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Prince our last hope
• OUR community is calling for a bridge across the rear of King’s Cross station, giving access to the new western concourse for those commuting from Islington, linking King’s Cross to the east and Somers Town to the west and putting the final piece in the jigsaw for an Angel to Marylebone cycling and walking route (Station bridge: plea to Prince, May 22).
King’s Cross Central developer Argent is under a duty to site the western end of this bridge only if work starts on it by 2012. If we miss that deadline, we lose the bridge – possibly forever.
Last year, Network Rail undertook a feasibility study, carried out by the Arup company. This said a bridge was not feasible. We pointed out that the Arup study did not look at the bridge we were calling for but at a different bridge altogether – one that everyone had previously agreed wouldn’t be feasible. We said the Arup study was therefore a waste of money.
Camden Council employed another company, Colin Buchanan, to assess the validity of the Arup study. Buchanan ignored the point that Network Rail and Arup had looked at the wrong bridge and told Camden Council the bridge was not feasible. This let Network Rail and Camden planners off the hook as, no matter what the community said, they could always quote the Arup study and the Buchanan report.
Next came the King’s Cross movement and open space consultation. Who should Islington Council employ to do this? Colin Buchanan. At a community consultation feedback event, Buchanan’s work was criticised for ignoring comments made by the community.
Then, Islington Council employed Buchanan to develop the business case for what is being called the Wharfdale Road bridge – our bridge. No mention is made in Buchanan’s report of the local historical or current context. Instead, the report focuses on King’s Cross Central and changes to the transport system. The bridge was part of our community until the 1920s. No one has been able to say why it was destroyed; the community wants it back.
The immediate catchment area for the Wharfdale Road bridge stretches as far north as the Maiden Lane estate, as far west as Somers Town and as far east as Penton Road. The catchment area used by Buchanan concentrates on a tiny area and then narrows that down to a minuscule area south of the Regent’s Canal.
At King’s Cross, a large number of people travel to and from the station by bus and then transfer to the Tube or train. The gyratory system results in those people travelling from the north east of the station being a high proportion of potential bridge users.
The report limits itself to a small number of cyclists who may use the bridge. No mention is made of cyclists wanting a throughway in order to avoid the A501. No mention is made of the campaign for an Angel to Marylebone cycle route.
The body of the report uses only economic measures. No business case can be developed without including social and environmental measures as well as economic ones.
A table giving a quickie appraisal is littered with subjective judgements. The impact of the bridge on air quality is given as neutral. Yet the A501 is one of the most dangerous high-emission zones in the country. Part of the aims of the bridge is to enable cyclists and pedestrians to avoid having to use the A501.
We asked the Mayor of London’s transport advisor and head of Transport for London (TfL), Kulveer Ranger, for help. He said TfL would do “all in their power” to make the bridge happen. Unfortunately, that stops short of fully funding it.
So we asked central Government to intervene. Lord Adonis, minister responsible for rail, said it was a local issue for Camden Council to deal with and not one for the government.
What can we do now? We have the backing of local and regional politicians from all four major parties. Even that can’t cut through the morass of regulation and closed pots of money guarded by planners. Given the complete failure of local democracy to hold sway, in complete desperation we are writing to Prince Charles. It’s not a publicity stunt; we just don’t know what else to do.
Sophie Talbot
King’s Cross resident and commuter
N1
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