Hammersmith and Fulham Council Withdraws King Street Plans
David Walters has consistently misrepresented (1) the number of people who responded to Helical Bar and Grainger's "consultation" - actually a carefully orchestrated PR exercise and (2) the nature and selling price of the proposed flats.(1) The number of respondents at a public meeting in a tent in Lyric Square in July 2010 was very, very small - about 400 in all. The visitors were shown three plans which looked very similar and asked to choose between them. They were not encouraged to answer separately: "None of the above". The "consultation" was a "box-ticking" exercise, in order to include a "Report on Consultation" with the planning application, as the developers are legally required to do.(2) Early on we found out that Helical Bar and Grainger were using as their model riverside developments by St George's at Imperial Wharf (Sands End/Chelsea) and at Battersea Reach next to Wandsworth Bridge. These flats are sold over the internet to buyers seeking to invest in Luxury Investment Properties (LIP in the trade!) for between 500K and £4M (see for example flats at Kew Bridge development - also St George!) The owners hardly ever visit them. Not at all the "regeneration" of King Street which Hammersmith Council has trumpeted!In order to attract these ultra-rich overseas buyers the proposal included the horrendous footbridge over the Great West Road: the owners of the penthouse flats were to be given the illusion of their own "private" access to "their" riverside gardens - This is actually Furnivall Gardens, a metropolitan open space created in 1951 for the people of Hammersmith.Crucial elements of the development have been misrepresented. The developers hoped to get away with their deliberate "economies with the truth". They have not!
Una Hodgkins ● 4881d0 Comments