HS2: Euston station 'floundering' while community suffers

Chris Georgiou owns Speedy's on North Gower Street, a cosy cafe that became a tourist landmark after featuring in the BBC TV series Sherlock, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman.

This is where Sherlock Holmes and his sidekick John Watson would sometimes meet and, as Chris and I talk outside, fans take pictures of the cafe.

London still has lots of these cafes - places where the bread is fresh, the service is quick and friendly and the owners are there every hour.

Chris waves and says hello to people as they go by. He greets them by their first names.

But like lots of businesses, especially in the Euston area, there are problems and they are ones even the great detective himself would struggle to solve.

"We have been through a pandemic, we have been through the strikes, we are in central London. We have got everything going against us," Chris explained.

"Just when you think things can't get any worse then you get HS2 stopping this project and holding it back from finishing.

"We don't know where we are, we don't know where we are going to be in two years' time. It's been a real struggle.

"We are on the verge on closing - we are just trying to keep open."

And what is the latest problem? The government has mothballed the huge construction site for Euston for at least two years.

It means the station itself won't be finished until 2041-43, although not many locals have faith in those dates anyway.

The area is currently cut in two by blue hoardings, and local businesses are suffering where commuters no longer really use the regular cut-throughs along Drummond Street with its bars and curry houses.

Despite a bewildering number of U-turns and station designs, they have all come to nothing.

A parliamentary report recently highlighted there isn't even an agreement on how many platforms there should be at the new station, or agreement on the design or layout.

Millions have been spent so far, and hundreds of homes and businesses were demolished for the new station, but the project seems to have stalled.

In three of the tower blocks overlooking the dormant site, Camden Council is trying to make the best of a bad situation.

Most residents were moved as the noise and disruption were too much, leaving three almost-empty buildings.

From the blocks' balconies you can see workmen on the HS2 site standing around not appearing to do much.

The council is working with the Bow Arts Trust to provide low-cost studio space to artists such as photographer Sophie Godfrey who, for £140 a month, rents a studio that used to be a bedroom in one of the council flats.

Two other painters share the flat with her and she said the space was "convenient" and "affordable".

"The space is very quiet, it's clean and there's enough room for me to set up my equipment," she said.

"I don't think it's necessary to do HS2, but it has had some positive effects such as giving this space to artists."

Clearly, something has gone very wrong with the plans for the HS2 Euston terminal.

Specialist transport writer and broadcaster Christian Wolmar described the project as an abject failure.

"In order to facilitate these projects, a hotel, a former hospital, a very decent council estate, a pub, a lovely little oasis of a park and various other properties have been destroyed, leaving a huge empty site south of Camden Town the likes of which London has not seen since the Blitz," he said.

"Worse, we now learn that all work is paused - with most of the 650-strong workforce laid off - and will not be resumed for at least a couple of years, and that there will be no HS2 station until after 2040.

"Whoever gave the go-ahead to destroy a large chunk of north London before there was a coherent plan to redevelop it deserves to lose their job."

Georgia Gould is the leader of Camden Council, which has been fighting HS2 for years, and she wants some of the spaces to be given to the community.

"They should have thought about all of this before they knocked people's homes down, and we have been pushing for years for a proper integrated design with one design team," she said.

"We need urgently for them to come forward with a proper proposition that delivers the homes and jobs that this community deserves."

Dame Meg Hillier MP, chair of the Public Accounts Committee, has also recently criticised the project, saying: "The HS2 Euston project is floundering. This is a multibillion-pound scheme, which has already caused major disruption to the local community, put on pause."

Critics of HS2 like Lord Berkeley say the project should be put into the private sector or even canned completely.

In a written ministerial statement, the government said it was "committed" to delivering services into Euston, but ministers would "take the time to ensure we have an affordable and deliverable station design".

An HS2 spokesperson said: "The new station at Euston will bring huge improvements for passengers and the local community, forming part of the last big regeneration in central London, spanning 60 acres.

"In line with direction from the government, it was recently announced that construction of the new station would be delayed to ensure that it is delivered as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible.

"However during this pause, where we can, we are looking to remove some temporary road closures and return these for community use.

"Additionally, HS2 will be working to repurpose as much of the land around Euston as possible for temporary alternative uses while work is paused."

It is certainly difficult to think of other infrastructure projects that have been so poorly handled as HS2 Euston - and some believe it may never be finished.

HS2 passengers would then have to transfer on to the Elizabeth line at Old Oak Common, negating much of the time benefits of the scheme.

Imagine having your community destroyed and after eight years, there is still no actual plan of what it will be replaced with.

In Euston, they are extremely frustrated and angry at how they have been treated. As a community, they feel like a total afterthought.

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