RESIDENTS in Canonbury have won their battle to stop developers building “brash” high-rise flats close to the Union Chapel – for now.
Plans by Notting Hill Housing Association to build three blocks of up to seven storeys at 85 Canonbury Road were unanimously rejected at a council meeting last Thursday.
More than 150 people, nearly all of them opposed to the proposed development, packed into the Town Hall for the meeting of the West Area Planning Committee.
Paul Convery, councillor for Caledonian Ward who chaired the meeting, said the committee agreed with protests from local residents, the Union Chapel and Canonbury Primary School that the development would have “an adverse impact on a local conservation area, and [would be] unsympathetic to other local buildings”.
In a stinging rebuke, Mr Convery added that the proposed amount of social and affordable housing – 50% – was too small and that views of the Grade II listed Union Chapel, “a major local landmark” and concert venue, would be obstructed.”There is something fundamentally wrong with the social housing offer,” he said. “As a registered social landlord, Notting Hill Housing ought to be doing better than the policy minimum.”
Philip Walker of the Canonbury Society said: “We’re delighted. Six hundred objections is something quite amazing.” Emily Fieran-Reed, who lives yards from the site, spoke from the floor and said the design was “totally out of keeping with the area; a brash style with no consideration given to green space”.
“We’re disappointed that on this occasion the planning committee didn’t take the opportunity to support this development,” a spokeswoman for Notting Hill Housing said.
“With many Londoners unable to get the housing they need, we’re trying to help as many people as possible.”
