A peaceful spot near the battleground for today on education provision at the Planning Inquiry.
Holly Lodge Centre Christmas Concert will be held on Thursday, 5th December, 7:30pm – 9.30pm at Christ Church. Featuring Clarendon School, Sheen Gate Choir and Sheen Mount
School. Hosted by Adrian Miles – TV Presenter/actor and Readings by Jacki Piper – star of
stage/screen.
Google Holly Lodge Christmas Concert for tickets
From mid morning to end of day on Friday 8th November the hearing was given over to transport matters. Evidence was heard from Howard Potter. His proof recites:
“I am a Chartered Civil Engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers and a Chartered Town Planner and now a retired member of the Royal Town Planning Institute. I served as a Director of the Transport Planning Society for over 10 years. I have practiced as a transport planning specialist having worked extensively in senior positions within the public and private sectors and have
over the last 6 years advised both the MBCG and the Mortlake and East Sheen Society
on transport planning matters.. I have been a local resident since 1969.”
He described his concerns as: (1) the large size of the school; (2) the proposals for widening the Lower
Richmond Road approach to Chalker’s Corner; and (3) the lack of any proposed effective measures to deal with the increased pressures on the Sheen Lane level crossing.
His major concern is about safety at the level crossing. This is illustrated by the incident shown in the video of the van rolling backwards to the school gate. https://www.elmwoodfencing.co.uk/
Safety is of course already an every day concern for many needing to cross the railway line. This can only be exacerbated by the addition of 1085 residential units and a 1200 secondary school and their movement to and from East Sheen and from the A316 and Barnes and in and out of central London.
Margaret Theobald of Stantec Ltd, who has a Post Graduate Diploma in Highway and Traffic Engineering from Middlesex Polytechnic, a member of the Chartered Institution of Highways and
Transportation and a Senior Associate of Stantec UK, a consultancy of engineers and planners, gave evidence after Mr. Potter.
She gave evidence that Network Rail has said that the level crossing is a high risk crossing due to the proximity of the station and speed and frequency of trains passing through. They also said that all available safety features are currently present at the crossing. The changes to signing and lighting of the footbridge will raise awareness that a ticket is not required to make use of the footbridge, which is not explicit at the moment, and will increase the attractiveness of the foot bridge route to pedestrians particularly in the dark. Advanced cycle stop lines will give cyclists the opportunity to cross the railway ahead of motor traffic. This is a feature commonly used at traffic signals to allow cyclists a head start at the beginning of the green time and is likely to have a similar effect here. Additional waiting space is also provided for pedestrians as this was identified as an issue by LBRuT.
She referred to the section 106 agreement and noted that should there be a failure to achieve the Travel Plan targets a contribution of £350,000 payable to the council for sustainable travel purposes which are:
1) Implementation of a bus lane along Lower Richmond Road; and/or
2) a review of cycle infrastructure and implementation of the recommendations of that
review; and/or
3) A review of pedestrian infrastructure and implementation.
4) Or such other measures directed towards the promotion of sustainable transport and
travel within the council’s administrative area as may be agreed between the owner and
the Council in writing.
Are we in Richmond Ice Rink territory here? (See post on 10 November 2024) If they fail to achieve the plan they pay a sum of money. Who knows what that might be used for? And is it even feasible for those measures to be safe or adequate. None of the existing proposals even begin to touch the current let alone the potential future generated problems.
Heritage
The rest of day 5 was given over to evidence from Tim Walder, Principal Conservation Officer for the GLA. This was to the lay observer highly technical, focussing on the history of Mortlake and its buildings, definitions of Arcadia, its relationship to Brentford, the transition from village to urban, the height and density of the planned development, the extent of harms and benefits, and the methodology for approaching them and the definitions of towpath.
For the full details of Mr. Walder’s proofs of evidence SEE
https://gateleyhamer-pi.com/en-gb/stag-brewery/inquiry-documents/proofs-evidence/gla-proofs/
Cross examination was timetabled for two and three quarter hours but lasted four hours, which necessitated the extension of his evidence into Day 6.
From 11am the hearing continues with evidence from Dorian Crone on the heritage aspects of the proposed development on behalf of the Mortlake Brewery Community Group. He has been a Chartered Architect and Chartered Town Planner for over 30 years, a member of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation for over 25 years, a former committee member of The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, the International Committee on Monuments and Sites.
For his proofs see https://gateleyhamer-pi.com/en-gb/stag-brewery/inquiry-documents/proofs-evidence/mortlake-brewery-proofs/
A day programmed to be dedicated to Heritage matters was started by a representation from a resident of Tideway Wharf. In short he said most people are sick to death [of there being no development, which is of course true], it’s a derelict factory [true], it needs housing [true], the heights are not disproportionate, it is nowhere near as dense as Wandsworth, it opens up the area, there is an overall benefit. It was interesting to hear a riverside view, albeit from the eastern end, albeit not mentioning traffic considerations, somewhat different from any other personal representations heard to date. But then he was sitting with the developers!
At the lunch adjournment on Day 6 the Inspector asked if there were any representations in support of the development. No-one volunteered.
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
The livestream for Friday 8th November has now been uploaded to the Inquiry Webcast Library.
This includes Richard White making a submission on the false letters of support place 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.
Transport session and first week summary to follow.
On 24 September 2024 attention was drawn here to the Mission Action Plans for the Parish of Mortlake with East Sheen. The Plans are still under discussion but an initial list of the congregations’ priorities has been published.
In order of priority these are:
Responding to the needs of our community
Reaching out to younger generations
Growing in numbers in the congregation
Strengthening community links
Sharing our Christian faith with others
Further developing / resourcing our music (including the choir)
Deepening our Christian faith through prayer
Deepening our Christian faith through study
Growing our understanding of our purpose
Developing environmental initiatives here
Developing environmental initiatives was the lowest priority by a large margin.
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