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The Kensington Society

Welcome to the website of the Kensington Society.

Formed in 1953, the Kensington Society strives to ensure that our part of London retains its magnificent heritage of buildings, parks and gardens alongside the best of contemporary architecture and design.

With more than 700 members and 25 affiliated societies, we are very active in planning issues and exert a real influence on planning decisions in the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea.

We also have a programme of lectures, talks, walks and visits, covering a wide range of subjects. The events offer the chance to meet your Kensington neighbours. All upcoming society events can be found here.

Our annual report is produced in the spring and has both an update report on the activities of the society as well as interesting and topical articles relating to Kensington. The most recent annual report can be read here, and all annual reports since 1961 can be found in the society archive.

Our newsletter is produced in the autumn. The most recent newsletter can be read here, and all newsletters since 2006 can be found in the society archive.

The annual membership subscription is £15 and you can join here.

Planning issues

Frogmore's Notting Hill Gate plans have been submitted

Real estate investment fund manager Frogmore has now submitted planning applications for the refurbishment of the five office and retail buildings in Notting Hill Gate that they bought a year ago. All the buildings will be refurbished inside and out and have one or two additional floors.
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Support the Natural History Museum plans!

After more than two years of consultations with the local residents’ associations, the Natural History Museum has submitted their planning application for the re-development of the grounds facing Cromwell Road. The Kensington Society and the seven local conservation and amenity societies strongly support the plans, which are necessary to enable the museum to cope with the drastic increase of visitors. Unfortunately, the proposed changes to the Wildlife Garden have resulted in a large public campaign against the plans, largely based on hearsay and misconceptions.
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Frogmore show their Notting Hill Gate plans

On Wednesday 25 May, Thursday 26 May and Saturday 4 June there will be a public exhibition of the refurbishment plans for eight of the office and shop buildings in Notting Hill Gate owned by property developer Frogmore.
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Newcombe House refusal appealed

Following a decision by the outgoing Mayor of London’s on 29 April 2016, to allow the RBKC council to decide the Newcombe House application itself (i.e. to let the council’s planning committee’s surprising refusal on 17 March stand), the developer, as expected, lodged an appeal with the Planning Inspectorate only a few days later, on 3 May.
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Third Allen House application allowed

In spite of much local protest, the council’s planning committee allowed the Allen House project to go ahead in April 2016. However, it required three applications and although far from good, the approved application is much better for the neighbourhood than the first two, so the objections definitely made a difference.
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Lancer Square demolition has begun

In early March 2016, two years after the council approved the building of a new large luxury flat development on the site of Lancer Square on Kensington Church Street, the scaffolding came up and the demolition of the five-building complex began. Originally, the building works were expected to be completed in early 2017, but the delay means that they probably will go on to 2019-2020.
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Society events

KenPalace east front 1200x783-Robin Foster

Transforming the Kensington Palace gardens

After the refurbishment of Kensington Palace's easter and souther gardens, which was finished in the spring of 2012, the next phase will be the restoration of the Orangery lawn garden. Todd Longstaffe-Gowan, who was in charge of the first phase, will explain the proposals for restoring the Orangery lawn to its original early 18th century layout.
Date: Monday 12 September 2016
Place: The Orangery, Kensington Palace
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Picture by Tessa Stokes, licensed (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Planning enforcement

What would you do if this artfully painted makeover appeared next to your house? Breaches of planning control can consist of work done without consent, work done without observing conditions in the planning permission, land left un-tidy or a building left derelict, or adverts displayed without consent. Anyone can report a possible breach of planning control. Please join us for an informative talk about enforcing planning control by RBKC’s planning team.
Date: Monday 14 November 2016
Place: The Small Hall, Kensington Town Hall
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Page updated 03/06/2016