London highline gets green light

London's destined to have a new park in the sky, resembling the Highline in New York. The green space will stretch along a defunct railway track to provide a refreshing, nature-filled walkway, according to the project's CEO, Simon Pitkeathley.

Simon Pitkeathley: "We're hoping to build an amazing park in the sky, as you can sort of see behind me, the other side of that wall there. There's going to be this walkway between Kings Cross and Camden Town that's going to be a pleasant, beautiful environment in which to move between these very vibrant parts of London."

The Camden Highline scheme has been five years in the making and has cost over a million pounds to get into shape, but planning approval's finally been given the green light by local councillors. Fundraisers, designers, architects and local residents engaged in the project are over the moon.

The elevated green space will be accessed via a disused train station entrance and will run parallel to live railway tracks, to be disguised and muffled by massive screens. Woodland, shrubs and plants will be embedded along the disused track, with seating interspersed, and there'll be purpose-built habitats for insect and animal life.

Although it's envisaged that the estimated £35 million price tag will come from donors, some residents have expressed concern over the park's limited dimensions and sky-high cost.

Will Mowat: "It's, it's expensive. I mean, the current budget is about 34 million [pounds] for the whole project. And it's quite short. It's less than a mile. So, the value for money aspect has to be looked at, but I think it's, it's going to be okay."

Others are bursting with enthusiasm, gleeful at the thought of constructing a peaceful wildlife corridor in such a vibrant part of inner London, and of giving a whole new perspective on the neighbourhood.

Charlotte Tansey: "Yeah, we love the Highline in New York, and are very excited that the same company are involved in this one, because it has a similar natural beauty, this landscape, in terms of the industrial spin on Camden, that I think more people should see. And there are so many tourists going through Camden every day, it'd be great for them to have a different viewpoint, just like the one in Manhattan." View Less