The continued fight to protect Shepherd’s Cottage

The Highgate Society has strongly objected to a Fire Strategy report submitted by the developer for a planning amendment to the permission granted to develop seven mews houses in Townsend Yard in 2020. 

The Fire Safety report put forward three options for fire access to Shepherds Cottage – all of them in our opinion are flawed. One option to access the Cottage via a narrow wooden under croft from the High Street was previously dismissed by the London Fire Brigade (LFB). The other options require access from Townsend Yard. However a lack of turning circles for the fire engine from the High Street and in the yard itself, plus the constrained space in the yard, means a fire engine cannot get close enough to the Cottage. Furthermore fire personnel can only reach it by scaling a high wall and a 1.6m drop to the Cottage rear garden.  And the occupants of the Cottage would have to do this in reverse to escape. Our objection can be viewed here.

The Society is very concerned about the lack of clarity on responsibility for fire safety – and a lack of transparency. The LFB, a statutory consultee, have provided fire safety comments which in our view have not been addressed. The LFB have not responded to the Council’s repeated requests to clarify their position and have stated that the Council and the Approved Inspector (a Building Control company appointed by the developer) are responsible for approving the fire safety strategy. In the meantime, the Council has approved the planning amendment and not the Fire Strategy which they say is outside their remit. The external Approved Inspector has confirmed to the Council that the Fire Safety Strategy has been approved, but we have no information on how this decision was reached. Sadly our repeated appeals for a sensible and safe solution have fallen on deaf ears however we will continue to press the developer and relevant bodies for improved fire safety measures to ensure that the Cottage is not left in a perilous situation.