Something rotten at the heart of planning
• Your newspaper has been kind to cover the application to demolish an existing house and build a much larger house on the edge of the Heath at the Garden House, Vale of Health.
This application was objected to widely by 33 neighbours, four residents’ societies and the Corporation of London. And government policy says that such building in metropolitan open land should only be allowed if the house is not materially larger, whereas this house is two or three times larger.
However officers chose to override the objections and the planning committee voted in favour of it on January 19.
Six Labour councillors voted in favour, five Conservative and Liberal Democrat councillors voted against.
I do not support any political party (and voted Labour in the last General Election), but it is a mystery to me why this split on party grounds.
Planning matters should not be an issue of party politics. Only three of the Labour councillors who voted explained why they voted this way, the others were silent and just voted in favour without comment.
It could of course be a coincidence that each of six labour councillors independently decided to vote in favour and not listen to the strong arguments against this, whereas the five other councillors listened and tried to reject it. But it looks to me very much as though the block of Labour councillors simply decided to vote in favour, for reasons which you can speculate about, but which seem unlikely to be solely based on the merits of the application.
The planning policy in Camden needs to be changed, third party appeals as suggested by other writers to the paper sound a very good idea.
However in the meantime, I suggest that it is time for some of our councillors to change too, and hope that voters in May will take account of the series of bad decisions that seem to being made by Camden planning at present.
John Kleeman
Vale of Health, NW3
• The saga of the abandoned cottage in attractive Hampstead, an area of high property prices, reported last week, prompts comment (Hunt for cottage owner).
At the gateway to Camden Town, overlooking the Cobden statue, a large building has been reduced to a shell and has been derelict for many years.
Were this converted into a backpacker’s youth hostel it would generate income and benefit the owner. Further along a shop with flat above is also gutted, perhaps to deter squatters, certainly uninhabited now.
The Temperance Hospital buildings lie empty in Hampstead Road, as do those of Garret Anderson Women’s Hospital in Euston Road.
Thus the private and public sectors are involved. The hospital’s buildings could be used as temporary shelter for homeless pending redevelopment.
It would take Parliamentary will and effort to pass a law to levy a site valuation tax on property, to apply whether occupied or not. This would encourage owners to bring sites into production, and prevent the present blight of a neighbourhood. There is a great demand for property here.
Skip Murphy
Prince of Wales Road, NW1
• I read Martin Smith’s letter with interest (Cabal of ten will destroy entire area, Jan 19).
Who, he asked, was the executive councillor responsible for housing when the cock-up of allowing drug addicts to be housed at the Wendling estate – a building predominantly occupied by the elderly – occurred?
The shocking reply to this is no other than Councillor Raj Chada. Yes the very man who now heads the Executive!
It’s hard for me to think of those vulnerable elderly who are still suffering from such a barmy decision without feeling angry.
I know which councillor I would vote against if I were in Cllr Chada’s constituency (that is Gospel Oak, I believe).
Edward Priestley-Taylor Denning Road, NW3
• One would have to have a heart of stone not to feel moved deeply by the local cries of grief for a murdered son (Tributes to a good son, Jan 12, and Tommy, we’ll never forget you, Jan 19)
Eighteen-year-old Tommy Winston was, by all accounts, exceptional. His loss is unacceptable. He was apparently always available to help his family and neighbours. We learn he also rescued victims of crime. In short, he was a good role model for our local youths.
His mother Dee Roberts campaigned for youth clubs. She believes her son might still be alive today if young people in our area had more facilities available to them.
Pentland House, where Tommy and his family live, is just around the corner from the Lyndhurst Hall which has been abandoned as a community hall and sold to make way for residential flats.
It is across the road from Talacre Open Space which our council has recently allowed to be encroached by a private developer for a seven-storey block of flats. It is just down the road from the Kentish Town Swimming Baths which are presently under threat of being closed down and sold to private developers for still more housing.
Letter after letter appearing in the CNJ complain about this particular area which is already jam-packed with social housing and has far too few facilities for its residents. Yet our council keep on selling the community facilities such as they are and replacing them with even more housing. (Cabal of ten will destroy entire area, Jan 19).
Competent town planning could make a big difference socially in our area.
In Camden, planning appears to be non-existent. Our ‘family silver’ is sold off to make way for the developers to move in regardless of the social consequences.
Our council should now rethink this area carefully.
They must balance demands for regeneration and housing with the need for proper infrastructure and community facilities to cater for local residents, old and new.
Celine La Freniere
Talacre Road, NW5
• Martin Smith’s letter (Cabal of ten will destroy entire area, Jan 19) hit a nerve with me.
I do want to know which Executive councillors were responsible for some of the worse decisions made in our borough.
Now that we have become aware of the importance of those 10 select councillors let us put them through the test and see what they are made of.
My big issue is the Swiss Cottage fiasco. I cringe every time I pass by the area and see that unsightly building. Which Executive councillor was responsible for the horror and for the loss of amenities our community has suffered as a direct result of the development?
Monica Cramer
Daleham Gardens, NW3 |
