When HS2 construction kicked off around London's Euston station in 2017, residents watched parks and playgrounds get bulldozed into rubble and were solemnly promised the green space would be replaced. "They have to give it all back," said local Dorothea Hackman. "But they are destroying it - so there's nothing to give back." Ah, the classic developer's gambit: promise the moon, deliver a hole in the ground.
Now, as the dust from party conference season settles, those vanished green spaces and housing developments have become the central issues in the Holborn and St Pancras byelection. On Thursday, Labour and the Green party will contest the seat vacated by former prime minister Keir Starmer - a political earthquake measured in square metres of lost parkland.
Planning documents show the high-speed railway project and surrounding developments will permanently swallow 14,404 sq metres of green space and playgrounds from the constituency, with more fenced off during construction. The work is part of HS2's Euston section. The government estimates the full London-to-Birmingham line will open between May 2040 and December 2043 - which is a long time to explain to your kids why the swings are gone.
The biggest casualty is St James's Gardens, an 18th-century burial ground designated a site of importance for nature conservation. HS2 Ltd originally committed to replacing the gardens with a new park on a concrete deck above the railway tracks north of the station. Then government cost-cutting redesigns dropped that replacement park entirely. Nothing says "levelling up" like a concrete deck that never gets built.
Responsibility for the surrounding site now sits between public planners and private developers. While HS2 was approved directly by parliament, private developer Lendlease is drawing up plans for commercial space and homes across the site. Camden council is assessing Lendlease's plan, with a decision expected next year - because nothing accelerates a byelection like a looming planning decision.
Alice Brown, cofounder of Climate Emergency Camden, said retaining green space was vital so people could take a break from the station's bustle. "Otherwise it's just going to be the site of the massive office building." Riveting.
For people around Euston, the development encompasses more than parks. It's about housing, frustrations with the council, and the broader question of who London is actually for. "They say this is all in order to be able to provide some affordable housing, but it's a very small amount of affordable housing for the loss that's being suffered," Brown said of the construction sites. "By affordable, they mean 80% of current cost - they don't mean social housing." Affordable, in this context, being a word that has quietly filed for divorce from its original meaning.
Lendlease says the scheme will provide up to 1,500 homes, but neither the final number nor the affordable proportion has been determined. Details! Who needs them?
Hackman is a governor at Netley primary school, a stone's throw from Euston, and worries about what new buildings mean for falling pupil numbers. "Camden's policy of failing to provide family-size housing means that all our families with children are driven out of the borough," she said. "It's very difficult to see how the social-cleansing consequences of what they're doing can be of any benefit to our community." A masterclass in how to lose your neighbours and alienate your constituents.
For some, the byelection is a chance to shock Labour's grip on the council and the constituency. Labour has dominated the council since the 1960s and represented Holborn and St Pancras since the seat was created in 1983. That's a long relationship, and like all long relationships, it's now being asked some uncomfortable questions.
Frustrations with the council could spill into a vote against Labour. "So much that Camden Labour are doing is seen to be not in the best interests of people who live here," Brown said. "It's either performative or it's money generating. Every development, every bit that they sell off is to the detriment of the local residents."
At Labour's conference, deputy leader Lucy Powell said she thought it "unlikely" that Zack Polanski, the Green party leader standing in the constituency, would win the seat. Brown isn't so sure. "I think he'd really roll his sleeves up and get involved in what's happening here," she said. "And that would include trying to get the council to perform better." A low bar, but someone has to clear it.
A Camden council spokesperson said: "The Euston area plan sets out the council's vision for future development at Euston until 2051." They said the plan had been submitted to the Planning Inspectorate for public examination after a consultation this year. A vision until 2051 - plenty of time to watch the grass grow. Or not.
A Lendlease spokesperson said: "Working with our partners, we're developing proposals that could deliver up to 1,500 new homes, including affordable ones, as well as public spaces, improved connections and places for businesses and communities to thrive." Thrive being the operative word, presumably for the businesses.