East Sheen Remembrance Service and Parade: Rolling Road closure from outside the entrance of East Sheen Library Car Park to its junction with Muirdown Avenue from 10.40am to 11.20am on Sunday.
I have by and large tried to provide factual information on this blog and expressed third party opinions. Having this morning given evidence to the Inspector about the false letters of support for the planning applications filed on the Council Planning Portal by the developers’ agents, I feel I should briefly turn to the first person.
I am assured that my full speaking brief and its exhibits will be uploaded to the Inquiry website. You can also see my evidence on the livestream – and significantly the responses of Counsel for the local authority.
Counsel for Richmond merely said that they had reported the matter to the Inspectorate and the letters would form no part of their case. He ignored any question of whether they should have further investigated how the false letters came to be on a Council website.
Counsel for the developers basically said these allegations should be ignored for the purposes of the Inquiry, and in the same breath as making comments about costs, referred to Professional Codes of Conduct stating that unproven allegations should not be put before the Inquiry. He misquoted me in relation to ‘malfeasance’ where what I said, and have always said, was that the false letters raised questions about malfeasance which should be investigated. They never have been and I fear we have to assume they will not be. I took his comments as veiled threats.
So just what is the truth about thse letters? We may never know. The outcome is that both the Council and the developers have simply brushed this under the table.
And while I am writing I note that there has been no-one present from the local press. So your only source of news is on this blog!
Don’t forget Remambrance Day at the War Memorial in Sheen this Sunday. Be there by 1040 am to see the orchestrated marching.
Poppies can still be bought at Waitrose on Saturday. A little way to go to get to last year’s £10,000.
A roundtable discussion took place on environmental matters. That means that the experts give their views on a range of questions put by the Inspector. These were on air quality, flooding, trees and bats. More on that at the weekend.
It was an interesting morning on education matters. Cllr, Penny Frost, Chair of the Education Committee, and Mark Tuffney, Head of Lowther Primary School, gave evidence consistent with what was said to the Planning Committee in July 2023. To what extent they had updated their thinking since is debatable. It was difficult to read as no recent statements had been filed by either of them. Maybe we will hear more from Henry Kilpin, the Borough School Placements Officer, next week.
We then heard from Cllr. Niki Crookdake, taking James Whelan, Head of Richmond Park Academy,
Laura Ellener, Head of Chiswick High School, Kelly McEvoy, of Thomson House Primary School, and
Geoffrey Stanton, on Sixth Forms numbers and policy. Since we had had no advance notice nor written statement of what Cllr. Frost and Mr Tuffney intended to say, it was a bit rich that Counsel for Richmond and for the developers complained they had not been given adequate notice of their evidence. That did not appear to hinder some robust cross-examination. Interesting that Counsel for Richmond found that necessary.
Suffice to say that parts of the issue are complicated! Watching the livestreaming is recommended. Regrettably through some technical error the livestreaming was connected to the afternoon session and not contemporaneous. This was not detected until mid-morning. You will be able to watch it tomorrow, to study the evidence from the schools’ representatives, who fundamentally all argued that the proposed secondary school was not needed.
Watch out also for the video of an out of control van heading from the builders’ yard across Sheen Lane to the gates of Thomson House School.
Friday we are starting early at 930am because representations were not reached today from Tim Catchpole, Chair of the Mortlake with East Sheen Society, Richard White on the fake letters of support for the applications, and Cllr Crookdake.
The livestreaming is working BUT you have to go to the afternoon session to find it. I am assured it has / is being recorded. A regrettable administrative error!
On Day 3 you will hear from a number of local schools about their objections to the proposed 1200 pupil secondary school. I have seen a lot of their evidence. It makes compelling reading, ignored to date by the Council, so attend or watch the livestream if you can.
They will be followed by Tim Catchpole, Chair of MESS, and Richard White who will be giving evidence about false letters of support for the applications, filed by the developer’s agents.
All Opening Statements have now been uploaded to the Inquiry website at gatelyhamer-pi.com and then go to Uploaded Inquiry Documents
gateleyhamer-pi.com
This site is now the best place to go for evidence and livestreaming links.
It appears that a day’s hearing is uploaded to the system overnight.
Today’s hearing concerns overall design. The first hour was a presentation by the architect. Subsequently there has been a roundtable discussion, which at present is about heights and whether seven stories should be the maximum height. The architect has just said that the Local Plan is ‘broad brush and guidelines’. A convenient interpretation? That is not the Mortlake Brewery Community Group. A key point for the Inspector to decide?
We’re off! After some weeks of uncertainty the Inquiry started in Clarendon Hall at York House, which has plenty of space. Livestreaming seems to be working efficiently. Go to https://gateleyhamer-pi.com/en-gb/stag-brewery/
The Inspector Glen Rollings opened proceedings with an outline of the applications and how matters would proceed. He demonstrated how keen he was to ensure that residents were heard. He said that anyone who wanted to contribute could be heard at the start of proceedings on every day when he was sitting.
Counsel for the parties, the developers Reselton Properties Ltd, the London Borough of Richmond, the GLA, the Mortlake Brewery Community Group and the West London River Group. all made opening statements. The first three are available on the Inquiry website at https://gateleyhamer-pi.com/en-gb/stag-brewery/inquiry-documents/documents-during/
There is clearly a difference in conceptual understanding of what should be on the site. The developers and the Council now seem to regard it as an urban development, emphasising that it was not an Arcadian part of the Thames. Local people will be emphasising that they agreed with the design as it was in 2011, which was a village. Now it was ‘too tall, too dense, too big’.
Affordable house, heritage, local traffic, the need for the secondary school and the relevance of the Local Plan are all going to be obvious areas of contention.
The Inspector spent the afternoon with party representatives on a site visit, starting on the Chiswick Bridge side and walking round to the Maltings. Would they make it before dark? He had already visited twice and spent time in Sheen Lane.
Start Tuesday 5th November 2024 10am
Venue Clarendon Hall
Inspector opens the Inquiry.
Opening statements from Counsel for the parties.
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