• YOUR Property News report (Backyard build upsets the neighbours, May 9) highlights the current contradictory policy of Camden Council planning.

As an upset next door neighbour of the proposed build of two luxury homes in the adjoining gardens, I am amazed that Camden appears eager to bend over backwards to help the developers flout their own stated policy, that there should be no construction on green land in a conservation area.

The row of gardens stretching from Frognal down busy Arkwright Road to the heavily polluted Finchley Road are a vital green “lung” in this already overbuilt area.

Every day I observe a huge variety of birds and wildlife, including herons, ducks, foxes, bats, squirrels and admire the mature trees, which will be felled if these plans go ahead.

Yet I read “the plans have been drawn up with advice from the council planning officers” and proposed landscaping “will allow the properties to ‘settle’ and blend inoffensively into the conservation area”.

Sorry Camden but offence has definitely been taken by the neighbourhood, with more than 65 individual objections already logged.

They resent the apparent collusion between Camden and the developers to push through overbearing multi-million-pound homes (not affordable housing) that will impact privacy and amenity and cause massive local disruption. And what a precedent to encourage others to follow suit!

KEN HOWARD
Arkwright Road, NW3