Mayor's top adviser backs Charles in row over barracks scheme

ONE of Boris Johnson's most senior aides today backed Prince Charles in the planning furore over Chelsea Barracks.

In a strongly-worded attack, Kit Malthouse, the deputy mayor for policing, says the designs are out of place. Although Mr Malthouse does not have direct responsibility for planning decisions he is one of the Mayor's closest allies and will have influence when the proposals come before Mr Johnson this year.

Charles has said he wants the owner, the Emir of Qatar, to scrap the £1billion modernist glass-and-steel development designed by Lord Rogers and has backed a more traditional plan for the site. Today Mr Malthouse, who is also Assembly member for the area, said: "Prince Charles is a resident of central London just like anyone else, and I welcome his intervention on the issue of the Chelsea Barracks development.

"I have been opposing the design for some time, and the heir to the throne is a welcome addition to the campaign, supported by hundreds of residents.

"The proposals by Candy and Candy are nothing short of urban vandalism. Pavilions of glass and steel, they would not look out of place in Frankfurt or Shanghai but in the heart of Chelsea, next to a Wren masterpiece [the Royal Hospital], they look monstrous.

"What is wrong with stone, brick and slate? Why have we abandoned the classicism that served us well for centuries?

"Our friends and allies, the Qataris, who own the site, have the opportunity to endow London with a future world heritage site. I hope they have the wisdom to see through the appalling 'Candy floss' and commission a design of which London and the world will be proud."

However his comments will cause consternation at City Hall as Sir Simon Milton, the deputy mayor for planning and policy, and Mr Johnson have remained silent on the subject.

Mr Johnson has only spoken on the subject to say he is unable to comment on the plans "for fear of fettering" any future decision.

Cultural commentator Duncan Fallowell has also supported Prince Charles, saying Londoners should let their views be known.

He said: "The scheme put forward by the Candy brothers, again designed by Richard Rogers, is so spectacularly awful and outdated that any spanner in the works is to be welcomed.

"None of us, from the Prince of Wales down, has to sit by and watch huge swathes of our city stitched up and wrecked by a cosy club of rapacious developers served by architects whose great buildings belong to the last century."

The design of the flats has been opposed by residents' groups, but meets planners' demands for affordable housing and wider planning guidelines.

A spokeswoman for Candy and Candy pointed out that the firm did not submit the proposals - they were put forward by Project Blue (Guernsey) Limited, owned by the Qataris - and could not comment on the design.

She said Candy and Candy had been appointed as development managers.