Dear local residents,
I am creating this post in order to draw your attention to Planning Application 2015/3936/P: King’s College Hampstead Campus and to please encourage you to sign the online petition to reject the proposal on the link below - in particular as an opportunity exists to expand the size of St Lukes Primary School if the proposal is rejected in its current form and Camden reconsiders the proposal to include provisions for schooling and facilities for local community use.
https://www.change.org/p/london-borough-of-camden-don-t-trash-our-site-of-interest-for-nature-conservation
This planning application has provoked a very high level of opposition. It has attracted 44 objections on Camden’s planning website and 289 objections from an online petition. More detailed information below:
Camden’s RedingtonFrognal(Redfrog) Conservation Area Statement notes that,
“The northern end of Kidderpore Avenue contains probably the most impressive group of buildings in the Conservation Area.”
It also includes Grade II and Grade II* listed buildings.
Redfrog suggests that housing is not the most appropriate use for this site.
The RedfrogNeighbourhood Plan area has pressing needs for:
– green space.Parts of the neighbourhood are classified as green space deficient. A community-led nature reserve is needed both for wildlife and for human well being
– space which is able to be utilised by local schools and the community.
An opportunity is presented to retain and enhance the natural assets of this historic site. This would retain the existing educational and cultural uses and preserve of the designated Borough Grade II Site of Interest for Nature Conservation (SINC).
Instead, we are faced with:
– the loss of 903 sq.m of green space– roughly equivalent to an Olympic swimming pool – and more than 17% of the open space
– a two-storey subterranean car park for 97 cars
– enclosure of the open space by town houses, and suffused by light pollution
– replacement of some fine buildings, which form a positive contribution, by discordant modern buildings of excessive height, bulk and massing
– loss of the area’s cultural and tertiary education heritage.
As Westfield College (one of four colleges established for women in the second half of the 19th century) and, later, the King’s College Hampstead Campus, Spiro Institute and London Jewish Cultural Centre, Kidderpore Avenue has an important heritage of tertiary education and cultural use. Keen interest in taking space here has been expressed by St. Luke’s School, University of the Third Age, Youth Music Centre and St. Margaret’s School.
Redfrog concurs with the view of the 20th Century Society that“the loss of [Queen Mother’s Hall and Lord Cameron Hall] would result in harm to the designated heritage asset”. We also agree that further consideration should be given to the retention and re-use of these buildings.
The historic Kidderpore Avenue and Croft Way are ill suited to unsympathetic, soulless five-storey housing blocks,of excessive bulk and massing, in a mish-mash of architectural styles, and double basement underground car parks.
Recently uploaded streetscape drawings (attached) indicate that the bulk and massing of the proposed new buildings will have a very damaging effect on the settings of the listed buildings and on both the character and appearance of the Conservation Area.The 20th Century Society also objects to the proposed demolition of Lord Cameron Hall and Queen Mother Hall, which, “represents carefully considered design response to its context in terms of height, scale and materials and along with the listed Chapel it forms an important element in the twentieth century architectural history of the College site.”
Kidderpore Avenue is also a very polluted and congested street. Air pollution monitoring outside St. Luke’s School already indicates a nitrogen dioxide level of 38.3 micrograms per cubic metre . This compares with a level of 40 micrograms per cubic metreat which court action starts.
This is prior to the additional traffic which will be generated from the large Barratt estate (currently under construction) with parking for 82 cars. The Mount Anvil planning application envisages adding a further 97 cars to this historic avenue.
The developer Mount Anvil has ticked boxes and has failed to take on board key concerns raised by the community.
I am creating this post in order to draw your attention to Planning Application 2015/3936/P: King’s College Hampstead Campus and to please encourage you to sign the online petition to reject the proposal on the link below - in particular as an opportunity exists to expand the size of St Lukes Primary School if the proposal is rejected in its current form and Camden reconsiders the proposal to include provisions for schooling and facilities for local community use.
https://www.change.org/p/london-borough-of-camden-don-t-trash-our-site-of-interest-for-nature-conservation
This planning application has provoked a very high level of opposition. It has attracted 44 objections on Camden’s planning website and 289 objections from an online petition. More detailed information below:
Camden’s RedingtonFrognal(Redfrog) Conservation Area Statement notes that,
“The northern end of Kidderpore Avenue contains probably the most impressive group of buildings in the Conservation Area.”
It also includes Grade II and Grade II* listed buildings.
Redfrog suggests that housing is not the most appropriate use for this site.
The RedfrogNeighbourhood Plan area has pressing needs for:
– green space.Parts of the neighbourhood are classified as green space deficient. A community-led nature reserve is needed both for wildlife and for human well being
– space which is able to be utilised by local schools and the community.
An opportunity is presented to retain and enhance the natural assets of this historic site. This would retain the existing educational and cultural uses and preserve of the designated Borough Grade II Site of Interest for Nature Conservation (SINC).
Instead, we are faced with:
– the loss of 903 sq.m of green space– roughly equivalent to an Olympic swimming pool – and more than 17% of the open space
– a two-storey subterranean car park for 97 cars
– enclosure of the open space by town houses, and suffused by light pollution
– replacement of some fine buildings, which form a positive contribution, by discordant modern buildings of excessive height, bulk and massing
– loss of the area’s cultural and tertiary education heritage.
As Westfield College (one of four colleges established for women in the second half of the 19th century) and, later, the King’s College Hampstead Campus, Spiro Institute and London Jewish Cultural Centre, Kidderpore Avenue has an important heritage of tertiary education and cultural use. Keen interest in taking space here has been expressed by St. Luke’s School, University of the Third Age, Youth Music Centre and St. Margaret’s School.
Redfrog concurs with the view of the 20th Century Society that“the loss of [Queen Mother’s Hall and Lord Cameron Hall] would result in harm to the designated heritage asset”. We also agree that further consideration should be given to the retention and re-use of these buildings.
The historic Kidderpore Avenue and Croft Way are ill suited to unsympathetic, soulless five-storey housing blocks,of excessive bulk and massing, in a mish-mash of architectural styles, and double basement underground car parks.
Recently uploaded streetscape drawings (attached) indicate that the bulk and massing of the proposed new buildings will have a very damaging effect on the settings of the listed buildings and on both the character and appearance of the Conservation Area.The 20th Century Society also objects to the proposed demolition of Lord Cameron Hall and Queen Mother Hall, which, “represents carefully considered design response to its context in terms of height, scale and materials and along with the listed Chapel it forms an important element in the twentieth century architectural history of the College site.”
Kidderpore Avenue is also a very polluted and congested street. Air pollution monitoring outside St. Luke’s School already indicates a nitrogen dioxide level of 38.3 micrograms per cubic metre . This compares with a level of 40 micrograms per cubic metreat which court action starts.
This is prior to the additional traffic which will be generated from the large Barratt estate (currently under construction) with parking for 82 cars. The Mount Anvil planning application envisages adding a further 97 cars to this historic avenue.
The developer Mount Anvil has ticked boxes and has failed to take on board key concerns raised by the community.