COMBINED RESIDENTS ASSOCIATIONS OF SOUTH HAMPSTEAD

NEWSLETTER

2014
Spring at last and as plants burst into bloom after a seemingly unrelenting winter, up pops a CRASH newsletter. About time! we hear some members cry. Were sorry we havent been able to get one to you before now. For the last year weve been using our new website, www.southhampstead.info/crash, to keep most of our members informed of whats been going on in the South Hampstead Conservation Area. But, of course, if youre not an email user and are receiving this in printed form, then it must have seemed as though wed forgotten all about you. Far from it! The simple truth is there are still too few of us on the committee with all-too-many demands on our time. Well try to do better in future but, in the meantime, if you feel you could help edit the next issue or, indeed, assist in any way with the CRASH committees workload particularly if you have computer skills - wed be delighted to hear from you. While some members have not heard from us for a while that doesnt mean CRASH has been sitting around twiddling its collective thumbs. Weve had plenty to keep us busy basement excavation issues, evaluation of our recent basement survey, objections to contentious local planning applications, dialogue with Camden Council over current planning policy, interaction with neighbouring residents associations and representations to the Planning Inspectorate following local appeals. Weve attended Safer Neighbourhoods meetings, pressurized Camden to improve street lighting and taken them to task over the initial teething problems they had with their new recycling scheme. No matter whether you read this newsletter online or in printed form we want to ensure that, in future, all our members get regular news about what CRASH is up to. Clearly the most immediate and cost effective means of reaching everyone is via email or though our website that way were saved huge printing expenses and the burden of delivering envelopes door-to door. So if youre a long-standing member and have acquired an email address since joining CRASH but never informed us of it, nows the time to bring us up to date. Weve included a form in these pages for all your current contact details, which also allows you to say how youd prefer us to communicate with you from now on. (You can print the form up from the last page of this email if thats how you are reading this.) If, however, you arent on email - or dont want us to contact you in that way - dont worry! Well make sure you continue to get a paper copy in future in the same way as you have today. Now, heres our news.

An application to excavate a 5 metre deep basement in Aberdare Gardens, this time with a swimming pool and gym, which would extend the basement well beyond the footprint of the house and out under three quarters of the rear garden, has gone to appeal following Camdens refusal. CRASH has written to the Planning Inspectorate to support Camdens decision. We wait to hear the outcome. An application to build a single storey so-called artists studio in the rear garden of a house in Canfield Gardens was granted by Camden in 2008 with certain conditions. However, the developer was clearly not going to let a few conditions stand in his way. He proceeded to excavate a basement, add a mezzanine floor, 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen, fireplace and generally to alter the detailing and dimensions submitted to Camden in his original plans. Once completed the building was rented out as a separate living unit, despite the original application stating that it was to be an adjunct to the main ground-floor flat and solely for use as an artists studio. After CRASH drew attention to these infringements Camden issued an enforcement order. The developer then responded by lodging a new application which would make superficial changes to the building in an effort to make it comply with the original conditions of the approval. Now Camden has issued a second enforcement order which requires the developer to remove the outbuildings and make good any damage to the site or rebuild in accordance with the planning permission. The developer has decided to appeal that decision to the Planning Inspectorate. CRASH will support Camdens refusal with a representation to the Inspectorate to request that decision is upheld. Well keep you posted. The first phase of the Abbey Co-op Housing, Community and Health Centres redevelopment will see the demolition of the Belsize Road Car Park to provide over 140 residential units in two tower blocks. The plans have caused considerable concern among residents worried about the cumulative impact on local infrastructure, transport and schools. The work is likely to go on for at least two years with subsequent phases involving the further demolition of the Emminster and Hinstock blocks, the high rise walkway and the replacement of the Community and Health Centres, as well as the culling of some 45 trees. CRASH supported Camdens decision to refuse permission for an exterior staircase from the raised ground floor bay window in one of the terrace of houses at the top end of Canfield Gardens. The applicant appealed the decision but, after supporting representations from CRASH, the Planning Inspectorate upheld Camdens decision. Had it been permitted it would have situated an iron staircase less than a metre away from the bay window of the adjoining property, allowing a direct view into the neighbours bedroom, while at the same time overlooking their garden and kitchen and destroying the character, symmetry and harmony of an entire Victorian terrace. The parade of shops from the corner of Broadhurst Mews up to the ENO building (153163 Broadhurst Gardens) is in a bad state of repair with empty shops at street level and 19 flats occupied above. The owners have plans to demolish and replace it with a modern building comprising up to five shops and 39 flats. CRASH, together with representatives of neighbouring associations, attended the initial consultation on site and has since met with the owners and the planning consultants, Woolf Bond Planning.

There has been a frank exchange of views on the project. The developers willingness to take on board our opinion and engage with us before submitting final plans to Camden makes a refreshing change from the antics of some developers who could care less what anyone in the neighbourhood thinks. We wait to hear of a further consultation meeting, open to the public, at which the latest ideas will be discussed with Camden Planners. We were dismayed to hear last year of plans to demolish 100 Avenue Road - the Ham & High building over Swiss Cottage Station. The existing building is just 25 years old and the new developers early consultation meetings did little to persuade us that the intended replacement, which includes an 80 metre high, largely residential tower block, would be an architectural improvement on what already exists. The developers have since revised their plans and have recently submitted their application to Camden. You can see it on the Camden Planning website, ref 2014/1617/P. While the recent renovation by the new owners of 44 Canfield Gardens improved the general appearance of their house very considerably, CRASH was concerned that in a street where every other gable, window frame and piece of stucco work is painted white, the visual harmony of the street was disrupted by these features at No 44 being painted black. Camden informed us that, as these features had been painted in the past - albeit they were then white - Council have no powers to prevent them now being painted any colour the owner chooses. This seems to us a very strange interpretation of the Article 4 ruling. Would Camden Planning not object if a house in this Conservation Area, where other restrictions and strict building regulations apply, was painted, say, in garish day-glo stripes simply because those had been painted features in the past? We will continue to press for a more sensible interpretation of the ruling but, for the time being, at least, we have to accept that this particular house will remain out of keeping with every other in the street and looking as though the paintwork needs a good wash down! Following two very nasty and violent robberies one in Broadhurst and the other in Aberdare Gardens, Yvonne Klemperer, the CRASH secretary, worked hard to persuade Camden to improve the poor street lighting in Aberdare Gardens. Things have now been improved by the existing Luria lighting being replaced with the brighter Stirrup Lamps.

Basement developments are still causing great concern to many local residents. There are currently over 30 in the 15 streets which make up the CRASH area and we continue to receive reports of serious damage to properties as a result of neighbouring excavations. Despite some 20 or so objections from local residents, Camden has recently approved a large double basement development at 86 Canfield Gardens. This will make the sixth basement in a row of nine adjacent houses and the twelfth among the 51 houses in the street. CRASH has concerns about the cumulative impact of so many excavations in such close proximity but it appears not to concern the Camden Planners one jot! Dr Michael de Freitas, distinguished research fellow and emeritus reader of Engineering Geology at Imperial College warns that The movement of soil at one site inevitably has effects elsewhere. If you dig a hole something will fill it, be it subsiding soil or a diverted water flow. Water which previously flowed around and through the foundations of one

building will, when that building is excavated, inevitably be re-coursed towards and around the structure of a neighbouring building. On the 4th March, following a long article on the concerns of residents throughout the London Boroughs on the current surge of basement building, the Evening Standard published an edited version of the following letter from CRASH: I have sympathy for the residents of Ovington Street in Chelsea as they face seven basement excavations. (Londons Underground Resistance, February 27) Despite fierce and

widespread opposition from residents across London, such building excesses are now an epidemic which Borough Councils seem powerless or unwilling to stop. In one street of approximately 50 houses in the South Hampstead area of Camden, 12 basements have been excavated with yet another approved within the last month. Six of these lie under a row of nine adjacent semi-detached Victorian houses. A report on basement excavation prepared for Camden Council by global consulting engineers, Arup, states that The cumulative effect of incremental development of basements in close proximity, particularly when these are large, potentially creates a significant impact. It is important to recognise that development itself, or the intensification of development, may be the triggering factor which initiates instability problems in an area which otherwise would have remained stable for the foreseeable future. In South Hampstead evidence of this is already clear to see. Dozens of local residents who live close to basement excavations have seen their cellars flooded, experienced subsidence and serious destabilisation, and watched helplessly as elaborate Victorian ceilings and bay windows are brought crashing down. Having been flooded by excavations under the neighbouring property to her right, one South Hampstead resident is now preparing herself to be flooded again when the latest approved basement work starts on the property next door to her left. Yet Kevin OConnor of Cranbrook Basements would have us believe there is nothing that demonstrates that basements are more disruptive than any other construction process. He deludes himself in thinking objectors are merely a small minority of vociferous people, many retired, who dont want you to do anything at all. A more accurate description would be residents of all ages who enjoy living peacefully in an area they care about but who are forced to endure the wilful and pervasive undermining of the special character and architectural quality of a Conservation Area like ours, simply because newcomers, developers or speculators with no interest in the amenities of the area or the wellbeing of their new neighbours, have more money than sense and demand the status symbol of a swimming pool or media room or both! Peter Symonds Chairman Combined Residents Associations of South Hampstead
Last summer CRASH conducted its own survey of residents reaction to local basement development. 100 residents living close to recent or ongoing basement excavations were invited to respond to questions on their attitude to, and experience of, nearby developments. We received 37 responses. While that would be considered a reasonable return to any survey, it is only fair to say we believe that most of the people who responded to ours did so because they were opposed to basement excavation in

general, whereas those unconcerned by such developments, presumably, didnt bother to respond. Nonetheless the following statistics make for interesting reading: 34 people stated that they would be very likely to oppose an application to excavate a basement in a nearby house. 30 respondents told of damage to their property resulting from neighbouring construction work, ranging from minor cracking to serious flooding with sewage. 29 respondents reported further destabilisation and damage following completion of construction. 21 people said that, in their experience, basement building works lasted 18 months or longer. 25 people went to considerable lengths to add criticisms of Camdens current planning process with regard to basements. These included comments such as The Camden planning process is dysfunctional and amateurish. Camden approves without looking holistically at an area, The real concern is the increasing number and the potential combined effect on drainage and groundwater in an area already noted by insurers as at significant risk . In August of last year CRASH wrote to Francis Wheat, Camdens Head of Development Management, to draw attention to some of what we perceive as the anomalies and consequences of current planning policy, not the least of which is that insurance companies are now penalising homeowners who live within a radius of as much as 400 metres of a basement excavation by increased premiums and even, in some cases, refusing to insure altogether. Camden responded that the Council has no liability where the insurance of properties is concerned and, while it has made some recent changes to CPG4 so as to require more technical detail in future basement applications, every one will be judged on its merits. CRASH, of course, accepts that. But it is sometimes hard, as in the case of 86 Canfield Gardens, to understand exactly what the merits of a particular application are. We will continue to object to such developments whenever and wherever we can. In the meantime if you have had an unhappy experience as the result of a local basement development, or if a neighbours plans to excavate are giving you cause for concern do get in touch with CRASH on 020 7624 4001 or by emailing crashres2014@gmail.com

At a recent MOPAC (Mayors Office for Policing and Crime) meeting on 6th March, Stephen Greenhalgh, the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime and Camdens Borough Commander, Richard Tucker, of the Metropolitan Police, claimed there are now 2,500 extra police manning Safer Neighbourhood schemes in London. Yet the new policing regulations which came into force on the 24th June 2013 mean that Sergeant Jason Collins, who leads our Swiss Cottage team, now operates with the aid of just 1 dedicated PC and 1 Police Community Support Officer a considerable reduction from the team of seven he had when Safer Neighbourhood was first set up. Add to this the fact that our local Police Station in West End Lane is now only open as a contact point from 7pm to 8pm on Wednesdays and Thursdays and from 2pm to 3pm on Saturdays - our nearest 24

hour police stations being Kentish Town and Holborn - and its no wonder residents feel that local policing is not what it was. At the MOPAC meeting CRASH challenged the Borough Commander to attend the Safer Neighbourhood Public Meeting on Wednesday 12th March to defend the new local policing arrangements. Borough Commander Richard Tucker didnt accept the invitation himself but was instead represented by Deputy Borough Commander Gary Buttercase and Chief Inspector Penny Mills both of whom went to some lengths to convince us that, despite the cuts, the resources of the Met are still there to support Jason and his team when required and that, once the arrangement was bedded in, we would see positive results in better local policing and a safer neighbourhood. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, not everyone was convinced. We shall see how things work out over the next few months.

Off-street parking has resulted in an alarming loss of front garden planting and greenery in South Hampstead. Too many gardens, most particularly in Goldhurst Terrace, have been concreted over, curbs dropped to allow cross-overs and period brick walls demolished to make way for monstrous, sliding iron gates better suited to a nuclear bunker than a suburban semi detached! This not only ruins the charm of the area but increases the problems of rain water run-off and will do nothing to mitigate the sort of flooding problems weve seen in the last few months. Camdens Highways Management Department have, despite representations from CRASH and letters from a number of Goldhurst residents, finally decided to allow one of the designated parking bays in the street to be divided up so that the owners of 166 can have access to off-street parking once their new basement excavation works are finished. The consequence of this is that a bay which once housed up to six cars will now only accommodate four at most. Parking bays in the street are already at a premium and this only exacerbates the situation. Camden currently restricts off-street parking to single occupancy houses and then only to a maximum of 5 square metres of hard standing. This has been widely flouted and some front gardens are now entirely dedicated to parking as many as three cars and make no attempt at any planting which might soften the appearance of an expanse of concrete. Whats more, many of these off-street parking spaces are not even used by the owners themselves but rented out to visitors for profit through parkatmyhouse.com. The streets of South Hampstead are widely known as the Garden Area. It is very sad to watch as more and more front gardens disappear. At this rate it will soon be known as the Parking Area! Street cleaning, as you cannot fail to have noticed, has been reduced to just once a week in the Garden Area. This has resulted in a depressing increase in litter. Some dog owners are not as community minded as they should be and dont clean up after their pets. Local outdoor cafes, particularly in Fairfax Road, could also do more by sweeping up the cigarette butts their customers leave littering the pavements outside their premises. Why not put ashtrays out on the tables? It would make a huge difference.

TRAFFIC CHAOS AHEAD

Living on the fringes of a designated London Growth Area, were soon likely to have to contend with a huge increase in heavy goods traffic along West End Lane and Finchley Road - a consequence of a dozen or so building sites proposed for development in the area. Building work has already begun on the Ballymore Development, West Hampstead Square, five tower blocks of flats at 187-189 West End Lane. Other potential sites awaiting the green light include redevelopment of the O2 Centre Car Park, the Travis Perkins site at 156 West End Lane, 159-163 Iverson Road, as well as demolition of the Liddell Road Industrial Workshops to make way for new school buildings. Add to this plans to demolish and rebuild 153-163 Broadhurst Gardens, the Ham & High Office Building at Swiss Cottage and the redevelopment of Abbey Co-op Housing, Community Centre and car park at the junction of Abbey Road and Belsize Road due to start soon and its hard to see how our already traffic-congested area can escape complete gridlock. Then, if HS2 goes ahead with hundreds of lorries a day trundling down Finchley Road. Well, you get the picture!

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PETER SYMONDS - Chairman ERIC BERSAGEL - Deputy Chair SUSAN HADIDA - Treasurer/Membership Secretary YVONNE KLEMPERER - Association Secretary FRANCES RADFORD - Planning Control AMOS SIVAN (AA Dip Riba) - Planning Consultant JEAN AUSTIN - Committee Member KATHARINE BLIGH - Committee Member

symondsph@yahoo.co.uk ericanddalia@hotmail.com susanhadida@icloud.com yvonneklemperer@yahoo.co.uk 020 7624 4010 asbarchitects.com jcaustin@waitrose.com kvbligh@gmail.com

Published by CRASH

48 Canfield Gardens, London, NW6 3EB

020 7624 4001

CRASH AGM
Tuesday, 27th May 2014 at 7pm at The Crossfield Centre, Fairhazel Gardens
Full details will follow nearer the time.
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