DEVELOPERS have been given the go-ahead for a controversial five-storey building overlooking Hampstead Cemetery despite fears from residents that it will overwhelm the area.
Sager Management won an appeal against the Town Hall’s decision last April to refuse planning permission for the highly contentious site, designed by renowned architect Piers Gough, in Fortune Green Road, West Hampstead.
They now have the go-ahead in principle for the redevelopment of a pub, shops, a car showroom and petrol filling station currently on the site and the construction of 22 affordable and 50 private flats.
Sager will still need to submit a full planning application to the Town Hall but according to Lib Dem leader Flick Rea, who opposed the scheme, the committee will have little power to reject it.
She said: “It is very depressing and there are many people who are upset about it. But they have been very, very determined. They still have a lot of hoops to jump through but there is not a lot that we at the council will be able to do.”
Cllr Rea was also critical of comments made by the planning inspector in the report which she said were less than favourable to the area. According to the inspector: “The collection of tacky structures that now adorns this section of Fortune Green Road creates a tawdry and dismal urban scene.
“The choice to retain such structures is one that needs to be justified. Such a choice would be contrary to policy and to government guidance which seeks to foster schemes that demonstrate ‘good urban design’.”