The Brill Place Tower in Somers Town has had 14 new luxury flats added to its plans

• THE recent letters about the Somers Town tower show how the planning process is perverted by Camden’s Community Investment Programme.

Planning is meant to “control development”, not enable the undesirable.

“Viability assessments” are typically used by developers to get off the hook in respect of their obligations to provide affordable housing as part of their schemes.

They are not meant to be used as a tool to cram more flats into schemes that have already been given planning permission as has happened with the Somers Town tower, (More luxury flats added to Somers Town skyscraper plan, June 11).

Many of Camden’s Community Investment Programme projects have also had flats added to them after the initial permission has been granted, for the same reason.

Because Camden is both developer and planning authority these revisions get smoothed through under the radar. Schemes that are not viable should not be given permission.

This practice drives up land values and ensures that the next scheme in the area will have to be just as bad.

It would be better to get developers to reduce development costs by building more modestly, rather than creating these obscene over-developments that get worse every time the housing and financial markets shift.

However, at present Camden’s development model is built on escalating land values, so unless something changes we are stuck with it.

MANDY WOMACK
Malden Road, NW5