Bacton Towers Action

Yoo Capital submit Camden Film Quarter planning application

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Bacton Towers Action
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The Camden Film Quarter planning application for the redevelopment of Regis Road has been submitted by Yoo Capital. 

This scheme is part of the wider overdevelopment of our neighbourhood, squeezing several high-rise buildings onto small plots of land for predominantly private use with little benefit to the community. It mirrors in many ways what’s going on at Bacton, and it is vital that we see these developments as connected and part of a bigger plan to gentrify the area and drive out lower income residents. 

We’ve put together a list of our key objections below, and you can see some pictures of what it would look like here and some pictures of the model here. For further background and analysis, Tom’s piece here. 

We have until Sunday, 28 December to submit objections. This is crucial because the council has a legal obligation to review all objections. The more we manage to submit, the more weight they will carry.

Below is a list of key objections, which you can copy & paste, amend or write your own. We have also outlined the (deliberately clunky) steps to follow to submit your objections online. 

If every person on this email list submits one, we’d have flooded them with over 200 of them! This is also a good rehearsal for when the planning application for Bacton comes in, so we encourage all of you to participate. 

Key points of objection
BTA objects to Yoo Capital’s proposal on the following grounds:

  • Inappropriate housing: All housing provided under the scheme is squeezed into the west end of the Regis Road development area. It only includes high-rise towers of up to 73.7 meters (up to 24 storeys), grouped closely together, which will be blighted by the film studio building. The replacement council homes will be built over the recycling centre, which will be relocated into a smaller facility.
  • Impact on existing communities: The planning application does not take into account the impact on existing residents (such as at City Farm and Cressfield and Woodyard Close) or local physical and social infrastructure (such as public transport and health care facilities) from a huge increase in residents and commuters.
  • Carbon-heavy construction: The unnecessary construction of high-rise buildings, including a basement the equivalent of 10-storeys deep, comes with 144,000 tonnes of carbon emissions during a climate emergency.
  • Poor neighbourhood planning: The scheme provides no solution for where the demolished Holmes Road Depot will be rebuilt (refurbished recently at a cost of £8.4m), and there appears to be no coherent masterplan. The application further contravenes the Kentish Town Neighbourhood Plan policies SW1 (support for small businesses) and Spatial Policy SP2: Kentish Town Potential Development (KTPDA), which states: “The site is currently occupied by mainly single or double-storey sheds, open-air yards, car parks and the access road. Future development should reflect the capacity, density and scale of this inner London location.”
  • Poor economic planning: The focus on film is too exclusive and shouldn’t be at the expense of other kinds of business staying. Claims about the new film production centre helping to realise the aspirations of local “creative talent” are not realistic, and the neighbourhood’s economy should not be based on such a narrow section of businesses.
  • Gentrification: The massive film studio building will dominate the whole area and turn it into a destination focused on the visitor economy, similar to what happened with Camden Market.

How to submit your objection

To submit your objection, try this link:

https://planningrecords.camden.gov.uk/NECSWS/PlanningExplorer/PLComments.aspx?pk=667284

If the link does not work for you, follow these steps: 

  1. Visit the following page: https://planningrecords.camden.gov.uk/Northgate/PlanningExplorer/GeneralSearch.aspx/
  2. In the first field, ‘Applicant Number’, enter 2025/4861/P
  3. Leaving all other fields empty, scroll down and press ‘Search’
  4. When the search result appears, click on the application number (2025/4861/P) on the left column (Appendix 1)
  5. Under ‘Application Progress Summary’, click ‘Add Comments Here’ (Appendix 2)
  6. Add your comments to the ‘Comments’ field and your personal details in the others
  7. Make sure you select ‘objection’ in the drop-down menu under ‘Comment Type’
  8. Click ‘Submit’

Thank you for your support!

Appendix 1

Appendix 2