Tag Archives: Planning Applications

Kwik Fit redevelopment unfit for Conservation Area

A new developer has put in plans to redevelop the former Kwik Fit site.

This has lain empty for years now and we are keen to see it developed in a way that respects its location at the gateway to the Conservation Area and in key views from the historic cricket ground and listed Burn Bullock.

Merton Council gave permission for 22 flats in 2016 for a shockingly poor development that led us to call for the site’s removal from the Conservation Area. With a new owner the site provides an opportunity for a flagship building of a standard which could be listed within 30 years.

The new application falls woefully short of this potential.

Its five storeys will overwhelm surrounding buildings and intrude on existing homes in Broadway Gardens and Highfield Court. The building will be a significant imposition on the key view from Mitcham cricket ground and damage its setting and that of the Grade II listed Burn Bullock by virtue of its scale and the poor quality elevation facing London Road.

In direct conflict with planning policy none of the 24 flats will be affordable. The developer backs this decision with reports claiming the scheme wouldn’t be viable. We have asked Merton Council to subject these to independent review.

The development includes over 400 sq m on the ground floor for retail or commercial use. This is welcome. The developer says it is in in talks with the Co-op. Similar talks with the same supermarket fell through over the road at Justin Plaza when this was converted from offices to flats. As a result we ended up with more flats on the ground floor. We have asked Merton Council to ensure the ground floor is put to good use before any flats are sold if the development does get permission.

The development has come forward at the same time as plans for 19 flats and around half the area of retail or office space on the ground floor on the car wash site across Broadway Gardens.  Taken together the plans will means Broadway Gardens residents being forced to pass through a canyon of new building to get to their homes and an excessively high wall of new development along a major stretch London Road just where it enters the Conservation Area.

These are both sites where development is needed and we are disappointed to find ourselves once again having to object to what is proposed. A high quality development of three to four storeys with shops on the ground floor to fill this gap in London Road would be very suitable.

Neither developer has engaged the local community before submitting their plans. We are asking for better for both sites and the opportunity for local people to shape what is going to happen to their neighbourhood.

Read our comments on plans for the former KwikFit site Development of KwikFit site – January 2020

Read our blog and comments on the car wash site 

Merton’s “Green Belt” at risk on Imperial Fields

2020 has barely begun, and is already looking like a watershed year for the local area with a record number of live planning applications for blocks of flats to be developed across the neighbourhood.

These include plans for 77 flats in a six storey development on Imperial Fields along Bishopsford Road. This is on the Sutton boundary and would involve the development of one of Merton’s most protected areas of green land.

Merton is one of the greenest boroughs in London due in large part to the designation of large areas of green space as Metropolitan Open Land. This has the same level of protection as Green Belt. It cannot be developed unless “very special circumstances” can be demonstrated and it receives the “strongest protection” in the London Plan. Metropolitan Open Land is also protected in Merton’s Local Plan.

The Imperial Fields scheme is promoted by the owner of The Hub on the grounds that it will support investment in sports and community facilities on the site.

We welcome the community offer provided by The Hub but on closer inspection the plans fall well short of meeting the test of “very special circumstances”.

Contrary to claims that “we are not a commercial company” the applicant, Tooting and Mitcham Leisure Ltd is a private company limited by shares controlled by and dependent on a £1m + loan from a property developer. It is not a charity and the planning application lacks legal guarantees that investment on The Hub’s facilities will follow.

It is also apparent that the new development could generate funds for only a small part of the investment needed at The Hub. Given their community emphasis we are also disappointed that the applicant did not engage local people in the plans before they were submitted.

The development itself will be very intrusive for the surrounding open land which forms part of the important green corridor along the Wandle Valley and includes Poulter Park. The design lacks distinction and ignores the character of other buildings in the local area. The plans also introduce a large area of surface car parking on what is currently green space.

We are pleased that Sutton Council has registered objections and have alerted Mayor Khan to the plans.

Read our views in full Imperial Fields – January 2020

Cold water for plans to develop car wash site

Plans to develop a five storey block of flats have been put forward for the car wash site on London Road at the junction with Broadway Gardens.

The development includes 19 flats and makes provision for retail or office use at street level, including a hot food take away.

The car wash is in a sensitive location right on the edge of the Conservation Area, opposite the Grade II listed Burn Bullock and in view of the historic cricket ground.

We support residential development on the site and have put it forward for inclusion in Merton Council’s new Local Plan. We are keen for the ground floor to be used to extend the existing retail parade and for any new building to respect the height of the existing buildings along London Road.

Unfortunately, the developers have come forward with a scheme almost as high as that permitted for the former Kwik Fit site on the other side of Broadway Gardens.

Their own drawings show just how out of keeping this will be, especially when combined with whatever eventually gets developed on the Kwik Fit site.

The design approach is every day and ubiquitous. It fails to respond to to the rich character of the surrounding neighbourhood and the upper two floors in particular are poorly executed, with intrusive balconies, poor use of materials and an incongruous white colour which cannot be found elsewhere in the area.

The development will also overlook existing houses in Broadway Gardens and makes no provision for any parking. It even tries to avoid putting any affordable housing on site and proposes giving Merton Council a meagre £120,000 to provide this elsewhere.

The planned hot food take away is also controversial. There are already three nearby and Mayor Khan’s new London Plan is clear that no hot food take aways should be permitted within 400m of a school. The car wash is just 210m from Saints Peter and Paul Primary School.

Once again we find ourselves having to object to a poorly designed and overly large development brought forward without any effort to talk to the local community. We look forward to an opportunity to work with the owners to help design a sensitive development for this site.

Read our full response – 370-374 London Road – Dec 19

Red light for old fire station hoardings

The new owner of the old fire station has submitted a planning application for hoardings to be erected for a year while they sort out what is going to happen with the now empty building.

As anyone walking round the area will know there are already hoardings on the site which have been erected without permission.

We are strongly objecting to the plans.

They enclose a large area of land in front of the old fire station which has nothing to do with providing security for an empty building.

The effect will be to block views across Lower Green West, damage the special setting of the listed war memorial and impinge on the surroundings of the locally listed fire station and Vestry Hall.

Remarkably, the area proposed for the hoardings is all owned by Merton Council and not the applicants.

We have asked our local councillors to ensure that, as responsible landowners, Merton Council puts a halt to such unnecessary and damaging proposals even before a decision is made on the planning application.

Read our representations – Fire station hoardings – Dec 19

Find out what we have said about plans for the fire station itself – Old Mitcham fire station plans a non-starter

See how we wanted to transform the old fire station – Mitcham’s cultural revolution

Architects confirm negative impact of Mitcham scheme on Conservation Area

Plans to demolish and replace a large stretch of Mitcham’s shops on Upper Green East alongside Barclays Bank with a four storey block are being considered by Merton Council.

The scheme will set the precedent for future development around Fair Green and we believe it is both too high and lacks design quality.

It also fails to provide a single affordable home in any of the 20 flats.

The architects have made some minor changes in response to feedback from Mitcham Society and ourselves.

The changes fail to address the fundamental problem that the new building is too large, too high and too poorly designed for Mitcham’s centre.

There is even a suggestion that adding lavender mosaic tiles somehow represents an adequate response to the historic character of the area.

The new information also includes a new image that confirms the impact on the Conservation Area from near Three Kings Pond.

The architects believe the scheme will be “just visible”.

We believe the image confirms the creation of an intrusive bland elevation which doesn’t fit with the existing pitched roofline. Have a look and see what you think.

 

Read our original representation and our updated one

Is this the future of Mitcham’s village centre?

We’re backing the Mitcham Society in its efforts to retain a village feel in central Mitcham.

Merton’s new Local Plan has a key role to play by controlling the height of new development and respecting the modest plot sizes which avoid bulky buildings that dominate the street.

Our fear is that damaging development will happen before the Local Plan comes into force.

The risk is real and we are now faced with plans to demolish and replace the parade of shops running along Upper Green East from Barclays Bank with a four storey block of flats and shops promised beneath.

The redevelopment of 33-39 Upper Green East is the first major scheme in Mitcham for years.

It needs to set the standard for the future and establish the right precedents. Instead we have a bulky block of flats using designs that could be found anywhere and owe little to the rich heritage of Mitcham.

They will dominate the visual link between Fair Green and the Conservation Area at Three Kings Pond and erode rather than add to Mitcham’s character.

The developers also plead poverty over development costs and propose to provide no affordable homes.

We are asking Merton Council to demand better and reject what’s on offer. Mitcham is going to change over the next few years. It contains underused land and some poor quality buildings. This change must avoid development of ubiquitous design and provide an opportunity to strengthen its village character and draw on its rich history.

You can read a full copy of our representations here.