Tower plan: ‘Too high and out of place’ critics say

• IT is very depressing when we celebrate the 50th anniversary since the Covent Garden and Bloomsbury neighbourhoods were saved from large-scale redevelopment that we are now facing a huge, looming, proposal which will disfigure this unique part of central London.

The plan to build a 74-metre high speculative office block at One Museum Street will mean a tower rearing up above the conservation areas and overshadowing many listed buildings, not least the British Museum.

The seductive lure by the developers for this edifice, soaring up towards Centre Point dimensions, is the suggestion that they can build 44 new dwellings.

But they fail to point out that they are proposing to demolish 26 perfectly sound homes, although some need repair since they were vandalised to render them “safe” from squatting.

Worse, the majority of the new dwellings will be “market housing” and will be sold off for the highest price possible. Just 11 dwellings will be “social rent” and nine will be, to use an Orwellian phrase, “at affordable rent”, in a neighbourhood with desperate social housing needs.

In particular, and because of the massive tower block, independent daylight and sunlight studies now show that even these “second-class” homes will be devoid of natural light; 80 per cent will need to rely solely on artificial lighting in the daytime.

In addition the majority of the family flats will be just two to six metres away from neighbouring properties and without balconies. Camden and the GLA guidelines would, in normal circumstances, prohibit such overshadowing.

Over several years local residents, including some very talented architects, surveyors and planners, have tried to put forward realistic alternatives to this “demolish and new-build” approach.

Their attempts to engage in consultation have been repeatedly rebuffed. At one stage residents were offered the chance to be consulted about the nature of some kerbside planters!

The proposals by this local residents’ group show that it would be perfectly feasible to build more housing on the site, with buildings that could be reprovisioned to meet modern standards, but overall a plan that would be commercially attractive and yet would preserve and enhance this conservation area with its listed buildings, and without all the dust, disruption, and noise of major construction.

Camden and the Mayor of London have, of course, quite rightly declared a “climate emergency”, with the aim of moving to a net-zero carbon borough. This planning application is a high-carbon assault on a neighbourhood already struggling with air quality.

We urge planning officers to stand by Camden’s stated policies and reject the demolition of reusable buildings, which the local community have clearly demonstrated would be fully capable of a low-carbon retrofit.

CLLR AWALE OLAD
CLLR JULIAN FULBROOK
Labour, Holborn & Covent Garden ward

ANNE CLARKE AM
Labour London Assembly Member for Barnet & Camden