The planned 72-storey Paddington Pole has been sent packing. The skyscraper, part of a development around Paddington station, will go back to the drawing board after many objections to its height.
A statement from Westminster Council said there will be a "further review of elements of the proposed development including its height", a decision which made the Skyline Campaign very happy. The planning application has been temporarily withdrawn, and new plans will be on the table "very shortly".
The skyscraper is just one element of a scheme that will see a new ticket hall for the Bakerloo line at Paddington, 330 homes, offices, restaurants and a 'sky garden'. Campaigners probably shouldn't celebrate too wildly yet, however. There's a sentence in the council's statement — "bring forward an amended scheme that will still deliver all the substantial benefits including the significant investment in infrastructure and social housing" — which implies the developers are insisting they need something flashy to pay for all the extras.
Hopefully Irvine Sellar will come up with something that looks a bit less like a desperate edifice to monumental capitalism sore thumb.
