Town Hall target: 7,000 new homes in ten years

SPACE for 2,000 homes needs to be found in the west Hampstead area in the coming decade, according to a draft report drawn up by the Town Hall’s planning department.
The homes are just a fraction of those due to be built in the next 10 years, according to the Local Development Framework, a report that has earmarked areas where planners believe building is possible.
King’s Cross, Euston, Tottenham Court Road, Kentish Town Road, Kilburn High Road and Holborn have all been identified. Before the Town Hall’s executive ratifies the report, it wants to hear the public’s views.
The new framework being drawn up over the next 12 months will take into account population growth and the pressures this will put on housing, schools, health centres and civic amenities.
Planners estimate Camden will need a minimum of 435 new homes a year over the coming 10 years – or about 7,000, covering about 90 hectares or four per cent of the borough’s land area.
The framework document will cover the council’s policy on new student housing, a growth area but one that has led to complaints that it adversely affects communities. Students are transient, don’t stay in their homes over summer and put added strain on facilities without paying council tax, residents have maintained.
Council planning officer Dave Morrissey said: “It is about managing growth, and identifying areas able to cope with it.”
The report has identified sites that could be used for homes developments – for example, the former Kingsway College in Holmes Road, Kentish Town, the 02 Centre’s car park in Finchley Road and Swiss Cottage School in Adelaide Road.
Further south, the sites of empty and semi-derelict buildings such as the National Temperance Hospital in Hampstead Road and Euston Bus Garage have also been earmarked.

DAN CARRIER