Ancient footpath under threat - Developers want to turn historic College Lane into car park

Published: 06 January 2011
by DAN CARRIER

IT was a well-trodden track that once led villagers from their country cottages out into the fields, and down to the bustling hamlet of Kentish Town. But now a route still used by people in the area each day is under threat.

Developers have asked the Town Hall for permission to enclose a piece of College Lane, by Highgate Road, to create a car park for a multi-million-pound housing development.

The owners of the former Baptist Chapel – currently being converted into 17 luxury flats – are waiting to see if they will get the go-ahead at the end of January to use part of the single track route for dedicated car parking. 

But civic groups and esteemed Kentish Town historian Gillian Tindall have spoken out against the plans. And Dartmouth Park Conservation Area Advisory Committee (CAAC) have made their objections clear to the Town Hall, along with the Grove Terrace Association. 

The Land Registry office say the owners of the Baptist Chapel also own a section of land in front of the church — but it is cut in half by a public right of way. According to designs registered at the Town Hall, they want to build a fence across the pathway, forcing people who use College Lane to take a detour along Highgate Road and ending a route that has been a shortcut for generations.

Ms Tindall, who wrote The Fields Beneath, a book that charts the history of the area, said any proposal to stop people walking through the route was “outrageous”.  She added: “This route has had the footsteps of villagers meander up and down it for maybe a thousand years. It must be protected.”

Dartmouth Park CAAC chairman Patrick Lefevre said that gated car parks were not part of the scheme’s original plans. 

He added: “Some of the chapel development is supposed to be car free. We can’t go on bringing more and more cars into the area.”

And in a letter to the Town Hall, joint chairs of the Grove Terrace Association, Christopher Harrison and Helen Harrison, said: “It is a busy footpath. It is used often, in particular, by the elderly, the less able-bodied, children on their way to the schools in the area and people with infants in push-chairs. The council has no power to stop up College Lane and would be acting unlawfully.”

The owners of the scheme, Fitzrovia Construction, declined to comment. But Clear Design, who have worked on the plans, said they had already received permission for 10 parking spaces in 2005. 

A spokesperson added: “The land is not public but private but there is a public right of way across an historic pathway. We have been liaising with planning department on this matter and continue to work closely with them.”