BelSoc develops its online presence
The Society has established a Facebook Page. We shall start posting items of current interest and need to build an audience, so please search for “The Belsize Society” and make sure you “Follow” it and “Like” and share any content to that. We also have an Instagram account and will be posting pictures and content to that. Social Media is only of value if used, so we’ll try to keep it active and hope it proves its worth in time, keeping people updated and also attracting new members.
We are also upgrading our website, developing the ability to join the Society and make payments online. We’ll update members on this at the AGM.
If you have any suggestions or ideas you’d like to see online, please get in touch at info@belsize.org.uk.
Police meeting: Watch your mobile phone
“Watch your mobile phones” – that was the warning urged by police at a recent Belsize Neighbourhood Team meeting.
According to police statistics over the past three months, among the biggest rise in crime in Belsize Park concerned the theft of mobile phones, officially designated as “thefts from the person”.
“Stolen phones are being resold for hundreds of pounds, making them more profitable for criminal gangs than drugs in some cases”, said a police officer at the meeting.
Consistently, the worst-hit areas of Belsize Park for phone thefts were reportedly around the Tesco stores in England’s Lane and Finchley Road Community representatives at the meeting called for greater visible police presence and urged police to consider a more modern version of the Neighbourhood Watch Scheme on the lines of local What’s App groups.
With the surprise closure of the historic Ye Olde Swiss Cottage pub, Belsize Society is involved in the campaign to save the pub site for the community. The pub, which gave its name to the area, ceased trading after nearly 200 years, at two weeks’ notice, on February 1.
Builders have already removed the wrought iron pub name on the roof and all the wooden signs. The interior is now being stripped out. Immediately before the closure, staff said the historic photos of the area that adorned the walls and anything else of value would be put into storage by Sam Smith’s Brewery, which has run the pub since the early 1980s. The Brewery has refused to tell the local and national press, and BBC London News, what will happen to the pub after the sale.
With the closure, BelSoc is attempting to save the pub as an ACV, short for “an asset of community value.” The Belsize Society is among those applying to Camden Council for the pub to be listed as an ACV.
As the Ham & High explains in its lead story on February 6, an ACV “is defined as a building or other land whose main use has recently been or is presently used to further the social wellbeing or social interests of the local community and could do so in the future.”
The paper reports that Camden Labour Councillors have also put in an application for ACV status. But Primrose Hill Ward Councillor, Matt Cooper, told the Ham & High that he was not sure whether the Labour group is eligible to apply, and the decision would rest with Camden planning officials. He added: “We wanted to get the application in because the fact that it’s in means nothing should happen and officers know that we’re looking at it.”
ACV status would give the community the right for 5 years to be informed if the pub is put up for sale and the right to bid to buy the premises – if the money can be raised, within six months. But an ACV doesn’t stop an owner selling the asset or applying for planning permission to change the building.
The Society has noted that the Tavern is not on Camden’s “Local List”’ of notable buildings. It is asking Camden’s Planners to consider this urgently. The pub is not in the Belsize Conservation Area. Unlike the Washington in England’s Lane, it is not Listed by English Heritage and internal changes do not need planning permission. The pub has always been in the “Swiss chalet” style. But the current Alpine style woodwork dates from the 1960s.
The sudden closure of the Swiss Cottage pub raises wider questions about the protection of other valued local buildings. Camden’s map of Assets of Community Value shows there are no active protections in Belsize Park. The only ACV, the Steele’s pub on Haverstock Hill, ran out in May 2020.
Belsize Society is currently considering whether there are buildings locally, not just pubs, that have “social interests,” which can include cultural, recreational and sporting interests, where other applications for ACV status could be made.
If you have suggestions, please contact info@belsize.org.uk.
We included a note about EPCs in our August 2023 Newsletter. An EPC is needed whenever a home is built, sold or rented. It contains information about a property’s energy use, typical energy costs, and recommendations about how to reduce energy use and save money. It gives a property an energy efficiency rating from A (most efficient) to G (least efficient) and is valid for 10 years. It’s a legal requirement that your property has an EPC rating of E or above before you can rent it out. Listed buildings don’t need an EPC.
For some time, there has been criticism of the existing EPC regime on the grounds that for some homeowners its assessment metrics can appear badly aligned with climate change targets. There are now plans to reform it, with new metrics anticipated to be introduced in the second half of 2026. In December the Government launched a consultation “Reforms to the Energy Performance of Buildings regime” that includes an analysis of the shortcomings of the existing regime and the current proposals for reform.
For homeowners who have been looking into heat pumps and other climate friendly heating options, this is your chance to your views. As the consultation document points out: “… installing a heat pump could reduce the Energy Efficiency Rating due to the higher relative cost of electricity compared to gas, despite heat pumps being an efficient low-carbon heating solution”. Replacing an old inefficient gas boiler with a new highly efficient electric alternative, fuelled by electricity from 100% renewable sources, can also worsen a property’s EPC rating under the existing regime.
The Government has confirmed that all rented properties will have to achieve a minimum EPC grade C by 2030. Currently, unless there is a valid exemption, it’s illegal for landlords to rent out a home with an EPC rating below E. The new C rating requirement will be challenging for some properties to meet, including flats on higher floors in converted Victorian houses, where retrofitting energy-saving measures can be difficult, while also facing planning restrictions if in a Conservation Area.
While owner-occupiers of existing properties will not be forced to meet the C rating, the market attractiveness and value of a property could in future be affected if it does not. Details of the reform proposals and the consultation are available at www.gov.uk/government/consultations/reforms-to-the-energy-performance-of-buildings-regime/reforms-to-the-energy-performance-of-buildings-regime.
The Government is proposing that domestic EPCs in future use four headline metrics: fabric performance, heating system, smart readiness, and energy costs, with other metrics provided as secondary information. The online response survey is at https://consult.communities.gov.uk/energy-performance-of-buildings/consultation-on-reforms-to-epb/.It’s necessary to have read the consultation document in order to complete the survey. Hopefully among the Society’s membership there will be individuals with the necessary professional expertise to ensure that the new EPC regime will be appropriate for the sort of older housing we enjoy in the Belsize Park area. The deadline for responding to the consultation is 26 February. Stay in touch on retrofit@belsize.org.uk.
Scratchcards will continue in use for at least a year to 18 months, according to Camden officials.
The Council’s latest plans to move the current permit system totally online were revealed at a meeting with community groups.
Scratchcards would still be available for those Camden residents lacking either digital skills or online access. A new telephone service with a dedicated number for parking inquiries is also being considered.
Further community meetings are promised before any changes are introduced.
This Borough-wide consultation follows on from a series of local “Strategy Rooms” the Council held last year. One was held in association with the Belsize Society. BelSoc Member Chris Langdon was one of those who took part. Here are his personal impressions:
Should supermarkets be rated for their green policies, or would it be a good idea for private landlords to be obliged to charge “warm rent” (rent plus heating bills) to incentivise landlords to make energy efficiency measures? These are among the question that we participants were asked at a 90-minute “Strategy Room” convened by Camden at Swiss Cottage Community Centre on November 23.
The “Strategy Room” is a fancy title for a public consultation. It was facilitated by Nesta, a charity which describes itself as “UK’s innovation agency for social good.” Eight people from all over Camden, three of whom are from Belsize Park, braved the wet and windy weather. Similar events were also held during the month in Kentish Town and Kilburn. One in Somers Town was dedicated to the views of young people.
At the Swiss Cottage Strategy Room, residents raised the problems of doing retrofit. There was a spontaneous and lively discussion about heat pumps, whether they are noisy, and the vexed problems getting planning permission in a Conservation Area like Belsize Park. This wasn’t part of the consultation process, which was tightly scripted and briskly moderated. We all were given mini iPads to watch four “films from the future” with actors, and to answer scripted questions.
Participants expressed some concern that the conversation was so tightly proscribed that the issues that really concern residents on climate change weren’t being fully heard. We were assured that all comments were noted on two laptops and will be fed into the consultation process leading into the cross-Camden consultation in April.
On balance, my wife and I thought it was worth taking part. We enjoyed meeting a lively and articulate group of residents and we could have gone on longer. We were all pleasantly surprised that the more we talked together the more we reached agreement.