Albert Embankment: rooftop club overlooking Parliament approved

The Crowne Plaza London Albert Embankment hotel is due to open next year next to White Hart Dock.

The hotel is currently under construction and the building's owners – Cannon Corporate UK – have applied to Lambeth Council to turn the roof of the new hotel into a private members' club with a Sky Terrace offering panoramic views towards the Palace of Westminster.

The club – which would be partially open to the elements – will be served by a glass lift attached to the Salamanca Street side of the building.

Planning officer Ross Whear told councillors that the Sky Terrace proposal was deemed to be acceptable in terms of its likely impact on neighbouring residents.

The meeting heard from June Harvey representing the adjacent Park Plaza Riverbank hotel who raised concerns that noise from the rooftop club could disturb guests at the next-door hotel.

A representative of the 9 Albert Embankment Residents' Association reminded the committee that the council had received more than a hundred objections to the proposal, which was effectively for an open-air bar 10 metres from families' homes.

Paul Thelwell of Cannon Corporate UK told the committee that the roof terrace would create a further 26 jobs in addition to the jobs linked to the main hotel operation.

He said that the hotel will be "aimed at discerning customers who want peace and quiet from their hotel experience" and the club is for "our guests and a small number of hotel club members".

Prince's ward councillor Joanne Simpson urged the committee to impose conditions on the planning permission to safeguard her constituents from noise "all day, every day".

Cannon Corporate UK is owned by Mudhar Shawkat, a former member of the Iraqi parliament and opponent of Saddam Hussain who now has Canadian nationality.

Last year Mudhar Shawkat called for the creation of a 10,000-strong Sunni army in Iraq to take on the so-called Islamic State.