Dear Mr Olszewski,
Re: Redevelopment of the Bacton Low Rise Estate
Bacton Towers Action (BTA) is a group of residents campaigning for better housing in our area. We are writing to ask for a public meeting between Camden officials and residents to discuss Mount Anvil’s proposal for the redevelopment of the Bacton Low Rise Estate. Our mostly low-rise, working class neighbourhood is being turned into a high-rise investment opportunity for private buyers through the overdevelopment of three sites – Bacton, Wendling and West Kentish Town Estate.
The cumulative impact of these developments on both existing residents as well as people and families desperately looking for affordable homes in the borough has not been acknowledged by Camden Council, whose representatives have not been able to explain how these developments benefit local people.
In fact, Mount Anvil’s proposal for Bacton contravenes previous consultations, Camden’s own planning policy and the Gospel Oak and Haverstock Community Vision, which residents were involved in shaping as recently as 2022. The original scheme, for which Camden Council obtained planning permission in 2012, had the support of the local community. We want the new proposal to have similar levels of support and argue that it is possible to develop a scheme that is sensitive to the existing community while meeting the need for new housing.
Camden officials have repeatedly told us to take our concerns directly to Mount Anvil, who have been running a poorly advertised and inaccessible consultation for over a year, which has resulted in minimal changes to the design of the scheme. Many residents who have engaged in this consultation in good faith have become frustrated by the lack of genuine listening on the part of the developer, who appears to be caught between its own commercial interest and the demands of Camden Council, resulting in the forced overdevelopment of the site, with three tall towers crudely squeezed into limited space.
BTA has spoken with hundreds of people across the neighbourhood, and we have found that there is overwhelming disapproval of the Bacton towers. People want more social and affordable housing, and they understand this involves sacrifices and some disruption. But the huge private towers proposed for the Bacton site is not the answer because they will divide social and private tenants, drive up rents, put adjacent buildings into the shade, add further strain on already stretched services, cause massive disruption, pollution and CO2 emissions while providing no community facilities or affordable workspace for existing residents.
These are legitimate concerns. However, Mount Anvil have stated this on their latest online consultation form:
“Some hostile groups/individuals are targeting consultations in an attempt to skew results towards less favourable outcomes which are not in the public interest. […] You need to “think for yourself” and should reflect carefully on how you have been informed on the facts of the consultation ahead of sharing your views.”
This is patronising language, suggesting that residents of Gospel Oak and Haverstock cannot think critically and that groups such as BTA are manipulating people. We suggest the opposite is true.
Mount Anvil officials have been unable to answer simple questions such as how services for an additional 1,000 residents would be provided, and instead have presented their figures in ways that are deeply misleading. For example, to claim a higher ratio of social to private housing, Mount Anvil’s figures combine the percentage of social housing units across Bacton phase 1 (Cherry Court) and phase 2, even though Cherry Court was built several years ago by Camden Council and is now fully occupied.
As a result, many residents have no confidence in the consultation run by Mount Anvil, who have a vested interest in this process. We have written to Camden officers and councillors on multiple occasions before with a request to meet with us directly and explain the benefits of these developments for all residents in the area. Local TRAs have done the same and were promised such a meeting by Cllr Boyland at the Gospel Oak DMC meeting in June, but nothing has happened since. In fact, Cllr Boyland has attempted to backtrack on this commitment. Camden’s refusal to engage with us is bewildering given the enormity of the proposed schemes, which represent a major change of planning in Camden.
However, we know that such dialogue is possible. We understand that Yoo Capital and Camden officers recently met with residents to discuss the proposal for the Camden Film Quarter on Regis Road.
We therefore ask for a public meeting within the next month in which residents can speak directly with Camden officers involved in this development to ask questions, express our concerns and understand the benefits this scheme presents for our community in more detail.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards,
Robert Lewenstein
Chair, Bacton Towers Action
(21 October 2025)
Signatories:
- Donald Sumpter
- Antonia Brown
- Ed Audland
- Tom Young
- Jacqui Jeans
- Sean Titley
- Phil Thornton
- Julia Oertli
- T Ewing
- Alice Bown
- Yasmin Allen
- W.F. Bromwich
- Cordelia Mayfield
- Heiba Lamara
- Sarah Allen
- Robert Lewenstein
- Jess Morrison
- Jack Morrison
- Siobhan Chomse
- David Colman
- Lizzy Fleet
- Daniel Fleet
- Joe Fleet
- Lily Fleet
- Mary Kuligowski
- Richard Atkins
- Paul Birrell
- Joanna Neicho
- Judith Silver
- Myra Farnworth
- Derek Farnworth
- Colin Campbell
- Mary Pat Campbell
- Pat Bullivant
- Robert Zagar
- Thea Thompson
- Sally Llewellyn
- Stephen Webster
- Kitty Llewellyn
- Cece Wilden
- David Irvine
- Peter Baker
- Patricia Atkin
- Patricia Langton
- Lynn Melvin
- Una Sapietis
- Gill Hay
- Katy Dent
- Alex Abbey
- Andrew Boxer
- Jean Prentice
- Mick Farrant
- Dinah Gallop
- Gill Heuman
- Adam Heuman
- Rosemary Fitzgerald
- Suza Johnston
- Ruth Cigman
- Michael Cigman
- Charlotte Friedman
- Deborah Eastwood
- Julia Eccleshare
- Waltraud Loges
- Jason Best
- Pat Bullivant
- Keiran Proffer
- Ed Reynolds
- Rod Allsion
- Anne Allison
- Daniel Solomons
- Justine Solomons
- Rosemary Burrows
- Frances Barlow
- Nigel Wenban-Smith
- Karen Holden
- Daniel Simons
- Hannah Simons
- Rita Fernandez
- Matthew McNally
- Paula Messinger
- Michael Palin
- Lara Leon-Cullen
- Anke Jakob
- Henrik Roth
- Kala Jenkins
- Angela De Pizzol
- Sally Kellner
- Maria Fernandez
- Jonathan fisher
- Mame Apenteng
- Adrian Mars
- J. Macadie Gay
- N. Macadie Gay
- Patrick Haymann
- Shoda Rackal
- Luis Campos
- Emma Cullen
- Denise Connell
- Mel Tomkins
- Kirsty McDonagh
- Jo Siedlecka
- Julietta Cochrane
- Murray Thomson
- Susanne Kord
- John Landau
- Peter Herbert
- Deirdre Yager
- Candida Scotter
- Pauline Murray
- M.Morrison-Birt
- T.Morrison-Birt
- Robert Holtom
If you would like to add your name to the open letter, please reach out to us at bactontowersaction@gmail.com.
Please note that since this letter was sent to Camden Council, Mount Anvil have edited their consultation form to remove this section, though evidence of their original wording is documented in the screenshot below.
Bacton Towers Action 