Property News: ‘Motorway Box’ that was driven out by Belsize Residents Association campaign (BRA).

Published: 26 May 2011
by DAN CARRIER

IT seems extraordinary that such a plan ever made it onto the drawing board of the most eccentric of designers. But a proposal to pour thousands of tonnes of concrete and miles of tarmac through the middle of Belsize Park to create a new motorway running into the heart of London was once a ser­ious idea.

Ironically, this vision from a 1960s planning department spawned a movement to preserve the heritage of Belsize Park instead of wrecking it, galvanising those living in the area, and prompting the formation of the Belsize Residents Association (BRA).

And this month, the civic group celebrates its 40th birthday. 

Chairwoman Averil Nottage recalled how the route would have carved a dual carriageway from Maresfield Gardens  across Belsize Square and into Chalk Farm.

She said: “The Belsize area was seriously threatened by a proposal to build a motorway ring road around central London, popularly known as the London Motorway Box. 

“It would have swept away great swathes of Victorian houses and split Belsize Park in two. This threat provided the impetus in 1971 to set up the Belsize Residents Association.”

Despite members of the group successfully blocking the motorway scheme, further proposals to change our roads continued to exercise their members, including attempts to impose dead-end streets and one-way systems on the area during the 1970s. 

But rather than existing as a group that simply says “no”, they put together their own plans. These included widening pavements, planting trees and adding benches

They have also campaigned to protect affordable housing.  

The association was contacted by young people who had lived in bedsits in the large Victorian homes, where property developers were buying them up and turning them into expensive flats. BRA’s solution was to establish the Belpark Housing Co-Operative which helped those who had been squatting in Haverstock Hill find the funds to renovate them – and stopped plans for demolition.

Mrs Nottage added: “We continue to oppose planning applications that would eliminate houses in multiple occupation which would reduce affordable housing.”

The association has campaigned long and hard over civic amenities: libraries, police stations and post offices have all enjoyed members’ attentions over the past four decades. 

Among their battles waged against monolithic structures BRA have faced down the Post Office – and, despite the odds being stacked against them, they have eventually come out on  top.

Mrs Nottage said: “Despite the best efforts of BRA, the main post office, then sub-post offices in Haverstock Hill, Englands Lane and Belsize Village all closed.”

This was in spite of a promise the Post Office made that they would re-open a branch, which they continually put off honouring.

But they had not reckoned on BRA: the campaign never went away and after a protest march and a petition, a new branch was opened in the Budgens supermarket on Haverstock Hill.

And they have helped keep some of the areas landmarks: members encouraged Beatles producer George Martin to save the Congregational Church from dereliction and covert it into the Air Recording Studios. They worked tirelessly in preserving the Hampstead Town Hall, and supported the restoration of St Stephen’s Church.

Yet it isn’t just the Victorian and Georgian homes that have won their protection. A long-running issue focussed on plans by home owners to knock down two modernist steel and glass houses in Belsize Park Gardens. Designed in 1980 by Robin Webster and Robin Spence, the owners wanted to put in a five-storey block in its place. BRA helped run a vocal campaign to block what they felt was not only over-development, but a crass attempt at ignoring the value of 20th century architecture in an area known for earlier buildings. 

BRA lobbied to have an Article Four covenant installed, meaning home owners need planning permission for minor changes that add up over the years and ruin the character of the area. 

Yet this is all par for the course for the association. 

Another campaign which has borne fruit – albeit after many years of struggling – is the ban on estate agents’ boards. It is hard now perhaps to remember how blighted Belsize Park used to be as estate agents would put up boards and leave them for months, regardless of whether the sales had gone through or not.

But BRA would not rest, despite numerous setbacks. In 2006, after they had spent money on preparing the required legal paperwork, the boards were consigned to the past. 

Ms Nottage added: “At 40, we are still in good health. 

“But we will no doubt continue to face many challenges in the years ahead as we seek to preserve the best in Belsize whilst responding to a changing world.”