The clock is ticking to save Wornington Green: Send your objections in by 11:59pm tonight!

If our readers haven’t objected to the Planning Application for Phase 3 of the Wornington Green regeneration yet, there isn’t much time left. All residents (and you don’t have to be living locally to object by the way) only have until 11:59pm tonight to send objections in to RBKC at the link below:

https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/planning/searches/details.aspx?adv=0&simple=Wornington&simpleBatch=20&simSubmit=Search&id=PP/21/07028&cn=269186+CBRE+UK+Henrietta+House+8+Henrietta+Place+&type=application&tab=tabs-planning-1

Our blog cannot stress how important it is to officially object rather than comment, because if there aren’t very many objections received, this huge development could possibly bypass the RBKC Planning Committee and get waived through.

The Wornington Trees website has further information on how to object here:

https://www.worningtontrees.com/

So what are the basic fundamental reasons why we object to this application?

First of all we object to the opening of the road, a low traffic neighbourhood, to traffic and creating a rat run in a neighbourhood that is home to a lot of elderly residents and families with young children. The extra traffic will also make an already highly polluted area near the Westway even worse.

Screenshot taken from the Catalyst Housing webinar chat last week

Catalyst has already felled 276 mature trees for the development, including pollution-absorbing London Plane trees, 8 More trees are set for the chop soon, plus more are set be cut down in this phase. We asked Catalyst Housing if they had any plans to plant any London Plane trees in this phase and the answer was no.

Then there is the issue of heights of the buildings. Catalyst plans to build a 15 storey tower block (between Portobello Road and Murchison Road) in this phase. The loss of light will be substantial to not just homes and businesses in the existing developemnt, but also to homes and businesses around the whole area.

Fire safety and fire exits are a huge concern – especially for so many of us who live in North Kensington and in or around the Grenfell community. Shockingly, the plans for this building, only appear to show ONE staircase

THINK attended one of the Catalyst “Portobello Square” webinars last week, in which the housing association, (or rather property developer), said that they had increased the height of the building to increase the size of the public realm space alongside it, but THINKers query what sort of public space that would be, because the substantial loss of light would not allow much to grow there and dark public urban spaces do tend to attract antisocial behaviour.

We have nothing against new homes in the area but these should not come at a cost to the environment and will cause severe depreciation of the quality of life of the residents of not just Wornington Green, (or “Portobello Square” as Catalyst likes to call it) but in North Kensington as a whole.

But don’t just take our word for it, here is what the local residents and campaigners have to say:

Golborne Forum

“The planning application in 2010 was for a 9 storey building. This application seeks to increase this by over 66% to 15 storeys. Plans for Block 9a show only one staircase. This is now considered unsafe, especially in light of the fire at Grenfell Tower.”

Better Streets K &; C

“Data of road traffic accidents recorded by TfL demonstrate Wornington Green has relatively safe roads with no slight, serious or fatal incidents recorded over the last 6 years. The goal of RBKC and London is “vision zero”, to have no road deaths in London. Reopening Wornington Road for through traffic will significantly increase the risk of serious injury or death. These roads have high volumes of school journeys. Given the density of primary or nursery schools in the surrounding area and very small catchment areas, walking and cycling or other modes of active travel should be prioritised. Reopening these roads as planned is contrary to all strategic objectives to create healthy streets that prioritise walking and cycling.”

“Data shows Ladbroke Grove / Barlby Rd roundabout is already a dangerous intersection. Data shows 19 RTAs over the past 5 years, with 6 fatalities, 1 serious injury. Opening up a fourth arm will significantly increase the danger and fear for pedestrians and cyclists.”

Wornington Trees

“Wornington Green, phase 3, is self-evidently part of a larger development. Tree loss and loss of public amenity green space in this phase must be viewed in the wider context of overall loss of trees and public realm green space in the immediate neighbourhood. Reference to historic tree planting plans and maps shows an estimated total loss of 272 mature public realm trees in Wornington Green estate and Athlone Gardens. Given the multitude of benefits with few downsides, trees must be considered as essential urban infrastructure, not as a decorative afterthought. Golborne ward, one of the most deprived in the UK, experiences poor health outcomes, overcrowding, and dire air quality . In a ward with such a high need for trees, we cannot afford to fell any more. In fact, we urgently need to significantly increase canopy cover and public green space in Golborne.”

“RBKC overall experiences poor air quality, with mortality attributable to long-term exposure to particulate matter (PM2.5) estimated at 48% above the UK average .
Living sandwiched between the major thoroughfares of the Westway, Ladbroke Grove, and mainline railway, Golborne residents are particularly vulnerable to effects of Nitrous Oxide and particulate matter. Fallout from the Grenfell Tower fire is highly likely to have further degraded air quality in the area.
In this context, plans that propose the felling of large mature trees to build new roads cannot be supported.”

“In Golborne ward 68.4 per cent of households in Golborne ward do not have access to a car or van and hence do not need or want new parking provision. We support RBKC’s commitment to reducing on-street parking. Wornington Green estate within phase 3 boundaries included no on-street parking, hence we assert that all new and re-provided estate parking must be provided off-street.”

“New through roads are neither needed nor wanted in what has been, since the 1970s, effectively a low-traffic neighbourhood. Linking Wornington Rd to Ladbroke Grove at Barlby roundabout will encourage rat-running from Great Western Rd. With the development of the Kensal Canalside site, significant traffic increase is inevitable. Whist we accept that a legible and well-lit street layout has positive impacts on crime reduction, we have found no research to support the proposal that such streets must be open to through traffic or street parking. It is the street frontage alone that encourages community-building and discourages anti-social behaviour. Further, increased provision of street trees has significant community benefits. Current research reveals a strong correlation between access to nature generally – and tree canopy cover specifically – and increased social capital, improved community cohesion, and lowered crime rates.”

375 Portobello Road Residents’ Compact

“Living adjacent to this large and protracted development has forced residents to endure increased levels of noise, heavy vehicle traffic, dust and other particulate matter, for eleven years to date. Catalyst promised that our local park, Athlone Gardens, would be finished by 2018, yet it remains only half-finished, treeless, lacking trees and amenities, and still only half the size it was originally. A child born on our estate in 2010 will be in their second year of university before the development is completed and will not enjoy mature trees until their 50th birthday. 375 Portobello Rd RC feels that consultation at all stages has been desultory and purely a box-ticking exercise. We have not been meaningfully involved in any of the major decisions affecting our homes and quality of life. As social housing residents we are aware of the acute need for increased social housing provision in Kensington and Chelsea. This development provides no additional social housing, no additional community facilities, no increase in public realm green space, no increase in canopy cover, no additional local services such as schools or health and wellbeing facilities. We find it intolerable that we should be subjected to ten more years, at minimum, of degraded living conditions in return for no perceivable benefit to existing residents. Not only do we find no local benefit from this development, but we foresee permanent negative impact caused by increased traffic, rat-running, loss of trees, pollution, noise, increased carbon emissions, loss of wildlife, and increased pressure on local services.”

“Guilt by Association” #2: Catalyst Housing

Part 2 of our “Guilt by Association” series of posts on housing associations

Meet Ian McDermott, the Chief Executive of Catalyst Housing.

Catalyst Housing are one of the founder members of the G15 Group of housing associations and are responsible for over 32,000 homes.

They formed out of Kensington Housing Trust (once based locally, at Portobello Road), who merged with Ealing Family Housing Association and Northcote Housing Association.

In 2019, Hertfordshire-based Aldwyck Housing Group (which has homes in Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire ) joined the Catalyst fold and Mr McDermott, from Aldwyck, took the top job.

Ian McDermott might have some 30 years or so in the business but as he may not be familiar with our local area. we’ll just alert him to how environmentally destructive his organisation’s regeneration at the Wornington Green Estate in North Kensington is, so here are our previous two posts about it:

Wornington Green: Green no longer? North Ken residents fight to save 42 trees

And

Wornington Green: Not up-to-scratch Catalyst scheme gets hissed at by residents and councillors

Yes, even the RBKC council Leadership disapproves of Catalyst chopping down so many trees…

In fact a total of 167 mostly mature plane trees will be lost to the scheme.

We also wonder if Mr McDermott approves of his employees using misleading terms to describe Catalyst projects? Like this, (taken from the RBKC meeting) from Fearghal O’Hara, Regeneration Manager for Wornington Green and who is responsible for overseeing the new builds at Wornington Green
“There will be huge gains for the community aside from more modern homes as a result of this regeneration. There will be new community facilities, new public realm, and we’re creating a new green space in partnership with RBKC – that’s Athlone Gardens”

Oh dear. Replacing an existing green space – Athlone Gardens – with a smaller one isn’t really creating a new one is it ? Nor is replacing existing community facilities at the Venture Centure – “creating new community facilities”.

We’ll also go back to what RBKC Labour Cllr Judith Blakeman said at that RBKC Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting regarding courtyard gardens and the part of thr Silchester Estate that was redeveloped (no, not by Catalyst but it’s relevant to this): She ponted out that the courtyard at the Silchester does not get enough light, all the trees and plants die and residents there are left with a mud bath. Now we’ll point out that similarly sized courtyards, are what Catalyst plans to provide at Wornington Green and unlike the Silchester, these will be at basement level. Good luck growing anything there….

No doubt Mr O’Hara or another one of his colleagues will probably pop up to tell the Wonrington Green residents that they now have a mud wrestling facility for the community or something. It’s the sort of behaviour residents have come to expect from them – and none of this – is in any way, shape or form, any sort of replacement for the mature London plane trees which help fight pollution and mean so much to both the Wornington Green residents and their neighbours in the North Kensington area.

Today we have heard the news that heartless Catalyst Housing have shamefully disregarded the overwhelming views of residents and the local council and have told residents that they will cbop down 37 trees beginning next Monday, right in the midst of Covid -19 when residents are staying at home trying to get some peace and quiet.

Catalyst have won several awards before (actually we think the ritual back-slapping housing sector awards are a complete joke; our own failed defunct ALMO – the disgraced KCTMO has been the recipient of at least one in the past), so here’s another one to add to Catalyst’s collection that they really well and truly deserve:

For pretending that inferior replacements for a park and a community centre are additions, and for having the nerve to say this to people who live there; for assuming our residents are stupid by trying to placate them with darkened basement courtyards and a few saplings and making out that they are in any way an acceptable replacement for plane trees and a healthy outdoor communal green environment – we can only call what they have done and are still doing in North Kensington ecocide ; and for sticking two fingers up to their residents, our council, North Kensington and the environment in general, THINK proudly present “Callous Housing” with a Piglet-Pie Award – and here’s “Mr Shifty” O’Hara to collect it:

Catalyst Housing are in fact the very first housing association to win one of our not very coveted awards, tbough somehow we don’t think they’ll be boasting about tbis “accolade”….

Further afield, Catalyst have been a partner in the South Kilburn Regeneration. In 2019 , residents in Merle Court there (former lifetime tenants and leaseholders of Brent Council who were transferred to Catalyst under the regeneration) had to be moved because the flats were covered in ACM flammable Grenfell-type cladding.

This is what Inside Housing reported in May 2019 : “Residents are now in the process of being moved out, but the association has said there is no guarantee that they will be able to come back. As part of the outline agreement, Catalyst will have to pay compensation to residents and buy back the properties from shared owners – something Mr McDermott says will cost the business “a lot of money”.

We think it is utterly disgraceful that this giant housing association supposedly worth £3billion are punishing others for their mistakes and wouldn’t guarantee that all their residents would have a right to return back to their home and community after their ordeal.

But recent reports say that the association has been financially downgraded and as the association has homes all over London and the home counties so theoretically residents could end up anywhere – which could all be a very worrying prospect for Catalyst residents living in more expensive parts of our city who may have to be moved “decanted ” away from faulty properties ….

As for more controversy further out, we have heard that cash-strapped TfL are going into partnership with “Callous Housing” and are planning on building blocks of flats on suburban tube station car parks.

One planned scheme in Rayners Lane, Harrow, is for 126 homes on and around the site of the station car park

They haven’t just stopped there either, they are planning to stick 11 storey tower blocks containing 227 homes by Stanmore Station and 118 homes by Canons Park Station.

While more homes in London are needed, the levels of density, the loss of some trees and greenery – plus obvious beauty – in the areas and the effects on the communities there; are highly concerning, as are parking (in areas where many residents still are dependent on car use) along with the obvious vast increases of pollution and congestion these developments will bring .

Understandably most residents in all three of these locations are opposed to the plans and they have our support . Have a look at this :

Our blog has signed and shared the petition from the residents of High Worple Way to Harrow Council to stop the Rayners Lane development and we urge our readers to join us:

https://www.change.org/p/harrow-council-stop-building-140-flats-at-rayners-lane-car-park-which-is-already-an-overdevelopment-area

We think it is inappropriate and wrong to overdevelop green suburbs with tower blocks, packing in high density flats like sardines in such locations, and we warn the residents there, that if Harrow Council gives this and others the green light, there will be no stopping these schemes.

As for the Wornington Green masterplan in our local area , that was approved by RBKC 10 years ago. It wouldn’t be approved now ; but our council’s hands are tied and legally they have no power at all to halt it.

We were wondering if Catalyst have become less of a housing association and more of a property developer? Things are very cosy indeed between Catalyst and developers Taylor Wimpey – they are not only partners in several schemes , but In 2019, Rachael Dennis, Chief Operating Officer at Catalyst Housing , left to become Regional Managing Director at Taylor Wimpey. Richard Smith, Managing Director at Catalyst Housing since last year, was previously Development Director at Taylor Wimpey Central London.
Philip Jenkins, Group Development Director of Catalyst joined from Taylor Wimpey, Central London where he was Managing Director.

Some of our neighbours in Westminster may remember Philip Jenkins; before he was at Taylor Wimpey and Catalyst he was Executive Director, Property and Development at City West Homes between 2014-17.

City West was Wesminster Council’s troubled ALMO responsible for the management (or not) of its 21,000 or so council bomes and was notorious for poor service, poor repairs and complaints and following concerns over poor performance over a number of years. It was taken back “in house ” in 2018, with Cllr Andrew Smith, Westminster’s Cabinet Member for Housing saying : “I believe there is no option now other than to bring the management of council housing under the council’s direct control. The opposition Labour Group of councillors in Westminster had kept extensive dossiers of residents’ complaints about the ALMO

https://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/nightmare-stories-of-westminster-citywest-homes-problems-revealed-3584686

So, how do Catalyst residents rate the services they receive?

Not very bighly it appears. Here’s just a taster of the various negative reviews and postings we found:

Plus this from a former Catalyst employee which just about says it all;

We say Catalyst Housing are “guilty” of being destructive to the environment (not just in our community) , dishonesty, having extremely poor communications,poor repairs,poor standards of maintenance, poor responses to their residents and poor relations with the communities in which they intend to build their developments – shame on them.

Ian McDermott in interviews, seems to want to portray himself as a housing association “Mr Approachable Nice Guy” but the conduct of his association tells a very different story.

We warn other residents and local authorities who may be easily swayed when Catalyst comes promising redevelopments with affordable housing as the “cherry on top” ; their “affordable’ homes here start at £600,000, relations between Catalyst and the community are at an all-time low and their redevelopment scheme in North Kensington has come at a price of environmental devastation , plus noise, nuisance, and misery for residents – which has gone on for the past decade and is only set to get worse .

Going down the tube: South Kensington station plans are a one way ticket to over-development

Today is the last day for formal objections to the South Kensington Station redevelopment proposals to be in by. Readers can join us and send your objections in to RBKC via this link

We are also informed that today is the technical deadline, for RBKC’s planning officers to take views into account but that the RBKC Planning Committee will be accepting comments and views from residemts right up until the date this goes to the Committee. (No date has been announced as yet .)

One thing that unites all residents of this borough, North or South, no matter what their political affiliations are or whatever other issues are, is the concern about over-development and the need to preserve the unique character and history of our borough. THINKers might live at the other end of the borough, but the protection and maintenance of our historical features and the character of our residential areas and wanting the very best for our communities is a matter for all.

THINK believe that the controversial plans from TfL and Qatari-based developer Native Land pose a threat to the streetscape, the skyline, and the local community and will change the character of South Kensington for the worse.

Here are just a few reasons why we are opposed to the plans :

– The design and height for the new station is out of place with the location and nearby listed buildings and will dominate the whole of South Kensington, obscuring protected views of the museums from all sides of the area

The proposed 5 storey bullnose is more of an eyesore than a landmark. The Save Our South Kensington website has pictures showing the impact of this here

– It had been reported in some parts of the local news that the redevelopment would bring step-free access to South Kensington station. This is not true. TfL had planned to include lifs from the District and Circle line platform (but not the Piccadilly Line) to a new entrance at Thurloe Street, to increase the size of the District /Circle platform and to upgrade the ticket hall but now they have refused to commit to this; therefore the only real positive in these redevelopment plans has been removed. Residents and visitors alike concerned about the lack of step-free access can make their case to TfL on the Transport For All website here but we think that troubled and tone deaf TfL will be far more preoccupied with their own financial crisis and are very unlikely to listen.

– The developers’ case for providing “affordable” housing has been overstated. In fact they are only planning to provide 27% affordable housing, even though council rules state they must have a minimum of 35%. None of the housing will be for social rent. and they will be demolishing 25 existing homes as part of the plans.

– As for RBKC Planning rules, there appear to be countless breaches of these – and the Save Our South Kensington campaign website has listed them all in detail here:

https://www.saveoursouthkensington.com/planning-breaches

Residents and representatives say no!

A Queen’s Gate resident who was already concerned about the Holiday Inn Forum Hotel in Cromwell Road and what could possibly happen on the Earl’s Court site, said “Plans show tall buildings from South Kensington to Hammersmith with none fitting into the existing streetscape”

Andrew, a resident said “The station design does not fit in with our historical area at all and they will be ruining listed buildings and features for this. It will be an ugly centrepiece for South Kensington that nobody wants”.

Some residents have also told us that they are concerned about Pelham Street the loss of light, the unnecessary extra retail units and the extra waste and disturbance this will bring. They are concerned that this could also encourage crime and anti-social behaviour to the area.

Almost every resident we spoke to on this felt that these plans, especially considering the excessive height and the lack of regard for listed buildings, historical features and protected views, could be a slippery slope to more and bigger development plans coming to the local area.

Cllr Greg Hammond who represents nearby Courtfield Ward, had this to say to us: “I was hoping for a conservation-led approach to the development of South Kensington station, but am bitterly disappointed. The proposal is the antithesis of conservation-led, being a collection of glass and steel buildings that are totally inappropriate right in the middle of a conservation area, and also block protected views of the Grade 1 listed museums and cause some physical damage to the listed station building too in their construction. To add insult to injury, TfL have also cancelled the much-needed capacity improvements to the station, so there are really very few benefits left for residents. I will do everything possible to support local residents make the case to the Planning Committee to reject this application.”

Kensington MP Felicity Buchan, plus a number of other RBKC councillors including Mary Weale, Janet Evans, Quentin Marshall and Sof McVeigh have made it clear that they against the redevelopment proposals too

The Kensington Society have also submitted their objections to the proposals and these have appeared on fellow Kensington blog From The Hornets Nest here

Local groups and residents associations opposed to the plans include Thurloe Owners and Leaseholders Association (TOLA), Pelham Residents Association (PRA), Ovington Square Residents Association, Earl’s Court Square Residents Association, Milner Street Area Residents Association, South Kensington and Queen’s Gate Residents Association, Drayton Neighbourhood Association, Melton Court Residemts Association, SouthKen Station Tenants Association, and South Kensington Busimess Association.

North Kensington stands with South Kensington

THINK believe these proposals sbow no regard for South Kensington, its history, its buildings, local businesses or residents. Instead the only thing that these plans appear to have in mind is bringing in maximum profit for TfL and the developers , which will be at the expense of destroying the character of the local area and bring no benefit whatsoever to either residents or visitors

We call on our readers who share our opposition to these plans to send in your objections to the RBKC Planning Committee and to sign up to the Save Our South Kensington campaign for updates.

Below is another picture of the planned station design which shows just how imposing the new building would be over the whole of the South Kensington and how out of keeping with the character of the area it would be. We stand with the residents of South Kensington and say NO to the plans. We are not outright opposed to any redevelopment of the station per se, but there has to be a better way forward and this is very definitely not it.

No “Other Place” like home for the Prime Minister’s friends

Dear oh dear. No matter which political party is in power, the shameful tradition of friends of the Prime Minister being parachuted into the House of Lords and given a job for life continues and seems to get ever worse.

Only a few of the people on Friday’s list of 36 – here – are considered to be anything like “the great and the good”….

“House of Conmen”?

Boris Johnson has no shame and even decided to award a peerage to his own brother!

Here’s what From The Hornets Nest has to say:

http://fromthehornetsnest.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-sleaziest-pm-since-harold-wilson.html?m=1

Peerage for Daniel Moylan

Boris Johnson’s judgement does appear to be questionable to say the least and many locals here are certainly questioning Boris’ decision to award his pal Daniel Moylan with a peerage too

Former RBKC councillor Daniel Moylan was also a former Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member of our council and former Deputy Chair of TFL and he of course, is no stranger to this blog….

Honourable mentions? We’ll just mention a few things that Daniel Moylan would probably like people to forget about:

– Many residents were less than impressed with Moylan’s multimillion “shared space” overhaul of Exhibition Road

– No love lost between Moylan and the Taxpayers’ Alliance or indeed Moylan and the disability charities and residents concerned about pedestrian safety in Exhibition Road. Moylan even sunk to trying to discredit one disabled resident and accuse them of pretending to be blind!

– As for taxpayers – we” ll also mention that when Moylan was in the RBKC Cabinet – thousands of pounds of public money was spent on shipping council papers to Moylan’s holiday home in Bangkok

– Moylan’s friendship with Peter Bingle and his acceptance of hospitality from Terrapin Communications.On tbe menu? Likely to have been the Kensington Odeon and also the controversial regeneration schemes that were planned for North Kensington . Their last meeting? Exactly a week before Grenfell.

– As for the Kensington Odeon, Moylan had been going around the media calling the cinema a “flea pit” – oh but of course he just happened to be accepting hospitality from Terrapin who were acting on behalf of the developers wrecking our beautiful art deco cinema and turning it into luxury flats ….. See this in The Steeple Times.

– Moylan removed references to his being a former Non Executive Director of both Glanmore Property Fund and Guernsey-based British Real Estate from his website after we posted this

– Brexiteer Moylan also just happened to get his Irish citizenship at right around the same time as the EU referendum was taking place for some reason…

– And not forgetting Moylan showing his utter contempt for our affected North Kensington community by dozing off in a meeting of the Grenfell Recovery Scrutiny Committee

We’re only surprised not to see Sir Merrick Cockell and Peter Bingle donning the red robes and ermine too but no doubt they soon will be – what a s@#* shower!

Newcombe House redevelopment : For or against?

This is Newcombe House in Notting Hill Gate – an eyesore of a building once described by journalist, author and Kensington resident Simon Jenkins as a squalid 1960s block “that would discredit a Soviet suburb”.

Today at 2pm, there will be a hearing at City Hall over this to decide over the redevelopment plans for the building, – which been strongly opposed but also have divided the local community deeply – and the Mayor of London has “called it in” after RBKC rejected the proposals for the third time – he will now make the final decision.

Residents unable to make it to City Hall can watch the live stream webcast here:

https://www.london.gov.uk/media-centre/mayoral#

More about the proposals here:

https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/planning/planning-applications-and-decisions/planning-application-search/newcombe-house-0

This might be a controversial redevelopment but there are powerful arguments being made on all sides by residents here both for and against . The Kensington Society, , the Ladbroke Association and the Campden Hill Residents Association to some peoples’ surprise, have backed the plans. Divisions over this have also crossed political party lines, with supporters and opposers on all sides of the political divide.

The Kensington Society have made their reasons clear for supporting the scheme here:

http://www.kensingtonsociety.org/why_we_support_newcombe_house/

On the opposing side, the Skyline Campaign have said :”“It will establish a precedent and that’s hugely dangerous for London on the whole, and especially this particular part of London, which is one of the most revered places in the “If they allow 18 storeys there, when they’ve said you’re not allowed to do that, the next developer will come along and say they want 18 storeys, or 20 storeys, It will be incremental.

“The existing building looks very tired and it is an eyesore. It is completely wrong and shouldn’t be in Notting Hill Gate. But the new design is very mediocre. They need a better design and to not build higher that what it is now”.

The Hillgate Village Residents Association have said the proposed development is “too tall and overbearing for the area”.They have also said “The proposed public benefits do not outweigh the harm likely to be caused to the surrounding heritage assets and the community by a much taller Tower which the Council found to be of “insufficient high design quality”.

Letting one developer build an excessively tall Tower could create a precedent, opening the floodgates for other Towers on Notting Hill Gate and elsewhere in west London. ”

The Pembridge Association have said:” The Pembridge Association is a conservation society for the Pembridge Conservation Area which borders the north side of Notting Hill Gate. The proposal is for a large building which will set a precedent for subsequent developments of the surrounding area. The scale will affect the whole of the historic environment of this part of Notting Hill Gate. Whilst there have been improvements to some aspects of the proposal, the design of the façade remains poor and the low quality offer of public amenity is not enough to justify the proposal as it stands. It should be rejected in its current form and improvements, both in the design and in the public amenity offered, required for any future, successful application”

Others opposing the scheme include the Georgian Group, ADKC (Action Disability Kensington and Chelsea), the South East Bayswater Residents’ Association and Kensington MP Emma Dent Coad.

THINK have received emails asking us to make our position on this clear (including someone accusing our blog of sitting on the fence!) , so here it is:

We are against, but if the plan was reconsidered to reduce the height and to include more social housing (not so-called “affordable” – around 80% of the market rate-) and the proposed GP surgery did not come at the expense of other nearby surgeries closing – we could be open to persuasion, but we think that 23 units of affordable housing (the developers increased this from 9 units ) is a pathetic amount and will do nothing to help the housing crisis.

We also believe that the increased height of the proposed redevelopment will make the building even more of an eyesore and that it is out of keeping with the character of the area. Loss of natural light to nearby residents caused by the height of the proposed building also has to be taken into consideration.

The one thing everyone seems to agree on over this is that the building is in a state and really does need some work, and that step free access to Notting Hill Gate underground station is important. We believe there should be step-free access to the station on all sides and the proposals are only for step-free access on one way only – this is not acceptable.

We just happen to believe that there are better ways forward and that what is on the table simply isn’t good enough – not for the area, not for nearby residents, not for better accessibility to the station and certainly will not do anything to help the housing problem. We hope Sadiq Khan listens to all sides but ultimately that he rejects it and instead asks the developers Brockton Capital to go back to the drawing board. There has to be a better way forward in our opinion – and this is not it.

Whatever does happen to Newcombe House, we strongly feel that there must really be something done about the lack of step free access to Notting Hill Gate station and the Mayor and TFL should also do something about improving access to all the other stations in the borough, including Ladbroke Grove and Latimer Road in our locality.

We’ll remind both RBKC and Sadiq Khan that this city , particularly our area of London, is desperately short of social housing and that both our council and our London Mayor do not have a great track record of doing much to resolve this problem.