New plans to build just one family home in Highgate with a colossal three-storey basement will require nearly as many deliveries from large vehicles, such as lorries and vans, as the entire Hampstead Heath dams project.
Neighbours living close to the site of the planned home in Fitzroy Park, which overlooks Hampstead Heath, have been left outraged by the prospect of nearly two years’ worth of disturbance from lorries coming and going.
Developers behind the huge project estimate that 1,059 vehicles, including a large number of 10-tonne lorries, will be required to visit the site over the course of the development.
In comparison, the City of London Corporation estimates that the enormous £22million project it has signed off to build dams to reinforce Hampstead Heath’s ponds will require 1,260 vehicle deliveries.
Camden Council has received a flood of objections to the plans from neighbours who fear the blight the development and lorries will cause to the narrow thoroughfare of Fitzroy Park.
Sarah Saunders wrote: “The movement of lorries and materials along the lane will be totally unacceptable. It is a much loved rural pathway used by many people and the proposed works would effectively destroy the lane.
“To allow this to happen would be a disgrace.”
The proposals have been submitted to the council by Svetlana Volossov and her husband who wish to demolish the current home on the site, which Mrs Volossov bought for £3.75million in 2013, and replace it with a new three-storey family home.
The scheme includes plans for a three-storey basement to accommodate a swimming pool, steam room, gym and cinema.
John Knight, who runs Knightbuild, whose firm will operate the delivery vehicles for the project, attempted to allay neighbours’ fears.
He said: “There could be as little as no deliveries in a day and a maximum of 10 per day.
“There would only be a maximum of six deliveries by lorries in a day and any other deliveries would be by commercial vehicles like vans.
“We want to inconvenience the neighbours as little as possible and that will be our priority.
“We work on sites where neighbours say, ‘There’s no way this is going to happen,’ before the project starts and then when it starts they say, ‘We wish you could do every job in London.’”
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