Backlash against new 8-storey block of flats near canal
Published: 22 September 2011
by DAN CARRIER
PLANS for an eight-storey block of homes and offices planned for a site overlooking the Regent’s Canal has provoked opposition from more than 200 people.
The Town Hall’s planning committee will meet tonight (Thursday) to decide the future of Twyman House, an empty and neglected office block on Camden Road, which was once home to Camden Town campaigning solicitors firm, Hodge, Jones And Allen.
Developers have submitted plans to knock down the building and replace it with 54 flats, office space, shops and cafés.
The designs also include a new route on to the canal from Camden Road.
The Regent’s Canal Conservation Area Advisory Committee are among those who have objected to the scheme.
Critics claim the new structure would be too tall, and that proposed balconies would give grandstand views into neighbouring homes.
They also say that having housing on the site would put unbearable pressure on already stretched school places, doctors surgeries and transport – and that the designs would fail to meet requirements for 50 per cent social housing for developments of this size.
Conservation area committee member and architect Peter Clapp said there was massive opposition from people living nearby.
“The council received over 200 letters objecting to the proposals, but, despite this, the planning officers are recommending approval,” he said.
Mr Clapp added that they wanted the height of the building reduced and one storey scrapped completely.
One block, which is six storeys high, includes a rooftop garden, which reaches eight storeys at its highest point.
It is not the first time a large development has proposed for the site: the owners put in an application in 2009, seeking to build a 13-storey block, which was refused.
But reporting on the latest plans, Town Hall planning officers said: “The proposal represents a welcome and sustainable opportunity to develop this much under-used and vacant site within a highly accessible part of the borough.”
Business group Camden Town Unlimited have said they strongly support the plans, and that they would help regenerate an area that has seen a number of empty shops and offices available for rent.
The developers’ agents, Montagu Evans, declined to comment.