19, Maidenstone Hill,Greenwich,

London SE10 8SY020 8692 7845

anthonybutler06@btinternet.com

Mr Jermaine Thomas, 16 February 2015Planning Officer, Central Area,Mulberry Place,5, Grove Crescent,London Borough of Tower Hamlets,PO Box 55739,London E14 2BG,

Dear Mr Thomas,

50, Marsh WallPA/14/03281

Thank you for inviting us, via Philip Binns, to respond by 19 February 2015, to this planning application.

The concerns of the Friends of Greenwich Park are firstly to maintain the silhouette of General Wolfe when viewed towards the north from the intersection of Great Cross and Blackheath Avenues in Greenwich Park, and secondly to ensure that the buildings on the northern skyline when viewed from General Wolfe form a coherent building cluster, with varying heights, maintaining the Universal Value of the World Heritage Site within which the Park lays.

We have welcomed the South Quay Development Plan (SQDP) consultation, and have responded to it. The key section for us is SQ4. There developers are required to provide “daytime and evening/nighttime views of the proposal from inter alia the junction of Blackheath and Great Cross Avenues”. On their diagram on page 18 of Part 1 of their Design and Access statement, they show the cone visual from Wolfe to St Pauls, but do not include such a cone from the Avenues’ junction. They should do this to show that the Wolfe silhouette is maintained.

Of greater concern is the startling effect on the skyline that these buildings of 35 storeys (page 57) and 63 storeys (page 69) will have on the horizon seen by Wolfe. The application has these two buildings “rising in scale from north to south” (page 34) which contravenes the requirement from SQDP, where there is to be a stepping “down” from north to south. It is notable that Tower Hamlets rejected previous applications that only reached 10 storeys (as quoted by the applicant (pages 20ff)), but

is now being asked to approve a very thin, tall building which will totally dominate the skyline to the west of the Canary Wharf cluster.

It is for others to comment on the details of household density, green space, children play arrangements and adequate facilities for utilities, along with the feasibility of such a construction on a flood plain. However, from our viewpoints, this building looks out of scale with itself and takes too dominant a position on the horizon. We recommend that the Planning Committee reject this proposal and invite another which is less tall and more in keeping with a stepping down of building heights from Canary Wharf towards the West.

Yours sincerely

Tony Butler

A D Butler Friends of Greenwich Park

Copied toP Binns (Greenwich Conservation Society)R Baglin(Greenwich Society)Nick Raynsford MPCouncillor Matthew Pennycook (Royal Greenwich)Councillor A Wood (Tower Hamlets)Jacob Jaarsma (Planning Manager, Royal Greenwich)B McCarthy (Maritime Greenwich Foundation World Heritage Site Executive) P Marsden (MGWHSE)S Sudhakar (Tower Hamlets Urban Design Officer)H Chen (Tower Hamlets Plan Making Team)