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| Hampstead Heath protests over mansions of the megarich | Hampstead Heath protests over mansions of the megarich |
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| It is a quiet lane, overhanging trees creating a tunnel of green gloom, which has inspired some of the greats of English literature. Keats and Coleridge once walked here, both enthralled by the birdsong of nightingales. | It is a quiet lane, overhanging trees creating a tunnel of green gloom, which has inspired some of the greats of English literature. Keats and Coleridge once walked here, both enthralled by the birdsong of nightingales. |
| Today Millfield Lane in north London remains one of the most secluded tracks through Hampstead Heath, a shaded trail that snakes past woods and bathing ponds and finishes at Kenwood House, the impressive former stately home at the top of one of London's finest lungs. | Today Millfield Lane in north London remains one of the most secluded tracks through Hampstead Heath, a shaded trail that snakes past woods and bathing ponds and finishes at Kenwood House, the impressive former stately home at the top of one of London's finest lungs. |
| But the lane's renowned tranquillity is under threat. A handful of putative but spectacular developments stretching along the lane, which would not look out of place on television's Grand Designs, are causing deep disquiet. Some local residents fear they will spoil the country feel of the lane; others worry about the disruption caused by builders' lorries and the threat the massive developments present to the Heath's fragile water table. At the heart of the row is a wider concern: the power of the ultra-wealthy to circumvent planning laws, even if it means spending millions on buying crumbling properties only to knock them down. | But the lane's renowned tranquillity is under threat. A handful of putative but spectacular developments stretching along the lane, which would not look out of place on television's Grand Designs, are causing deep disquiet. Some local residents fear they will spoil the country feel of the lane; others worry about the disruption caused by builders' lorries and the threat the massive developments present to the Heath's fragile water table. At the heart of the row is a wider concern: the power of the ultra-wealthy to circumvent planning laws, even if it means spending millions on buying crumbling properties only to knock them down. |
| The most advanced development, a 13,000 sq ft futuristic glass and steel house, with chutes spiralling down from the first floor to the swimming pool below, is only weeks from completion. In recent months graffiti has appeared on the temporary wooden fence around the building site, attacking Camden council for approving the development. "How did this get planning permission?" someone scrawled with a marker pen. | The most advanced development, a 13,000 sq ft futuristic glass and steel house, with chutes spiralling down from the first floor to the swimming pool below, is only weeks from completion. In recent months graffiti has appeared on the temporary wooden fence around the building site, attacking Camden council for approving the development. "How did this get planning permission?" someone scrawled with a marker pen. |
| However, the property's owner, believed to be a hotelier, has gone some way to placating the local – and often voluble – Fitzroy Park residents' association. Having knocked the original house down on site to make way for the new, modernist property, disruption was kept to a minimum and local groups were consulted throughout construction. | However, the property's owner, believed to be a hotelier, has gone some way to placating the local – and often voluble – Fitzroy Park residents' association. Having knocked the original house down on site to make way for the new, modernist property, disruption was kept to a minimum and local groups were consulted throughout construction. |
| "We worked with the neighbours and all the interested groups," said Neil Westwick, associate director of Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners, which handled the planning application. "That's the key to planning; you've all got to get on." Westwick did concede that the new building currently clashed with its bucolic surroundings: "Without the trees, it's a bit stark, but it will blend into the Heath once summer arrives and we're able to progress with tree planting." | "We worked with the neighbours and all the interested groups," said Neil Westwick, associate director of Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners, which handled the planning application. "That's the key to planning; you've all got to get on." Westwick did concede that the new building currently clashed with its bucolic surroundings: "Without the trees, it's a bit stark, but it will blend into the Heath once summer arrives and we're able to progress with tree planting." |
| But some local people fear that the development will see mega-homes mushroom along the Heath's borders. At least five homes in the Fitzroy Park area have major planning applications before the council. Several appear to be seeking to squeeze more square footage out of their existing plot of land, either by demolishing the existing building or "digging down" – that is, excavating. | But some local people fear that the development will see mega-homes mushroom along the Heath's borders. At least five homes in the Fitzroy Park area have major planning applications before the council. Several appear to be seeking to squeeze more square footage out of their existing plot of land, either by demolishing the existing building or "digging down" – that is, excavating. |
| "It sets a dangerous precedent," said Mary Cane, of the Kenwood Ladies' Pond Association, whose natural swimming pool lies less than 100 metres from the new developments. "There is a concern that the unpretentious, older domestic dwellings in Fitzroy Park will be bought by greedy bankers with large bonuses in their pockets, so that they can build huge houses with giant basements and extensive servants' quarters." | "It sets a dangerous precedent," said Mary Cane, of the Kenwood Ladies' Pond Association, whose natural swimming pool lies less than 100 metres from the new developments. "There is a concern that the unpretentious, older domestic dwellings in Fitzroy Park will be bought by greedy bankers with large bonuses in their pockets, so that they can build huge houses with giant basements and extensive servants' quarters." |
| A previous attempt by a Russian oligarch to build a stucco-fronted neo-Georgian mansion on one of the sites, known as the Water House, was abandoned following vociferous opposition that attracted the support of local celebrities, including actor Tom Conti and Monty Python star Terry Jones. Residents complained that any development on the site would have an impact on the water table and claimed that hundreds of heavy lorries would have to use the lane to remove soil. | A previous attempt by a Russian oligarch to build a stucco-fronted neo-Georgian mansion on one of the sites, known as the Water House, was abandoned following vociferous opposition that attracted the support of local celebrities, including actor Tom Conti and Monty Python star Terry Jones. Residents complained that any development on the site would have an impact on the water table and claimed that hundreds of heavy lorries would have to use the lane to remove soil. |
| Paul Munford, a financier, who specialises in "luxury asset finance" and who recently resubmitted plans to the council to develop a single-storey property on the site, said he had commissioned five independent hydrology reports which concluded there would be no impact on the water table. He insisted that only about four lorries a day would run up and down the lane for around six months and that the development, which has a green roof that cannot be seen from the Heath, would be "very low impact". | Paul Munford, a financier, who specialises in "luxury asset finance" and who recently resubmitted plans to the council to develop a single-storey property on the site, said he had commissioned five independent hydrology reports which concluded there would be no impact on the water table. He insisted that only about four lorries a day would run up and down the lane for around six months and that the development, which has a green roof that cannot be seen from the Heath, would be "very low impact". |
| Munford is aware of the controversy, but points out that Hampstead is an area rich in modern architecture, much of it unpopular when it was first unveiled. Ernö Goldfinger's modernist home and Berthold Lubetkin's art deco buildings, Highpoint I and II, were both attacked when they were built in the 1930s, but are now considered of huge historical importance. | Munford is aware of the controversy, but points out that Hampstead is an area rich in modern architecture, much of it unpopular when it was first unveiled. Ernö Goldfinger's modernist home and Berthold Lubetkin's art deco buildings, Highpoint I and II, were both attacked when they were built in the 1930s, but are now considered of huge historical importance. |
| "Hampstead is a place where good ideas and great architecture have been, and should continue to be, allowed to flourish," Munford insisted. | "Hampstead is a place where good ideas and great architecture have been, and should continue to be, allowed to flourish," Munford insisted. |
| But his attempts to mollify his critics have been given short shrift by the Ladies' Pond Association, whose position remains unchanged since it wrote to the council in 2011 explaining that Millfield Lane in its current form could not cope with the heavy lorries needed to move thousands of tonnes of soil. It said the lane was "one of the very few remaining country lanes, possibly in the whole London area, untarred and unlit, and we do not want to see it changed". | But his attempts to mollify his critics have been given short shrift by the Ladies' Pond Association, whose position remains unchanged since it wrote to the council in 2011 explaining that Millfield Lane in its current form could not cope with the heavy lorries needed to move thousands of tonnes of soil. It said the lane was "one of the very few remaining country lanes, possibly in the whole London area, untarred and unlit, and we do not want to see it changed". |
| The association's comments have been echoed by the Highgate Society, which observes that north London's multi-millionaires are spreading out beyond their traditional enclave around The Bishops Avenue, one of Britain's most expensive roads, because "they must now live as close as possible to Hampstead Heath, where their grandiose architectural fantasies can be looked upon in awe by as many people as possible". | The association's comments have been echoed by the Highgate Society, which observes that north London's multi-millionaires are spreading out beyond their traditional enclave around The Bishops Avenue, one of Britain's most expensive roads, because "they must now live as close as possible to Hampstead Heath, where their grandiose architectural fantasies can be looked upon in awe by as many people as possible". |
| To the heritage brigade, the spread threatens to undermine the Hampstead Heath Act of 1871, which charged the City of London with keeping "the Heath open, unenclosed and unbuilt on". | To the heritage brigade, the spread threatens to undermine the Hampstead Heath Act of 1871, which charged the City of London with keeping "the Heath open, unenclosed and unbuilt on". |
| Munford, however, believes that planning laws should not act as a brake on cutting-edge architecture if it is sympathetic to its natural surroundings and quotes with approval the maxim that an "Englishman's home is his castle". | Munford, however, believes that planning laws should not act as a brake on cutting-edge architecture if it is sympathetic to its natural surroundings and quotes with approval the maxim that an "Englishman's home is his castle". |
| It appears an intractable row, one in which emotions run deep. As Keats observes in the opening line of On the Grasshopper and Cricket: "The poetry of earth is never dead." | It appears an intractable row, one in which emotions run deep. As Keats observes in the opening line of On the Grasshopper and Cricket: "The poetry of earth is never dead." |
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