Canalside market sunk

IT IS not often that our committee meetings are accompanied by a bottle of Champagne, but at last week's meeting of the Regents Canal Conservation Area Committee in Camden Town, glasses of bubbly were raised to celebrate the refusal of the planning application for the Hawley Wharf Market development beside the Regents Canal, reports Del Brenner.

The market has spread along the canal from Camden High Street, and the crowds of visitors and tourists spill on to the towpath which becomes impassable at times, and a no-go area for families with push chairs and the disabled.

The strong objection to the market project was the replacement of the ground level market with four floors of stalls and food outlets.

The recent photo (above) at Hawley Locks shows the extent of the takeover of the towpath even at this time of year, and it can be imagined what it will be like when the summer tourist season kicks in. Four times that pressure of intrusion in the future with a multi-storey market on this section of the Regents Canal would be unacceptable.

Serious over development

The artist impression shows the scale of the four storeys market opening out on to the canal towpath and the locks, and dominating the main historic feature of the centre of Camden Town, which is the Regents Canal, of course.

It also shows that the developer perhaps wanted to disguise the take-over of the Regents Canal, and made sure the artist represented the market at about 8 o'clock in the morning before the crowds arrived. However, it does not conceal the fact that the Regents Canal has been sucked into the greedy development by the developer attempting to increase the size of his market site.

Serious opposition

The developer should not get away with this grab of our canal, and fortunately his nefarious plot did not succeed. There was some serious opposition from a sizeable group of local residents who crowded into Camden Town Hall for the crucial planning meeting with over 100 people unable to squeeze in and left on the pavement outside.

As well as criticism that the proposals did not respect the heritage and history of the canalside site and did not maintain Camden Town's unique character, there were innumerable other flaws in the application such as the gross bulk and oversize of the buildings, the lack of affordable housing and absence of facilities for the locals, and so on.

This ensured that the application sank, it is hoped, without a trace, and if another attempt is made for a development then it will be more responsive to the needs and sensitivities to the area, including the canal, and to the requirements of its residents.

People power

Camden Town locals and residents associations formed a ‘working group' chaired by local councillors to give advice to the developers over the years (yes, it went on for years) as their plans evolved, and the developers should have known better than to ignore the locals.

In the end the working group unveiled its own alternative plans when they realised that they were not being listened to, and many eyes were opened when is was made plain that a much better quality scheme could be built. As far as the Regents Canal was concerned, there were great advantages suggested in the people's plans including that the towpath should be separated off from the market, and with access points so that visitors could drop in on the canal, and enjoy the calm and pleasure of the canal environment.

Safer visits by boat

Boaters would also have a better and safer passage through Camden Town with the separation of the canal from the hassle of the crowds, especially later in the day when many of the visitors are more inebriated and cause no end of trouble jumping into the water, throwing cans and bottles, and even leaping on to the boats as they negotiate the three locks flight.

The day-trippers still take over the lock gates from time to time even though there is a clue in the fence that surrounds the lock that they are not welcome, as the photo shows with a boater attempting to operate the lock paddles.