• DURING the “public consultation” period on the proposed development of 156 West End Lane, I wrote and voiced several detailed objections to the developers, to Camden councillors, and to the planning officer heading the committee.

Not once did I get any more than an acknowledgement.

None of my concerns were answered directly.

At the decision meeting at Camden Town Hall on Thursday, Cllr Flick Rea spoke from the floor voicing her own objections and those of the 1,100-plus individual objectors, an “unprecedented amount” , in the history of Camden. The fate of these objections?

To use Kenneth Clarke’s recently used analogy: they disappeared (or were stuffed) down a rabbit hole and given no attention by the planning team.

The “conservation officer” presented a series of slides of views of the proposed development, taken from further and further away from the actual site, for example, from Alvanley Gardens, half a mile away.

The nearest projection was from the corner of Lymington Road and Crediton Hill, not looking directly towards the site, facing south, but the view westwards along Lymington Road to West End Lane.

The conservation area does include the homes on Lymington Road, so why was no accurate view presented looking from one of those houses?

Where next?

The view from Whitestone Pond?

These views bore no relation to the views submitted by the Save West Hampstead campaign, which had (also) been prepared by independent experts.

Of course, these were not shown at the meeting. It is obvious Camden Council is primed to not let conservation issues interfere with their business deals. Watch out! It may be your street next!

The consultation made no written mention of a supermarket taking over several or all of the eight retail units, although this possibility had been verbally confirmed to me by the development team (A2Dominion).

At this meeting A2 bandied about the idea of gentle, supportive, start-ups and individual shops. Which do you think is more likely to occupy that retail space?

Who has the money ready to stump up?

A supermarket chain or various individual businesses?

And how will they get their supplies into the building? Either by blocking up West End Lane or sending multiple lorries through the access road, where they will line up to enter the delivery area and then need to back up and turn to exit into West End Lane again. Constant movement of vans, HGVs, and rattling trollies, another nightmare for the residents of Lymington Road and probably the proud new owners of the western block whenever they may be actually in residence.

The figures presented by Camden for the “traffic management” survey were ludicrous and many of us laughed in disbelief. They suggested that the development would bring in one HGV per day, as opposed to the current Travis Perkins HGVs (which enter on the railway side and disturb few). There were only two short references to traffic and deliveries in the official recommendation report.

An explanation at the meeting referred to a very light increase in pedestrian traffic on West End Lane during peak hours, saying that resulting from the new 164 units there would only be an extra 45 there-and-back movements per day, saying that many people would be working from home.

Never going out, to do shopping, go to school or interface with London life?

The chairperson was over-keen to stress that when Camden used their old housing office on that site there was much more use of the pavement and highway.

So the start-up businesses and retail outlets are going to operate without using the pavements?

How can Camden promote more use of the transport links while stating it will have no effect on the already dangerous overcrowding of the main street?

I cannot bring myself to comment on the attitude expressed by the chairperson, who grudgingly admitted at the end of the meeting that the loss of sunlight to the current public play space was just too bad.

What about all the residents of Camden’s own Lymington Road estate, who bring their kids to play in Crown Close? It is quite clear that Camden cannot be bothered to care what those and other West Hampstead residents lose.

I have lived in Camden all my life and until now thought I lived in a democracy and a caring borough. After attending this planning decision meeting, with the outrageous shaping of the facts as presented by A2, some of Camden’s planning advisers, and the chairperson, I see that this is no longer true.

NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED