Camden Council approves plan for next 15 years of land development in borough

Camden councillors have waved through the borough’s development plans for the coming 15 years, including proposals to build thousands of new homes.

At the full council meeting of 7 April, the Town Hall presented its draft Local Plan to shape development in the borough, including a minimum target of 11,550 extra homes — of which only around a quarter will be “affordable”.

The 431-page “door-stopper” of a plan was endorsed by members from across the chamber, with some caveats.

Cllr Linda Chung (Lib Dem, Hampstead Town) applauded council officers for the “splendid document” but appeared unimpressed by speeches from the Labour benches.

“[This plan] is about pride in our environment, not just homelessness and planning. When you self-congratulate yourselves on planning and you knock the other parties, it’s so childish,” she said.

“What we’ve heard this evening is that people in Camden want homes that people want to live in – not just cheap, so-called social housing.”

She asked that the council acknowledges the residents and other stakeholders whose responses were sought for “an enormous chunk” of the plan, and asked that it be scrutinised in further forums so it can be “finessed”.

The plan was introduced by Haverstock councillor Nasrine Djemai, cabinet member for homes and community investment, who said the strategy document was about “dignity and respect for our residents and our borough”.

She referenced her own experience as a local displaced by HS2 disruption, resulting in her being moved to a new replacement home with the help from the local authority’s “transformative” Community Investment Programme (CIP).

“It gave me a chance in life, something not even all 431 pages of this new draft plan would be able to fully articulate,” she said.

“Anyone who cares about fairness and inclusivity won’t have a problem accepting this plan.”

Responding to Cllr Chung’s criticism of her Labour colleagues, she added: “There is a clear endorsement of this local plan and I hope everyone does continue to support it.”

The minimum target of 11,550 new homes by 2041 includes the aim for 3,000 of these be affordable.

According to the National Planning Policy Framework, “affordable housing” is that “for sale or rent, for those whose needs are not met by the market”.

Major developments are planned for Euston, Camley Street and Holborn, with key areas for “transformational redevelopment” planned at Regis Road and the Murphy’s Yard site in Kentish Town.

Other “key growth areas” for development include the O2 site in West Hampstead and Camden Goods Yard in Camden Town.

Housebuilding will be funded by the £2.3bn Camden has already invested in its Community Investment Programme.

In January, the council stated 1,780 homes have so far been delivered under its five-year housing strategy, 70 per cent of which are “affordable”.

“A further 330 homes are currently under construction and will be part of the 4,850 homes Camden is set to deliver, including 1,800 social rented homes,” according to the Town Hall website.

In addition, the council plans to buy 280 family-sized homes to alleviate overcrowding, and has allocated £350mn for maintaining and improving its current housing stock.

Although the draft was first approved in 2023, the latest version now passed by the council contains several new proposals.

These include sites for student housing, accommodation for the Gypsy and Traveller community, and a new local green space at St John’s Churchyard in Hampstead.

The plan still needs to pass through further stages, including examination by the planning inspector, before it can be fully approved and adopted.

While the new Local Plan sets out the council’s planning policies, in practice the document acts as a guidance with case officers in the planning department often horse-trading with developers in an effort to get housing built, including homes for the many on Camden’s social housing waiting list.

Last month the planning committee approved plans for British Land to demolish and rebuild the Euston Tower, increasing the floor space by a huge 25,000 square metres of gross internal area — the equivalent of around 250 homes. Yet the development will provide for just 28 homes, albeit all of them “affordable”.

Previous local plans have also failed to provide significant amounts of housing from major developments in Fitzrovia.

The former Middlesex Hospital Annex site in Cleveland Street will yield just 17 homes at an “affordable” rent after planning officers dragged their feet for 20 years over enforcing a legal agreement with UCLH and UCLH Charity to provide at least 40 affordable homes.

A neighbouring former hospital building in Tottenham Street should have provided around 50 homes, but instead an office-led development provided only 10 private apartments, two social rented homes.

The new plan also prioritises retrofitting existing buildings, rather than demolish and rebuild, as a response to the climate emergency.

But so does the existing Local Plan, which states: “The construction process and new materials employed in developing buildings are major consumers of resources and can produce large quantities of waste and carbon emissions. The possibility of sensitively altering or retrofitting buildings should always be strongly considered before demolition is proposed.”

Since declaring a climate emergency in 2019, Camden’s planners have allowed two major demolish and rebuilds — the Network Building and 247 — on Tottenham Court Road. And in Holborn a huge tower block on Museum Street will also be demolished and rebuilt instead of refurbished.

The most recent major planning application to be approved will see more than two-thirds of the second tallest building in the borough demolished instead of refurbished after planning officers were cajoled by the applicant into recommending approval of the development.

Only time will tell if Camden’s new Local Plan will deliver on its promises.

Full Council: Camden Local Plan Proposed Submission Draft, Monday 7 April 2025. Agenda. Webcast.

Additional reporting by Linus Rees.

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