By News Editor, Declan Wilkes

The senseless murder of teenager Ben Kinsella at the weekend is a tragic reminder of how this neglected part of central London is still struggling to shake off its past.

Its run down, red light district reputation has largely been made out of date by rapid regeneration since the mid 1990s - but pockets of poverty still exist in the estates backing onto the station, the scene of Saturday night's stabbing.

Moving on

The arrival of Eurostar services, a £800m referb job for St. Pancras and the multi billion pound regeneration project of railway lands has helped the area move on from a notorious drug ridden sex den.

Problems however are not always eradicated, they just move on, in this case York Way and the Caledonian Road suffer the effects of having the prostitute trade on their doorsteps and next to the estates.

Trouble in the past few years has mainly been confined to the club complex off York Way - two summers ago two men where shot dead at the Egg and Scala nightclubs. The complex has since closed.

Rowdy scenes on match days and the usual suspects of cranks and drunks were the only other signs of bother at the 'up and coming' area of north London.

Estates

Behind the station are the large estates of Somers Town, Market, and the huge Agar Grove estates, - whose refurbishing contracts have been constantly postponed.

Camden council have pressurised residents to transfer to transfer the housing stock to an 'Arms Length Management Organisation'- effectively a private housing association that would bare the costs of regeneration. Their rejection to be abandoned to the fate of the free market has seen estates much needed repairs put on the backburner. It's the proverbial carrot and stick job.

By cheek and jowl

‘By cheek and jowl’ is how one London councilor phrased it, £2million houses just two corners from sink estates.

We wonder how incidents like the murder of 16-year-old Ben Kinsella can happen but what should we expect when we allow people and places to be forgotten in the rush to cash in on an areas land value.