2014-12-17 09:58:55 +0000
To: ROYAL FREE HOSPITAL NHS TRUST
STOP THE CLOCK – AND START PROPER CONSULTATION
The Hampstead Green Neighbourhood Group (HGNG) asks the Royal Free Hospital to withdraw the current planning application (No. 2014/6845/P) for the construction of a seven-storey free-standing block, and initiate a proper consultation process with your host community. Please sign this petition to ask that the Royal Free’s stated commitment to patients is reflected in its behaviour towards its neighbours: that is, to be respectful, communicating and reassuring. As well as South End Green and Hampstead Town ward, these neighbours include Hampstead Hill School, whose kindergarten playground will be overlooked by the proposed patient hotel, and the Grade-1 listed St Stephens, one of fewer than ten thousand Grade-1 listed building in the UK, whose structure has already seen considerable damage from the original construction of the Royal Free.
Why is this important?
The Royal Free Hospital is a jewel in the NHS, and we’re proud to live and work alongside it. However, the site is already overdeveloped. This new proposal will make it much worse, encroaching on a green corridor between Haverstock Hill and Pond Street, reducing a memorial garden facility, and reducing the light for Hampstead Hill School and overlooking its children’s playground. The deep excavations will endanger the stability of the adjoining St Stephen's site and foundations, while the construction works will create total gridlock for local traffic. An additional aspect of the plan involves de-fencing Hampstead Green, the unspoilt meadowland attached to St Stephen's, and turning it into a municipal park. These plans were developed without proper consultation – without the respectful communication and reassurance that the host community deserves. So please, Royal Free, stop the clock, and come and talk to us; create a centre of excellence that works for everybody.
How it will be delivered
By email
