Jack Straw’s Castle: ‘one of the most elegant and romantic buildings in London’ 

• I REFER to your report regarding Jack Straw’s Castle, (Fury as Jack Straw’s Castle homes get the green light, May 20).

The inspector’s ruling that house building next to Jack Straw’s pub – surely one of the most elegant and romantic buildings in London – is permissible, seems unprecedented and bizarre and should be resisted to the hilt.

What will a block of flats next to it bring? Only denigration of its architectural effect in celebration of the scene.

Why is it that the super wealthy and property developers seek to have new buildings on and next to Hampstead Heath for their private advantage, at the cost of devaluing it for the rest? (I naturally assume that Albany Homes is not building flats for low net worth people like postal workers, firefighters and nurses etc who would simply reduce the profit of it.) Is Bishops Avenue not enough?

The simple logic of the inspector’s judgment – it matters not how inappropriate a building may be because people can hide from it among the trees – seemingly justifies any construction if it has economic value. It justifies a brick works for example. (The last one was demolished and removed from the Heath as inappropriate years ago, even though it was obscured by foliage.)

This ruling by inspector Hayley Butcher is alarming. The phrase “butchering the Heath” comes to mind. Jack Straw, you should be living at this hour.

ROBERT SUTHERLAND SMITH
Widecombe Way, N2