Gasometers get in the way of hotel

12.14.04pm GMT Sat 10th Nov 2007

Residents fear that the new hotel would have too much 'squeezed in'

Plans to build a hotel within Oval cricket ground have suffered a major setback after being undermined by the Health and Safety Executive. Pointing to guidelines published as long as go as 2002 the HSE have said that such a structure cannot be build so close to the pipelines entering the nearby gasholders. The guidelines do not oppose all development in such a location, but recognise the special risks associated with outdoor stadia.

Oval's Lib Dem councillors had been supporting Kennington Park estate residents concerned with the large scale of the hotel development, fearing that too much was being 'squeezed in' by Aurora Hotels, who want to build a 168-bedroom hotel, plus new spectator stands, at the Oval (opposite Lohmann House).

Residents of Kennington Park Estate - while wanting to have the ground improved - have been concerned about the scheme. The fear is that the hotel is too big, too high and that it will be dominant and overbearing.

The Lib Dem councillors wanted to see the advice of the Government's Health and Safety Executive (HSE) on the development and used the legal powers to get this.

Following this opposition the Council planning department has turned it down.

Rob Banks says "We thought it right that residents should be told. It must have caused dismay to the club. But we think they should have sought HSE advice much sooner, and so should the planners. We understand that the club are now talking to the HSE, and want to resubmit their application."