VICTORY FOR RESIDENTS!
No 24 PLANNING APPLICATION REFUSED
October 9th 2008: Alex Wilson told the developers that their application for No 24 had been refused
It was turned down, in part, because:
- Lack of neighbourhood amenities i.e. the main concern was that residents of Grosvenor Avenue would be overlooked and unfairly blocked by a boundary touching two story building with no breaks between the building.
- Mr Wilson described the plans as a ‘Cramped over development.’ He said that the high density nature of it meant that there was no room to soften the landscape and that the replacement trees, (to be sited on the pavement,) would have been turned down by the highways department.
- Engineers had looked at the basement car park plans and had deemed them unworkable. They also had concerns about the access being on the turning circle and said that ‘major road safety issues,’ would occur.
- Lack of adequate recycling facilities. As they plans showed over 6 dwellings the council expected more than just wheelie bins to be present, but the high density nature of the scheme left for no room for proper facilities
They did it!
The story:
When plans for a high density housing scheme arrived on the doorsteps of residents in a quiet Edwardian cul-de-sac in Sheen, South West London, SOS Avenue Gardens Action Group was formed.
Near neighbours Julia Bates and Amanda Wilson got together to form the group and set about harnessing local support to oppose the proposal, at that time, before Richmond upon Thames Council. "I felt physically sick when I saw the plans", Amanda Wilson explained, "eight, three story terraced houses squashed onto the large garden of a plot containing one house, 25% of our small street is taken up by this plot of land and presented before us was a scheme to develop it in the most insensitive and obtrusive way."
Local prospective Conservative MP and conservationist Zac Goldsmith was soon on board and has remained one of the groups staunches supporters: "It was one of the worse cases of over development I had ever seen: It was garden-grabbing at its worst."
Julia Bates, who Co-Chairs the committee with Amanda Wilson, was particularly shocked to see the potential for environmental havoc the proposal, if passed, would cause. "Four mature trees, a 100 metre length of historic wall, shrubs, valuable flood plain drainage and green space was to be lost under concrete. The new build would have no amenities only minuscule concrete patios. It angered the residents that this might have a possibility of succeeding, we had to stop it, there was no debate. We soon found we had 100% support, not just from these streets, but actually from the wider public."
A strategy was formed. "We basically took a sledge hammer to crack a nut" explains Julia Bates. "We hoped to make the site 'undevelopable.'"
Within a few weeks they had over 70 letters of objection on the council website, posters in windows and shops blazing out the message to stop garden grabbing. A petition of over one thousand signatures was presented to the council by the local ward councillor and leader of the Conservative opposition in Richmond Council, Nicholas True.
National press, radio and countless local press articles struck home the message that the residents of this small family friendly road in Sheen were not going to, in the words of Amanda Wilson, "Put up, shut up and watch the whole aesthetic and nature landscape of their street be destroyed by a terrace of hideous cheap build 'chalets'"
Julia Bates was moved to further action by the strength of feeling around her. "We'd set up a email address and found that similar groups began contacting us having read about our fight locally. The scale of the feeling against 'Garden Grabbing' and high density development was clear, you only had to pick up a local paper to see case after case of outraged residents watching ever more ludicrous development schemes being foisted on them. I looked around at what Richmond council proudly call our 'Beautiful Borough' and saw an erosion, the sight of out of place, new build, tacky, empty properties alongside period houses was jarring. Whose needs were being met by this? And are we in danger of looking back in 10 years time and being astonished that this kind of high density town planning was allowed to happed, no gardens- just concrete."
SOS Avenue Gardens have broadened their horizons to help and advise other nationwide groups and individuals. Anyone wishing to contact them can email sosavenuegardens@yahoo.co.uk or telephone 020 8876 0142