Developers who knocked down buildings that survived the Blitz could be forced to rebuild them

Planning permission, eh? Who needs it? That was presumably the thinking behind a developer's decision to take a bulldozer to three Victorian homes in East Ferry Road on the Isle of Dogs. The buildings, which survived the Blitz, were demolished without planning permission despite being in the Coldharbour Conservation Area, which protects older buildings.

Tower Hamlets mayor John Biggs said: 'The council is looking at its legal options, but in my view the owners should be made to replace these properties like for like, brick by brick'.

If the council pursues legal action, it wouldn't be the first time a developer has been made to rebuild something they'd hastily knocked down in the hope that no one would notice. Back in 2015, developers bulldozed the Carlton Tavern pub in Maida Vale without permission (or even telling the landlady). But the council eventually issued an enforcement notice to make them completely rebuild it brick by brick. The same thing happened again with the Alchemist pub in Battersea. You'd think developers might have learned by now that taking a wrecking ball to buildings without planning permission isn't really something you can get away with. But apparently not.

In other news, Peckham could be getting a lido

And a Tardis has landed on Camden Road