Camden London Borough Council

Camden Council

The next phase of the King’s Cross Central development is to come before Camden Council’s planning committee on Thursday.

The third building on the Triangle Site on York Way, or W3, is envisaged as three storeys, with a gym in the basement, a cafe and retail units.

The building, which is up for outline planning permission, and its two partners W1 and W2, are to be set in a triangular arrangement around a central podium garden on the 1.1 hectare plot of former railway land.

If approved, W3 will replace the temporary King’s Cross Construction Skills Centre, which is to be relocated within King’s Cross Central.

Camden Council said: “King’s Cross Central, or ‘King’s Cross Opportunity Area’, is one of the most significant sites of development and regeneration in central London.

“The site is delivering 2,000 new homes, office space and a variety of community facilities including a new primary school, a new home for Frank Barnes school, sports facilities and a community meeting facility along with new parks and open spaces.”

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A committee set up to hear the conclusions of a full external audit of Camden Council's finances ended after just an hour yesterday, with one councillor complaining that it was "too hot".

The Audit and Corporate Governance Committee was sitting yesterday to hear the findings of the audit of the Council's 2017/18 Statement of Accounts, Pension Fund and the value-for-money conclusion for the year.

However, after a short period of questioning by Cllr Abdul Quadir (Lab, Haverstock), representatives from accountancy firm KPMG, who were presenting the report, were excused from the meeting after half an hour without being quizzed by any other committee members.

Other councillors present, including Cllr Richard Olszewski (Lab & Co-op, Fortune Green), Cabinet Member for Finance and Transformation, Cllr Oliver Cooper (Con, Hampstead Town), Leader of the Opposition, and Cllr Alison Kelly (Lab, Haverstock), Chair of the Health and Social Care Committee, were given a chance to ask questions of the auditors, but did not do so.

Cllr Cooper was heard to complain: "It's too hot."

Cllr Quadir, who chaired the meeting, remarked on its conclusion: "That is the shortest auditing committee meeting I've ever attended."

Camden Council's finance chief says he is not holding his breath for a "funding bonanza" as he announced gloomy prospects for the borough's cashflow.

Cllr Richard Olszewski (Lab & Co-op, Fortune Green) said a "depressing" drop in government funding will leave the council with a budget deficit of £23 million in 2019/20 - rising to £40 million by 2021/22.

The Cabinet Member for Finance and Transformation also raised fears about the impact that Britain leaving the EU will have on the budget, saying Brexit has been added to the council's auditing risk register.

Outlining Camden's medium-term financial strategy (MTFS) at Cabinet meeting yesterday, Cllr Olszewski said: "The background as ever remains depressing.

"We've had a massive £118m reduction in like-for-like funding since 2010.

"Central government support should be down by 59% by next year by present indicators. I'm not holding my breath for any bonanza for funding for Camden coming up.

"The more we cut, the higher the burden of cuts ends up being."

Labour holds Camden, increasing its majority from 24 to 28.