Revised proposals for the development of Mitcham Gasworks have been submitted to Merton Council. The fundamental flaws of too many flats, too few affordable homes, going too high and having too little greenery remain.

On all the key points the revised plans are little changed from those rejected last year by local residents and ward councillors.

Read on for:

• what local people want for the site
• eleven reasons to object
• how to make your views known – three different ways to get involved and contact your ward councillors

What local people want for Mitcham Gasworks

We support significant development of the site and backed Merton Council’s original proposals in the Local Plan for up to 400 homes, rising to no more than six storeys. At least half the homes should be truly affordable and the development should be co-designed with the local community as a natural extension to Mitcham Village. Instead the plans are for 579 flats, rising to nine storeys, with minimal affordable housing and a design which is alien to Mitcham.

We are working with local residents (see Mitcham Gasworks Community’s leaflet below) and the Mitcham Society to make sure Merton Council turns them down.

Eleven reasons to object

Character. The bland “could be anywhere” design combined with the sheer height, scale and bulk of the proposals has no local precedent and will fundamentally change the low rise character of Mitcham Village for the worse for ever.

Visual impact. The development will be visible from Mitcham Common and the evidence provided stretches credulity by claiming for all 21 views analysed that the impact will be “beneficial”, “neutral” or “none”. We are told the development “provides carefully articulated buildings that would provide visual interest” and we don’t believe it! There is a reason why the developer has still not provided any images of the proposals showing the full height of any of the nine storey tower blocks. There is also a reason why none of the 21 views analysed include the close up impact from neighbouring homes like those in Portland Road. If the developer is so confident in the scheme then what is there to hide?

Affordability. A bare minimum of non-market housing is being provided and the viability evidence required to justify fewer than half of the homes being affordable is riddled with dodgy assumptions. It concludes under all options that the development will make a huge financial loss, suggesting it has been written more to avoid providing affordable homes than an accurate assessment of the viability of the plans. The development will do nothing to reduce Merton’s housing waiting list and the vast majority of the new homes will be unaffordable given average incomes in Mitcham.

Greening. The amount of planting and green space provided falls short of the minimum requirements of the London Plan – an Urban Greening Factor of 0.4 is required and the developer admits the proposals only reach 0.38.

Nature. The plans fall nearly 10% short of the new legal requirement for all development to result in a 10% increase in biodiversity and rare Open Mosaic Habitat which has become established in recent years will be lost.

Overheating. Large numbers of the flats tested fail to pass basic standards to avoid overheating and the overall development scores 18 on the Good Homes Alliance measure for overheatiing risk on a scale where 12 is considered high.

Sunlight. More than a fifth of those planned – have windows on only one side (single aspect) and more than one third do not meet official guidelines on sunlight. The large number of single aspect flats is in conflict with both London Plan and Merton Local Plan policies. Merton’s Local Plan states “single aspect homes are strongly discouraged and will only be accepted where they demonstrate they have adequate passive ventilation, daylight and privacy and avoid overheating and are necessary to optimise site capacity through a design led approach, in line with the London Plan.” Yet the ground floor flats and those facing Western Road have mechanical not passive ventilation due to the risk of overheating. To flout Merton’s new Local Plan before the ink is even dry would set an entirely damaging precedent.

Shadowing. The developers own studies show a significant overshadowing of neighbouring homes in Westfield Road and Portland Road and revealingly the developers ask for a “flexible approach” to the treatment of official standards on the shadowing impact of the tower blocks.

Impermeable boundary. Despite at least two years of negotiation the developers have still failed to remove the boundary fence owned by Barratt Homes along the Hay Drive open space and across the end of Hay Drive. This creates a massive barrier and severely reduces access to and through the site. The developer knowingly uses misleading images that show no fence and families enjoying green space which lies outside the boundary and which serves as a soakaway during heavy rain on the neighbouring Barratt Homes site.

Contamination. The developer’s studies conclude “potential volatile contamination may be present and has not been fully investigated to date” and confirm that previous clean-up work done on most of the site is not to the standard required for residential development and the area of the recently demolished gasometer has not been cleaned up. We believe clear plans for how the site will be decontaminated are needed before the planning application is decided and cannot be left to a later date.

Local Plan conflict. Merton Council has collaborated with the developers behind closed doors to increase the number of homes allocated on the site in its new Local Plan to fit with what is now planned. However the latest policy for the site also states that its development should be informed by a Design Guide or Design Code “based on effective community engagement and reflect local aspirations for the development of the area”. No Design Guide or Design Code has been prepared and the plans were rejected by 99% residents living within 100m in a door-to-door street audit. Merton Council’s own resident survey of preferences showed “taller flatted housing” to be the least popular option and supported by only 7% of people.

How to make your views known – contact your ward councillors

The latest plans will shortly go to Merton Council’s Planning Committee for a decision.

Now is the time to ask your ward councillors to:

• confirm they still object to the plans and explain why
• write again to Merton Council officially expressing their views so they count in the planning decision
• provide support and advice on how local people can register their views
  exercise their right to speak at the Planning Applications Committee on behalf of local residents

The Mitcham Gasworks site is on the border of Lavender Fields ward and the scale of the building plans means they also have a direct impact on other wards, especially Figges Marsh and Cricket Green. You can read what ward councillors said about the plans when they were first submitted here. Siobhian McDonagh MP expressed concerns about the plans but did not submit an official objection.

You can find contact details for ward councillors here and find out which ward you are in by dropping your postcode into the search box here.

How to make your views known – three ways

There are at least three ways in which you can get involved in the decisions to be made over the future of Mitcham Gasworks:

1. Comment on the planning application This is a must do for your views to inform the actual decision which will be made by Merton Council’s Planning Applications Committee.

Full details of the proposals can be found here.

Submitting your views can be done quickly and should take you no more than 10 minutes.

You need to send in your views again even if you commented on the plans last year.

Email your comments to planning.representations@merton.gov.uk.

We provide some pointers on issues to raise above and further guidance on commenting on planning applications is available here.

To be heard you must:

• Put the application reference in the subject line – 22/P3620 Mitcham Gasworks
• Include your name and address
• Be clear that you would like the application to be refused and why if that’s your view

Ideally you should make your views known by Thursday 16 May although comments will be accepted right up until the Planning Applications Committee agenda is decided.

2. Contact your ward councillors. Ask them to say whether they support or object to the plans and if they will represent you by speaking at the Planning Applications Committee. Keep asking if you don’t get an answer. And ask again if you still don’t get a response.

3. Attend a meeting. We will be discussing Mitcham Gasworks along with other issues at our next Open Meeting on 20 May and we are hoping our local MP, Siobhain McDonagh, will organise the public meeting she proposed last year to give local people the opportunity to hear more about the plans. We have little faith in the faux “public consultation” event held by the developers.