Twickenham sorting office plans submitted

9:57am Friday 8th February 2013 in News By Rachel Bishop

Mixed use: The proposals come from St James Mixed use: The proposals come from St James

Plans for more than 100 homes and a community performance space at Twickenham’s former sorting office site have been submitted.

The proposals from St James are for a mixed use development with 110 homes, including 82 one and two-bedroom apartments and 28 three and four bed houses.

There are also plans for two restaurants and a 13,600sq ft community facility, which would provide a specially designed hall for live music, dance and theatrical performance.

There will also be a new public open space that will feature a contemporary public piazza and amphitheatre feature overlooking the River Crane.

St James development director Simon Lewis said: “The local community have been supportive of the proposals and St James welcomes the opportunity to bring forward the regeneration of this derelict site and to deliver a high quality sustainable development.

“If planning consent is forthcoming in spring 2013, St James is confident it will start on site immediately and is programmed to complete the development by summer 2015.”

To view the plans visit, richmond.gov.uk/home/environment/planning and enter planning number 12/3650/FUL.

Comments(16)

ken elmes says...
11:18am Fri 8 Feb 13

Twickenham needs affordable homes and homes to rent for our dust men, street cleaners, post men, RHP ‘gardeners’ window cleaners all under paid to afford the housing provided in this borough.

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twickersargyle says...
1:43pm Fri 8 Feb 13

You say that every time a new development is mooted, Ken. In truth, very little London housing is affordable to the types of workers you mention—including so-called "affordable housing". But that's due to forces way beyond the control of Richmond Council, so I'm never really sure what your point is.

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Twickenham Bob says...
9:58pm Fri 8 Feb 13

The democratic will of London as a whole - as expressed though the Greater London Authority planning guidance is that 50% should be affordable.

This plan has 10% and is utterly unacceptable.

Only those who worship Dame Shirley Porter - would welcome these proposals - as there appears to be a deliberate with the local Tory's to price the poor out of Twickenham in the hope it will give them an electoral advantage

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twickersargyle says...
1:25am Sat 9 Feb 13

What a load of whimsical rubbish, Bob.

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Sparkythecat says...
12:33pm Sat 9 Feb 13

Bob: Are you talking about the poor with 2 cars, a 52" TV, a Smartphone etc, and are off to Benidorm twice a year,or those who could never afford a property however 'cheap' it is. I'm never quite sure which you mean.

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jeremyhm says...
1:57pm Sat 9 Feb 13

Could we have some facts, please, instead of invective.
How much would it cost to buy a plot and build an affordable house on this site? When you have this figure, then find a builder who will do the job.

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Twickenham Bob says...
3:20pm Sat 9 Feb 13

Well other London boroughs manage to find builders that are willing to build more affordable housing.

Sparkythecat -nearly everyone first time buyer under the age of 40 who is not in a high paying professional job (Banking/ Law / Medicine) is currently priced off the property ladder. Building luxury flats and houses is not go to help them.

This site has lots of good figures that illustrate the problems under 40s have:

http://homesforlondo
n.org.uk/london_hous
ing/rent_watch

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jeremyhm says...
10:58pm Sat 9 Feb 13

"Well other London boroughs manage to find builders that are willing to build more affordable housing"
Sorry, Bob,that does not answer the question. Let us have the facts, and perhaps then you can persuade us that your argument is valid for this Borough

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Twickenham Bob says...
8:58pm Mon 11 Feb 13

jeremyhm ....

At your request....the Council commissioned this research that shows 50% affordable housing is attainable in all areas of the borough. There is nothing to suggest this cant be done on the sorting office site. Please see:

http://www.richmond.
gov.uk/financial_via
bility_report.pdf

The elephant in the room - is the 'Arts Centre' it looks like the council has made a decision to take homes away from the most vulnerable to subsidise the lifestyle of the middle classes.

They clearly think there are more votes in taking from the poor and giving to the rich, than vise-versa.

Or will it be an Arts Center as it looks suspiciously like a youth center - so Heatham House may not safe.

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jeremyhm says...
10:07am Tue 12 Feb 13

Bob - the report you cite is 7 years ago. Things have moved on since then!!
These plans are not the council's; they are St James'.
Quite a few people seem to be happy with the plans - see Twickerati

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twickersargyle says...
10:33am Tue 12 Feb 13

The post office site plans are excellent.

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Twickenham Bob says...
12:39am Wed 13 Feb 13

Well you better ask Lord True why he hasn't commissioned a more up to date one.

Here is the link to the research the council uses

http://www.richmond.
gov.uk/home/environm
ent/planning/plannin
g_guidance_and_polic
ies/local_developmen
t_framework/local_de
velopment_framework_
research/financial_v
iability_assessment.
htm

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Twickenham Bob says...
12:42am Wed 13 Feb 13

Here is an excellent article that shows that Conservative Councils deliver 40% less affordable housing than Labour Authorities.

http://www.guardian.
co.uk/society/2013/f
eb/10/sharp-drop-new
-affordable-homes

Thus when you put a tick about the Conservative on a voting ballot you are directly contributing to human misery.

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cllrjcoombs says...
12:58pm Thu 14 Feb 13

We should remember that this was publicly owned land. We should also remember that two of our local social landlords have money to build affordable housing. They are now looking for sites outside our borough as they must spend the money by 2015 so it looks like Kingston will get the homes we need in this borough.
The question is why more affordable homes cannot be provided on this site if two of our local social landlords have the money to build (provided by the coalition gvt.)?

Cllr. John Coombs (Lib Dem housing spokesperson)

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twickersargyle says...
8:02pm Thu 14 Feb 13

You're only objecting to this because there's a Tory council and you're a Lib Dem. Stop playing at politics—you make yourself look silly.

I voted Lib Dem at the last election, just in case you're wondering.

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jeremyhm says...
9:52am Fri 15 Feb 13

Cllr Coombs - is it true that the last Lib Dem adminstration built 38 affordable homes, while this Conservative administration has built 129? Please answer

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