A plan to demolish a house in Hatch End and replace it with two taller properties has received widespread criticism from neighbours, who have proclaimed it “housing vandalism”.

The current property at 77 Hillview Road is a detached four-bedroom 1920s house ideally suited for the leafy suburb of Hatch End.

The new owners - husband and wife property developers Mr and Mrs Manga - want to demolish the existing two-storey property and replace it with a pair of identically-sized three-story semi-detached houses.

Susan Marston, who lives next to the site on Hillview Road, said the proposal could set a “very unwelcome precedent throughout the borough” and “have repercussions throughout Hatch End, Pinner and the borough of Harrow”.

The move would also contravene a longstanding covenant on the land which restricts the number of houses being built on a single plot to one.

However Harrow Council said the covenant was not a consideration in current planning law, and the application will be considered on how it complies with the Council’s adopted planning policies.

A spokesperson for Hillview Road residents, who widely oppose the new builds, said: “There is nothing traditional in this area about a homogenous pair of three-story semis squeezed into a detached plot with just a one-metre gap to adjacent properties.

“The council planners have got it completely wrong. More worryingly, their negligent decision making will open the flood gates to greedy and opportunistic property developers to materially vandalise the housing landscape of Harrow to the detriment of future generations.”

Councillor Marilyn Ashton, a former chair of the council’s Planning Committee, said: “The design is poor and the development has the appearance of a quart in a pint pot.

“The proposed new property is visually out of keeping in the street scene, to the detriment of the visual amenity in the locality.”

The case is due before the council’s planning on September 28.