You’ve worked hard and you’ve made a pile of money. Or your uncle’s trust fund has come through. Or you’ve won the lottery.
What next? You want a wonderful place to live that will give you peace and privacy. Certainly, you want to move out of your semi where you can hear every sound the neighbours make: their screaming kinds, the bloody dog and the, how shall I put this, ‘night noises’.
You’ve always wanted to live in a penthouse in a city centre and you find one in London designed by no less a personage that Sir Richard Rogers.
It’s an absolute ‘wow’. You’ll have no friends left when they see it. Especially the full-length windows giving you spectacular views of the city.
Then two years after you move in, a new erection rises from the ground just 30 meters from your dream home. And what’s worse, the owners have installed a viewing gallery right opposite your full-length window so that hoi polloi can look in on you on a Saturday morning as you slob out in your bra and pants.
Worse, they wave at you, take photos on their smartphones, and pose for selfies with you in the background. Their children make rude gestures. It’s a nightmare. Your dream in shattered and your old friends are going around with a smug look.
So you call Sue, Grabbit and Runne and go to court. You lose in the High Court, so it’s on to the next one and finally the Supreme Court with the law lords by 3-2 (like a football match) agree that you have a right to a quiet life and your husband can wear what he wants on Saturday mornings.
Fantasy. No. This is what happened when residents took action against the Tate Modern and its viewing gallery atop its new building.
Now I may be ignorant, but I thought galleries were for viewing things on walls not looking out on the city and its residents.
Sure, the viewing gallery is a nice little earner for the Tate. And the planning authority, Southwark, loved it so much that they gave the Tate £1 million of Council Tax money. That’s austerity for you.
It’s a funny old world.
Have a good weekend.
Tom
by the Planning PR guru 