Editor's Comment: Is Camden Town Tube Station doomed to permanent nightmare status?

Published: 12 August, 2010

WE must hope that Ken Livingstone’s prediction about Camden Town Tube station will not come true.

He told this newspaper that the station is doomed.   

Overcrowded, a nightmare for travellers at daily peak times and weekends, the station has been crying out for a complete revamp for years.

Redevelopment plans started to be floated more than 10 years ago. 

This was highlighted when London Underground only allowed travellers to use the station as an exit point at weekends because of the growing Camden Market crowds.  

Those who wanted to travel on the Northern Line had to go to Chalk Farm or Mornington Crescent.

But these restrictions would only be temporary, pledged LU.

It looked as if a great deal of forward planning had gone into this move when LU drew up plans for a new-look station.

But after the inevitable objections began to be lined up,  the plans bit the dust.

Since then the station has become a worn-out transport hub that can hardly cope with the growing number of travellers.

But the system will not remain static.

We believe research may show that, like so many parts of central London, in particular, the travelling population is expanding at such a rate that not too far off in the future the system, at peak times, will simply break down.

Before the present recession, it could reasonably be hoped that sometime in the near future a new station would be built.

But as the coalition government has put  the public sector into a deep freeze, with it, we fear, has gone Camden Town Tube station.

Disgraceful fines

HOW far can red tape at the Town Hall go? Motorists in breach of clearly marked parking restrictions cannot grumble when they find themselves fined.

But anyone using common sense would not bracket ambulance drivers with ordinary motorists.

The way that the Town Hall insist on imposing fines on ambulance drivers at hospitals is not simply bizarre – it is disgraceful.

If there are problems of a shortage of parking space and the original design of the University College London Hospital these should have formed the basis of consultations and negotiations, involving the UCLH, the Town Hall, and our elected councillors.

This should have been put top of the agenda years ago.