NETWORK Rail has sold a controversial site in West Hampstead for �2million. The Paramount Building at 148 to 152 West End Lane was sold at a Jones Lang LaSalle auction at well above the �1.5million guide price. Campaigners had wanted the land to be used f

NETWORK Rail has sold a controversial site in West Hampstead for �2million.

The Paramount Building at 148 to 152 West End Lane was sold at a Jones Lang LaSalle auction at well above the �1.5million guide price.

Campaigners had wanted the land to be used for a station interchange and are now calling for the money to be spent on local rail improvements.

Local consultation group secretary Diana Frost said: "They sold this land very quickly - and I think the same would have happened with the land at the Overground station if we had not tried to put a stop to it.

"At a meeting we had about the interchange, Network Rail said they were not rushing and would not race ahead and sell anything.

"But three weeks later, they have sold the Paramount Building.

"They keep saying they don't have enough money to do anything for the interchange.

"They have just raised �2million out of West Hampstead so it should go towards improvements in West Hampstead."

A Network Rail spokesman confirmed that the 250-year freehold of the land was sold at an auction in Marble Arch.

He said that any money raised through commercial property was ploughed straight back into the railway but that the company did not ring-fence money for certain areas. This allowed it to use the cash where it was most needed.

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