The first day of Public Inquiry, Tuesday 5th November, started with opening submissions of behalf of all the Parties, the developers Reselton Properties Ltd, Richmond upon Thames Council, the Greater London Authority (GLA) and the Mortlake Community Group. There were then submissions by a number of interested parties.

On the first afternoon the Inspector made an accompanied site visit. He made it clear that he had visited on two previous occasions and had observed traffic in Sheen Lane. 

On the second day, Wednesday 6th November, the evidence included a presentation by the architect Murray Levinson. What quickly became clear was that the original concept of a Mortlake Village, with some Arcadian features, was to be turned into an urban area with the support of Richmond Council. The Inspector noted that guidance advised that terms like village, suburban and urban should be avoided, but there is no escaping the intention of the development. SEE

This concept justifies the building of over a thousand residential units in a tall and dense area, with office buildings, a cinema and a 1200 pupil secondary school. As Andy Hick, a riverside resident said at the beinning of the second week, it is not as dense as Wandsworth and east. So if you want the urban towers extended to Mortlake, you go for this scheme.

That was emphasised in the afternoon roundtable session
SEE design_agenda_round_table.pdf   

That of course takes no account of the impact created beyond the immediate confines of the development, such as on local education, traffic and broader infrastructure. 

On Thursday 7th November the Inspector heard from Cllr Penny Frost giving her opinions on the development and from local schools, Richmond Park Academy, Thomson House School and Chiswick High School and Geoff Stanton on the potential impact on local sixth form provision.

In the afternoon there was an environmental roundtable, in which flooding concerns were highlighted, the impact on the towpath, air quality, trees, drainage, bats and the impact of lighting.  

On Friday 8th November Richard White made a submission on the false letters of support placed on the Council Planning Portal, Tim Catchpole, MESS Chair, giving evidence about the survey conducted among MESS members, Cllr Niki Crookdake setting out her opinions on the development. To listen see 

Stag Brewery Inquiry: Transport - Friday 8 November 2024, 10:00am - Richmond upon Thames Webcasting 

At the end of that session is evidence from Howard Potter, on behalf of the Mortlake Brewery Community Group followed in the afternoon by his cross examination and evidence from Margaret Theobald on behalf of the developers.

See  Stag Brewery Inquiry: 8th November Afternoon session - Friday 8 November 2024, 1:00pm - Richmond upon Thames Webcasting