‘Appalling’: Residents’ group hits out at council over empty community hall

Maitland Park’s residents’ association has criticised Camden Council for keeping a purpose-built estate community hall empty and inaccessible.

There was a “huge fanfare” when newly crowned Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer opened the community centre last December, said Kirsteen McDonagh.

McDonagh, the Maitland Park Tenants and Residents Association representative, was addressing councillors in a meeting earlier this week.

She said the doors to the community hall were locked immediately after the opening ceremony.

“It’s appalling,” she continued, explaining that the only people who can enter are the security guards.

Instead of hosting community events, the hall is being used by local builders to store supplies.

“We are a large estate with 500 homes, and our TRA has been unable to provide any activities for our community,” said McDonagh.

“There have been many residents who have questioned why we are not using the hall, and this has proved very difficult to answer, because we’ve never been given an answer.”

There was previously a community hall on the Maitland Park estate, but that was knocked down to build more homes, with a “written promise via planning permission” that a new one was to be built.

“It would be an understatement to tell you how difficult it has been for our committee to operate without our promised community hall,” said McDonagh.

Camden Council says it has not granted access to the TRA yet because they are still looking for a “commercial operator, or possible a community operator” due to the running costs of the community centre.

McDonagh explained that “we were told that when they do give us access it would be for committee meetings, then possibly to have tenant and resident meetings, but not to hire out or to use the hall in the capacity that it was originally built for”.

“We have lost community spirit,” she said. “We are fighting to implement change on this estate, to gain the trust of our tenants and residents, we want this to be a safe space for the children that live here to grow up in, for the environment to be a place where children can thrive, to bridge a gap between the elderly and the young.”

McDonagh explained that TRA members fear they are losing the trust of the estate, and that the organisation they have built “from the ground up” is facing increasing pressure ahead of its AGM this autumn.

“There are so many areas in London that are not considered safe spaces, and we are trying to create a community, where we can bring everyone together,” she continued, “and the community hall is there, ready, waiting and empty.”

Haverstock Cllr Kemi Atolagbe, who is also a resident of Maitland Park Estate, supported the deposition, calling for “positive engagement with the TRA” and “fair access to the hall”.

Cllrs Nasrine Djemai and Rebeca Filler, and leader of the Conservatives, Cllr Steve Adams, backed the deputation.

Cllr Sagal Abdi-Wali, cabinet member for better homes, said the council is still “trying to negotiate how best to use this space”, and that “financial constraints” mean it cannot subsidise the £30k-£40k annual running costs.