[Discuss] No trees and ugly buildings. Histon Road/Victoria Road Junction. Planning application

[Anne Garvey]

Agreed. In London though they have trees arising right out of pavements and
they surround them with this miracle stuff which is officially called '
golden granite' I asked the County Council why this wasn't being used when
they replaced the block paving around trees in Chesterton Road outside the
very tourist-rich Arundel Hotel, and he said it was 'far too expensive', and
they had to use the utterly hideous black bitumen cover. I see he as an
engineer has a budget but again, the aesthetics are being completely ignored
for the sake of a very modest saving.

Trees with the golden granit approach do not have to take up so much land.
Anyway, as you say, we all want them and everything cannot be at the whim of
the developer. That said we got precisely nowhere with opposition to soften
the development of flats at the bottom of Hertford Street and that is in a
Conservation Area.

AG


On 21/10/10 11:38, "Heather Coleman" <hmc at mole.bio.cam.ac.uk> wrote:

> I think the problem is that land is expensive and trees take up land.
> They want to cram in as much as they can on a plot of land that is too
> small to make as much profit as they can.  This is why planning committees
> should think about the greater good, rather than being influenced only by
> commerce.  But if we keep getting hideous things like this on the major
> entry routes into Cambridge, maybe the tourists will be put off, as the
> shopping area is also bleak and overcrowded, so those who have been will
> tell their potential visitor friends that Cambridge does have some nice
> buildings, but it's all rather an unfriendly urban mess and maybe then
> "they" will realise that green spaces and trees do have a monetary value?
> Heather
> 
> 
> On Thu, 21 Oct 2010, Anne Garvey wrote:
> 
>> Absolutely. Let us try and influence this design in that direction ,
>> trees are not expensive . We must begin to push back against this
>> brutalist design trend.
>> 
>> Well done Alan as ever, let us know what we might get up and do.
>> 
>> Suggest modifications to planning committee, attend the meeting?
>> 
>> 
>> On 20/10/10 23:42, "Allan Brigham" <townnotgown at btinternet.com> wrote:
>> 
>>       For info..
>>        
>> 
>>       The former garage at the junction of Histon and Huntingdon
>>       Road may be the ugliest site in Cambridge. But the proposed
>>       student housing that is going to replace it doesn¹t look much
>>       better ( News and Crier.30.9.2010). There is certainly
>>       nothing distinctive about it that says Œthis is Cambridge,
>>       city of beautiful buildings and parks¹. It looks more like
>>       any recent building in Manchester, London or Leeds.
>>        
>>       The one redeeming feature of the existing site is that the
>>       building line is set well back from the road, and that the
>>       garage is a low rise building. This gives a liberating sense
>>       of space as you leave or approach the city centre.
>>        
>>       The new flats loom above the road and it is difficult to
>>       imagine anyone is going to want to live there unless they
>>       have no alternative. With all the noise and fumes from the
>>       cars stopping and starting at the traffic lights it is
>>       certainly difficult to believe residents  would ever want to
>>       open their windows to let in fresh air.
>>        
>>       Wouldn¹t it be nice to see  the building line for the new
>>       building kept well back from the pavement, with attractive
>>       planting that would alleviate the depressingly urban and
>>       intimidating feel of this junction ? The three rather sad
>>        trees shown in the architect¹s illustration  are no more
>>       than token gestures to greening this landmark site and
>>       ensuring that Cambridge really does feel like a green city.  
>>        
>>       Until now the office block across the road from the garage
>>       ranked as one of the most disappointing uses of a prime site
>>       in the city. Let¹s come up with something much better here.
>>        
>>        
>>        
>>        
>> 
>>   
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>> 
>> 
>> 
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