Work is underway at the Cleveland Street workhouse

A HOSPITAL charity is acting like an “incompetent property developer” over plans to remove low-rent rooms from a redevelopment of a former workhouse building, campaigners warned this week.

University College London Hospitals Charity has appealed against the council’s decision to stop it backtracking on an agreement to build 53 homes, 40 of which would be “affordable”, in Cleveland Street, Fitzrovia.

The charity says the original agreement is no longer financially viable – partially due to the discovery of 1,000 skeletons in paupers’ graves under the site – and that it will lose vital funds for NHS and staff if it is forced to complete the job.

The charity has tabled a legal argument that it could break a 2005 agreement about the redevelopment because it is separate from the Trust it was set up to serve, and which had the original planning agreement.

The dispute will be settled by a planning inspector in October’ Nick Bailey, secretary of the Fitzrovia West Neighbourhood Forum and emeritus professor of urban regeneration at the University of Westminster said: “It’s ludicrous. The whole point of the charity is to raise funds for the hospital and support it. They can do this by providing the housing for nurses and NHS staff as they promised to in the first place.

“At the moment they are acting like an incompetent property developer. I don’t think they realise what they are doing – even property developers have to keep to their obligations.”

The UCLH charity bought the site from UCLH NHS trust for £11.9m in 2017.

However, in a document submitted to the planning inspectorate, ahead of a hearing in October, it claims that because they are separate bodies, it has no obligation to redevelop it in line with a longstanding legal agreement.

Professor Sue Richards, co-secretary of the Keep our NHS Public group, said: “It is particularly shocking given the ­shortage of doctors and nurses … I am quite sure that all those people who have donated money to this charity in good faith would be aghast at these actions.”

In the past decade, other staff accommodation has been sold off and closed by UCLH Trust and UCLH Charity, including Cleveland Residences, Highwood House in New Cavendish Street, Huntley Street and Bonham Carter House – making it harder for those who work at the hospital to live nearby as rents soar and staff pay fails to keep pace.

The one-time Victorian-era workhouse provided inspiration for Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist.

A UCLH Charity spokesperson said: “We are committed to completing the development scheme by working closely and collaboratively with Camden Council.

“We are seeking to obtain clarity from the court about the council’s planning decisions to aid us in our aim to provide affordable housing to our community.”