A CAFÉ mooted for the middle of Shepherd's Bush Green was one of several contentious proposals questioned by residents at a public meeting last week.
Concerns over the creation of grassy mounds, benches facing out into traffic and the loss of at least 20 old trees were also voiced at Shepherd's Bush Library on Tuesday, when around 40 people quizzed town hall planners and councillors.
Hammersmith and Fulham Council must get permission from the Government to build on common land, and some fear the planned café, toilet and substation block will create a worrying precedent for development and become a magnet for anti-social behaviour.
Caroline Davis, secretary of Granville Mansions Association, said: "There is no need for a café in a space that is surrounded by them.
"This has been sited on land that has never been built on before, in a prominent position and of an extremely poor, 'brutalist' design.
"Should plants eventually grow over its surface these will disguise neither its size nor the unremitting bleakness of its elevations.
"At night, the building will give shelter to all the activities feared and hated by local residents, and roller shutters - though essential, as the structure will be a prime target for vandalism - will add a sense of urban desolation."
Residents have welcomed plans to open up the space by removing barriers and changing the layout of footpaths, which the council says would bring at least one under-used fifth of the common back into public use.
But the idea of benches at the edges of sloped grass sections came under fire, amid claims they will attract loiterers.
Mrs Davis said: "The urban benches that edge the grassed mounds face away from the common on to busy traffic junctions, and so the only people likely to want to use them would be precisely those the council aims to discourage."
Work on the redevelopment of the common, paid for with cash from the Westfield shopping centre, is likely to start next spring and will take around 15 months. A planning application is due to be submitted later this summer. There will also be a new children's play area and a multi-purpose games courts, replacing the current free tennis courts.
Following Tuesday's meeting, a council spokeswoman said: "We have been listening to residents from the beginning of this project.
"We were interested to hear what residents had to say and will look at what could possibly be done to further improve the common."
