A DESTRUCTIVE developer’s plan to demolish Earl’s Court to build posh flats will cost thousands of homes and Tube jobs and devastate the local environment, according to a new study published yesterday.

Local residents and campaigners had to pay for the impact assessment out of their own pockets when Hammersmith & Fulham and Kensington & Chelsea councils refused to undertake one.

Campaigner Jos Bell said it was “unheard of” for a 20-year construction plan to have no local authority impact assessment or even a review during the building process.

She accused the councils of being in cahoots with the developer Capco, London Mayor Boris Johnson and Communities Secretary Eric Pickles, who are ramming through the plans “based on ideology not evidence.”

Capco’s development will greatly worsen London’s already dire housing crisis, pulling down two council estates for 7,500 posh flats sold abroad as second homes.

And pollution from giant lorries and other building traffic will devastate the local environment, the assessment found.

And the pulling down of London Underground’s Lillie Bridge maintenance depot will not only put Tube staff out of work but hurt the safety and performance of the network.

The document also spelled out the strong-arm tactics faced by local traders and residents.

Landlord EC Properties GP Ltd — a division of Capco — has doubled the rents for local traders, who will either have to pay up, accept a low cash offer with a lease terminating next June or face a compulsory purchase order.

“This is an awful situation. We have been here since 1960. Nobody wants this,” said Zamazingo Cafe co-owner Ibrahim Bahceci.

“It affects us profoundly but also there are our employees and their families who are now extremely worried for their circumstances. It’s unethical and shocking.”

Capco was unavailable for comment at the time of going to press.