An eye on the wharf

Published: 23 September, 2010

• BURIED in Dan Carrier’s piece on Hawley Wharf (Coming soon? The wharf of little independent shops, September 16) was the brief sentence: “…a new two-tier market next to the canal is planned, with a restaurant on top.”

The developer responding positively to requests from the people living close by for “local” shops, a GP surgery, a farmers’ market is a welcome sign. 

But if this is a mere sop in the hope that it will assist in the retention and expansion of a market area that does not have planning permission, then it counts for very little.

The current long-term proposal for what is effectively a three-floor market/restaurant building is not acceptable either in architectural quality or in proposed uses.

There is general agreement that Camden Lock area has more than enough market stalls, tourist shops, food outlets and bars.

As the Regent’s Canal is a Conservation Area, it is time for the developer to commit to renovating and rebuilding the section of Camden High Street affected by fire as well as beginning to present plans for a mixed development close to the canal providing the area with a quality of architecture suitable to a site of national importance and acceptable to the people of Camden.
Brian Lake
Chairman, Regent’s Canal Conservation Area Advisory Committee,
WC1