ABSTRACT
Planning officers needed to work out a strategy for the negotiation process, and ensure that an appropriate statutory policy framework was in place, and the Planning Department had to be properly resourced. This chapter focuses on how the elements were put in place. In order to understand the policy context and organisational culture of Camden at the time, it is important to start with a brief history of the borough and its political power structures. In setting local planning policy, councils have to comply with national and regional frameworks. National guidance had already identified King’s Cross as a site where development should support London’s position as a global business and commercial centre. The decision to review a policy framework in advance of a major development is good practice. Negotiating this explicitly with the developer concerned is very unusual. If officers were to have credibility at the negotiating table, they would need to have the long-term support of their local politicians.
