Author: Cyril Richert
With all the new developments in Clapham Junction, but also in other parts of the borough (Nine Elms of course) you may wonder if there is an incentive for the borough. No need to keep in suspense, the answer is yes. We have carried out a thorough comparison with neighbouring boroughs and Wandsworth is actually crushing the competition! Continue reading
Author: Cyril Richert
Last May was approved a new development in York Road for a part 5, 9, 11, 13 and 14 storey providing 82 residential units (with only 7 car parking spaces and 145 cycle parking spaces located at basement level). [p.a. 2017/5818].
It is interesting to see that, at the time the proposed plot was advertised, the potential development was however very different: a 6 storey building, with 39 apartments (9 affordable) with terrace or balcony and retail premises on the ground floor. The 0.25-acre site was acquired by IP Global in 2015 and proposed for sale in January 2017 for £7,250,000.
6 storey building, with 39 apartments
Author: Cyril Richert
“You’re joking. NOT ANOTHER ONE?! Oh for God’s sake, I can’t, honestly – I can’t stand this” could have been the response when Wandsworth Council asked again for Societies and Community groups to take part of one of their global planning consultations. However, only 1 month after the Consultation on community involvement submitted in January, we responded again.
The Council has consulted on its draft Local Plan issues for eight weeks starting at the beginning of December (ending February 6th 2019). As expressed by many other groups and Societies at the Planning Forum meeting on January 23rd, it was a very tight deadline for such consultation. However the Battersea Society and the Putney Society managed to submit their contribution at the beginning of February, and CJAG submitted on February 15th.
Both CJAG and the Battersea Society said that it was particularly difficult to be requested to comment with only a digital copy of a complex 76-page document (click HERE to download), without receiving a hard copy that could be more easily flipped through and annotated before drafting a response. The Battersea Society said:
“The lack of hard copies for civic societies who now, and in the past, have spent a considerable amount of time providing input to Wandsworth Council on these and many other documents is an added minor irritant”
and CJAG wrote:
“It is obvious that this process, with the apparent aim of saving little money, is not encouraging a democratic consultation.”
The Local Plan submitted for consultation was made of 98 questions that the Council wished to receive input on. We are displaying some of the comments from the Community groups below, with a link to download the full response each time. Continue reading
Author: Cyril Richert
Application 2013/5712 (70-74 St John’s Hill) was granted in April 2015 at the Planning Application Committee for erection of four-storey plus basement building to provide Class A1 shops at ground floor with 8 flats above including a first floor roof garden.
There was a new application 2017/0488 asking for condition 12 regarding sustainable development certificate to be removed as developers claim that “The government had scrapped the requirement for the code of Sustainable Homes in March 2015 and our planning approval is dated 22 April 2015“. Other requests to modify conditions were submitted and granted: 2017/0919, 2017/5179 and the latest 2018/1526 regarding cycle storage (approved 9 October 2018).
Authors: Owners and residents of No. 17, 18, 20, 23, 40, 42, 43 and 44 Ganley Court
Latest plans for skyscrapers on York Gardens
NB: This is a transcript of the detailed objection of Ganley Court residents regarding the Planning Application 2019/0024, which is proposing to build on York Garden up to 2550 residential units ranging from 3 – 31 storeys above ground level including leisure centre, health, flexible commercial uses, park, landscaping, public realm, energy centres, car/cycle parking and new vehicle accesses.
We are the owners and residents of No. 17, 18, 20, 23, 40, 42, 43 and 44 Ganley Court, Winstanley Estate, SW11 2EW. We are all freeholders of well-maintained low rise terraced family-sized houses of three and four bedrooms with garden. We believe that the changes being proposed are substantial and that, despite our feelings about the Master Plan having been made clear from the beginning, the rights and needs of the freehold residents of Ganley Court have been neglected and undermined throughout the consultation process. We therefore request further consultation and a revised planning application before this is determined. Continue reading
Author: Cyril Richert
An article from the Evening Standard a few days ago revealed to the general public some pictures of the plans instigated by Wandsworth Council to redevelop Winstanley & York estates. We have already explained in many articles how Wandsworth Council ignored some results of the consultation 5 years ago and has conducted parody of consultations along the process. For a reminder, you can just glance at our previous article: Winstanley regeneration: Can we trust the Council?
There is not much to add to the pictures published in the Evening Standard and that we post below. It resembles more Canary Wharf or even New York in some extend and as “phallocratic” tower-plans go (as Boris Johnson famously named them in 2007) the budget for this “grand” design slipped from £1bn in 2017 to £1.4bn nowadays. Who knows, it might soon reached £2bn if you had 2 or 3 more skyscrapers… And to reuse a headline describing the former Mayor of London, it could be Tory’s dire legacy for Clapham Junction. Continue reading
Author: Cyril Richert
Planning Applications Committee – Room 123
This is now the third time that we experiment the new format of the Planning Forum meeting, since the changed decided by the Chair, Cllr Will Sweet (change in which CJAG was instrumental).
Instead of spending most of the time being updated on planning policies with little time for attendee’s questions, only 20 minutes was dedicated to officer’s topics with the rest of the 90 minutes dedicated to items raised (submitted in advance) by Forum members.
