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Basement politics
• LAST Thursday evening our residents association made a delegation to Camden Town Hall in a last-ditch attempt to stop the planning committee allowing the second of two basement excavations in the narrowest part of Woodsome Road.
The first proposal had been granted without going to committee. The schemes will cause massive disruption over many months and may destabilise our homes.
Several committee members told us they were sympathetic to our objections but said that their hands were tied by the existing laws. A planning officer told us that the next morning a meeting was to be held to discuss the laws, but all that could be expected was a repackaging exercise. The planning officer told us that there could be no change in the laws concerning basements until 2012 after a full review has been made of all the planning laws. The committee eventually voted by four to three in favour of supporting the officer recommendation to grant the proposal.
It seems likely that our streets will become rabbit warrens because of the rocketing demand for these excavations. The works take months to complete and involve the continual use of heavy machinery. The effect on the water table of multiple developments is unknown. Meanwhile Camden shelters behind outdated laws and shrugs it shoulders helplessly.
Simon & Marion Laurie
Barry Elliott
for Woodsome Road West Residents’ Association, NW5
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