RESIDENTS living in the Grove Park Conservation Area in Chiswick say the area is under threat after unpopular development plans were submitted to raise the level of Hartington Court to five floors by the freeholder, Dovecorn Reversions.

Local residents and conservation groups are enraged at the plans which they feel will destroy the 1938 Art Deco features as well as obscuring the riverside view of the historic St Paul's church steeple.

Conservation groups that have been involved in objecting to the plans include the West London Riverside Group and Chiswick Protection Society. Mac McCullagh, a property owner in Hartington Road, has described the plans as likely to turn the property into a "disaster area."

"The plans are out of place. They look wrong. The proposal is wrong and unsightly," said Mr McCullagh. "They will decimate the surrounding area and are purely for the freeholder to make money."

The Chairman of the Hartington Court Residents' Association, Alan Day, has expressed his frustration at the development saying, "Residents want to make this the best block in Chiswick. Residents are particularly concerned that they have paid substantial amounts each for some major works undertaken on the block that are yet to be completed. The freeholder seems to be preoccupied with further development rather than completing the works he began."

The plans involve placing nineteen flats on top of the existing building and removing many of the existing green areas to create a parking area for extra cars. There are currently fifty six flats in the court.

"The parking issue is of particular concern," said Julius Brookman, a Residents' Association Committee member. "Apart from the basic legal issue of whether our freeholder is permitted to make the changes to our green areas under the lease, parking is already insufficient and crowded around the court."

"Hounslow Council listed this historic building recently locally in the Grove Park Conservation Area to protect it from these sort of developments" said Mr Brookman. I really hope the Planning Department at Hounslow Council will take this into account."

Concerned members of the community have until 1 March to object to Dovecorn Reversion's plans.