On Wednesday 19th July, Richmond’s planning committee granted planning consent to Reselton Properties to build 1068 housing units and a secondary school for 1200 pupils on the 22-acre Stag Brewery site. The decision was supported by all Liberal Democrat Councillors who sit on the Committee bar Councillor Richard Bennett who represents the Green Party.
The Chair of the Committee, Councillor Cardy, allowed 6 public speakers to oppose the applications. Alongside two local residents, representatives from Mortlake with East Sheen Society, Chertsey Court Residents Association, West London River Group and Thames Bank Residents Association spoke eloquently and with passion. Each pointed out the significant harms of the proposed development including density, traffic, heights of building, loss of green space and impact on the tow path. The patent lack of benefit to the community was sadly demonstrated by the fact that only 65 units are being made available for affordable housing. This is shockingly low especially as there are over 5000 people registered on the housing waiting list.
You can watch the webcast of the meeting here. There is little debate, and what there is lacks either rigour or understanding of the issues.
We are very disappointed that once again our local council has failed to listen to the community or engage with us to co-produce a plan for the site that we can all support. The Mayor of London will review the decision within two weeks and decide whether to approve, refuse or call-in the applications and take over the planning process again. The Mayor rejected previous plans for the site in 2021 as a direct result of our campaigning.
What can you do now?
We are urging the Mayor to intervene once again and give us the opportunity to shape this development as a community at long last. You can help persuade him. Please email him within the next 5 days and ask him to call in this poor decision and reject these plans.
You can download a template email here.
Send your email to mayor@london.gov.uk and copy in our GLA Member Nick Rogers nick.rogers@london.gov.uk