Residents in Holcroft Court and Cleveland Street have received an early and unwanted Christmas present after a planning application revealed the true scale of a huge building development mere metres from their windows.

End of building.
The Banksy building. A highly controversial planning application has been submitted to demolish 87-125 Cleveland StreetĀ and construct 105 flats across three tower blocks. Holcroft Court is on left with Cleveland Street on the right.

The residentsĀ are furious with Dukelease Properties, Assael Architecture, and PR company Four Communications, who stand accused of giving outĀ false information and trying to obscureĀ the scale ofĀ three tower blocks one of which will be twice as high as Holcroft Court.

Computer generated image of proposed building.
AĀ 10-storey building is planned. How the proposed Cleveland Street elevation would look as seen from along Maple Street. Image from planning application documents.

The planned development is to demolish a two-storey commercial building — aĀ triangular site which is wellĀ known forĀ Banksy’s “If Grafitti Changed Anything…” on one of its walls — and construct a new commercial street frontage topped with 105 apartments inĀ three tower blocks.

Scale drawing of mixed-use development.
Three tower blocks wouldĀ be builtĀ between Cleveland Street and Clipstone Mews on top of a commercial street frontage. Two of the towers are 16m tall, (the same height as Holcroft Court) and one is 36 metres high, more than twice the height of Holcroft Court. A drive-through petrol filling station would be located in the middle of the site.

The plans for 87-125 Cleveland Street were first put forwardĀ in September with residents invited to viewĀ sketches of the proposed development. Residents and community groups were immediately concerned about the scale of the development and the inclusion of a new petrol filling station in the narrow Clipstone Mews, and later met with the developer and architect in meetings facilitated by Four Communications.

During these meetings residents were encouraged to give their views ahead ofĀ a planning application to be submitted to Westminster City Council.Ā But the Holcroft Court Residents Association and the Fitzrovia West Neighbourhood Forum who participated in the meetings quicklyĀ became suspicious of the developer and the way the consultation was going. The Fitzrovia Neighbourhood Association and Charlotte Street Association have also expressed great concern about the plans. Russel Davies wrote an article about the September exhibition and analysed the plans and consultation.

Residents and local business people were frustrated when their questions about the height of the proposed buildings went unanswered, and said the whole process was a sham consultation.

Andrew Slee of the Holcroft Court Residents Association commentedĀ sayingĀ “on one drawing the relationship between the new ten-storey tower and the university building on the south side of Clipstone Mews has been understated by as much as 12.5m. This is a fundamental error and one that is inexcusable, especially as it has been repeated to varying degrees on some other sketches. No wonder [theĀ architect]Ā didn’t want to confirm the actual height of the ten storey building”.

Residents were left with the impression that the height of the tower was deliberately obscured in order to diffuse opposition to theĀ plans. “These basic errors give the impression that the Architect has tried to mislead people about the relative height of the ten storey building and the buildings surrounding the proposed development,” said Slee.

In subsequent communications it became clear that residents views were not being taken on board. Richard Leslie of Dukelease wrote to Holcroft Court residents dismissing their concerns about loss of light.

“At Present Holcroft Court enjoys levels of daylight far superior to situations commonly found in central London and the reduction due to the proposed development brings the levels in line with those found elsewhere in the central area,”Ā wroteĀ Richard Leslie of Dukelease.

Wendy Shillam, chair of the Fitzrovia West Neighbourhood Forum,Ā expressed the irritation ofĀ many residents and questioned the developer’s motives.

“Do we really want to build modern blocks that hark back to the Victorian slums?” she asked.Ā “It seems that in spite of major opposition to a number of aspects of this application Dukelease have seen fit to ignore every single point raised and submit an unchanged application,” said Shillam.

“If we start to cram our neighbourhood with too many flats, and expensive private flats are allowed to unfairly overshadow more affordable buildings, I wonder what that says about us as a society?

“High profits are to be made by any residential developer who chooses to build in this area. Because of this they can well afford to build the highest level of sustainable dwellings themselves and there is no imperative, except greed, to overcrowd adjoining homes.

“We welcome good development and redevelopment in Fitzrovia. But I don’t think we should welcome applications like this one,” she said.

Shillam condemned the plans saying: “I was shocked when I saw such a crassly over-developed scheme as this.Ā It knocks out many small business units that are the life blood of Fitzrovia.Ā It overshadows Holcroft Court, the mews and Cleveland Street frontages to an unacceptable level,” she said.

To make matters worseĀ the planning application was validated by Westminster Council for consultation during the run-up to Christmas and New Year. This makes it very difficult for residents to mobilise opposition to the plans and calls into question theĀ City Council’s motives as well as Dukelease.

In support of the planning application Four CommunicationsĀ providedĀ a statement to Westminster City Council which went so far as to say “there is generallyĀ support for the Applicant’s proposals”. Some residents told Fitzrovia NewsĀ the PR company should re-brand themselves as “Poor Communications”.

Fitzrovia News asked Dukelease and Four Communications to respond to the criticisms of the way they handled the public consultation. Dukelease did not respond to our questions but Four Communications issued a statement on behalf of themselves and Dukelease.

“Throughout this project, Four Communications has managed a thorough and transparent consultation process with neighbours around the site, including Holcroft Court. The team has had positive feedback from many neighbours, including some residents of Holcroft Court,” they said.

However, in theĀ responseĀ they did not repeat the line that the plans were supported by residents. Instead they chose to say: “Feedback at the exhibition was mixed, with residents of different streets holding varied views.”

They added: “The team is committed to upholding this process of consultation with neighbours as the application progresses and will continue to respond to all residents’ queries and concerns.”

You can read the full Four Communications responseĀ here.

The other issue of local concern is that Westminster Council own the freehold of the site and expect to benefit from the increased value of the site when the current headlease expires in 33 years’ time and returns to the council. Fitzrovia News is currently awaiting a response from Westminster Council which will be the subject of a future news story about the sale and ownership of the site.

Update: The application will be heard at 6.30pm Tuesday 21 April 2015: agenda.

The planning application in detail.

The application is for a large site and contains many documents to be examined andĀ analysed against Westminster Council’s planning guidance.

Ground floor plan of site.
The site is bounded on three side by Cleveland Street, Clipstone Street and Clipstone Mews.

The existing site bounded by Cleveland Street, Clipstone Street and Clipstone Mews is 0.44 hectares consists of commercial unitsĀ of 4,051 square metres gross internal area. The proposed scheme would beĀ 14,291 sqm GIA.

The development will increase the above ground footprint of the site by extending the building line on the Cleveland Street elevation 1.6m east to in effect narrow the pavement. This wouldĀ make the building-to-building width of Cleveland Street less than 12m. The three tower blocks wouldĀ be only 8m away from Holcroft Court.Ā (Fitzrovia News editors have measured these).

According to the published plans, two of the tower blocks will be equal in height to Holcroft Court (approx 16m high) and the tallest block will be more than double the height of Holcroft Court (approx 35m high).

Table showing land uses.
Existing and proposed commercial uses. Less retail and office, but moreĀ bar, pub and restaurantĀ space is proposed.

There will be net loss of retail and a net gain of restaurant and bar uses on the site. The petrol station will be moved to a site closer to both Holcoft Court and Cleveland Street residents, creating a drive-through filling station entered viaĀ Clipstone Mews with vehicles exiting into Cleveland Street.

Excerpt from retail analysis.
Dukelease want to move the existing petrol filling station and move it closer to residents homes and opposite existing restaurants and cafes.

According to the retail analysis supplied with the planning statement, the current site of the petrol filling station in Clipstone Street would put off prospective retail occupiers. Whilst Westminster Council isĀ asking for the station to be reinstated it is DukeleaseĀ who hasĀ chosen to place itĀ next toĀ residents homes and opposite existing cafes and restaurants.

Table showing residential mix.
90 luxury flats and 15 affordable homes.

The development will provide 90 luxuryĀ flats and 15 affordable housing units. By area, onlyĀ 10.6 percent of the development will be affordable housing, far short of Westminster’s target of 35 percent stated in its Interim Guidance Note.

The density of the development is at the upper level of the London Plan guidelines for a central area. The London Plan identifies 650-1,100 habitable rooms per hectare (hrha). Westminster’s UDP identifies 450 to 800 hrha as acceptable. The Cleveland Street proposal would be a whopping 1,053 hrha.

The development only provides amenity space for residents of the new building. The developer has made a number of token gestures of environmental improvements which include tree planting, a rain garden and road humps.

View and comment on the planning application at Westminster City Council:Ā 14/11837/FULL | Demolition of existing building and redevelopment to provide a building of three blocks (Block A – comprising ground and nine upper floors, Block B – ground and three upper floors and Block C – ground and three upper floors) with basement and smaller sub-basement below and each separated by landscaped areas. For a mix of upto 105 residential units, provision of a petrol filling station (accessed from Clipstone Mews, exit onto Cleveland Street), provision of a mix of retail (Class A1), restaurant (Class A3), drinking establishment (Class A4), office (Class B1), non-residential institution (Class D1) and assembly and leisure (Class D2) floorspace and associated landscaping, and provision of 46 residential parking spaces and associated plant space across sub-basement, basement and ground floor levels (site includes 87 – 125 Cleveland Street, W1). | 87-89 Cleveland Street London W1T 6PJ.

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