600 people support Camden Eruv plan to allow Orthodox Jews to move more freely

Plans for a special eruv boundary line around half of the borough have won overwhelming backing from Camden’s residents.

Six-hundred people have written to Camden Council in support of the proposals to install more than 90 poles to form an 18-mile ring around Hampstead, Belsize Park, Gospel Oak, South Hampstead and West Hampstead.

In comparison 130 people have written to complain about the plans, which will see parts of the borough dug up to erect the four metre and six metre black poles, including a narrow cluster of streets in Hampstead village where the road is narrower than 1.8metres.

The Camden Eruv would allow Orthodox members of the Jewish community to move around more freely on the Sabbath.

The eruv committee, fronted by Rabbi Shlomo Levin of South Hampstead Synagogue, said it has received widespread support for the plans and only a handful of complaints from residents who fear the boundary could be “divisive”.

Former environment boss Cllr Chris Knight has claimed that the scheme could contravene the council’s planning policy, which aims to protect conservation areas from unnecessary street clutter.

No date has yet been set for the plans to be heard before a council planning committee.