• THE necessity to develop new and affordable housing is a constant pressure in London, but this has led to the construction of large block-based projects throughout Camden.

The area is already littered with completed or half-done developments which will daily pour hundreds of new residents onto already overcrowded streets, transport links and public services.

The latest such project, at 156 West End Lane (156WEL), has been approved by officers and goes before the committee for sanction tonight (Thursday).

As the group required by legal statute to monitor development in and around conservation areas, the West End Green Conservation Area Advisory Committee is tasked with ensuring planners maintain the integrity of the conservation area.

Our work, guided by a strategy document, approved by the council in 2011, establishes guidelines for maintaining the conservation area. It is one of several key documents that are intended to provide policy direction to planners.

The document acknowledges the “special character of the area” and sets out “positive actions for the particular care required” to preserve it. It is of considerable concern that the southern boundaries the conservation area include the whole length of rear gardens along Lymington Road, which sit adjacent to the border of the proposed development.

That means the 156WEL is not in the conservation area but all such areas are also defined by the spaces that adjoin them. The strategy document is clear. It states development proposals must preserve or enhance the character or appearance of the conservation area, and that:

“This requirement applies equally to developments which are outside the Conservation Area but would affect its setting or views into or out of the area.”

It is our view that this development, with its proposed mass and scale, is totally inappropriate and would never be permitted within the boundaries of the conservation area. So we ask how is it possible that it is being permitted precisely on the southern boundary of the area?

This flies in the face of the specific policies clearly delineated in the agreed strategy. We strongly disagree with the officers’ assessment that the development will have only a minor local impact. It is a huge development, inappropriate in so many ways for the site in question, which puts short-term gain for the council ahead of what is really most suitable for the community and its current and future residents.

We call on the committee to reject this proposal and send it back to the drawing board for a total reconsideration.

LS TRACHTENBERG Chair, West End Green Conservation Area Advisory Committee