Lauderdale Mansions West: Controversial plan to build flats on top of Maida Vale block returns
Lauderdale Mansions West. Picture: Google StreetView - Credit: Archant
After a plans to build nine flats on top of the historic Lauderdale Mansions West building in Maida Vale drew the ire of the community last summer, the developer has returned with a revised planning application.
But members of the community remain furious at the scheme, which a local councillor said would "mutilate the building".
Leaseholders have told this newspaper of concerns that building on top of the block - could cause the recurrence of subsidence which they have had to pay to be deal.
Freeholder Parkcity has defended the plans, saying it had "sensitively" altered them to address community concerns about the visual impact of the plans.
Jonathan Rubin, who lives in Lauderdale Mansions West, said: "The freeholder has come back to the council with an application to build the same number of flats. It has made some changes to the front elevation but essentially the plans remain unchanged. It's still over-development in a conservation area, and it's going to spoil the local area."
Local councillor Geoff Barraclough (Lab, Maida Vale) called on the town hall's planning committee to reject the scheme.
He said: "Parkcity's proposals to plonk these pokey flats on top of Lauderdale Mansions will mutilate an historic building, increase the risk of subsidence and lead to years of worry for the leaseholders. Westminster should reject these plans."
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A spokesperson for Parkcity said: "The project team recognise the need to preserve and enhance the character and setting of the conservation area and nearby listed buildings which is why the proposal has been designed to sit within the context of the existing built form."
The company said it had revised the plans for windows on the front of the new flats in response to objections in the planning process.
In June, more than 100 people opposed the plans, including the Paddington Waterways and Maida Vale societies who jointly said it "would cause significant harm to both the host building and wider conservation area".
