Camden Tories Slam Labour redevelopment of Queens Crescent Market
At the last full council meeting, your local Conservatives pressed the administration on the vexed subject of the Queens Crescent re-surfacing scheme.
The council notes that its is important to support local businesses throughout the borough but that this must be done is a financially sustainable manner and with the agreement and support of local residents. The Queens Crescent street market roadway scheme an example of how this support should NOT be given.
The 120 metres of the street market is in the process of being decorated with curly embossment of the ground surface and raised granite planters. An FOI request has unearthed the outrageous costs for this project.
The projected end total would seem to be almost £4.0M and the current cost is £1.60M. Of this, designers and project managers have been paid some £600,000. Any calculation of the percentage of non-productive cost shows a unjustifiable figure approaching 28%. And this is not a complicated house building project or a highly technical laboratory. It’s a short market road in Gospel Oak.
The granite has been brought over from Eastern Europe and the bill for it so far is approaching £0.5M.
Yes, the market has long needed a boost but is this the correct way to help locals or businesses? There are signs in shops rebutting this conception and many local RESIDENTS AND BUSINESSES are stunned and even offended.
Therefore this council commits to:
Far more responsible assessment of public road schemes and the setting up of a cross-party panel to logic check such proposals before they are given the go ahead.
ENSURING THAT, WHILE It is too late to save the money spent or committed to this scheme but GOING FORWARD in times of tightened belts, such extravagances should be curtailed.
Our Motion, which of course was not reached and had been red inked to death by Labour amendment, sought to illustrate the wrong minded decision-making behind an extremely extravagant scheme to re-pave Queens Crescent in Gospel Oak. The massive £3.5M being spent on granite planters and street decoration is very unpopular with residents and shopkeepers, will not help the market street and may even reduce the area for stall pitches.
Most notably, the professional fee percentage spent at £600,000 (or 28% of the build cost) is in the area of high tech lab projects and despite the Labour claims in the amendment, cannot be justified. The almost £0.5 million spent on granite is similarly stratospheric.
We suggested a forum for cross party oversight on this type of public work, in order to prevent recurrence. This comprehensively delivered the third gulf moment. How the Labour Councillors can support this waste of public money is baffling. The response that the scheme had been consulted on thoroughly and generally approved of appears to be at odds with the most expressed public opinion.