Reselton Properties have made two new application to develop the brewery site and these have now been validated by Richmond Council. One application covers the whole site and the other is specifically for the building of a new secondary school.

You can read the two applications on the developer’s website for the brewery:

• Application A, aka hybrid scheme
• Application B, for the secondary school

Public consultation will  start  very soon and will take place over a 30 day period. Letters to residents who previously commented on the scheme will probably go out after Easter.  We have produced a short summary of the new plans and set out our concerns following a meeting with the local community in March.

What is different from previous plans?

Two new planning applications have been lodged for the Stag Brewery site

• 22/0900/OUT– the over-arching application for the whole site including a Detailed Application for the land east of Ship Lane and an Outline Application for the land west of Ship Lane, with Design Codes to control future detailed design.
• A second parallel Full Planning application, 22/0902/FUL, covers the Secondary School located on the playing fields.

The site layout is very similar to the earlier planning applications submitted to the GLA, with the major change being the removal of the two large four storey blocks to the south of the Thames Bank properties. These are now replaced with a row of townhouses, as shown on the scheme originally approved by Richmond Council.

Building heights have been lowered or modified in a number of locations but heights remain above the 7 floor maximum limit in two main locations namely, in the Blocks immediate east of the secondary school,  and in the four riverside frontage Blocks 7, 8, 11 and 12 located immediately adjacent the towpath. The latter rising up to 8 & 9 floors.

Block 10 on Mortlake High St has been increased to 7 floors and contains affordable units (Intermediate). The other affordable units are contained in Blocks 17 & 18 just north of the new secondary school.

The new scheme now includes 1,085 residential units. This is reduced from the 1,250 in the scheme considered and rejected by the Mayor last year and compares with the 893 units in the scheme approved by Richmond in 2020. The secondary school remains in the same form as shown in earlier applications. The other commercial uses remain broadly the same, with a slight increase in the office space.

The architectural style of the blocks to the east of Ship Lane (Detailed Planning Application), remain the same as earlier applications adopting the mansion block and warehouse typologies. However, the uniform and rather strident red brick mansion block style on the river frontage is now revised, adopting a more varied and softer range of brickwork tones in response to the riparian context.

The west zone of the site remains as an Outline Application with Design Codes to control future development. These codes have been updated to respond to some massing changes and the re-introduction of the townhouses in the north west.

The school application is unchanged save for the energy strategy to comply with the GLA’s new and updated  London Plan (March 2021). Transport for London (TfL) land reserve in the south west of the existing sports fields is retained but we understand that TfL may no longer require this future reserve. We will seek its removal.

In terms of highways related matters the applications propose the removal of 186 car parking spaces from those included in the scheme approved by Richmond in 2020, but the only highway mitigation measures propose a new Left Hand turn lane at Chalker’s Corner. Modest interventions are proposed at the Sheen Lane level crossing.

General Concerns

Key concerns expressed after the Developer’s Webinar presentations continue to focus on the sheer cumulative scale of the development, the resultant traffic generation on/off the only access/egress, and the effects on air quality. This is especially so –given the continued closure of Hammersmith Bridge and no known prospect of the bridge being re-opened for vehicular traffic.

Building heights of 8 & 9 floors remain an issue, particularly on the riverside.

There is a fundamental question over the need for the new 1,150 pupil secondary school which in turn results in the loss of the protected sports fields and precious open space.

As the applications have only just been validated we haven’t yet been able to ascertain the amount of affordable homes being provided but we believe it will be less than 20% of the total number of units.

 

Key concerns – site-wide issues

• Cumulative Density of 1,085 Residential Units, Secondary School and Commercial uses
• Impact of this level of cumulative density on traffic generation/congestion on the single access/egress of the Lower Richmond Road / Mortlake High St.
• Existing and new pedestrian crossings on the Lower Richmond Road / Mortlake High Street will impact on peak time traffic flows, causing increased congestion, especially with 1,150 pupils accessing the school at AM peak times.
• The applicant originally proposed major highways mitigation works at Chalker’s Corner with the earlier 893 residential unit scheme. The application now proposes 1,085 units (21% increase), yet only proposes a new Left Hand turn lane at the same junction.
• Mitigation measures at the Sheen Lane level crossing do little to address the safety issues and risks to pedestrians and road users. (‘behavioural nudges’ – as termed by Network Rail).
• Hammersmith Bridge remains closed for traffic, with no prospect of resolution in sight.
• Air Quality is adversely affected by the increased traffic generation and behavioural changes post-Pandemic with significantly increased courier delivery services.
• Several Blocks exceed the 7 storey maximum height limit imposed by the Planning Brief for the site (and as also now proposed in the Pre-Publication Richmond Local Plan).
• The scheme design still involves the loss of the existing OOLTI protected sports fields with no-compliant ‘re-provisioning’ of open space in the remainder of the site.
• The TfL land reserve is retained but we understand is no longer a fixed requirement of TfL and should be retained as open green space.
• The extent and type of Affordable Housing provisions are still to be clarified but are likely to be non-compliant with planning policy, ie below 20% of total units.

 

Key concerns – Secondary school

• Inadequate and flawed justification for increased school places needs in the east of the Borough
• High risk of future Pan-London pupil catchment rather than east borough provision
• Potential harms to the two existing secondary schools and their 6th Form’s viability
• Loss of protected OOLTI open space.
• Non-compliant ‘re-provisioning’ of OOLTI open space in the remainder of the site
• Sub-optimal site area – circa 30% of DfE Design Guidance and resultant inadequate open space for 1,150 pupils
• The secondary school creates a significant increase in AM peak time traffic.
• Air Quality issues adjacent highly congested Lower Richmond Rd.

 

Next steps

MBCG will study the documentation in detail and share our findings more widely. We will produce a template response  that can be used to send to planning officers at the Council but encourage you to put in your own comments as soon as possible.

We expect the Council’s planning committee to make a decision on the applications in July 2022. During this time, we will be sharing as much information as we can, gathering the views of the residents, and talking to local media. We also hope to persuade our local council candidates, standing for election on May 5^th to support the community’s wider vision for the site.