Around 50 people attended a public meeting held by residents’ group Bacton Towers Action in the Wendling Estate in Gospel Oak last week to raise awareness of plans for “hyper-density” flats in the area.
Developer Mount Anvil has submitted a planning application to redevelop the former Bacton Low Rise estate, off Wellesley Road, on behalf of Camden Council.
Redevelopment plans approved more than a decade ago were for 247 homes, but the new designs are for 447, with two towers up to 26 storeys high, according to documents on Camden Council’s online planning portal.
Former architect Pat Bullivant, who lives in Oak Village, said: “The plans are absolutely atrocious. My first impressions of the design is that it’s a total dog’s dinner that takes no account at all of the atmosphere of this whole area.”
Bill Bromwich, Robert Lewenstein, Alice Brown and Julia Oertli of the Bacton Towers Action in front of the ‘slim and elegant’ Bacton Tower and St Martin’s Church, which they say will be dwarfed by ‘monstrous’ 26 storey blocks (Image: Bacton Group)
She said the plans made “a mockery” of the Gospel Oak and Haverstock Community Vision plans adopted in 2022.
The document promotes “the creation of a more sustainable, safe, characterful, healthy and resilient place where new development can positively contribute to meeting our housing needs and at the same time tackle poor air quality and climate change”.
Action group chair Robert Lewenstein told the meeting the technical term used to describe the plans was “hyper-density”.
He said: “We’re against trying to cram so many people into such a small site that will impact the people around it.”
The action group believes the two highest towers could be between 23 and 26 storeys.
This is because an environmental impact assessment submitted by Mount Anvil gives the heights of the proposed towers as 12 storeys, 26 storeys and 26 storeys, but the firm’s consultation gives them as 12, 15 and 23 storeys.
He said Mount Anvil had delivered “a presentation, not a consultation”, which failed to answer any of the group’s questions on height, density, the low proportion of social housing and biodiversity.
“These blocks are not elegant and thin like Bacton tower, but stumpy blocks that need staircases and lifts for health and safety and evacuations,” he added.
“These will be big, large monumental blocks that will be incredibly high. The Bacton block was well-considered when built in the 1960s. When you look how these blocks will be positioned, they will block people’s light.”
Mr Lewenstein said the group had launched a petition, which has so far gathered more than 800 signatures, so it can “demand” a meeting with the council.
Brenda Park, a design consultant, moved to the area two years ago. She said: “The reason I moved here is because of the quality of the architecture. It’s really special.”
She added: “I don’t see how creating this big monolith will help the quality of life and ecology around here.
“Access to natural light and green spaces are things people need for their health and wellbeing.
“To do something to the detriment of that will increase pressure in lots of ways.”
A Camden Council spokeperson said: “One of the guiding principles of the Community Investment Programme is the rapid delivery of genuinely affordable housing.
“The revised scheme being proposed by Mount Anvil does that by almost doubling the amount of affordable housing on the Bacton site, compared to the originally approved plans from more than ten years ago.
“From improved public spaces to social value initiatives, this is a development that will enhance the local community, and we are committed to working with the Gospel Oak community.”
Mount Anvil has been contacted for comment.
