Camden New Journal - News: Fears deepen over basements

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Camden New Journal - by DAN CARRIER
Published: 27 September 2007

Fears deepen over basements

THE Town Hall’s planning policies dealing with basements are woefully inadequate and cause rifts between neighbours, a leading home excavation expert has warned.
Mike Wiseman, the design director of one of the UK’s largest basement building firms, has accused the Town Hall of ignoring the popularity of basements and wants new rules to be drawn up to give planners, builders and home owners clearer guidelines. He said: “Camden Council are absolutely useless. They are behind the times. It would be a start if they could bring in specific policies to deal with basement applications and help clear up misunderstandings.”
Mr Wiseman has been excavating basements for 12 years and is currently waiting for permission to start on a new project in Lawn Road, Belsize Park. The scheme has been objected to by neighbours – but Mr Wiseman said part of the problem lies within the planning policies of the Town Hall.
He said: “Certain boroughs are understanding. Some, like Hammersmith, have policies in place. They saw this happening and made rules to deal with this.”
Mr Wiseman said: “This work is often seen as expensive and unnecessary. One recent application in Hampstead was objected to on the grounds that the proposed swimming pool was not needed as there was a perfectly good one nearby. There is a degree of jealousy about this.”
He added that fears that basement excavations caused subsidence ignored the skill of engineers. He said: “People have to understand what we do. It is not rocket science – we underpin the basements by going down deeper.”
Lawn Road neighbour Ruth Tamir, a child healthcare worker, has lived in the Belsize Park street for over 20 years with her husband and three children. She fears the work will cause damage to nearby homes.
She said: “These houses are on clay and there is already subsidence in Downside Crescent, behind Lawn Road. One house there has had to be underpinned three times and there are worries more basements will mean more problems.”
And her fears have been backed by both the Heath and Hampstead Society and the Highgate Society. The civic groups have been lobbying councillors to introduce more stringent rules to ensure architects have taken into account the possible effects basement excavations could have on neighbouring properties.

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