LONDON is perpetually in the throes of planning battles. The evidence of our eyes is that, for all the complaints that developers make about the undoubted burdens of the planning system, it is their buccaneering spirit that generally wins the day.
That can give rise to outstanding additions to the capital, but it comes with two inter-related problems. The first is that the well-thought-through development proposals of today immediately become the starting point for the poorly planned and greedy applications of tomorrow.
The most startling illustration of this is the sheer quantity of totally unremarkable high-rise blocks that have sprung up like weeds around the handful of interesting buildings that have effectively pioneered London's modern skyline. Second, that a successful development inevitably engenders more.
Trying to work out in advance, however, what constitutes overdevelopment is almost impossible, particularly as new proposals naturally tend to focus on free space, the benefits of which are hard to measure or articulate.
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
A berry timely harvest
AS summer leans into autumn and either end of the day anticipates the season to come, I occasionally find myself checking the slowly colouring fruit of the Chilean guava hedge that edges one of the perennial beds.
The rest is history
Narrative art that explored religious, mythological, historical or allegorical subjects took a while to become established in Britain, but, when it did, it was in its grandest form, on the largest scale and for a very long time, finds Michael Hall
The show must go on
England travel to Pakistan for a three-match Test series. James Fisher contemplates the sublime and the ridiculous
If walls could talk
Is it possible to take on the genius or character of those who have slept in your bed before? Steven King stays in homes with illustrious past owners to find out
That old chestnut
For the unimaginative Briton, chestnuts roasting on an open fire is the only way to go. Yet these sharp little nuts can elevate your baking game, assures John Wright
The world on the doorstep
England, Africa, Italy or China-it's possible to travel the world without leaving this imaginatively designed garden, which divides into four distinct geographical sections. Each one has resonance for the owners, reports Caroline Donald
To build or not to build
When it comes to the skyline, do we need to know when to say 'enough is enough', asks John Goodall
Pyramid scheme
In a city as large as London, the problem of where to lay the dead to rest is ever-present. One extraordinary unfulfilled scheme would have made space for five million, finds Jack Watkins
Best foot forward
Some of the country's finest estate agents let Annabel Dixon in on the secrets of prepping a country house for sale.
Nice work in the West
With hybrid working now a fact of life, four special houses in Devon and Cornwall are well equipped to more than pay their way