Published: November 24, 2011
by DAN CARRIER

THE twin brothers who were blocked from completing improvements to their house overlooking Hampstead ponds by a High Court ruling have returned with new designs.

Thalis and Alex Vlachos will know tonight (Thursday) whether their dreams for their 1950s red brick house in the Vale of Health, the hidden enclave snaking through a valley on Hampstead Heath, will be scuppered by an alliance made up of their neighbours, the Heath and Hampstead Society, and the Vale of Health Society once again.

They have permission already to dig out a new basement on the site but are now asking to be able to build four new small extensions.

Back in 2006, they won permission to pull down the 1951 home and build a Modernist house, but civic groups claimed Camden Council should never have passed the plans as they would infringe on Metropolitan Open Land – the urban equivalent of green belt. A judge at the Royal Courts of Justice threw out the project in 2007.

Neighbours objecting to their new scheme say they fear the brothers’ plans will lead to a similar situation.

In a written submission, The Vale of Health Society said it feared if the project was passed it would lead to “further applications which will seek to use the measurements of the enlarged house as a basis for a possible replacement house.” They  have warned that if councillors follow Town Hall planning officer advice and give permission, they will take it once again to court. In their letter to the council, they said: “We will mount a legal challenge to both current and previous decisions and preliminary advice is that such a challenge has a high chance of success.”

Other objections include a letter from a neighbour, who said: “The house is visible in a  unique, beautiful site in London and the UK, and rebuilding the house would harm this view and be out of character with the surroundings.”

Heath and Hampstead Society chairman Tony Hillier, who was instrumental in the previous campaign to block the Vlachos brothers building a new home, said: “We fear they are trying to use a technicality to get around the ruling that was decided against them. The scale may have been reduced but we still strongly object.”

The brothers bought the Vale of Health house for £437,500 from the family of their godfather. They had played in the house as children and have lived there for much of the past decade. They have already won planning permission to build a new basement and the scheme has been recommended for approval by planning officers.

Speaking to the New Journal, lawyer Alex Vlachos said: “We are grateful to the council for recommending our scheme and that there is a fair and equitable planning system in place which enables all interested parties to make their representations in an open forum to an impartial committee.”