What’s happened so far?
The Planning Inquiry on the Stag Brewery site has reached mid-point after 8 days of evidence presented to the Planning Inspector, Mr. Glen Rollings. The Inquiry opened at Clarendon Hall, Twickenham on Tuesday 5th November and has run so far for a two-week period up to Friday 15th November.
Day 1
There was an excellent turnout of local residents and interested parties on the morning of Tuesday 5th November, when the Planning Inspectorate’s Inspector opened the Inquiry.
Opening Statements were made by the legal representatives of each of the Parties formally represented at the Inquiry. These were the Appellant, i.e. Reselton Properties, Richmond Council, GLA, West London River Group with The Towpath Group, and MBCG.
Afternoon Site Visit
In the afternoon a site visit was carried out by the Inspector, accompanied by representatives of each of the parties. Peter Eaton, Co-Chair of MBCG attended the site visit along with MBCG’s barrister, Nr Nick Grant. The visit took in the key viewing point on Chiswick Bridge towards Thames Bank, Williams Lane and then both halves of the Stag site. The Inspector also walked to Bulls Alley and along the towpath back to the Maltings and Ship Lane.
The Inspector has already visited the Sheen Lane level crossing at peak times and had walked the towpath to gain views from the White Hart and the opposite bank. He has confirmed he will carry out further unaccompanied visits to get a comprehensive understanding of the local area before drawing up his conclusions.
Days 2-8
The Inquiry heard from various expert witnesses and interested parties on key topics which include Design, Heritage, Environmental, Transport and Education. We are grateful to local school leaders for taking the time to put forward their concerns about the establishment of a new secondary school on the site. Special thanks also to Mortlake and Barnes Common Green Councillor, Cllr Niki Crookdake, who has made several important contributions highlighting the flaws in the current proposals. The Inspector has also actively encouraged individual residents and local groups including Mortlake with East Sheen Society (MESS) and the Towpath Group to address him with their concerns at various points during the sessions.
In terms of our evidence and contributions, MBCG has made it clear to the Inspector that we support redevelopment on the Stag site but object strongly to the cumulative scale and density of the current plan; the proposal to build a secondary school and the harms to so many aspects of local context, character, and enjoyment of Mortlake for residents and visitors.
These have been tough sessions with witnesses and interested parties being cross-examined by very senior barristers for both the Appellant and the Council. The MBCG extends a big thank you to all of the witnesses and other parties for their willingness to participate and be subjected to a somewhat grueling process. This has involved a great deal of hard work and many hours of preparation and personal commitment.
You can watch all the November sessions from Day 1 to Day 8 which were streamed by Richmond Council here
Home – Richmond upon Thames Webcasting
We are grateful to Richmond Council for agreeing to stream the Inquiry which has enabled many more people from our community to get involved.
December sessions coming up
The Inquiry reconvenes on Tuesday 3rd December until Friday 6th December, Note this will be different venue from Clarendon Court. The venue for the third week will be held at the Cole Court Centre, 150 London Road, Twickenham, TW1 3AA. The final week of the Inquiry will take place from Tuesday 10th December to potentially Friday 13th December. These sessions are scheduled to take place in the Council Chamber in York House, Richmond Road, Twickenham
The remaining subjects to be covered will be the Draft 106 Agreement and Planning Conditions, Viability and Affordable Housing which will be led in terms of objections by the GLA, and finally Planning which will consider the balance between public benefits of the proposals and harms. MBCG will be putting forward strong evidence in the Planning session to demonstrate that the current plans are harmful and do not benefit the community.
Two ‘reserve’ days – 12/13th December have been aside in case of time over-runs but otherwise the Inquiry will end on Day 14 – Wednesday 11th December.
These sessions will be streamed live by Richmond Council once again.
The Inspector anticipates making his decision by early March next year and unless the Secretary of State calls in the Appeal, which at present we see as unlikely, then the Inspector’s decision on the current plans will be final.
We urge you to come to the Council Chamber in person on the likely final day to support our long-fought campaign for a community led development in Mortlake. It will also demonstrate to the Inspector that we really care what happens to this site.
Finally, we also ask you to consider to once again donating to our legal fund to help cover our remaining costs for our barrister and other expert witness involvement. We estimate we need a further £3000 to cover all our costs which has increased due to the additional time the inquiry will have taken.
Please click donation button below.