100 Avenue Road Unauthorised Demolition [CLEUD] -
Now Approved - see Camden's Report
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On the 5th December 2017, Developers Essential Living (EL) breached planning control with a pre-emptive strike by starting demolition of the 100 Avenue Road building by removing the steps and disabled ramp from the main entrance without permission from Camden Council.
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On the 8th November 2017 EL submitted a Notice for Demolition to Camden Council for removal of the steps and ramp from the main entrance of the 100 Avenue Road building, shortly after the Construction Management Plan (CMP) public consultation began - unbeknownst to the public.
Again behind closed doors, on the 4th December when the revised CMP was due, Camden Council issued a demand for £5.2M Community Infrastructure Levy to EL, giving the green light for EL to demolish the steps and ramp the next day - the 5th December - the same day EL submitted their revised CMP to Camden.
Subsequently EL applied for retrospective approval for partial demolition in order to implement full planning permissions [CLEUD], which Camden duly granted on the 5th February 2018 - contrary to the bilateral section 106 legal agreement to first approve the CMP [3.5.2].
This was in order for EL to gain full planning permission before all the pre-commencement conditions, in particular the Construction Management Plan (CMP), had been satisfied. Now EL do not need to commence works before February 18th, 2019, when their 3 year time limit would have run out. It would appear that EL were worried that their CMP might not have been approved by then.
The legal advice given to Camden was ‘a matter of interpretation’ which boiled down to – because it was such a small part of the building that was demolished it wouldn’t effect how the main works would proceed, yet it was large enough to constitute a ‘material’ operation, therefore, because the deed was done it constituted ‘commencement’, i.e. the fact of the deed justified the deed.
The first CIL instalment was paid before the final decision was given.
It is a complete mystery how legal agreements that say "Not to Implement or permit Implementation of the Development until such time as the Council has approved (that condition)" can be so easily overturned just to enable cavalier developers to overide their time limits, which in turn allows building sites to remain fallow for years on end.
Despite this debacle Camden Council have assured us that no further demolition can take place until the CMP has been approved. Camden is still considering the community's plea to scrap the developers' proposals to route their huge 34 foot demolition/construction lorries over the Eton Avenue Pedestrian area into the park, and to instead reroute all 100 Avenue Road works traffic to the A41 only.
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The Construction Management Plan; the Service Management Plan; the Travel Plan and the External Public Open Space Plan are all section 106 pre-commencement conditions that have not yet been satisfied.
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CMP Section 106 legal agreement
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EL's application for unauthorised commencement of development​
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CLEUD Consultation Closed
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