A group of residents are furious after developers ignored building plans and constructed a ‘white monstrosity’ of an apartment block that looks like the Titanic.
Residents in Whitstable, Kent, claim their seaside town has been ruined by the ugly block of 12 flats on Canterbury Road that looks nothing like the original design.
Instead of the approved brick-finished look in keeping with surrounding properties a white, modern complex was constructed.
Locals claim the new site is like having the passenger ship parked at the end of their gardens, blocking the sunlight from entering and reducing the value of their homes by thousands.
One resident, Helen Caddick, says a local estate agent told her the new build has knocked £25,000 off the value of her home.
Residents claim their seaside town has been ruined by the ugly block of 12 flats on Canterbury Road that looks nothing like the original design (pictured above)
Instead of the approved brick-finished look that in keeping with surrounding properties – a white, modern complex was constructed
Resident Greg Lawrence has seen the value of his house plummet by £25,000
She said: ‘I speak as a collective of fourteen local residents, and the block is intrusive and imposing. With its bulk and white façade it feels now like we have the Titanic parked at the end of our gardens.’
Her husband Greg Lawrence, added: ‘It makes me angry because it is symbolic of the housing system where you have these developers whacking things up with no regard for the local people.’
‘(The developers) are continuing to build even though they have now finally been told it’s unacceptable. They are even in there now putting in kitchens.’
‘They just need to take the bl***y thing down and go away. To blame it on other people speaks volumes of his incompetence. At the end of the day he is in charge.’
Today, speaking for the first time about the row, developer John Morley – who himself lives in the fashionable seaside town, was apologetic.
He told : ‘We are sorry. There have been mistakes but we are working to fix them.’
Mr Morley, 52, of Whitstable Nest, who are responsible for the build, said his own firm is considering taking legal action against those responsible
Mr Morley said he was now working with the planning department and new architects to make changes which he hopes will placate neighbours.
He appealed to the residents to be patient.
He said: ‘When we bought the building a year and a half ago it was very run down. It was a drug den, with over 200 rats and 50 pigeons. The building is here now, we made a mistake but we followed professional advice.
‘It’s going to cost me a quarter of a million pounds, but we are saying sorry, and we want to fix it. I accept that.’
‘We knew we didn’t have planning permission, but were assured it was all under control so we cracked on.
John Morley, of developer Whitstable Nest, said he was now working with the planning department and new architects to make changes which he hopes will placate neighbours
Chartered Architect Michael Shoobridge is a friend of the residents and also came to fight their case at the planning committee
‘After the council got in touch with us we tried to get in touch with those involved but they have disappeared completely. I have called, emailed and sent registered letters. We are now going down the legal route.’
Mr Morley said he has now appointed a new team of architects and is looking into ways to resolve the situation. But he maintains he had not had any complaints personally.
He added: ‘As a business we are not contesting anything. We are not saying we are bigger than anyone, we are not claiming to live in an ivory tower and telling people to go away. We are saying ‘Oh my god, we are in this situation, and did not realise this was all going wrong’.’
He said he was more than willing to sit down with residents to ‘sort it all out’.
Mr Morley continued: ‘I am very pleasant and so is my business partner. We are not saying it’s going to stay like this, we can re-render the back and make adjustments.’
He added: ‘It’s not like I have said ‘stuff the lot of you, I have a shed load of money, I am going to do what I want, and I am going to dominate Whitstable.’
‘That is nonsense, I live here, and have a young family. Why would I want to upset the apple cart?’
Matters finally came to a head at the Canterbury City Council planning meeting on October 17 when the residents’ revealed their dismay over the final build.
The view from the new build shows how it blocks sunlight for the houses behind
Developers say they tried to change the front and rear roof elevations and submitted an application to vary the scheme, but the refusal came through too late
The meeting was called after the developer applied to alter the existing building by changing the front and rear roof elevations. Their appeal was refused and councillors demanded to know how the situation had been allowed to get to this point.
At the meeting, Pat Mills, of Clague Architects, the new architects, attended as an agent for Whitstable Nest.
He said: ‘An application was submitted to vary the scheme before construction. The refusal came quite late. They were to a certain degree past the point of no return.
‘What has been built isn’t in accordance with the approved scheme – we know that.
‘The scheme that’s been submitted for approval looks to vary what’s been built so the building is no higher than what’s previously been approved.’
The authority has said it may take enforcement action if there aren’t changes.
Chartered Architect Michael Shoobridge is a friend of the residents and also came to fight their case at the planning committee.
He explained: ‘After the brick approved scheme they put in an application for what was actually built now that was refused. So then they put in another change to the approval asking for the white block render and also altering the roof.
‘This is what went to the planning committee and that the residents protested. All of the 13 councillors voted in favour of us to refuse the application. So there is no approval of what has been built now.
‘It does defy belief. In my 35 years of being in the business, I have never seen anything so brazen and and quite so risky. They basically put two fingers up to the whole planning process and also all of the residents. We are flabbergasted.’
Canterbury City Council spokesman Rob Davies confirmed they are ‘considering options around enforcement’.
‘The original planning permission was granted a few years ago but the building was not constructed in accordance with the planning permission,’ he said.
‘The planning application that was refused at the planning committee on Tuesday was for permission for revised drawings that are largely the same as what has been built, with some changes to the roof.
‘The developer made his revised planning application only after our planning enforcement team investigated the case and called out the breach with the developer. While the application was under consideration, the developer was aware that the continued building works he was carrying out were at his own risk.
‘Following the committee’s refusal, we are now considering options around enforcement, but are not in a position to confirm details about this at the moment.’