The well-attended, and successful, Annual General Meeting of CRASH was held on Monday 16th - a lovely warm June evening - at the Community Centre on Belsize Road. The evening's guest speaker was one of the ward's councillors. Tommy Gale, who spoke about his work at Camden and, in particular, his experiences as a member of the planning committee. During the following Q&A Tommy was good enough to answer a barrage of questions and observations from the members and guests on all the usual subjects: the O2 Centre, 100 Avenue Road, crime, litter, anti-social behaviour, playground provision, Finchley Road coach stop, etc. There followed a presentation by SHFAG (the floods group) before the Chairman moved on to the formal business of the AGM.

During his Chairman's report, the Chair, Eric, was kind enough to pay tributes to (a) Susan Hadida for her long service as the association's treasurer (b) Frances Radford, a founder of CRASH about to celebrate her 100th birthday and (c) the hard-working CRASH Planning Group. The new treasurer, Mark Spurlock, reported on the association's financial position, which - happily - was boosted on the night by subscriptions and donations from existing and, always-welcome, new members. The existing members of the Committee, having indicated that they were willing to remain 'in post', were duly re-elected to serve for a further year.

The formal business of the AGM being concluded, the Chair invited everyone to help themselves to a glass of wine and a snack and continue chatting to fellow-residents of South Hampstead, the guest speaker and the committee members. 

Those residents of a certain vintage will recall - provided they still have a good memory - the early plans for the development of 100 Avenue Road. That reviled scheme proposed by Essential Living never lifted off the runway, but the idea was picked up by local developer Regal who submitted a re-worked scheme, to little in the way of applause from neighbours and residents' groups. A revised version of the Regal plan (ref 2025/0852/P) goes before the Planning Committee on the 5th June (7pm at the Town Hall, Judd St).

"The officer's recommendation to the Committee is that the application(s) be granted subject to a Section 106 Legal Agreement."

From bitter past experience we must assume that the Committee will rubber-stamp the officer's consent. 

Landsec has now (11/02/25) submitted an additional planning application to Camden Council seeking approval for a number of alterations and additions to its existing consented scheme. The majority of the changes - including the additional height of some tower blocks - were widely known following consultation events held at the O2 Centre. However, it still comes as something of a shock to realise that the heightened tower blocks in the scheme will be visible from as far away as Greenwich Park!

There can be few people in South Hampstead without a plant in their garden or a tool in their shed that didn't come from Homebase. No more. Its demolition is now complete. A sad loss.

Iconic must be one of the most over-used words in the English language, but its use here must be allowed. The Swiss Cottage pub has closed its doors, with many people assuming that, like Homebase, it will be demolished for yet another block of flats. Let's hope that the closure is temporary and that new owners can be found. Swiss Cottage without the pub will be like Crystal Palace without the glass palace - just a place on the map and the name of a TFL station.

As many of you will know, Regal - a local property developer - has signed a conditional agreement to purchase the 100 Avenue Road site from Essential Living. Regal has begun consulting with the community on its revised plans for the site and will hold a second consultation later in the year. With the exception of the additional staircases - now required by post-Grenfell regulations - CRASH can see no improvement on Essential Living's reviled scheme. In fact, they are worse.

CRASH opposed Essential Living's original scheme for 100 Avenue Road and will continue to oppose the current plans.

It appears that West Hampstead's intensive lobbying during the O2 debate has borne fruit.

Alex Williams, TFL's Chief Customer & Strategy Officer has announced: "I'm really pleased that we're now able to confirm that work will resume at Northolt and that we are starting design work at North Acton and West Hampstead as the next stations to be upgraded, building on feasibility work that started last year."​

Good news for West Hampstead station, but sadly no news of step-free access at the more important Finchley Road station.

In a letter dated 11 December 2023 the Deputy Mayor for Planning, Jules Pipe, informs Camden Council that he, under delegated powers from the Mayor of London, does not intend to refuse the application (from Landsec) or intend to take over the application for his determination. 

This means that Landsec has cleared all three hurdles - Camden Council, the Secretary of State, the Mayor of London - and is now free to proceed with the first stage of its O2 Centre redevelopment. 
​
A sad end to 2023. 

Camden has launched a consultation on proposed new trees, planting and other changes in Goldhurst Terrace. These changes are partly to make the area more resilient to future flooding. The consultation is open at:
​Goldhurst Terrace Consultation open until the 22nd September.

​It has been announced that the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (The Rt Hon Michael Gove MP) has declined to use the power granted to him by parliament to 'call in' the O2 redevelopment. He is prepared to allow the decision made by Camden Council to stand without review by his department.

A decision from the Mayor of London is still awaited.

On Monday 3rd July the CRASH AGM was held at the Crossfield Centre on Fairhazel Gardens. The well-attended meeting agreed to the re-election of all the existing officers and members of the committee. Draft minutes of the meeting will be available shortly on the website.