LATEST NEWS: DECEMBER 2018

The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (The Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP) has issued a “holding direction” to the Greater London Authority directing that they are not to grant permission for the Newcombe House application without his specific authorisation.  

The HVRA, RBKC and Emma Dent Coad MP, and possibly others, had written to the Secretary of State requesting that he “call-in” the application.  This “holding direction” does not necessarily mean that the Secretary of State wants to take over the application by calling it in; however, it does suggest that he wishes to have time to consider the matter fully. 

As far as we understand, the holding direction is not time limited so will stay in place until either the Secretary of State withdraws it or decides he wishes to take over the application.  We will keep you posted on developments.

2018 SUMMARY

The developers’ first planning application for the Newcombe House site was refused by RBKC in 2016, their Appeal dismissed in June 2017 and a second application refused again by RBKC in January 2017. In March the Mayor of London “called-in” the development. The developers have now submitted a revised application for the same tower but with increases to the height and size of other buildings in the scheme to incorporate an increased number of flats, including more affordable housing.

Regrettably, the Mayor of London approved the Newcombe House planning application at the public hearing. Here is a link to the video of the hearing (begins after 15 mins): https://www.london.gov.uk/newcombe-representation-hearing-2018-09-18
 
HVRA was one of six objectors who presented their cases to the Mayor for rejecting the Newcombe House proposal. HVRA was represented by our Chair, Peter Thompson. The others were Cllr Sina Lari on behalf of Emma Dent Coad, MP for Kensington (who was prevented by illness from attending), The Skyline Campaign (Barbara Weiss), SEBRA and BRA (Sophia Massey-Cook), the chair of Action Disability, Kensington & Chelsea (Jamie Renton), and an individual local resident, David Ginsberg. We all put compelling cases for rejection. The local authority was represented by Cllr Quentin Marshall, the chair of the RBKC Planning Committee, who also spoke against.

WHAT CAN I DO TO HELP?


JOIN The Hillgate Village Residents’ Association/HVRA (annual membership £15 per person). Please confirm your Email address to receive our Newsletter and updates

WRITE to the Mayor at the Greater London Assembly at: 
newcombehouse@london.gov.uk
A Google search for 'GLA Newcombe House" will take you to their pages outlining the development and their reasons for calling it in.  The RBKC planning application reference is PP/17/05782 if you'd like more detail from the Council website.

ATTEND and ENCOURAGE your friends and neighbours to attend the September public hearing at City Hall (date TBC).

FINALLY, PLEASE DONATE to our fighting fund! Account name: Hillgate Village Residents’ Association Sort code: 30 96 19 Account number: 26278968. Please send an email to us at hillgatevillage@outlook.com to let us know who you are and that you've paid a subscription/donation.

OBJECTIONS TO THE CURRENT NEWCOMBE HOUSE PROPOSAL 

Full details of the new revised application can be found on the RBKC website here:

http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/PP/17/05782     
(Note that this page takes a little while to load)

and on the GLA website here:

https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/planning/planning-applications-and-decisions/public-hearings/newcombe-house-public-hearing

Please remember: Notting Hill deserves better! We do not have to put up with major works and accept a plan because it is the only one on offer. The current Newcombe House may be tall and unloved but replacing it with something much taller and less distinguished, packaged with insufficient benefits, is not the answer. The test of any regeneration scheme is that it’s better than what it proposes to replace.

  1. Affordable housing offered (24.5% of total residential floor space) in the revised proposal still doesn’t reach RBKC Policy target, and is only a very marginal increase over that currently offered by Royston Court (part of the development). It falls short of the Mayor’s ambition of 50% affordable housing by residential floor area in a development of this size.

  2. The proposed 18-storey tower on Notting Hill Gate will be 50% tallerthan the existing Newcombe House and is not Policy compliant. It will dwarf the whole neighbourhood, especially Hillgate Village's small-scale houses (3 storeys). The height and design of the proposed tower would have a significant negative impact on the surrounding Conservation Areas. The revised July 2018 application actually increases heights of some other buildings and the massing of the proposed development.

  3. The 21 flats in the Tower are most unlikely to meet the need for accommodation for Londoners. Based on recent history elsewhere in RBKC, they will likely be purchased by offshore investors and left empty - expected sale prices range from £4.5 million to over £15 million for a top floor duplex. These are not “homes” for the many or even the few, but for no one.

  4. According to stats revealed by RBKC last summer, there are over 1600 empty homes in the Borough, of which 37% have been unoccupied for two years or more, many owned by offshore companies and non-resident investors. The proposals will just add to that figure. 

  5. Letting developers build an excessively tall tower on one of the highest points in the Borough will create a dangerous precedent, opening the floodgates for other towers on the Gate and elsewhere in west London, ruining the skyline for ever.

  6. It is acknowledged that some community benefits are proposed, but these are insufficient to outweigh the harm likely to be caused to the area and community by a much taller Tower. The proposed benefits cannot justify the likely negative impacts of the proposed development:

    • Step free access at Notting Hill Gate tube station will only be provided to one platform out of four - the anti-clockwise, Circle line platform, and not to the Central Line. Anyone travelling north and wanting to use step-free access on the Circle Line to exit at NHG will have to pass the station and reverse their journey at Edgware Road.

    • No additional patient capacity is likely to be created by two existing surgeries north of the Gate moving to the one proposed in the application. Relocating to a single surgery at Notting Hill Gate will increase journey times for many patients of the existing surgeries. The existing surgeries are not under threat of closure.

    • The number of parking places proposed in the application breach guidelines for parking provision for new housing.

    • The Farmers' Market will have to move for the duration of the building works and we understand that it may be relocating at the far end of Portobello Road. Will there be any Farmers' Market to return in the future?

  7. The building works, demolishing all existing buildings west side of Kensington Church Street from Waterstones to Kensington Place, excavating a two-storey basement on the Farmers' Market location, building the Tower and five large additional buildings, will last at least three and half years according to the developers' own calculations.

  8. The works will affect significantly local traffic, parking, noise and air pollution. The developers' own estimates indicate 20 lorries per day on average, or 3 lorries per hour, over the development period. This in a neighbourhood with small, narrow streets, with nearby nursery and primary schools.

  9. Proposed works at the Newcombe House site will surround the Bethesda Chapel, the oldest building in the area. The congregation say the Chapel has already been damaged by works in the area and is very concerned by the proposals.

  10. In the current economic climate, many large building projects are experiencing problems and many local shops are vacant.

    What guarantee is there that this major application will deliver?

  11. The design of the proposed Tower is mediocre at best. Kensington & Chelsea's own Architectural Review Panel judged the tower's architecture "neither elegant nor accomplished" enough for such a tall building in such a prominent position. The coherence of building design on the Gate will be reduced by the new Tower. The other 60’s blocks on the Gate are being refurbished, whilst the proposal for Newcombe House is to demolish and build to a completely new design. The option of renovating and refurbishing the site should be considered - emerging policy contained within the Local Plan Partial Review clearly identifies refurbishment as an “appropriate option” for Newcombe House.

  12. The site does need rejuvenating but in a much more imaginative, mixed-use way for the benefit of the whole community.