We’ve written a few articles about the plans to demolish the (somewhat unusual) small house with a big garden on Parma Crescent, and replace it with a small block of flats. The first time we wrote about it it proved quite a controversial proposal, attracting 44 objections, and not much in the way of supportive comment. This was the first proposal –

At the beginning of July, revised proposals were put out for consultation, where the side of the building closest to Lavender Hill was chopped back somewhat, and the height of the roof reduced (the blue dotted line in the picture below was the shape of the first proposal, and the building shown was the second).

Those plans were also withdrawn at about the time of our second article, and a third set of proposals introduced that made the building smaller again, and made the roof line look a lot more like what was already present on the rest of the houses on the street. These plans were then changed yet again (but only slightly) to remove a sort of roof balcony and lower the height of the top floor. And what we’ve ended up with is this –

It’s still a building with five flats in it (one one-bed, three two-bed, and a three-bed). The generous garden around the current house will still go – but what will be built in its place smaller and less noticeable, and in many ways also a lot more ‘traditional’ in its design.

And on the 25th November, it was granted planning permission. It wasn’t a guaranteed outcome – as the revised plans saw 44 objections! There were also a handful of supportive comments – some of them from neighbours who reckoned that the plans had evolved and improved over the iterations and that the end outcome was actually reasonably workable for the site, although there is also an interesting comment in the report to the planning committee regarding “Some supporting comments from people living serval streets away and from the same address as one of the property developers“! The Battersea Society, who keep a close eye on all matters planning, didn’t support the proposal on the grounds (among others) that it was incompatible with local planning guidance that prevents major developments in residential gardens.

The planning report is a detailed one. The planning team noted many concerns raised, including that the building would run right up to the pavement line. But by and large the final plans were judged to be reasonably compatible with what was acceptable for new developments. They also noted that the precedents set by the existing building just to the north of the site (facing Lavender Hill) – including prominent loft extensions and running up to the pavement, meant it was hard to go against a similar application on the neighbouring plot.

With five decent sized new flats on the horizon, chances are this will be a profitable development – even if it’s a very different one to what was first planned…