Tonight (Thursday June 3rd) the planning application from Transport for London (TfL) and its development partner Native Land (NL), for the ‘Around Station Development’ at South Kensington, was due to be heard by the Kensington & Chelsea Planning Committee. Yesterday the meeting was cancelled to give time to enable the development proposals to be amended.
There was a massive groundswell of public opinion against the proposals with at last count 2,342 objections to the application and amendments by local residents and the many small business around the South Kensington tube station. It is believed that this is a record number of objections to a Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea development proposal and that this encouraged the applicants to think again. All of the local elected officials were against the development too.
A spokesperson for the Save our South Kensington (SOS) Working Group says “People understood the harm that would be done to the heritage of this historic and beloved part of London and believed that South Kensington deserved better. Residents are not against development, but want to see an appropriate and well-considered proposal.”
It is believed that the plans will be resubmitted in the autumn with amendments.
