Letter of the Week

Your letters, London Newspaper Group

12 February 2004

Dear Sir

Everyone wants to see South Kensington Station improved. But how extensive should redevelopment be?

Stanhope’s proposals, now withdrawn, generated two fat folders full of letters from upset residents. (The Town Hall has not seen so much concern for years.) Most letters objected to Sir Terry Farrell’s lumpish buildings, the huge office tower and the exclusion of sunlight and fresh air from District and Circle Line platforms.

Our associations believe that most residents want a more modest renewal that would keep the upper station open to the sky but make access to it more satisfactory. South Kensington Underground Development (SKUD) shares this view.

It is scaremongering to call the station ‘dangerous’: it is not even on London Underground’s priority list for upgrading. It is therefore incorrect for anyone to suggest that residents or their associations “have set back the plan to make the station safe”. South Kensington with its Victorian squares and terraces and its magnificent museums, is one of London’s most famous neighbourhoods. An improved Underground station which respects but does not dominate its surroundings is what we all want to see.

Robin Price, chairman
The Kensington Society
Terence Bendixson, Planning Secretary
The Chelsea Society
Elm Park Gardens
London SW10