64 Clapham Common North Side SW4 9SB. 2023/4402

The Battersea Society objects to this application to demolish an 18th century cottage, the sole survivor of that kind and period of building facing onto Clapham Common. The building has fallen into a deplorable state of repair since a series of applications for redevelopment was submitted and refused in 1987 and 1988, with an appeal refused by the Planning Inspectorate in the latter year. No work has been undertaken since then, and in the detailed description and history of the site published in the Survey of London vol 50 p.282 in 2013, it was described as 'battered'.

It is deplorable also that no action has been taken on the proposal made in 1988 that the building should be locally listed. We trust that omission will be remedied in the forthcoming review of local listings. The current proposal would replace the cottage with a three-storey building in pastiche style with no attempt at any meaningful relationship with its neighbours. We note also the strong objections made by neighbours on grounds of overdevelopment, overlooking, and loss of sunlight and daylight. Those objections echo the conclusions of the Inspector in 1988, and we support them now. We therefore urge that the application should be refused.