Why has Christian Candy’s plan for building luxury flats been rejected?

Christian Candy’s plans to build a seven-storey luxury apartment block in Holland Park have just been turned down by Kensington & Chelsea council.

The refusal is part of the council’s move of outlawing mega basements in the area after it received over 450 requests last year.

Kensington and Chelsea council turned down Candy’s scheme of demolishing a 1930s block called Duke’s Lodge to make way for five villas with two-storey basements.

According to the Standard, the council blocked plans as the site isn’t big enough to fit two basements. Other issues included loss of trees and lack of privacy for residents.

The council’s Labour leader Emma Dent Coad told the Standard: “To allow a double basement now when we have developed a new policy would be a betrayal of it.”

A spokesman for Christian Candy’s CPC Group said: “CPC are reflecting on the comments of the planning committee yesterday evening and are reviewing their next steps.”