Battersea MP calls for new limits on the heights of the capital’s tall buildings
A Labour MP has called for London to bring back height restrictions for new buildings in order to halt a “rash” of towers in the capital.
Martin Linton, minister of parliament for Battersea, made the remarks during a Westminster Hall debate.
His constituency has a number of high-rise buildings in development, including Minerva’s Youngs Brewery scheme, designed by EPR Architects, and Land Securities and Delancey’s scheme for Clapham Junction, designed by Collado Collins.
Linton said: “I say bring back the height guidelines. That will give developers the certainty that they need to plan, and it will give architects the discipline that they need to flourish.”
Until the 1960s, buildings in London had a general height restriction of 30m, with only occasional exceptions, in order for fire crews to be able to reach the top floors.
Linton said: “Scrapping the height and density guidelines has been a disaster. It means that architects compete against one another to build the tallest towers, instead of complementing one another in the creation of an attractive townscape.”
He added: “The public feel that they are being blackmailed by developers, who will build something good only if we also allow them to build something monstrous behind it.”
In response, Communities minister Iain Wright said that his department had firmed up the criteria for controversial schemes to be called in to include whether or not they threatened world heritage sites.
He said: “the Government are very much aware of the risk that poorly sited towers can bring… That does not necessarily mean that we should not allow our cities to grow. We must acknowledge that economic prosperity is important. Cities can change, evolve and develop through new development, and, in the right place, that may include tall buildings.”
Minerva’s scheme for the Youngs Brewery, which rises as high as 42 storeys, was called in by the Secretary of State earlier this year after it won planning permission from Wandsworth Council.
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