“ ..inappropriate form of development.. unduly dominant ... detrimental to the streetscape” says Planning Committee

CGI of building as it would be seen from Putney Bridge Road

Last night (25th January) the Planning Committee rejected the planning application for Demolition of existing buildings and redevelopment of the site at 45 - 53 Putney High Street & 327 - 339 Putney Bridge Road SW15. The Planning Committee
were unhappy that the scheme would reduce the amount of existing retail and business space and would include a ten storey building and 115 flats without adequate benefits for the community.

Thamesfield Councillor Rosemary Torrington, who made representations on behalf of residents at the meeting, told this website: "Whilst we are keen to see the regeneration of this site and much-needed CIL investment in the High Street, there remained serious concerns about the application raised during the debate at the planning committee last night. The proposals failed to provide the public square required by the Council's policy document. Offering only a pocket courtyard at first floor level next to bedrooms it would not have been accessible 24/7 and failed to fulfil the aspirations of the policy, a point also raised by the Design Review Panel. At ten storeys, the proposals would have been on the margins of acceptability particularly on a site forming part of an existing block of between three and four storeys on either side. This is a very different context from the stand-alone buildings of Putney Wharf Tower and Jubilee House. In this instance the height could not be justified by the public benefit on offer."

Fellow Thamesfield councillor Mike Ryder, who is a member of the Planning Applications Committee, also spoke against the application during the debate at last night's meeting. He told Putney SW15 today: "We all want that site developed, but it is in such a strategic spot, at the entrance to Putney itself and the high street, that any development really has got to be the right one... we will all be living with it for a very long time."

The Chair of the Putney Society said: "The Putney Society welcomes the Council's decision to reject a scheme that so clearly exceeded adopted policies".

Planning committee chairman Cllr Will Sweet said: “This was not a well designed scheme and would not have sat well in the town centre. It would have had a detrimental effect on the high street and its appearance and there were simply not enough pros to overcome the many cons associated with this application.”

A spokesperson for Better Putney said: "Better Putney are pleased with the outcome, and the reasons given for the rejection. We worked to get a large number of objections lodged against this way too large and poorly thought through development - that was clearly of little benefit to Putney. Hopefully sanity will prevail and the plans for the way out of scale hotel right on the corner of the High Street and Putney Bridge Road will be now shelved. What Putney deserves is a good integrated plan for the two sites, working together".

Cllr Torrington continued: "There were however, many positives such as an improved street frontage with much-needed retail and office space as well as affordable housing, landscaping and CIL funding for improvement to the public realm in the High Street. We very much hope that the owners of this site and the adjoining site on the corner will now work together to develop an integrated scheme incorporating a public square at ground level and as councillors, we will do all we can to support an improved scheme for this important town centre site."

Neither Trust Real Estate and Savills Investment Management (SIM) who made the application have as yet responded to our request for comment.

January 29, 2018