Wait continues over Bushy Park development (From Richmond and Twickenham Times)

Wait continues over Bushy Park development

3:52pm Tuesday 14th October 2008

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Residents of Hampton Wick must wait while a Government official decides whether to allow a controversial 234 unit development next to Bushy Park.

Planning inspector, Mary O’Rourke, heard closing arguments for and against altering planning permission given to Linden Homes in 2005 to transform an old gas works into a complex consisting of five storey blocks, a crèche, nursing home, retail and office space.

Urging the decision to go against the developers, Richmond Council representative, John Litton, highlighted three key areas of concern on Thursday.

These included the impact on “the character and appearance of the wider area including Bushy Park,” a negative visual aspect caused by infilling blocks and the effect on neighbours in School House Lane, users of the Orchard open space and occupiers of one of the proposed blocks.

Mr Litton said: “The additional height, bulk and mass of [three of the blocks] will undoubtedly have a detrimental effect on the openness of Bushy Park.”

He added there would be two buildings which would “present a blank face and loom over School House Lane and the Orchard”.

Mr Litton acknowledged the positive elements of the scheme as being the additional 18 units of affordable housing and the sustainability of the appeal proposals but he argued they did not deliver enough in-demand three bed houses.

Mr Litton concluded: “The harmful impacts of the appeal proposals do not outweigh the planning benefits.”

In the final submission for Linden Homes, Mark Lowe, suggested the council was being short-sighted in its assessment of the development with regard to the established residential area.

He said: “The Greater London Assembly, having seen the appeal proposals took a wider view: ‘…it is a relatively self-contained site that is capable of adopting its own character without harming the surrounding lower densities’.”

Mr Lowe described the possible creation of more affordable housing as a “provision welcomed equally by the council and the GLA as a real contribution to an existing and very pressing need”.

He added: “If [the site] dominated the viewer or made an appreciable adverse change to the quality of the experience of the users of Bushy Park or its essential character that would be another thing; but that is not this case.”

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