Kew Bridge Road Planning Application Update

At the Hounslow Council Sustainable Development Committee on Wednesday 16 September the decision on the application by the developers St. George was deferred until the new year. None of the councillors present supported the application, one, Councillor Jon Hardy, described it as a “monstrous monolith”.

Paul Lewis, a community member of Strand on the Green Association spoke eloquently on behalf of the many community groups against the development,
“What is the point of local consultations if the views of all the local societies are ignored,” he said. “The only people that could be moved to write in with letters of support for the development were those who were managing agents for other St George developments.”

Paul, please add Green Dragon Lane Housing Co-op to your list of community groups against the development.

I cannot understand that the council officers present recommended the development given that it failed to satisfy many of the requirements of the planning brief, the unitary plan or the conservation area guidelines.

Special mention must be made for the council’s architecture expert whose presentation was so inept, and who appeared to be so embarrassed by her attempts to defend the indefensible, all she could come up with during a 20 minute presentation was that it was a “background” structure with white round bits at each corner providing “bookends” along the Kew Bridge Road frontage. Thank you, your performance surely killed this application if it was not dead already.

That the council officers, their expert on architecture and the legal adviser to the committee all met up in a local pub immediately after the meeting is I am sure entirely irrelevant.