Camden Council's Planning Committee approves O2 Centre Development plans despite objections from Lib Dem councillors

At Camden Council's last Planning Committee meeting on 20th August, Lib Dem councillors Janet Grauberg and Farrell Monk spoke out on behalf of residents about the serious issues with the current plan for the O2 Centre redevelopment.

Cllr Grauberg urged the committee to demand better for residents in terms of the percentage of affordable housing proposed by Landsec, the developers of the site. The current plan includes just 20% affordable housing across the development. Cllr Grauberg pointed out that the overall London plan for affordable housing for developments such as this, as well as the previous version of the plan put forward by Landsec in 2023, had set affordable housing at 35%; while Camden Council's own local plan is set at 50%. 

She said to the committee: "If you approve this scheme, you'll be approving 240 fewer affordable homes [compared with the previous version of the plan]. You secured 50% affordable housing in the film quarter application, you fought really hard for 38% at Camden Goods Yard. Please don't approve just 20% in this scheme, don't let a big developer take away 240 homes, don't short-change the residents of West Hampstead."

Cllr Monk also spoke out against the development, focusing on the issue of infrastructure and community space. He pointed out that Landsec are applying for a 50% reduction in the money provided to Camden Council for the purposes of investing in the local infrastructure that is needed to support this development, in comparison with the original 2023 plan. Cllr Monk also noted that this reduction means an erosion of the £10 million million promised for step-free access at West Hampstead tube station, with nothing at all promised for nearby Finchley Road tube station. 

He said to the committee: “If this committee approves this development, it sends another message to more developers that they can come to Camden, submit a scheme, get it approved, then come back years later and water it down when residents have no real means to object, and only for the benefit of the developers themselves. Developers will always push for profit over people, for more private units, less social housing, less investment in the community they build in. When councils give ground, developers simply come back and push more. Tonight, this committee has a chance to show whose side they are really on - reject this application, and send Landsec back to deliver what our community was promised three years ago.”

Unfortunately, despite these objections, the plan was approved 6:2, with Labour and Conservative councillors voting in favour, and Lib Dem and Green Party councillors voting against. The next step will be for the planning application to be considered by the Mayor of London. Construction where the Homebase used to be is expected to start early in 2028. You can watch the whole hour and a half committee meeting here.