LOSING THE ODEON, HIGH ST KEN......ESSA NEEDS YOUR OBJECTIONS NOW

CRUDE RITBLAT MONEYSPINNER

The Ritblats, pere et fils practically run the RBK&C Planning Dept. 

What they want they seem to get.




Ritblat Pere has been responsible for some real London monsters and son Jamie has the same familial bad taste.
John Ritblat, in his attempts to re-engineer himself as a kindly,fusty old English gent describes his hobbies as 'bee keeping and antiquarian books' . Talk about delusion!
He has got to be pulling our legs....

Object and sting him in the tail.....

Dear All

The deadline for objections is the 14^th November.    It is better if you can get them in by then but if you cannot do so it is still worth submitting them.  The cut off date is the minimum amount of time which a planning authority must allow before determining an application.  This one is targeted for a decision in January and we fully anticipate some more information may emerge before that.  You can send objections to the planning department at the town hall or by email toplanning@rbkc.gov.uk

This application has attracted more objectors than any other in this area, we now need to turn these into objections.

It is a complex application and the developers stress the benefits of retaining the trees at the front which we welcome but this does not justify an increase in the bulk of the main building, the loss of vitality along the High Street, the two new cinema entrances one in the High Street one in Earls Court Road neither of which have the presence or civic significance of the original Odeon entrance.  One of these entrances will also be a coffee bar but it will only open when the cinema opens so there will be a stretch with the Chelsea building society a narrow cinema entrance and Odeon taken over as the access to forty odd luxury flats which will generate very little footfall since the drop off point and parking will be behind in  the internal courtyard.  This does nothing for the community.

As ESSA we are  planning a double objection with a simple key issue statement followed by a more detailed submission.  The first will focus on the increase in height over the consented scheme and the design of the penthouse which we believe will be detrimental not only to those living nearby but also the garden in Edwardes Square and from high level  in many of the blocks of flats around this site and this will be combined with the loss of vitality which will flow from the dedication of the Odeon entrance to a luxury flat entrance which just does not generate the life and vitality needed at this end of the High Street.  The second objection will deal with more detail matters such as the proposal to move the existing pedestrian crossing outside Postino which links the two parades of shops.

In case you missed it there was a  bit in the Evening Standard which you can find at

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/new-flats-plan-for-art-deco-cinema-will-kill-kensington-high-street-9845777.html

You may well be aware that the emerging basement policies are awaiting the Inspectors report as to whether or not he finds them sound.  In the meantime the Council have placed an embargo on any decisions which would not get through the new policies.  This could affect the time scale for decision on the Odeon.

We are also awaiting the release of the further visual studies which the developer produced and promised to give to the planners including the night time views.  These showed clearly how much the penthouse will stand out at night particularly when there is little leaf cover to hide the building.  These show that the new development will be even more evident from Edwardes Square garden than their original studies showed. We suspect the same is true from other locations but they have not been willing to produce these.

Anthony

Anthony Walker

Edwardes Square Scarsdale and Abingdon Association