Director and MP in fight to save King Street's Thirties cinema

An award-winning film director and MP Zac Goldsmith have joined campaigners opposing plans to build apartments and a supermarket on the site of a Thirties art-deco cinema.

Residents say the proposals for King Street in Hammersmith would also mean a nearby housing complex would be torn down and its blind and partially-sighted residents forced to leave.

The Save Our Skyline group has claimed the scheme, which would include two 14-storey apartment blocks, would set a precedent for companies to build "unsuitable" developments in historic low-rise areas.

The MP for nearby Richmond Park, Zac Goldsmith, and director Carlo Nero, the son of actors Franco Nero and Vanessa Redgrave, also oppose the scheme, which would mean the demolition of the 64-year-old cinema as well as apartment blocks belonging to the Thomas Pocklington Trust, which supports people with sight loss.

Hammersmith and Fulham council are due to make a decision on the proposals by King Street Developments early next year, but campaigners hope to persuade Boris Johnson to "call in" the planning application. The Mayor can take charge of decisions of strategic importance to London, but has rarely done so since being granted new powers in 2008.

The developer claims the area is not attracting enough shoppers and that the cinema will not be "commercially viable" beyond the short-term, but Mr Goldsmith said the plans would distort the area's "historic riverside views".