Residents Square up over peer's 'dark' development

A Tory peer was today labelled a money-grabber by residents of a Knightsbridge square furious at plans to build a development they claim will block their sunlight.

Baroness Gardner of Parkes, 85, and her daughter Joanna Gardner, have applied to build to “unlimited height” on land they own in Lancelot Place, opposite Harrods.

The owners of a £5 million late Georgian house in nearby Trevor Square are going to the High Court in a bid to quash the proposal. One Trevor Square homeowner, who did not want to be named, said: “It’s absolutely outrageous.

Baroness Gardner is money-grabbing and greedy and thinks that just because she’s a baroness she can do whatever she likes.” A tenant of a flat next to the six low-rise garages where the proposed redevelopment would take place added: “Of course it’s ridiculous to want to build to unlimited height.”

Another said: “We are not happy about this. It is inconsiderate to the people who live nearby.”

In the High Court writ, solicitor Mark Sefton said early morning sun has been “enjoyed through the windows” of the Trevor Square house in question for “nearly two centuries”, and that the owners have an “absolute” right to its access and use.

Baroness Gardner and her daughter, who lives in Notting Hill, declined to comment.