Morton, chairman of the Camden Civic Society and former Conservative leader of Camden Council when WHAT was formed, said: “The ‘motorway box’ issue, which in some ways is very similar to HS2 today, was the start of a lot of different civic groups in Camden.

“Over the years some groups arise for a particular issue and disappear, some continue.

"People like WHAT help organise the views of the people and bring to the council and its members the voices of the people outside those offices. Good luck and strength to their arm.”

• The exhibition runs from October 7-November 16 at West Hampstead Library. Visit www.whatnw6.org.uk