Revised tall building proposal for Bromley town centre “concentrated on overcoming the wrong problems”

A planning inspector has dismissed an appeal seeking planning permission for a 12-13 storey mixed use building, including 69 residential units, in Bromley town centre. The proposal was a revision of a previous scheme refused planning permission on appeal in 2014 because it was too tall and would have an overbearing impact on the living conditions of nearby residents. The inspector who considered the revised proposal was not satisfied that the concerns of the 2014 inspector had been adequately taken on board. Indeed, the 2017 inspector observed that the appellant’s revised approach of “altering the proportions to remove the references to verticality, and of adding bay windows with obscure or opaque glass, concentrated on overcoming the wrong problems”. As a result, the scheme had “lost many of the architectural and aesthetic advantages of its predecessor” (para. 18). The scheme was not of “the highest standard of architecture” (para. 31). Gwion Lewis acted for the successful local planning authority, the London Borough of Bromley.