Millfields Road Public Toilet Site Planning App – Comments Still Being Accepted
You may well be aware of the planning application to knock down the building on the site mentioned above and replace it with a block of flats with a retail unit on the ground floor – see attached PDF for artist’s impressions of the block. Whilst the committee of CPNAG accept that the current building will almost certainly be replaced at some point, and we realise that our views are not necessarily those of everyone in this community, our position is that the current design being proposed is totally unacceptable for, and does not contribute aesthetically to the area. Please note that this is not a case of us being anti development – even modern ones, or of objecting for the sake of it, as we have been accused of recently, but of attempting to ensure that the solution that is eventually agreed upon is sympathetic to the best bits of the architecture around the pond, and to the pond itself.
Although the official deadline has passed for comments being submitted regarding this applicaion, comments are usually accepted up until a couple of days before the planning committee meeting, which means that those of you who may feel as we do, that the solution being currently proposed should not go ahead, still have an opportunity to make a difference to the final decision. If you do feel as we do, please do not assume that sufficient people have objected to this, as without enough disquiet with this proposal being expressed, the planning committee may pass this even if there are some questionable issues regarding it. If you are interested in writing, send your comments to
Adam Flynn
Planning Officer
Regeneration and Planning Division
Hackney Council
2 Hillman Street
London E8 1FB
The application is No 2011/0094 and can be found at this link
These documents: Millfields Road (Images), Pub loos – planning app obj letter Feb 2011, Public Loos – notes on application – Feb 11 have been prepared by a member of our committee and you are welcome to use the information in them to construct your own letter regarding this proposal. The first is the letter of objection that she wrote, and the second outlines some of the issues in more depth.
Kind regards
Dave
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The proposed building is hideous. Planning permission should not be granted. The size, height and scale of this building would result in an incompatible and obtrusive form of development which would adversely impact on the character and appearance of the area.
Dawn Gill, perhaps you should have looked at the drawings before writing your comment since the proposal is lower than both the Georgian building to the site’s north and the 30’s (Palm2) building to its south. I think it’s a design of high quality that would elevate the status of the Pond area considerably.
I did look at the drawings. Hence my comments. Mildenhall Road and Millfields Roads are Victrian residential streets. The fact that the huge and hideous building happens to be in line with a ’30s building on Lower Clapton Road (but at least that’s brick, not cheap matchwood) is neither here nor there. You write as someone who could have a financial interest in the development, rather than an interest in the concerns of the immediate local community.
The building faces and will overwhelmingly be viewed from the Pond and main road of Lwr Cl Rd. From there its two neighbouring buildings which currently dominate that side of the Pond are the two Georgian town houses and the 30s Palm2 block. The proposal is SHORTER – not “in line” with – both of these buildings. Furthermore the proposal is barely taller than the terraces behind it. Also, the proposal is primarily brick. You imply that I’ve got some financial interest in the development and am not a local resident. Actually, I have no interest in the site other than the fact that I live locally and pass the site a number of times every day and enjoy quality modern architecture. Your attempt at a smearing a neighbour seems a little peurile and desperate to me.
In a completely different take on what to do with disused public toilets, the Clapton Improvement Society http://www.claptonimprovementsociety.org took some the toilets on Chatsworth Road destined for demolition and redevelopment, and turned them into 1) working toilets for the public – to provide much needed amenities on the street and 2) an events space. They are currently in negotiation with Hackney Council to gain the least to continue doing just that.
It’s great to see members of the public taking it upon themselves to preserve Hackney’s history, use a long forgotten building and prove that it can work.
My understanding is that the Chatsworth Rd toilets are still public property, whereas the former toilet block at the Pond is privately owned and therefore it would be impossible to impose such a burden on its owner. It should also be noted that London has a chronic and dire housing shortage.