We’re disappointed with the approval of the ‘garden-grabbing’ planning application for 63 Hillfield Road — which includes building a brand new home in the garden, facing onto Achilles Road: posing problems of over-development, flooding, and harm to our community character.
43 of the 59 households on Achilles Road signed a well-rounded joint letter of objection to the application, and two residents spoke well in pointing out the proposal’s flaws. However, we were disappointed to see Camden ignore this strong local opinion.
The two Conservative councillors on the Planning Committee — Camden Conservatives’ leader Oliver Cooper and planning barrister Andrew Parkinson — both spoke against and voted against the application. Sadly, seven of the nine Labour councillors voted for it, meaning it was approved.
The Conservative councillors questioned why it was being permitted despite so clearly breaching the Fortune Green & West Hampstead Neighbourhood Plan, as it involves:
- a new modernist home on Achilles Road that jars with the street’s beautiful Victorian terrace for which our area is well-known. This breaches policy A12 of the Plan.
- by building a new home in the garden of 63 Hillfield Road: setting a terrible precedent that could undermine the area’s greenery. This breaches policy A13 of the Plan.
- the whole length of the garden to build a basement under the new home: 31 metres in total, despite the presence of underground water flows. This breaches policy A15 of the Plan.
We know how important it is that the Plan is respected and our community’s character preserved, yet Camden continues to ride roughshod over our area.
Despite our disappointment, we will continue to look closely at this development and make sure its impact on the area is minimised, especially when it comes to ground excavation. Phil Taylor in particular lives locally — just a few doors from the development.
If you are concerned by any planning applications, ongoing building works, or other issues in the area, please let us know via the contact details at the top, and we will do our best to ensure your voices are heard, despite Labour’s inaction.
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Contact us
Ian Cohen [email protected] 07973 869117
Phil Taylor [email protected] 020 7794 5679
Sedef Akademir [email protected] 020 7794 5679