Not another one! Parma Crescent application again

2 mins read

The life of planning application for 5 Parma Crescent looks like a groundhog day. While the construction has started (at least the demolition and the huge excavation as shown on the picture above), the developers have now realised that not only the size of the new construction put next door building at risk, but they are also blocking a side entrance. This is somewhat “problematic” to use the applicant’s own word!

A few days ago was released a new planning application (p.a.2022/0389) for the very controversial development of a little site in Parma Crescent. Last year the third fourth fifth instalment of the proposal was approved by the Tory councillors with the support of two Labours (including the new opposition speaker, councillor Loveland).

Legal issue, structural problem and you guess… need for the building to be taller!

According to the architect’s letter, they have spotted several difficulties.

Passage to no. 6

The first one is that the tiny passage to no. 6 side entrance is part of the freehold of no. 5. Condemning the usage of this entrance would create a legal challenge. Although the applicant seems to discover the issue, the submitted drawings have always been showing the need to retain that pathway. It has already caused problems as there is a notice board to prevent that access to be blocked.

The second issue is due to the size of their new building and the full excavation to create the basement units: The structural Engineers advise that, due to the difficulty of controlling
differential movement, the two buildings (new no 5 and existing no 6) should be separated.

The proposal is therefore to make the 2 buildings separated, and simplify the external aspect of the new roof to make it simpler (in the architect’s word: “a simple and straight-forward appearance”).

Last but not least, as you can guess, there is the demand to raise (by 12cm) further up the size of the building (to comply with Building Regulations according to the applicant).

An obvious overdevelopment in breach of planning guidelines

We explained in several previous articles why the site was sensitive and especially why the developers, with the help of officers, were playing a little game of iteration to get as much as possible from their site, in contempt of the local community and the planning rules.

5 Parma Crescent SW11 1LT

The approved development should replace a modest 3 bedroom house and a garage with (unusual for the area) large garden into a building including a full basement and providing 7 residential units and is expecting to host 25 people.

The approved scheme plans to retain less than 70% of the previous open space (in breach of the Housing SPD adopted November 2016), and cram inside the building as much as they can possibly put on: two of the maisonette units (F1 & F2) are spot on the absolute minimum of 79sqm and 93sqm (and below the minimum that was required in 2010 of 83sqm and 96 sqm for the same dwellings). This is the same on several bedrooms and we suspect that some of the figures have been twisted on purpose. 

 

Did you like reading this article? Help us write more!

Clapham Junction Insider (formerly known as the CJAG website) has been publishing local news for over 14 years and remains committed to providing information about the local community and engaging in public interest journalism.

Our goal is to feature a wide range of community campaigns and initiatives, local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, and provide assistance to residents.

We have always been dedicated to these endeavours and have no intention of changing. In fact, we would like to expand our efforts further.

Until recently, all the stories, analyses, and reports published have been made possible with the invaluable help of many volunteers. However, it requires a significant amount of time and effort, and we are frustrated that we cannot do more. There are numerous topics we would like to cover, but we require financial resources to provide regular information.

Therefore, we kindly ask our readers to consider offering financial support to sustain these efforts. Any contributions made will help support community and public interest news, as well as the expansion of our coverage in this area.

2 ways of supporting our project

Do you think what we are doing is helping the community and you want to encourage us to do more? We have set up two ways of supporting our project:

  1. Paypal: For one-off contributions, you can just use your bank card. However if you wish to encourage and support us regularly with a small amount, you will need a Paypal account to set up a monthly subscription. Click here to donate.
  2. Patreon: this is a well-known membership platform that connects content creators with supporters. Mainly, it offers financial tools that let supporters subscribe to projects that give creators a predictable income stream as they continue to create content. Click here to subscribe and support us regularly.

If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor.

CJI editor and Clapham Junction Action Group co-founder and coordinator since 2008, Cyril has lived in Clapham Junction since 2001.
He is also funder and CEO of Habilis-Digital Ltd, a digital agency creating and managing websites and Internet solutions.