Public garden and café off Oxford Street set for makeover after two year vacancy

Westminster City councillors have waved through plans to refurbish a public garden and café off Oxford Street which has sat vacant for more than two years.

Applicant BH1 Ltd filed proposals to significantly landscape the deck area at Brown Hart Gardens and part-demolish the café, to be replaced with a larger build.

At a Planning Applications Sub-Committee meeting on Tuesday night, members voted unanimously to approve the two applications behind the revamp.

Brown Hart Gardens, which sits between Balderton Street and Duke Street with Oxford Street to its north, is privately owned despite the garden being open to the public.

Under the new plans, the café is to be extended to accommodate more customers dining indoors. Outdoor dining covers, however, will decrease, resulting in a slight overall reduction of seating. The plans include additional greening and landscaping of the deck area, plus later operating hours.

At the meeting earlier this week, Nick Brindley, a senior planning partner at consultancy firm Gerald Eve, said the applicant had undertaken ‘extensive’ consultation prior to submitting its designs.

But, one resident, Aleksander Loesch, said issues like vagrancy had worsened due to increased footfall as a result of the café, with urination, defecation and indecent exposure to minors among the current concerns.

Mr Loesch, who said he is an essential worker and lives in social housing, added noise is a particular worry regarding the proposed scheme.

“We didn’t choose to live there, and we know it’s a privilege to live there,” he said. “But at the same time we have the same rights and ability to experience that fairer Westminster as one would expect in terms of any planning and consultation throughout the country.”

Officers were quizzed by councillors on whether customers would be able to access the gardens late at night, given they are to be shut to the public several hours before the café is to close. They were told this would be managed by café staff, though the details would be clarified in an Operational Management Plan (OMP) for the site.

Pictured top: A CGI of the proposed landscaping at Brown Hart Gardens (Picture: Studio Angeli/WCC)