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Pensioners speak out over office block
plan next door
PENSIONERS are battling plans to build an office block next door to their sheltered housing.
Daveys Court residents say a new development in Bedford Street, Covent Garden, would block out light from their homes and communal garden, and leave some flats with a brick wall directly outside their windows.
They are also concerned that dust and pollution generated by a building site could affect the health of elderly residents, many of whom are disabled or suffer from respiratory conditions.
Resident Pearl Lumley, 74, said: “Our only sunlight comes in through the gap they’re going to fill.
“A lot of people don’t often go out so the garden is very important.
“We’ve got residents here in their 80s and 90s and now we’re facing up to four years of noise and pollution.”
Around 30 residents have signed a petition urging the council to reject planning permission for the new block.
Valerie Walsh, 73, said: “The building site will create so much noise and traffic and there’s already another tower that’s going to be built across the road. It’s inconvenient for people that are ill.
“We’ve got residents who are blind or in wheelchairs. The council has a duty to look after people in sheltered accommodation.”
The developer behind the new block, GMS Estates, said in a statement: “We have met with residents of Daveys Court and estate managers on two occasions.
“As a result of these meetings, and a meeting with council officers, the proposal has been substantially improved by way of reduced height and setting the extension much further away from the windows of concern.
“There are no proposed walls immediately outside any windows in Daveys Court, and indeed there never was.”
The council planning committee will make its decision on the development on
February 12.
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