If you want to comment about the Council planning proposal and give your views, you might consider the following contacts:
email to:
Council: Planning Application
planningapplications@wandsworth.gov.uk
Tel: (020) 8871 8413
or write to:
Planning Service – Technical Service Department
Town Hall
Wandsworth High Street
London SW18 2PU
Please also contact/email and let them know your concerns:
- Mayor of London, Boris Johnson: mayor@london.gov.uk
- Battersea MP, Jane Ellison: jane.ellison.mp@parliament.uk
- Wandsworth Planning Committee members, writing to Martin Newton, Committee Secretary: MNewton@wandsworth.gov.uk and/or the chairman of the committee, Councillor Nick Cuff.
You may want to send you letter to the press:
- Email the editor, in Wandsworth Borough News: Kerry McQueeney: kmcqueeney@london.newsquest.co.uk
- South London Press: email the editor for your letter to be published: letters@slp.co.uk
I have emailed all the names on your list, giving all my concerns about density of people, height of the towers, insufficient expansion of the station to accommodate the next 20 years growth, concern over insufficient sewerage and drainage (following extensive flooding last summer), and inadequate school/hospital/transport/road provision (particularly since Ram Brewery Twin Towers development has been approved, and councillors are already discussing expansion of existing primary schools)
I will be attending the planning meeting, and hope to register to speak/object.
Great website,
Lynda Mathewson
Knowing already the pressure the appartment blocks in Wandsworth near the roundabout have put on transport and drainage etc, as well as the ones at Imperial Wharf it is irresponsible to approve yet another badly thought out project.
I would very much like to see the area redeveloped, but not if it means even more conjestion. Clapham Junction Station is dangerous at peak times already. St John’s Hill is dangerous with speeding traffic, busses and pedestrians.
More thought and care needs to be considered.
We received a PR brochure on the proposed development this week from Quattro PR and couldn’t believe quite how ugly and intrusive the towers look. One of the photographs, showing a typical street with the towers “towering” over it, looks like it should be captioned something like “previous planning errors still blight the area”. Incredible.
Rob> The interesting thing about the PR brochure is that within 9 photographs, only 3 are showing towers with only 1 (view from Severus road) giving maybe a good feeling of what it would look like (albeit showing only 1 tower properly). There are some interesting Q/A in the brochure and we intend to list and comment on the website next week.
Is there any way of seeing the brochure on line? Evidently they think those further up Northcote Rd than Salcott Rd are not going to worry! I did look but couldn’t find.
Julia Matcham>I have it here, I need to scan it and comment all the paragraphs + add a few comments that residents sent to me. I will do that probably on Thursday (I have at least 10 important emails to reply to but I’m currently scuba diving for work 😉 ). In the meantime, I hope to be able to put the video of the public meeting of last Wednesday on the website tonight or tomorrow.
For the record, George Soros (the “Philanthropist”) owns near enough 50% of Delancey (which is run by Ritblatt and Son).
By Jon Laycock
Feb. 27 (Bloomberg) — Billionaire investor George Soros
plans to invest 2 billion pounds ($3.8 billion) in the commercial
property market in London, the Observer reported, without saying
where it got the information.
Soros has spent 300 million pounds on two office developments
in London over the last few months through U.K. real estate
company Delancey Estates Plc, the paper said.
Demand for U.K. commercial property remains strong,
attracting investors from around the world, the Observer said,
citing unidentified property consultants.
(Observer – Business, p. 2)
For the Observer’s Web Site See TGDN
–Editor: Z. Smith
Story illustration: See DYE LN DES for more
Sirs
I fully support the proposed planned redevelopment of Clapham Junction as submitted.
The area is of little or no merit as it stands. It is down at heal and a pedestrian the traffic disaster. It needs massive re-investment which I doubt the Council can/will undertake.
The developer’s scheme may well be its last chance before it falls into further negligence and urban decay.
I for one cannot abide the nay say’ers whom it appears wish things to stay as they are and are content to be surrounded by the current squalor of the area.
I agree with one aspect of Peter Light’s comment in that the site could do with development but add my concerns about the design of the towers.
I do not believe it is necessary in this day and age to build in this manner.
Local planning should be focussed on creating a forward looking and dynamic environment but not one that is ugly and oppressive.
We do not want our local surroundings dominated by an eyesore straight out of some 60’s vision of dystopia.
I do not believe the argument that these towers are necessary to fund the development.
In respect to the postcard campaign by the developers which according to them generated support from ‘hundreds of people from Wandsworth and across London’ – These postcards were visually focussed on the shopping centre/ access area of the development and carried a picture of the towers which was totally misleading of their size and aspect. I would say this was a blatant ‘trick’ and I’m sure that the majority of people were unaware of this when signing their support.
I received a very misleading postcard through my door this week from the developers designed to be sent to the planners in support of the tower blocks.
Firstly, I can’t believe such a crazy plan could be seriously considered in an area where even the smallest loft extension has to be in-keeping and appropriate. The towers are completely alien to the feel of the area and extremely dominant and ugly.
Secondly, the postcard, ad in the Wandsworth Guardian today and developers’ website all gloss over the appearance of the towers by not showing the scale and height in photos. The advert in the paper hardly mentioned the towers at all, concentrating on a “now or never” chance to improve Clapham Junction station and also saying the area is in decline (which seems an odd thing to say with new shops like Waitrose and Jamie Oliver just moving to St John’s Road).
It frankly feels like a manipulative propaganda campaign by the developers. A massive eyesore shouldn’t be created for this part of London because of “support” based on distorted facts and statistics produced by a massive media/ PR campaign in favour of the towers.
Joanna please do copy all of that to the Councils limp request for comments on:
http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/Home/MyWandsworth/Pressreleases/newspage_detail.htm?id=6380
They don’t even mention the 42 storey towers…just make it look like any old modern boring shopping centre. One could be forgiven for thinking the Council was selling it to us…although they are constanly talking about not predjudicing the outcome!!!
I have to raise my concerns about one particular establishment. ‘The Princes Head on Falcon Road’ and the illegal car wash which operates in it’s car park.
1) This pub breaches its licensing hours, (even after being mentioned in the guardian last week). They held a late night party which ended with 3 brawls in the middle of the street. People were openly taking drugs outside/on the corner of the premises.
2) The car-wash has been operating for years without planning. On July 24th it had its planning finally refused but here we are September and they are still operating? The employees of this car wash use the garages as toilets, as I’ve often witnessed first hand.
3) This Pub attracts a lot of crime / anti-social behaviour. This is one of those pubs which should be knocked down and turned into flats but the council is dragging its feet about the entire situation. If you live anywhere near and around this pub you will know what a nuisance it is.
Marty,
In its latest newsletter Cllr Belton is talking about it:
https://tonybelton.wordpress.com/2015/08/31/councillor-tony-beltons-latchmere-september-newsletter-76/
A residential development is meant to take place at the location. We talked about it here:
http://cjag.org/2014/09/30/redevelopment-of-the-princes-head-pub-site-falcon-road/
The planning application was approved.
As a consequence, the licence of the Princes Head’s was not renewed last June. Although the pub had announced its intention to fight the order, in August it decided to drop its appeal It will now close definitely.