| Topic: | Re: Lots of Flats - in breach of covenant! | |
| Posted by: | Victor Mishiku | |
| Date/Time: | 19/03/13 04:45:00 |
| Re: Lots of Flats: The Application Plans (2 sets seen to date but there were apparently 4 or 5 earlier even worse versions) reveal the property proposed as a private dwellinghouse. The whole of the basement being a "Playroom" and for "Plant". I was told that the Applicant's two children are grown up. One of them, I believe, was described as "the resident" of No.43 when the Site Visit by the Planning Committee (not all Members attended) took place on 9th March - in fact, no one has been living at the house for 16 months. There is also another "Playroom" shown on the Ground Floor Plan. Lots of Flats would, in any event, be contrary to the Restrictive Covenant and could easily be stopped no matter whether planning permission were to be granted. There is no power to vary the covenants - an Application would have to be made to the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) and that would take about 1 year with little chance of success. Our first ever case in Longfield Road took almost 4 years, April 1987 - March 1991 with 8 days in Court and The Lands Tribunal. That case involved No.8 Longfield Road and the horticultural land "Hawkins Nurseries" behind houses in Gordon Road, Longfield Road and Castlebar Road. Developers Hassall Homes Ltd were roundly defeated despite gaining full planning permission from The Planning Inspectorate. I am currently waiting to see the Refusal Decision Notice from the Council, which should have been issued. Usually, the Decision Notices go out the next day but this one may take longer, since the Notice that the planner (who left the Council's employ mid-case) had earlier prepared was, of course, for a "Grant"! There are several unsatisfactory issues relating to the handling of this case. Two more cases involving building on garden land were refused by the Planning Committee hot on the heels of our case. In each case, the planners had favourably recommended the developments (one was nearby in Gordon Road on a corner plot at No.96). It was totally out of character as the houses are laid out to a density of "One House per Plot" and No.96 has been intact with its full garden for the last 123 years! How can the planners suggest that dumping a white-rendered box in the back garden of a large Victorian villa is in keeping with the historic and spacious leafy character of the neighbourhood? It's just nonsense again. Not long ago, one of the former LBE conservation planners was recommending that huge blocks of "Dallas-type" glass-fronted Flats be erected at Nos.81 and 83 Madeley Road (two grand red-bricked Victorian villas in a streetful of similar properties). Fortunately, the case officer, Mrs Kathryn Robinson (formerly from RBKC) was having none of it! If Mrs Robinson had been the case officer for the instant case at 43 Castlebar Road, then I am sure that these Plans by Dr Sahota to butcher the 1885 house built by James Wills would have received little support. The previous owner of No.43 told me that any number of people had come calling at the house before he and his wife vacated and that several firms had declined to take on Dr Sahota's project apparently on account of its risky nature. Two properties in Drayton Avenue have suffered huge damage and losses after a similar basement excavation took place not long ago - described by respected local Consultant Engineer, Rusi K Dalal, as "the latest disaster"! Victor Mishiku (The Covenant Movement) 19/3/13. |