What’s new with the Mortlake Brewery redevelopment?
We have finally been notified by Richmond Council of the next stage of public consultation on the Stag Brewery scheme. The Notice is dated 9th December but due to the postal strike many of you will not have yet, or perhaps only just received the letter.
The deadline for representations has been extended due to the postal strike and a delay in getting Notices displayed locally. You have until Saturday 14th January to make your representations.
This latest consultation relates back to the two new planning applications submitted to the Council by the developer in March 2022 following the Mayor’s refusal of the earlier scheme in 2021.
- Application A – Ref 22/0900/OUT was for the mixed use scheme with 1085 residential units ranging from 3-9 storeys.
- Application B – Ref 22/0902/FUL was for the new secondary school.
Further consultations took place and concluded in April this year with 313 objections recorded to Application A, and 222 objections to Application B.
What’s new on the Mortlake Brewery planning process?
Since then the developers have had discussions with the Council in light of these comments. They have also had to make major amendments to the scheme due to building regulations for taller residential developments following the Grenfell tragedy. This has led to the redesign of all the internal layouts of the residential blocks over 18.0m in height and various Technical Reports being updated.
The developer has produced updated drawings and documents to support their changes to the scheme. You can read these on the Council’s planning portal by searching the planning references noted above. Note these are dated 5/12/22 as distinct from earlier submission documents.
What are the MBCG thoughts on this?
MBCG will be reviewing the documents after Christmas but it is clear that the scale and density of the scheme continue to remain a major concern and reason for objection. There is a reduction of just 14 units to a total of 1071 with only 19% affordable homes. We are therefore unlikely to change our view of the March scheme and urge all of you to re-iterate your comments and objections once again.
We will produce a detailed summary and template letter to the Council by Saturday 7th January and circulate these to the community. This will give just 7 days to make your views felt again. The timing of the Notice is clearly far from ideal but it is vital we all respond.