Start Tuesday 5th November 2024 10am
Venue Clarendon Hall
Inspector opens the Inquiry.
Opening statements from Counsel for the parties.
You can now register for the livestreaming service to be provided by Richmond Council for the Public Planning Inquiry starting tomorrow. You might find the easiest route is through the Inspectorate Administration site.
https://gateleyhamer-pi.com/en-gb/stag-brewery/
Or go to richmond.public-i.tv
You will be able to access specific hearings. You will find:
This webcast will begin on:
“Tuesday, 5th November 2024 at 10:00am
We can keep you updated about this webcast
There is a box in which you insert your email and then press Submit
By clicking Submit, you agree that London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and Public-i can use your email address to send you webcast updates.
We will send you 4 emails: 24 hours before, 1 hour before, when the webcast goes live and when it is archived. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking on a link in the emails. See our Privacy Policy for more details.”
The only certainty for the first day is that you will hear Opening Statements from Counsel for each of the parties. The Inspector will then go on a site visit. Tim Catchpole and Richard White will be giving evidence on THURSDAY MORNING, before the discussion on education matters.
Stan Crockett, a well-known character around locally, is 80 in January 2025. He was born when the family was living in Portman Avenue, went to school at East Sheen Primary School and then Mortlake Boys School, and has lived in Thornton Road for 55 years. He still works round the area.
His father Reginald, a notorious west country sheep stealer between the wars, turned his life round and opened a grocery shop at 325 Upper Richmond Road. As a fourteen year old Stan earned £3 per week at Stewarts the Butchers, now Artisans. He recalls cycling up to Chelsea to deliver four lamb chops.
Stan and his wife Margaret are well involved in the Sheen community and as members of the Mortlake with East Sheen Society, well informed. They have seen a few changes in the area, not all good. They recall when a council employee used to come round to ensure hedges were well maintained and check on potholes. There were not so many hairdressers, cafes or coffee bars and no vape shops. We didn’t do all our shopping at a supermarket. People didn’t wander round looking at their mobiles or cycle on pavements.
Like so many local residents they find the proposals for the development at the Stag Brewery difficult to understand. Why such density of residential units? Why a 1200 pupil secondary school, when all the local primary schools are reporting a shortage of entrants? And what are the implications for the already difficult local medical, transport and traffic problems?
Stan might be related to the legendary Davy of the Alamo. He had six children so who knows?
Macmillan Cancer Support Coffee Morning at All Saints – Friday, 15 November – 10.00am to 12 noon. Home produce, Plants and Christmas cards will be on sale.
Grand Auction & Dinner at All Saints. Saturday 16 November. 7pm for 7:30pm. Enjoy a glamorous evening (black tie optional) with fine 3-course dinner, great company and enticing promises to bid for. Even Jon Blythe on a promise.
Supporting Glass Door and All Saints funds. Tickets £25. Individual tickets and those for tables of 8 available from: allsaintsgrandauction@gmail.com or from All Saints on Sunday mornings.
Jonathan Haynes will be instituted and inducted as Team Rector at a service led by Bishop Martin, the Bishop of Kingston on Monday, 4 November, at 7:30pm in Christ Church. All warmly welcome.
Two Nicks on early shift at Waitrose this morning.
Thank you to two eagle-eyed readers of my previous post, who spotted that Reselton did not actually pick up a bargain when it bought the Brewery. Not by a million fold. It illustrates the risks of early hours drafting. But it has the benefit of emphasising the point!
Some subscribers, now near to 200, are noting that some emails generated by some postings, are finding their way into the spam box. It can be erratic. Please ensure that your settings are on Safe Sender to ensure continuing service!
Some of this entry was posted on 23 May 2024. The number of subscribers has more than doubled since then. Given the significance of the content, it seems timely to repeat it, albeit with updates. It will be interesting to see how much of it is addressed in the forthcoming inquiry about the plans for the Stag Brewery site. Are the issues political or planning?
A development of this nature requires the developer to pay to the local authority a charge known as the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL). In the financial estimates provided to the Planning Committee in July 2023, when the Council first gave permission, it was said that the CIL generated would be £48 to £66 million. The amended scheme presented to the Planning Committee in January 2024 had increased to between £52.59 – £71.55 million. More recently figures of between £40 to £50 have been quoted. Naturally the Council claims that as a benefit of the scheme.
BUT there is no commitment for any of the CIL to be spent in Mortlake or East Sheen, though those wards will be the ones to suffer the maximum adverse transport effects. The CIL could be spent in those wards represented by Planning Committee members, none of whom are in Mortlake or East Sheen.
A second big financial issue is the profit to be made by the developers, Reselton Properties Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Capital Developments Ltd, a Singapore listed company. They bought the Brewery site in December 2015 for £160 milllion. The Council approach to that company is that they are entitled to make a profit. And that is the basis for the calculation of the 7% of affordable housing to be provided. But did they pay too much? The Council seems to think that is irrelevant.
Reselton also bought the site for the development at Teddington Riverside, shortly before the purchase of the Stag Brewery site. That is now a 217 unit residential site with properties ranging from £600,000 to £1.5 million. There are fifteen units for affordable housing, giving a figure of 7%, remarkably similar to the number at the Brewery.
The Teddington site was completed in two stages in 2018 and 2021. Clearly the planning problems were not as great in Teddington. The problem there is that in the region of fifty of those properties remain unsold. Even at the cheaper end that leaves a hole of some £30 million. Plus a loss of Council tax.
Few doubt that the Brewery site needs development but do we really need 1048 residential units at Mortlake or does that simply assist with perceived financial viability? Surely not if they remain vacant?
There is now an update on livestreaming in this weeks Richmond Council Community News. Blink and you might miss it so here is the site where you can register to be sent the link.
richmond.public-i.tv Stay alert!
The programme has been published with approximate timings. https://gateleyhamer-pi.com/en-gb/stag-brewery/inquiry-programme/
And just to encourage attendance at the hearings you find this guidance.
“Seating is limited for public attendance and will be allocated first come, first served each day.”
At least rain is not forecast for Tuesday.
Given our civic society it hardly needs saying but you are also told: “No banners, posters or tannoys will be permitted in the inquiry room.”
Richmond Council is making a significant investment in community support for sanctuary seekers with a new Borough of Sanctuary Grant Scheme. This scheme will provide funds of up to £10,000 to support local not-for-profit organisations in creating a welcoming environment for those building new lives in the borough.
The Scheme will provide funds of up to £10,000 for local community groups and organisations to undertake activities for six to twelve months. Larger grants and multi-year projects may be considered where a clear need and sustainable proposal can be demonstrated.
Applicants may decide to create bespoke projects or use the funds to expand existing projects or services. These initiatives must support refugees and asylum seekers by equipping them with skills for education and employment, by promoting their wellbeing, by providing guidance to navigate UK systems or by celebrating their contributions to community integration.
There are Meet the Funder sessions on Wednesday 6 November and Thursday 14 November 2024 for interested organisations to hear about the grant scheme. But you need to register for a session.
For further information see https://www.richmond.gov.uk/news/news_october_2024/grants_to_support_sanctuary_seeker_initiatives
 | radiant966eea7319 on EastSheenMatters |
 | Richard AH White on Diana Rawstron: a doyenne of… |
 | Anna on Diana Rawstron: a doyenne of… |
 | butteryluckye3eac174… on EastSheenMatters |
| Richard AH White on What’s it really like in… |
