ONE DAY WILL THIS SHADOW FALL

Banners hanging from Bowater House balconies during the Spectres of Modernism protest. 

'ONE DAY WILL THIS SHADOW FALL' by Cornelia Parker and  

'parasites will starve in this carcass of culture' by Patrick Goddard

OPEN (Golden Lane)’s application to the High Court, for a judicial review of the City’s grant of planning permission to Taylor Wimpey to build The Denizen, will not be proceeding any further.

We have received further legal advice, including a second opinion from an independent and highly experienced specialist QC, that the strengths of the legal claim are outweighed by the increased public expense, the real risk of losing the claim and being liable for potentially substantial legal costs.

We have very reluctantly accepted that advice and, to avoid further expense, reached an agreement with the City and Taylor Wimpey to discontinue our claim without any payment of costs.

We have got this far by generous public donations. Even if we were to convince a Court at this stage that our claims are at least arguable, the further public donations which would be needed to proceed to a full trial would be put at risk.

The legal advice which we have received is based solely upon analysis of the processes adopted by the City when granting the planning permission. It has nothing to do with the merit or quality of Taylor Wimpey’s dreadful scheme because, however bad it is, the Court has no power to intervene on that ground. Planning Committees have a very wide discretion when granting planning permission and they are, in summary, “entitled to foul it up provided they do so properly”,  as they have done here.

It's still shocking to think that this building has been given planning permission.
This will cause substantial harm to park, school, homes and heritage and has no public benefit

We are deeply unhappy to have had to discontinue our claim. Nevertheless our campaign has successes to celebrate.      

• The City was forced to agree that, once sales of the new flats commence, the schemes financial viability will be reviewed with Taylor Wimpey’s affordable housing contribution potentially increasing to over £11million; 
• The designation of two new Conservation Areas is now progressing;          
• The community across the Golden Lane and Barbican estates has been united in a common purpose and has a stronger voice which the City can no longer ignore;
• We have raised awareness and attracted widespread support which has recognised the importance of the issues we have raised and the uniqueness of our locality;
• We have started to expose the conflicts of financial interests which exist within the City, and to learn who we can and cannot trust;
• We have acquired new skills which we will use for greater community benefit; 

The Spectres of Modernism Bowater House banner protest

We will continue to campaign against those who promote and allow schemes like the Denizen which damage homes and families, which damage the natural and historic environment and which fail to provide the benefits which the public need and are entitled to. 

Sincere thanks and best wishes to you all from us all at OPEN (Golden Lane) Ltd and The Save Golden Lane Consortium   

OPEN (Golden Lane) v City of London & Taylor Wimpey

We have had another amazing response from everyone who donated on the Crowd Justice page

Thank you so much for all your support. Without your generosity we could not have come so far.

Residents from the Golden Lane Community fighting the Denizen

On Friday we were notified by the Courts that they can allocate enough time on the 1st March for our hearing to make our case for a Judicial Review to a Judge in open court.

Taylor Wimpey’s solicitors, Dentons, have withdrawn their application for an adjournment and the hearing is going ahead as originally planned on 1st March.

Both TW and the City have chosen to send representatives so this is a three way battle.

CO/4631/2017 R (OPEN) v City of London & Taylor Wimpey

The Hon. Ms Justice Lang will hear the application


Last summer the Save Golden Lane Consortium formed the company OPEN (Golden Lane) Ltd which stands for Organisation for Promotion of Environmental Needs (Golden Lane).

The directors of the company are two local mothers who wanted to help the local community fight environmental and social injustice. The members of OPEN (Golden Lane) include the Chairs of the Golden Lane Residents Association and the Bernard Morgan Liaison Group.

We are not a big corporation with billions of pounds behind us. Just a group of local people who wanted to protect our community from the rampant greed of developers and this luxury block of flats which will overshadow our local park, school and homes. A luxury development which replaces police accommodation. A development which contains no social or affordable housing.   

Protest banners hanging from Bowater House balconies last year
during the Spectres of Modernism protest

Last week the Mirror On-Line published a piece which highlighted the lack of concern Taylor Wimpey has shown towards this community. The appalling lack of care taken to protect local children from the dangers of demolition toxic dust inhalation. And sadly the City could do nothing. This is an example of how TW has treated this community from the beginning.

TW said they would lose too much time if they stopped demolition
while Richard Cloudesley kids were dropped off and picked up
and they could only do this if the City allowed them
to work during 'quiet times' when construction begins

We are not against developments if they are designed to complement existing homes and provide decent social housing to benefit the whole community. We’ve had to rely on the generosity of people who care about communities and believe local people’s needs should not be ignored in local planning decision. We believe planning policies should be followed and not abandoned in favour of developers' demands.

Bowater residents with two of the banners hung from Bowater House last year
during the Spectres of Modernism protest

The hearing will take place at the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand WC2A 2LL. Please come and support us in person at the Public Hearing on Thursday. We will be notified on Wednesday afternoon the time and court number of the hearing and we will post the information as soon as we know.

This case has wide implications for other developments across the whole of London and the UK. If you have already donated please share the Crowd Justice link with at least 5 or your friends, it also really helps to post on social media pages.

The financial support from the public has been phenomenal but this is an expensive court case and we still need more help to reach our target.

With your support we can get justice for our community and others across London.

Further news articles can be accessed via the Golden Lane Estate website Press Coverage Page

Rampant greed is poisoning the whole of London

The demolition of the existing building is a grotesque waste of viable fabric and embodied energy, and completely unnecessary – illustrating the worst kind of retrogressive thinking  of the 1960s/70s. 

At least then developers might have been able to claim ignorance of the environmental ramifications of such wastage – but not now. It flies in the face of every article of good practice that the City as a socially responsible authority ought to be promoting. 

Unfortunately however the civic values that previously informed the creation of Golden Lane and Barbican have been superseded by the same rampant greed that is poisoning the whole of London. In the absence of any sense of urban propriety on the part of the City and the developers, resort to the law would appear to be the only remaining weapon in the struggle.

John Allan, Consultant Architect and author of the Golden Lane Estate Listed Building Management Guidelines

'Environmental ramifications' also includes the appalling pollution created by the toxic dust which Taylor Wimpey failed to contain during the demolition process, read about it here in this great Mirror On-line article

Unfortunately resorting to the law does seem to be the only weapon in the struggle to stop TW building this wasteful polluting unnecessary building. We have lost Bernard Morgan House but we can make sure it's replaced with real homes and not luxury cash boxes. Many of you have given generously already, but if you can, and no matter how small the amount, please make a donation on the Crowd Justice fundraising page.

Bernard Morgan House, now demolished
A police section house which provided accommodation for 110 police officers

For 55 years the City of London provided accommodation for Police Officers. Not any more. Now only an empty plot ready for property speculators to build unneeded luxury apartments.

The site where Bernard Morgan House stood

How times have changed.

The first picture was taken in 1956 when Bowater House was just being finished,
before work on Bernard Morgan House and the Jewin Church had begun.
The second picture taken in 2018 after Taylor Wimpey had demolished Bernard Morgan House

Post-war City of London town planners had the vision to transform the area bombed in the blitz into an exemplar of urban living. Incorporating the Golden Lane Estate and the Barbican. The dream of an urban village was realised. This is a close supportive community and we are fighting this battle together.

An original drawing for the Golden Lane Estate

Plans for the Barbican, note this drawing included Bernard Morgan House

The City of London needs to work out what is best for its community. There is just no need for more luxury ghost flats. The socially rented tower block accommodation crammed into the north site could be spread over both areas to provide decent social housing and key worker homes. Or even accommodation for police officers and nurses. Read about the CoLPAI planning application here

The proposed tower block north of the Golden Lane Estate

There have been 140 objections to the CoLPAI proposal. Objections based on official planning policies. The CoLPAI planning application goes before the Islington Planning Committee on 1st March at 7.30pm at Islington Town Hall. It will then go before the City of London Planning and Transportation Committee at a later date.

Please sign the petition to Save Golden Lane Estate AND Build Decent Homes

This 14 storey tower block is planned for the north of the estate.
The block is a fire risk with only one stairwell and open walkways and has no communal gardens. 

This has already been a long expensive legal battle and we now need more funds to enable our barrister to present our case at the forthcoming Court hearing where we are seeking permission to pursue our judicial review. The Court hearing was due to take place on 1st March, but Taylor Wimpey and the City have asked for more time than is available on that day, so we are waiting to hear if another date will be set.

Since we started the Crowd Justice page last year people have been extraordinarily generous. We have used the money raised to challenge the City’s grant of planning permission to Taylor Wimpey which is to redevelop Bernard Morgan Police Section House in a way which causes damage to our local homes, our school and our park, which fails to provide for adequate affordable housing and which damages our local architectural heritage.

All our objections are based on official planning policies and all have been overridden in favour of the developer, Taylor Wimpey.

The harm Taylor Wimpey's 'Denizen' will do can be seen in this picture.

Funds raised have paid for independent expert analysis of Taylor Wimpey’s overshadowing report which has revealed some extraordinary inaccuracies.

We have paid for our legal team to obtain and scrutinise all the documents relating to the sale of Bernard Morgan House to Taylor Wimpey and its planning application; to write the required pre-action protocol letter to the City of London setting out our concerns; to responding to the City and Taylor Wimpey’s replies; to preparing and issuing the Court claim for judicial review claim with all the supporting documents; to adding to the claim when the errors in Taylor Wimpey’s overshadowing report were revealed and to applying for a Court hearing of the issues.

There are complicated legal arguments which the City and Taylor Wimpey have been fighting us tooth and nail all along the way.

The legal process is long and complex but we must continue with our campaign. We believe we have an arguable case which should be heard in public. A national housing charity has recently written to the Court asking to join the claim if we are given permission at the Court hearing to pursue our claim regarding developers’ obligations to provide for affordable housing.

 We rely on the generosity of people in our community as well as people in the wider community who believe that the public need to be listened to and that public assets should be used for public benefit, and not for private commercial exploitation. We don't need any more luxury homes - there are hundreds left empty and unsold in the area. We want a new development  built on this site which has some public benefit, not just public detriment.

Many of you have given generously already, but if you can and no matter how small the amount, please make a donation on the Crowd Justice fundraising page

Together we can stop the Denizen

High Court Hearing for Permission to Proceed with Judicial Review

We now have the Court date for our application for judicial review.

The Court hearing is on 1st March at the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand WC2A 2LL.
The hearing is in public and we will be able to publish the time and the court room number the day before.

The Royal Courts of Justice

Our claim will be argued by our very experienced and specialist barrister, Matthew Horton QC, who has the reputation as a “Brilliant heavyweight advocate, who has a great presence and thinks outside the box" 

However we can’t win this case without money! Please help us and donate on our CrowdJustice page

We must stop this building blocking winter sunlight on our only park and the school playground. Hundreds of children will be denied winter sun if this is allowed to continue.

The Bowater House Spectres of Modernism banner protest

A win will be a blow against property speculation and Londoners being priced out - we need social rented accommodation for people not luxury investment apartments left empty.

The Denizen won't contain any affordable housing
and is being marketed in Hong Kong as investment property

It will be a blow against those seeking to damage our architectural heritage and steal our sunlight by overdevelopment.

It will be a blow against corporate governments which seek to exploit community assets for their own benefit.

For far too long the Corporation of London has ignored the community's views and needs in preference to the views of developers. This has to change. If we win this battle there will be far reaching consequences for other developments.

TW are not paying the full 106 contribution to affordable homes because they say they paid the City too much for the site and the City accepted this excuse.
The City of London has ignored over 180 objections from local people.

Please help support this campaign by donating funds towards our Judicial Review on the CrowdJustice page and put a stop to communities being ignored and the development of more unnecessary overdeveloped luxury investment properties. We need affordable homes not cash boxes in the sky.

A mountain of greed.
The Denizen cash boxes in the sky, engulfing the Jewin Church
and overshadowing our park and school and homes

Taylor Wimpey have finished the wasteful demolition of Bernard Morgan House. We have all suffered during the demolition process from the uncontrolled dust. Taylor Wimpey have continued their uncaring attitude towards everyone who lives in this community.

The appalling toxic dust, created as Bernard Morgan House is destroyed

They wouldn't even agree to stop the demolition during the periods when Richard Cloudesley children were arriving and leaving school.

The mini buses and taxis waiting outside Richard Cloudesley School to collect children

Now Bernard Morgan House has been destroyed this site needs to be developed in a way that would benefit the community and the environment.

The empty site

An imaginative design that complements the surrounding listed architecture of the Golden Lane Estate and the Barbican and does not block the light and sunlight on Fortune Street Park, Prior Weston School, and neighbouring residential properties. It’s not impossible.

Social housing by Rick Mather Architects, inspired by Golden Lane maisonettes,
something like this would have complemented Bowater House beautifully. 

We're not against development if it will benefit the community and create much needed homes. Key worker homes to replace the police accommodation lost by this wanton vandalism.

The Denizen, unneeded luxury flats that will block light on our park and school

Unnecessary destruction of police accommodation

If this building had been refurbished people would be living there by now

18 Reasons This Turkey Should Never Fly

Gobble Gobble

It's nearly Christmas and candles are burning late into the night at the planning offices of Islington and the City, as the officers sharpen their quill pens writing up the reports for the planning committees on the enormous Christmas turkey that is the RCS Tower.

We think the design is a mistake and there is a better way. So do SAVE, the C20th Society, The Islington Design Review Panel, John Allen (who wrote the listed building guidelines for Golden Lane), our MP, 1400 signatories to the petition online and on paper and 135 local residents who wrote in to register their detailed objections.

If you have not written in, it is still possible to do so up to the date of the planning Committee, which will probably be in January. Here are 18 reasons this scheme is unsupportable, even after six months of tweaking it:

Ready for Take Off?

Strange Nimbys

If you stand up to any kind of development, you had better be prepared for the "N" word to be flung in your direction sooner or later. Its usually the developers who complain, but it was Common Councillman Mark Boleat, who sits on the planning committee, who did the honours this time. He would like to "reign in" selfish middle-class Nimbys.

But its a strange kind of Nimby that wants more social housing and development built on a site than the developers propose; in fact it has been christened the Yimby movement. GLERA has brought forward alternative plans for the former Richard Cloudesley School site that skip the single-staircase residential tower and propose a low-rise developement instead. The interesting part is that this approach, which follows the general layout of the Golden Lane Estate and doesn't seem to break every planning policy known to man actually allows 15% more social housing on the site. The build cost is dramatically reduced by not building high rise. Who knew?

It is achieved by integrating the school and the housing. This pattern was followed at the successful Kings Cross Academy and is probably the future for schools in London.

Anyway we think its really strange to be elected as a common councilman and then tell local residents that they shouldn't have a voice in the planning process. Here is the full text of our open letter to Sir Mark:

"Sir Mark Boleat has a vision for housing in London. It just doesn’t happen to involve anyone who actually lives here. (London’s housing crisis can be solved by reining in middle-class nimbys, Evening Standard, 18th October). He would like to see local communities and their councillors excised completely from the planning process. As chair of one of those pesky City of London residents’ groups he scorns in his remarks, I have seen the future he envisages for London close up. 

His team plans to extend our Estate with a social housing scheme two and a half times the maximum density and three times the height that planning policy permits, with no outdoor space, no playground and a tower block with a Grenfell-style single escape staircase. As local residents we stand up for getting decent, good quality social housing on the site, not repeating the disastrous mistakes of the 1960’s.  

Of course these new social housing voters will be strategically placed in Islington, just a few feet outside the City boundary. After all, Sir Mark’s policy is for housing, yes, just not in his backyard. 

It was local “nimbys” who campaigned against  the absence of affordable housing at The Denizen, Taylor Wimpey’s overbearing development. In the end their in-lieu payment provided 14 affordable homes. If planning guidelines had been followed then TW would have been supplying  66 affordable homes off site.  

Weakening planning rules creates opportunities for developers and house builders. Sir Mark’s networking/lobby group, the loftily titled  “Housing and Finance Institute” brings them together with financiers and local authorities, as they put it “building relationships between capable councils, businesses and investors who want to do more”. 

If Sir Mark has so little time for the role of local Councillors in standing up to development plans that bulldoze planning policies and communities then perhaps it is time he resigned from the City of London planning committee and focussed on those important housing industry partnerships instead."

Charles Humphries,  Golden Lane Estate Residents Association 

Conservation Area Proposal, is there a hidden agenda?

On Tuesday 14 November the City planners will be meeting to considering a proposal for new Conservation Areas, for The Barbican and Golden Lane Estates, but which excludes several notable buildings in the Golden Lane/Fann Street area, including Bernard Morgan House and  the Eglwys Jewin Presbytarian chapel. A Conservation Area protects buildings within it which are not listed from demolition unless prior planning permission is given - but the City does not seem to want to confer that protection on them.

The much loved tiles of Bernard Morgan House. TW now say these can't be saved

The City planners have now signed off most of the planning permission conditions, which Taylor Wimpey had to satisfy, before demolition of Bernard Morgan House could proceed. Delegated power has been used, including approval of a traffic management plan which, we fear, will put pedestrians and particularly children in unnecessary danger unless the pedestrian crossing is fully supervised when heavy demolition plant and vehicles are moving about the area.

Hatching Dragons Nursery School is located in the basement of the Jewin Church

The exclusion from a new Conservation Area of notable buildings, which were clearly designed to enhance the settings of neighbouring listed housing estates, says all that needs to be said about the City's cynical agenda.

It’s actually more than tragic irony that on the eve of the Lord Mayor's Show, which presents the fake City to the world, the real City reveals its true contempt for its residents and heritage assets.

The Lord Mayor's Show 11 November 2017

Despite the mistakes in the City of London Planner's report the City will not concede to nullifying the planning permission for The Denizen. It has notified us that it intends to resist our application for judicial review and defend the planning permission granted to Taylor Wimpey. We now have a major fight ahead to get permission to proceed with our Judicial Review and to get the planning permission quashed.

Please support the Crowd Justice campaign and protect the community from this light blocking unnecessary luxury development.

The Denizen, the proposed development, blocking light from homes, church, school and park

Earlier this year Tim Godsmark, the Chair of the Golden Lane Estate Residents' Association started a petition to ask for a Barbican and Golden Lane Conservation Area including the buildings in between. The petition received 778 signatures. Conservation Area status means that buildings are protected from demolition and any redevelopment is subject to planning scrutiny to ensure new buildings preserve and enhance the character of the Conservation Area.

Bernard Morgan House viewed from Fortune Street Park

The Golden Lane Estate and the Barbican in the City of London are both protected because of their  listed building status. However their immediate surroundings, despite containing a number of buildings of architectural merit, has no protection. This petition sought to change this by asking for the creation of a single Conservation Area which would protect the community and the 'urban village' created by the visionary post-war City of London Town Planners.

Map of area proposed by Barbican and Golden Lane Residents' Associations as a conservation area

Because of the support for this petition the Planning and Transportation Committee approved the proposal to assess the area proposed.

Sadly, the City planners have produced a report which has ignored the importance of the buildings between the Barbican and Golden Lane Estates. It has arbitrarily divided up the area into "zones" and recommended that the Fann Street zone does not meet the necessary criteria.

We need to protect this unique example of successful post-war town planning from greedy developers ignoring local people's voices and our local heritage. The City's decision to sell Bernard Morgan House, which used to house 110 police officers, to a private developer to build 99 luxury apartments, is an example of why we can not trust the City to protect the community that live and work here.

This is a link to the City's Conservation Area proposal:
PUBLIC DOCUMENT PACK from The Planning and Transportation Committee

Fred Rodgers has written an Appraisal of the Conservation Area proposal which you can read here.

The planners demarcate 'Zone 2 - Fann Street and Bidgewater Square' and recommend that it fails to meet the necessary criteria to be included in a conservation area.

These are some of the buildings in Zone 2

Cripplegate Institute, Grade II listed by Historic England, designed by Sidney R J Smith in 1894

The Cripplegate Institute, this print is from 1912

Eglwys Jewin Church, built in 1960 designed by Aubyn Peart Robinson of Caroe and Partners, and recognised by the City itself aS a non-designated heritage asset

The Jewin Church built in 1960

Bernard Morgan House, built in 1960, designed by J Inness Elliott,  also recognised by the City as a non-designated heritage asset.

Bernard Morgan House 1960/61

Murray House, designed by Frank Scarlett in the post Festival of Britain style, a few years before the Golden Lane and the Barbican estates were built.

Plaque on the side of Murray House

Bridgewater Square and the Barbican Wildlife Garden has a historic context in that it is probably the only undeveloped bomb site in the City. As such the basements of the destroyed buildings remain and are now make an important contribution to the bio-diversity of the City.

The pond in the Barbican Wildlife Garden

Barbican Wildlife Garden

5/6 Bridgewater Square, a building which survived WW2 bombing, dating back to 1926 is very rare in this area.

Door way of 5/6 Bridgewater Square 1926

The Barbican Estate blocks with their barrelled vaults echo the arched windows of this notable building. A detail missed by the department. The building should not be excluded from the proposed Conservation Area.

5.6 Bridgewater Square 1926

Tudor Rose Court No 35 Fann Street with a curving balcony at the corner. The building references the nearby Golden Lane Estate through the use of colour, overhangs and pillars. Designed by Avanti Architects who were very concerned to achieve a building that responded to the scale of its setting.

Tudor Rose Court, providing sheltered accommodation for elderly City residents

The planners Conservation Area proposal mentions the Barbican Listed Building Management Guidelines but fails to mention the Golden Lane Estate Listed Building Management Guidelines.

Bowater House is on the Cover of the GLELBMG

The proposal talks about the GLE being inward looking but fails to understand how the area has changed.

The ruin of the old Jewin Church, destroyed during the Blitz.  

The Golden Lane Estate Listed Building Management Guidelines was written by John Allan,

a Director of Avanti Architects from 1983 to 2011. These are his comments about the Conservation Area proposal.

"The point about GLE being ‘inward looking’ is a subtle one. This attribute was originally deployed by the architects in their investment of care in the landscaped interior spaces and community assets of the estate, in contrast to its bomb damaged environs at the time of construction, when outward views would have been dominated by the surrounding dereliction.

Bowater House just before it was completed in 1957

Since then of course the surrounding area has been fully reconstructed but in generally such a considerate way as to successfully embed GLE in its neighbourhood and establish a real sense of integration over this whole area of urban territory. 

Bernard Morgan House and Bowater House viewed from the Breton House podium

The consequence of these two imminent developments on the north-east and south east corners will, I fear, be that the listed estate becomes an isolated ‘set-piece’ among alien neighbours losing this sense of scale and continuity that has built up over decades."

The Denizen, the proposed building south of GLE, which John Allan refers to .

The proposed 16 storey tower block north of the GLE, called CoLPAI, which John Allan refers to.

John Allan goes on to describe Bernard Morgan House and its relationship to Bowater House.

"The existing building, though perhaps not of listable quality, is nonetheless a good neighbour to Golden Lane Estate in architectural terms, and would certainly be regarded as making a positive contribution to the Conservation Area – were this to be formally designated. Indeed it is precisely to protect such worthy ‘background’ buildings which may not be architecturally exalted in themselves but which sustain and strengthen the character of their precinct that Conservation Areas are intended. I have not been inside this building but it would appear to be quite capable of being substantially upgraded, perhaps with penthouse additions, to become a viable 21st century residential apartment building.

Bernard Morgan House, the Fann Street elevation.

As to the proposed redevelopment of Bernard Morgan House, this scenario is also captured by the Management Guidelines in the various references to preservation of the setting of the Golden Lane Estate.

1.2.1.2 Holistic significance

The estate should be appreciated in its entirety: not only its various components – residential, community, recreational, commercial and the external spaces between buildings – but also its setting within the surrounding urban fabric. The views from and into the estate have become important, and part of its special architectural interest lies in its relationship to adjacent buildings. Any developments on the immediate boundaries of the listed area should take into account the significance of the estate’s settings. No new buildings, infilling, removals or extensions should be introduced which would be detrimental to the integrity of the estate as a whole.)"

and

"The views from – as well as into – the estate have become important. Part of the special architectural interest of the estate lies in its relationship with adjacent buildings; their height, scale, mass, form, materials and detailing could, for example, have an impact on that special interest.....The relevant local authority should, therefore, take into account the significance of the estate’s setting to its special architectural interest when considering any developments on the immediate boundaries of the listed area." 

View of Bernard Morgan House from Bowater House, perfect considerate design, the block does not over look nor overshadow. 

Bowater House on the south of the estate is one of the  two blocks that look out of the estate. It is set back from the pavement with gardens in front. The Jewin Church and Bernard Morgan House were both designed at the same time as Bowater House was being built. Both are considered designs, built to complement Bowater House.

The view of the Jewin Church and Bernard Morgan House from Bowater House 

Bowater House is set back from the pavement, this can not be classified as a 'bad neighbour' in planning terms.

The Planners' Report suggests that Bowater House balconies will be to blame for the maisonettes' loss of sunlight and not the Denizen.

John Allan regards any suggestion that Bowater balconies are the problem as "self-evidently ridiculous."

"It is the new development that will dominate all that surrounds it – the listed buildings, the church, the park and the primary school."

The proposed building, dominating all that surrounds it

  
The reason for requesting a conservation area which connected the Barbican and Golden Lane was that the adjacent buildings have become an important part of this area, in scale, mass and materials and are part of the post-war history of this area. A time when the City of London was creating this visionary urban community, a community that the City should celebrate and protect rather than destroy.

Spectres of Modernism