BUILDING HIGHER
SIR,—A question of interest to all concerned with housing will be raised at a Public Enquiry in the Paddington Town Hall on October 12. The plans of the Paddington Borough Council for the development of ' Perkins Heights,' have been rejected by the Town Planning Committee of the London County Council, and are appealing to the Minister of Housing and Local Government against the decision.
The plans for three blocks of flats, each 15 storeys in height, have been prepared by Mr. R. A. Jensen, FRIBA, the Direz.f^r of Housing for Paddington. The Council claim that by this scheme all the existing residents on the site, which contains a number of old houses in very bad condition, can be housed in one block. This would leave the two remaining blocks as additional accommoda- tion. This would enable ' the decanting wheel to turn.' Based on an overall cost of 4s. 10I-d, per foot cube, it is anticipated that the total net cost of the scheme would be about £2,400 per flat. In addition, there would be the cost of acquisition and clearance of existing properties.
The LCC are objecting, partly because the major part of the site includes land proposed for the St. Marylebonc County College, and partly because of the high density develop- ment proposed, in spite of the fact that there will be around the flats the open spaces of Paddington Green and the disused graveyard of St. Mary's Church. A density of 136 persons per acre is considered to be excessive. There are also a number of technical objec- tions.
A compromise may be possible, by modifi- cations of the scheme, and by re-defining the site of the County College, but in any case the enquiry will raise questions of basic interest to all responsible for future housing plans in this country.--Yours faithfully,
B. S. TOWNROB,
Mare.,field, Yateley, Camberley, Surrey
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