Local people opposing the King Street Regeneration.
As you may know, Hammersmith and Fulham council are soon to submit plans to:
- Demolish the 6-storey 1960s Town Hall Extension
- Demolish the 3-storey 1930s Cineworld cinema on King Street
- Demolish the 3-4 storey 1900s apartment blocks belonging to Thomas Pocklington Trust, and the Friends Meeting House
- Construct two new 14+ storey apartment blocks containing (approximately) 320 one, two and three bedroom flats
- Construct new commercial premises, up to 8 storeys, to accommodate centralised council offices and shops
- Build a 2,000m2 supermarket
- Develop a new public square between the 1930s Town Hall and King Street
- Construct a pedestrian bridge across the A4 to Furnival Gardens and the river.
Save Our Skyline, as committed and passionate Hammersmith residents, believe:
- The size and scale of this development is totally out of character with the area - the smallest building being the size of the current town hall extension and the largest over twice as high -[making it the tallest building in Hammersmith?]
- The development will dominate the area and the river, changing its character forever
- This will create a precedent of high rise development which threatens to overwhelm the borough and the river in particular
- There is no genuine need for yet another supermarket development
- A further c.500 new residents will have a dramatic and detrimental effect on already oversubscribed schools and limited parking
- As the supermarket is to be supplied from King Street, local traffic will increase significantly - especially the number of heavy goods vehicles - damaging the local environment and increasing pollution
- The council has previously committed to restricting development to the height of the current town hall extension - why is it now supporting a development OVER TWICE as high?
- The loss of the cinema, a local landmark and cultural resource, will have a major impact on the community
- Why build a bridge to Furnival Gardens, sacrificing up to 10% of their area to provide access ramps, when the existing underpass could be renovated, or a street level crossing provided, at a fraction of the cost?
Hammersmithers already live everyday with the legacy of inappropriate outsize eyesores such as the Broadway, Kings Mall, the Ark, the Premier Inn, and the current townhall extension DON'T LET THEM DO IT AGAIN!