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'Give our kids space
to play in'
Fear of Children's Centre sell-off
FAMILIES in Fitzrovia fear the council is preparing to sell
off one of the few patches of empty space in the area.
For more than 18 months the Children’s Centre, in Whitfield
Street, Fitzrovia, has lain empty while people who live in the
area have tried to reopen the site.
But now they fear Camden Council wants to sell off the valuable
piece of land just behind Tottenham Court Road to developers.
Max Neufeld, the chair of the Fitzrovia Trust, said the news
that the council was seeking the advice of costly barristers
suggested it wanted to sell the site. The council claims it
is seeking legal advice because they have discovered the site
is a 19th-century burial ground.
He said: “They want to flog it off because it’s valuable,
the only reason the are talking to lawyers must be because they
want to sell it.”
Their fears come despite approaches from Camden Council in April
last year to the Fitzrovia Trust to see if they could come up
with any proposals. By June the Trust suggested the site could
either be reopened as a place for 0-3 year-olds, as well as
a playground, or have an extension added, bringing it up to
government standards for 0-5 year-olds.
Mr Neufeld added: “There was a worrying bit of silence
afterwards, the council said they would make a decision in July.
“Then they said October and now they have deferred it.
It is the only bit of space for children around here.”
And he said that the fact it was a burial ground could not be
an issue as everyone in the area “have always known”
it was a burial ground.
Councillor Theo Blackwell, the deputy leader of Camden and community
development chief, insisted that they were only speaking to
barristers to make sure that whatever decision was made is on
the “right ground”.
He said: “There are legal issues which haven’t been
resolved. We need to find out whether the fact it is on a burial
site has any affect. We expect advice to come back. We want
our decision based on this evidence.”
But he refused to rule out the council preparing to sell the
site. He said: “It is not a question I can answer.” |
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