Overview
We are campaigning to protect the long-term future of a legally protected communal garden that has been gradually absorbed into hotel operations over many years
The current land swap and planning process has created a final opportunity to restore resident access, secure independent management of the garden, and prevent further encroachment onto protected land.
Our campaign supports the creation of a resident-controlled "Garden A": a unified protected garden managed separately from the hotel.
Timeline
How the protected garden has been affected over time, from the original legislation through to the current applications and expected outcomes.
Historical background
Originally a market garden, the site of Ashburn Gardens was owned by The Alexander Estate. It was then laid out as a garden square for shared use by residents, bounded by terraced housing on its eastern and northern flanks in the 1870s. The shared garden was in the classic South Kensington style with iron gates, key access and railings, and located in the south west area of the site where plants and trees flourished (1).
Developers then acquired the land as part of a wildly futuristic scheme to provide a check-in facility for Heathrow, demolished all the houses and built the Kensington Forum in the early 1970s. This was just before the roll out of conservation areas which would have stopped this, and followed hard on the heels of a planning corruption scandal involving land on the other side of Cromwell Road. The scheme failed a few years later and the facility closed, leaving behind the legacy of the 27-storey Forum and a tremendous headache for the land owner, RBKC, the Mayor of London and South Kensington residents, with the residents coming off worst.
To its eternal shame and embarrassment, RBKC granted a land swap in 1971 which effectively halved in size the south west garden in exchange for open space elsewhere on the site to enable the Forum to be built. This arrangement was most probably illegal since the substituted land comprised separate pockets which were near-to-useless as high quality residential garden, nor part of a unified whole as the previous garden had been. To add insult to injury over subsequent decades, the hotel further compromised what little garden land remained through its business activities. Our campaign to stop the garden grab is aimed to do what we can to correct the mistakes of the past, restore the original garden as best we can and prevent anything like this happening again, not only in Ashburn Gardens but also to any other similar garden or revered open shared green space in the Royal Borough.
(1) British History Online - Survey of London Vol. 42, pp168-183 - further background information on the estate.
Legal background
The dispute centres around protections granted under the London Squares Preservation Act 1931, legislation intended to safeguard historic communal gardens from inappropriate development and loss of public benefit.
Residents are concerned that the current land swap and associated planning applications could permanently alter protected garden land while formal resident access has already been lost for several years.
Questions have also been raised about how the planning process, land swap proposals, stopping-up applications and potential Section 106 obligations interact, and whether the overall approach provides sufficient transparency, scrutiny and long-term protection for residents.
How to object
Three applications are now open for public consultation. Written comments are still being accepted as the council is aware that there have been problems with the planning portal. You can comment using the online form on each application page below.
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GS/26/02008 - Application under section 3(2) of the London Squares Preservation Act 1931 for surface works related to underground works at Ashburn Gardens.
www.rbkc.gov.uk/planningsearch/cases/GS/26/02008 -
GS/26/02009 - Application under section 4 of the London Squares Preservation Act 1931 for an exchange of land for part of the protected land at Ashburn Gardens.
www.rbkc.gov.uk/planningsearch/cases/GS/26/02009 -
PP/26/00066 - Planning application for proposed landscaping works within the external garden and extension of the garden over the footway on Cromwell Road.
www.rbkc.gov.uk/planningsearch/cases/PP/26/00066
When commenting, focus on concerns such as loss of resident access, long-term encroachment into protected garden land, transparency of the process, and the separation of the garden from hotel operations. Personalise your comment wherever possible and explain how the proposals affect you directly.
Example comment:
"This application fails to preserve the protected purpose, integrity, continuity, character and amenity value of the Ashburn Gardens square as required by the London Squares Preservation Act 1931, and instead facilitate permanent commercial encroachment associated with hotel operations."
If you are unable to access the website, contact the Planning Line on 020 7361 3012.
ACGRA and AGSGA have now submitted a formal objection and counter-proposal to RBKC and this may be found below.