Heath’s tranquillity and beauty is so important

Published: 28 April, 2011

• FOR some years, we of the Athlone House Working Group have been campaigning, and working with Camden and others to preserve and restore Athlone House, the last remaining large country house overlooking Hampstead Heath.

As your readers will know, we have more recently been fighting against a planning application for the demolition of this fine and much-loved house and its replacement by a much larger and very ostentatious building, which would have dominated the northern slopes of the Heath and spoiled the pleasing views from the Heath.

This application was, thankfully, refused by Camden.  This prompted an appeal by the developers, which was held over 12 days in a public hearing before a planning inspector. 

We appeared at this hearing in support of Camden, as did also the City of London, who are the guardians of the Heath. Some 600 Heath users objected to the original application and later to the inspector and we thank them all.

We were absolutely delighted to hear last week that the inspector had refused the appeal and upheld Camden’s refusal of planning permission on the grounds that it would have been inappropriate development on Metropolitan Open Land, in line with the earlier successful judicial review of the Garden House decision, brought by the Heath & Hampstead Society.  

We believe that this decision will also be of immense benefit to all local residents and, particularly, the many thousands who enjoy the beauty and tranquillity of Hampstead Heath, which must remain unspoilt by such massive developments on its fringes.

GORDON FORBES, MICHAEL HAMMERSON, MARTIN HUMPHERY, MARIUS REYNOLDS, JEREMY WRIGHT
The Athlone House Working Group