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Camden News - by DAN CARRIER
Published: 5 June 2008

Proposed mansion ‘would overlook Ladies’ Pond’

THE privacy of swimmers using the Ladies’ Pond on Hampstead Heath is under threat from a new mansion opposite the Kenwood lake, say neighbours opposing the development.
The Water House, a 1960s home at the foot of Millfield Lane in Highgate, has been bought for around £5.5 million and the new owners have asked the Town Hall for permission to demolish it. They plan to replace it with a 12,000 sq ft mansion complete with a new 4,000 sq ft basement.
The new home will be a storey higher than the existing house, offering grandstand views into the women-only bathing pond.
Fitzroy Park resident Karen Beare is co-ordinating a campaign against the plans. She said: “Extending the roofline will intrude on swimmers’ privacy.”
The house is on the same gravelly footpath that was at the centre of a planning wrangle last month over neighbouring property Fitzroy Farm. The only way for lorries to access the site would be to use the same path that led to the Fitzroy proposal being turned down by councillors.
The Fitzroy Park Residents Association say the new owners, who have not been named, have bought another, multi-million-pound property which backs onto the Water House and may seek permission to demolish that also to open up a new point of access for materials.
And with the plans including a new basement, neighbours fear it could lead to flooding. Streams criss-cross the area and drain into the Heath’s ponds.
Architects say no extra precautions will be taken for flooding and surface water will be absorbed through the ground.
Mrs Beare believes an extra floor below ground could cause problems.
She said: “The hydrology issues are obvious. There is a huge pond in their garden and we do not feel confident that building a basement that is the equivalent of 1.5 storeys will have no effect on how water drains away.”
Architect Nigel Anderson, of Robert Adam, said planning consultants were looking into how builders can get on-site and insisted that although the current building was “substantial”, it was not suitable for his client’s needs.

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