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A 30-storey tower being developed by Berkeley Homes in west London has won planning after eight storeys were lopped from the height.

Westminster council approved the firm鈥檚 700-home West End Green development next to the fortified Paddington Green police station on Edgware Road at a meeting last night.

The tower has been designed by Squire & Partners, the architect behind the masterplan for the Shell Centre redevelopment on the South Bank, and recently cited Renzo Piano鈥檚 Paddington Pole, being developed by Sellar Property, as a precedent for tall buildings in the area

But campaigners condemned the decision and architect Barbara Weiss, leader of the Skyline Campaign which lobbied for a height reduction to 25 storeys, described the decision as 鈥渘a茂ve and inappropriate鈥�.

鈥淚t will no doubt open the floodgates to many more similar unsympathetic tall buildings,鈥� she said. 

鈥淭he planning officer indeed confirmed that it would be impossible for the council to stop this from becoming a precedent for other towers.鈥�

Westminster council disputes this. A spokesman said:  鈥淎s was highlighted in the committee report which detailed the application, West End Green is a unique site and so any development granted there was not going to set a precedent.鈥�

Objectors included local MP Karen Buck and Historic England which said it would have a 鈥渧ery serious impact鈥� on the settings of four Royal Parks as well as damaging a number of conservation areas.

Local civic groups objected to the design and 鈥渁rbitrary鈥� height which they said owed more to commercial than townscape considerations.

But Westminster planning officers said the harm caused would be 鈥渓ess than substantial鈥� 鈥� the test in the NPPF 鈥� and would be offset by the benefits of unlocking a long-vacant site.

Angus Michie, divisional chairman of Berkeley St Edward, said the site had 鈥渂lighted the area for 30 years and these proposals will transform it into a new neighbourhood where people can live, shop, work and socialise鈥�.

A Westminster council spokesman said the height had been reduced since the original application in response to local objections.

In its planning statement, Berkeley had argued that Renzo Piano鈥檚 31 London Street gtower 鈥渟et a new bar for building height in Westminster by some margin鈥� the perception around tall buildings in Westminster appears to be changing, particularly in this part of Westminster鈥�.

The so-called Paddington Pole has since been mothballed after Sellar agreed to look again at the building鈥檚 proposed 72-storey height.