As planning meeting approaches residents are split

On Wednesday 19th September the planning committee for Wandsworth council will meet and included in the applications is the somewhat controversial application for a primary school and residential flats on the site of the former hospital on Putney Common. The application can be found on pages 63-143 of the agenda - (click here)

A recent survey conducted by Thamesfield councillors, with a questionnaire distributed among residents living close to the proposed new school on the old Putney Hospital site, resulted in 59 per cent saying they are in favour of a new school there.

However a spokesperson for the Friends of Putney Common group told PutneySW15.com:
"It is no surprise that the Council should want to rush this planning application through the committee or that the Borough Planner should recommend approval despite the growing number of objections from residents. Ms Manchanda, the Borough Planner, has taken such a blinkered view of the objections that the report is a classic of its sort - shortsighted, misleading and inaccurate in so many ways. But perhaps the most notable feature is the complete absence of answers to FoPC's legal challenges to the WPCC/WBC unlawful agreements to build roads on common land and the lack of an EIA. We expect the Council to rubber stamp the approval on the 19th of September, but we hope they will see sense before that happens. We expect to lodge a request for a judicial review if approval is given."

The agenda states that there have been a total of 638 objections to the plans

On September 6th the Thamesfield Councillors organised a public meeting at the London Rowing Club chaired by Putney MP Justine Greening to discuss the proposals, this was attended by about 150 residents.

The Thamesfield Councillors, Rosemary Torrington, Jim Maddan and Mike Ryder told PutneySW15.com:
”We were delighted to be able to gauge feelings for and against the school plan, both with our own survey and with the public meeting. We think it’s always important to listen to all sides on an issue like this.”

The Friends of Putney Common have a arranged a second public meeting to be chaired by Putney MP Justine Greening on October 15th at All Saints Church on the common opposite the hospital, from 7.30 for 8pm start.

Earlier this month the council identified that the borough will need an additional 600 places within 5 years following the latest birth rate stats from the Greater London Authority (GLA) a council spokesperson said:
"All councils have a legal duty to make sure there are enough places for local children, but the council’s education spokesman is warning that a campaign to prevent the use of the former hospital site on Putney Common is working against the interests of future generations of children. Without it one in four children in Thamesfield ward alone could be without a school place."

September 18, 2012