• YOUR June 17 feature celebrating 150 years of Hampstead Heath as a publicly-owned green space quite rightly praises the many heroic individuals, such as Octavia Hill, who fought to preserve the Heath, and Lord Iveagh, who donated land to expand it as a “green lung” not only for the old borough of Hampstead but for all Londoners.

The Heath, as we now know it, is much-loved and greatly-valued. I was dismayed on reaching the end of the feature to find the smiling visage of Barry Angel, the chairman of Albany Homes lauding his company’s pollution of the Heath by the erection of housing on the vacant land at Jack Straw’s Castle.

This development was opposed by both residents and the council, and yet Mr Angel has the brass neck to write that his development will “not negatively impact the Heath’s natural beauty”.

I suggest that opinion may be held by Mr Angel, and by Hayley Butcher, the planning inspector who gave consent for the development, but very few others will agree with them.

ALAN MASON
Compayne Gardens, NW6