Dear Cllr Abdi-Wali,
Re: Bacton Low-Rise Estate redevelopment
Earlier this month, residents near the Bacton site received the news that Mount Anvil is going to delay its planning application once again until spring 2027.
By the time the planning process is completed (should Mount Anvil be successful) and building starts, it will have been nearly 10 years since the council estate on Bacton was demolished in 2018.
As you know, the Bacton Low Rise Estate was host to nearly 100 council homes. In Mount Anvil’s latest design, out of the 468 flats they plan to build, only 29% (138 units) will be social rent homes. These will be prioritised to relocate residents of Wendling and St Stephens Estate, which are soon to be demolished.
What is left will barely amount to more social homes than were there to begin with – except they will be overshadowed by three towers of up to 21 storeys. And there appears to be no guarantee that the social homes promised will actually be built.
Across the borough, we are seeing developers slash the percentage of social housing once they have secured a contract. In May, Berkeley St George was allowed to reduce the percentage of affordable homes at Camden Goods Yard from 32% down to 13%. In August, the Council approved a reduction in affordable housing from 35% down to 20% at Landsec’s redevelopment of the O2 Centre on Finchley Road.
Meanwhile, the waiting list for council housing is above 8,000 households in Camden alone.
You will not be surprised to hear that, to most residents, such vast developments do not represent a benefit to the community.
They cause years of disruption, change the local landscape, block out daylight and deliver little housing people can actually afford. This is why, as a campaign group, we believe relying on private developers to build social housing is not a reliable delivery model.
With a site like Bacton being left empty for nearly 10 years, we wonder whose needs are prioritised in the Council’s planning process?
What most people see when they walk past the hoardings around Bacton is a wasteland in the middle of our neighbourhood, which creates an alienating and depressing atmosphere in a ward that is already one of the most deprived in Camden.
In the years it has been left empty, the site could have been turned into a community garden, a skate park or a playground for residents to enjoy in the interim. Many people in our ward live in overcrowded homes and would benefit from access to this kind of public space.
Alternatively, if the Council was serious about tackling the housing crisis, it could use the site to build tiny homes to house people experiencing homelessness with more dignity and in better conditions than the mouldy temporary accommodation many find themselves in.
Now that we have confirmation from Mount Anvil that the site will lay empty for at least another year, does the Council have plans to at least remove the hoardings and open it up for the benefit of residents?
Currently, the only aspect of the hoardings that brings residents some joy are the drawings of children from three local primary schools on display, depicting their vision of future housing in Camden.
Photo of children’s drawings currently displayed on the Bacton hoarding
With those children now in secondary school and their imagined future seeming as distant as ever, we ask the Council to seriously consider what it can do to live up to this promise.
Now is a good time for a rethink, to put the land to good interim use and create a scheme that can truly benefit residents rather than handing the future of our neighbourhood to a private developer for profit.
Kind regards
Robert Lewenstein
Chair, Bacton Towers Action
N.B. This letter was sent on 21 September 2026. Copies were also sent to Jon Rowney, Dan Hawthorn, David Burns, Dan Pope, Bethany Cullen, Kathryn Myers, Cllr Atkins, Cllr Revah, Cllr Boyland, Cllr Monahan, Cllr Adams, Cllr Simon, and Cllr Apak.
Bacton Towers Action 