This time, Nimby Watch is once again heading to the leafy streets of Camden, in North London, where some extremely well-heeled locals are up to their antics…
Okay, where are we this time? No need to venture outside of London’s zone 2 this week, as we’re in a particularly nice neighbourhood on the border of Camden and Islington, called Dartmouth Park, inside the Prime Minister’s very own constituency.
And why are we visiting here, exactly? Well, as the property prices suggest – a two bed flat here can easily push £1 million – it’s a very nice place to be. This is not a neighbourhood that much needs to worry about gentrification pushing out longtime locals, because that happened long ago.
So… sky high property prices, locals already unable to afford the area – presumably everyone agrees it needs a lot of new housing, then? You would think so! But huge swathes of Camden and Islington are blanketed with the kind of preservation orders that make the planning system in the rest of the country look downright permissive. If you want to update your windows in these parts, that often means a six-week planning notification period, with public notice. And on the quiet, that’s how the residents seem to like it.
That feels like a statement you need to back up with some specifics. Oh don’t you worry, I’ve got specifics. The project I’m thinking of is a relatively small one – the developer HGG London is looking to demolish an existing two-storey property (on a street where most houses are four storeys high, including a basement) and replacing it with a small mansion block of flats. The designs are genuinely charming: big windows, balconies, the lot – this is clearly not going to be rented out to students or as starter homes.
I’m guessing from your tone that the neighbours aren’t taking this in their stride? They are not. The proposed building is essentially a small mansion block – exactly the kind of housing most people suggest they’d most like to see built near them. It’s regularly being referred to as a ‘block of flats’, but it’s five storeys and a basement, and barely taller than some of its neighbours. In short, it’s the sort of project that should be rubber stamped in moments if London is ever going to be affordable again.
And what’s happening in practice? Well, the great and the good that live nearby are, of course, vocally opposing the development. But even in their planning objections, the left-liberal residents are keen to distinguish themselves from the bad Nimbys they’ve heard so much about. Several point out they’re not against any development, of course. Just this one.
Who’s leading the charge? Fairly or otherwise, coverage so far has focused on a couple of objectors. One of these is the environmental lawyer and High Court judge, Justine Thornton. She complains that the new plans are ‘too tall, too bulky and too dense’ for the area, but insists she has ‘no objection to the principle of redevelopment into flats particularly in the context of the need of more housing’.
Hmmm. Why do I feel like you’re leaving something out? Okay, fine: Justine Thornton is married to Environment Secretary Ed Miliband, who has on multiple occasion promised to stomp the Nimbys, not least by (rightly) asking people to accept huge onshore and offshore windfarms and solar installations. Now, Thornton is an accomplished woman in her own right, and not obliged to share her husband’s politics, but if Miliband can’t win the argument in favour of development for growth in his own household – or worse, if he privately agrees with his wife – that doesn’t bode well for anything.
It does not. Is Thornton the only person up in arms about the new building? She very much is not – she’s not even the main reason it’s making the headlines. While no small number of the locals are objecting, it’s one neighbour in particular that has got the public attention: Sherlock Holmes himself, Benedict Cumberbatch, is against this development.
And Sherlock Holmes is a genius detective, so if he’s against it… Playing a genius on television doesn’t automatically make you right, you know, as Cumberbatch’s unfortunate objection somewhat highlights. The actor’s consultation response poses a big question: ‘Approval would set a precedent. For example, could I now demolish my property and replace it with flats and not require the same extensive planning approval?’
So… if we densify this plot that might make it easier to densify other sites in the area? Benedict is very much threatening me with a good time, here. Yes, it’s a little bit strange – not least because having implicit planning permission to extend upwards would work wonders for local property prices, whether or not the residents concerned extended. You’d think it would be a bit of a win-win all round, but the Nimby mindset is a force of nature.
If only there were some well-known phrase around obvious ideas that we could use as a pithy sign-off here. No s***, Sherlock.
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