Somers Town – A Good Place, Improving Slowly. March 23, 2006
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Camden , trackbackWhen I first moved to Somers Town, people who knew of the area were very dubious, and warned me that it was a den of crime, dangerous to go out at night, one of the most poverty stricken areas in London. Not long ago I met an intelligent, capable Hampstead academic who told me she would not cycle into Bloomsbury for fear of being garrotted as she passed through here.
In the two years I’ve lived in the area, I’ve seen absolutely no evidence of that. I am careful, but no more than I would be anywhere. I often walk home alone around midnight, though never very drunk and always in flat shoes, and have not had any problems. If I did now, it would be sheer bad luck and as likely to happen here as in any of the posh parts of Camden.
However, we live within 500 metres of million pound homes and wealth many of my neighbours will simply never see. That has been true for a very long time, and has done little to help pull this area out of poverty. Talking to neighbours, it seems that what has helped is effective work by Camden Council and the local police making this area a much more pleasant place to live. improved lighting, rubbish collection and street amenities, upgrading the council-owned homes and some rather strict policing of ‘anti-social’ behaviour have all helped a lot. The right-to-buy has allowed many to buy their own homes and gain from the property market rises in the last few years – some have stayed, knowing they’ve got a good asset, others have sold on to people like me. This has, I think, been a major method of lifting people here out of poverty.
So the Urban Fox’ admonishment to locals today in TimesOnline to embrace the changes proposed by Argent for the land behind Kings Cross seems rather patronising to me. The idea that all change is good and that having a rich enclave next door will help people here is frankly ridiculous. Personally, the rising property prices it brings would be great, but will just put even the right-to-buy beyond the reaches of those who have not bought yet. Why would people here get jobs in those buildings any more than they get jobs anywhere else? How will this help the struggling single mother, the pensioner, the person too sick to work?
Yes, it would be good to see development in Kings Cross, but locals should not embrace that development unless it will benefit the community. Noone else involved in the Kings Cross development is involved from altruistic motivation, why should we be?
Comments»
People who say bad things about their own area’s crime rates are usually the ones who never go out at night. People who say abd things about other areas have probably never been there. It is quite hard to be a victim of street crime if you aren’t antagonistic, don’t look rich, and don’t flash your phone and MP3 player around. I am quite happy to go anywhere in Camden at night.