RBKC Planning Committee Approves Development
At the meeting of the RBKC Planning Committee held on 16th December 2025, the members of the Committee voted unanimously to give overall approval to Mount Anvil’s proposals for Lots Road South, albeit with a number of conditions that the developer is required to fulfill. While we should rightly be proud that the collective effort of the Lots Road community has brought about significant changes to the plans originally proposed by Mount Anvil, it remains bitterly disappointing that the Council and the developer are intent on pressing ahead, rather than making a final effort to create a scheme that meets the concerns of all those who live and work in our area.
That said, the focus must now turn to the construction phase of the development and to minimising the inevitable disruption that another large building project will bring. In this regard, the Planning Committee accepted the Forum’s request for the Demolition and Construction Traffic Management Plans to return to the Committee if Mount Anvil does not reach an acceptable agreement with the Forum and other local interests. As residents know from the bitter experience of the Power Station development, the endless procession of trucks and cement mixers can blight the lives of neighbours, and how, therefore, a large development is built can be as important as the final building. This will be discussed at a Forum meeting early in the New Year.
While this news is not what many would wish for, the collective strength of residents and businesses in challenging both the Council and Mount Anvil has been crucial in shaping where we are now. The Forum will continue to work hard on behalf of residents and businesses as we enter the next critical phase of the development
RBKC Planning Committee 16th December 2025
The RBKC Planning Committee will meet on Tuesday, 16th December, at 4.30pm to decide the fate of Lots Road South.
Attached below is a PDF file of the meeting agenda and the Officers’ Report, which recommends the grant of planning permission with all the fine detail delegated to the Director of Planning to agree with Mount Anvil.
The Forum Chair has registered to speak at the Planning Committee, and a full response will be published here in due course.
The Forum objections to the Lots Road South Planning Application
The Lots Road Neighbourhood Forum has now officially submitted the attached objections to the RBKC/Mount Anvil scheme for the development of Lots Road South.
In summary, the Forum argues that:
– The proposed development does not comply with the requirements of RBKC’s New Local Plan, which was only adopted in July 2024 and was the subject of wide public debate, the close scrutiny of the Government’s Planning Inspectorate and significant Council expenditure. In this respect, it’s a failure because there are too many homes, the buildings are too high, and there is too little space provided for new jobs, given that this is the area’s only Employment Zone.
– The height of the buildings on Lots Road and the narrow pavement will lead to the ‘canyonisation’ of Lots Road. The height of Blocks D and E should therefore be lowered and the pavement widened, both of which could be done without impacting the financial viability of the development.
– Given the existing traffic congestion in the area, all parking, deliveries and servicing of the development should take place within the development and not on Lots Road.
– The community should be involved now in design choices, such as brick colours and balcony designs, rather than this being left to closed-door discussions with officials further down the line.
– A rigorous and enforceable Construction Traffic Management Plan should be agreed before the grant of planning permission, learning from past mistakes and problems of Chelsea Waterfront and The Chelsea Academy that have blighted the lives of local residents for the past 25 years.
– Mount Anvil should look again at the way they intend to build the development, finding creative solutions to reduce noise, dust, pollution and traffic.
In submitting the objections, Richard Jacques, the LRNF Chairman said:
“After years of discussion, we get to see Mount Anvil’s final plan, and it is still too high, with too many homes and insufficient space to generate much-needed employment in the area.
It is disappointing that Mount Anvil’s illustrations appear to conceal the scale of the development. To counter such disingenuous images, we have produced our own drawings so residents can see the true scale of the buildings proposed along Lots Road.
We argued hard throughout the New Local Plan process for a development that was employment-led and respected the needs of the local area. This was accepted by the Planning Inspector, which makes it so disappointing to see a scheme that drives a coach and horses through the Planning Inspector’s final decision for our area.
As a community, we have always supported building an extra care facility, but not at the cost of local residents and their quality of life.
After 25 years of near-continuous building works and disruption with Chelsea Waterfront and the Chelsea Academy, we believe people deserve more consideration, particularly regarding Mount Anvil’s questionable and inadequate construction management plans.
We have put forward proposals in five areas that we believe improve the design of the development, reduce the negative impact on the Lots Village Conservation Area and improve the lives of residents and businesses during the construction process. Our proposals should have little or no impact on the finances of the development.
We should not forget that our own Council is the sponsor of this development, and along with Mount Anvil, they should be working with the community to find solutions to the problems we are raising. This requires political will and creative thinking.”
A great many local residents have also submitted their objections to the scheme, and the Forum urges both RBKC and Mount Anvil to agree to meaningful changes when this development goes before the Planning Applications Committee later in the year.
Mount Anvil’s Planning Application is now live on the RBKC website here.
As there are currently 154 documents, many of which have been split into parts or are not particularly clear, the Forum is providing a number of the key documents below for those who wish to look into the details of what is proposed:
- The Design & Access Statement is the main overview of the development, its history and what is being proposed.
2. The Construction and Logistics Plan is intended to provide information on how the development will be built and how the construction traffic and disruption will be managed.
3. The Financial Viability Assessement explains the finances behind the development.
4. The External Daylight and Sunlight Assessment describes how the proposed development will impact the light available to surrounding properties.
5. The Draft Travel Plan explains how the developer sees the impact of the development on local travel and transport.
6. The Servicing and Delivery Plan explains how the developer believes the development will be serviced and how deliveries and traffic will be managed on the completed site.
7. The Planning Statement sets out why the developer believes the developemnt should be approved in relation to planning laws and guidance.
These plans will be discussed at the next meeting of the Forum to be held at 5.30pm on Monday, 22nd September 2025 at the offices of Worlds End Studios, 134 Lots Road..
Further details on Lots Road South and RBKC’s New Local Plan can be found here: https://lotsroadforum.org/2024/07/lrnf-welcomes-planning-inspectors-report-on-rbkc-new-local-plan-review/