Crown Estate’s sell-off won’t help community

Published: 25th March 2010

• I WOULD like to add my support to the campaign being waged in Regent’s Park to stop the planned sell-off of the Crown Estate properties in Cumberland Market.
After being canvassed at my home nearby by George Lee, the Conservative candidate for Holborn and St Pancras, I was made aware of the proposals, which seem to me to be misguided and not in the interests of local residents and the local community.
The residents living here have been here for many many years.
They are, as I understand it, mainly public sector workers who devote their working lives to helping others and giving something back to the community.
If these proposals went through, the chances are that they would be priced out of the market as rents increased and flats were sold off to the private sector.
The unique character of the area would be lost forever.
The Mayor of London has already voiced his concern about the possibility of losing such valuable affordable housing in the capital at a time when there is a real shortage, especially in inner-London.
These proposals should be opposed as a matter of urgency. The proper provision of affordable housing for key workers should be a priority for any government.
I much admire the efforts made by the Crown Estate to safeguard the amenity and integrity of this area and I am convinced that, in the present circumstances, selling these homes off to the highest bidder is neither socially nor environmentally the best solution.
STANELY JOHNSON, NW1