Parents in shock as council approves flats that will ‘overshadow’ playground

Colvestone Primary School on Colvestone Crescent. Photograph: Google Images

Parents have hit out over Hackney Council’s approval of a luxury development they claim will overshadow a local nursery and deprive its young pupils of sunlight.

Seventy objections were lodged against proposals by developers Chan & Eayrs to turn a disused corner of land on Colvestone Crescent, off Ridley Road, into two luxury one-bed flats and a cafe.

Teachers and parents at the Grade II-listed Colvestone Primary School warned that the three-storey building would overshadow the nursery’s playground.

Local groups, including the Dalston Conservation Area Advisory Committee, the Hackney Society and OPEN Dalston, all voiced objections to the proposals and rasied concerns about the impact on both the school and the St Mark’s Conservation Area.

But the chair of the council’s planning sub-committee Vincent Stops, who had the casting vote on the proposals, said concern at the loss of light “would not be enough to warrant a refusal”.

The overshadowing assessment submitted by the developers was based on guidance from the British Research Establishment (BRE), a world leading multi-disciplinary building science centre.

Under the scheme put forward by the developers, the playground will receive two hours of sunlight across 76.6 per cent of its area, down from 87.6 per cent, which council planning officers say “comfortably” meets daylight guidelines.

‘Disbelief’

But Mami McKeran, Chair of Colvestone Family and Staff Association and mother of two children at the school, said the school was “in a state of disbelief” at the decision.

She said: “The sheer bulk of the building will significantly overshadow the nursery’s outdoor space and completely block the surrounding view.

“The outdoor space, where the nursery children combine learning and play everyday, will be reduced to an unattractive, and possibly, an unusable space.

“The use of its land should not come at such a heavy price to the future children of Colvestone Primary School.”

Land Registry records show that the triangular plot of land, owned by Hackney Council until 2001, includes a covenant designed to protect “the right of uninterrupted and unheeded access of light and air to the retained land over the property”.

But there is little indication that Hackney Learning Trust will enforce the covenant, leading local campaigners to accuse the council of “selling” the school’s sunlight.

Bill Parry-Davies, founder and secretary of local campaign group OPEN Dalston said: “This private development offers virtually no public benefit and there is considerable concern locally that Hackney may be selling, or simply giving away, the sunlight which was safeguarded for the school land and which is so important to children’s health, wellbeing and education.”

Cllr Vincent Stops, chair of the planning sub-committee, said: “The committee noted that the school, parents and residents were concerned about loss of light to the play area/outside learning space.

“Whilst this concern was valid, to a degree, the committee accepted it would not be enough to warrant a refusal.”

Councillors Katie Hanson, Barry Buitekant, Chris Kennedy and Vincent Stops voted in support of the proposal, while councillors Will Brett, Rebecca Rennison, Susan Fajana-Thomas and Ian Sharer voted against.

Chan & Eayrs did not respond to the Hackney Citizen’s request for comment.