CNJ COMMENT- City must remember that the Heath belongs to us all

Published: 27 January, 2011

THE £12million plan to rebuild the banks and dams on the Heath has come into the world with a seal of approval by the  government’s Environment Agency (see page 7).

As a scheme it may be faultless.    

However, in an age when experts have been found, on close investigation, to have got things wrong, sometimes when it is too late, caution is the best counsel to take.

This is the starting point of both the Kenwood Ladies’ Pond Association and the Highgate Lifebuoys Swimming Club.

Who would know the Heath better than their members?

Fundamentally, the   Ladies do not appear to be convinced the work needs to be done. 

Nor, if it does, are they sure the timing set down by the Agency is right.

Unquestionably, the guardians of the Heath, the City of London, have got the best of intentions while the Environment Agency would have employed the most competent of technicians.

However, those at the heart of the scheme in the City should understand they are only guardians of the Heath.  It is commonly owned, and, as such, any change to its ponds should not be made without the complete approval of our amenity organisations.   

Warnings ignored

THOSE in power, more often than not driven by a compulsion to do good, push aside all counter arguments and move undeterred towards their goal.   

There is something about this in the council’s plan to demolish their 1970s offices in Euston Road and build new ones on the King’s Cross development site.

In the somewhat strange world of local politics Labour councillors rejected the scheme when presented by their opponents – before the election.

Afterwards, came a change of mind, far from satisfactorily explained.

Why it is felt necessary to tear down a serviceable block and build a new one, along with office space to let, especially, in these belt-tightening days, has not been convincingly explained.

Today, commercial lettings in central London are at zero point. For years, the commercial market has been hazardous. 

The planned office schemes for King’s Cross have been dogged for years. Tenants are not easy to find. Building offices to let is a gamble.

But Labour is willing to take it. And when a successful hedge fund manager warns them not to,  Labour, almost contemptuously, ignores him.

Will it all end in tears?