Appeal Against Refusal of Riverside Development Fails
Council had blocked plan to build housing in Grove Park garden
17 Hartington Road
The Planning Inspector has endorsed Hounslow Council’s decision to block a proposal to build housing by the river in Chiswick.
The house at 17 Hartington Road has what is reputed to be the largest garden in Grove Park and developer Residence One wanted to use part of it to build four luxury houses next to the Thames. In addition, the scheme would have seen the renovation of the existing locally listed Victorian villa in the Grove Park Conservation Area.
Objectors had pointed out that the new houses would be built in the lowest area of the site which is designated as Flood Zone 3 (at highest risk of flooding from the river as well as surface water) and would result in the loss of an important green space with its 30 mature trees.
The original application went to borough Planning Committee in January 2022, where councillors deliberated for nearly two hours before voting unanimously to reject it.
This January the developer announced its intention to appeal against the decision which gave residents only three weeks to respond.
Residents, including the NoGardenGrab campaign group, quickly organised against the appeal set about raising several thousands of pounds from local donations to hire expert consultants who would review the appeal documents and investigate flood risk. Their reports, which underlined many existing concerns about the scheme, were submitted to the Inspector.
Following two days of hearings earlier in the summer, the Inspector’s decision to dismiss the appeal was published on Wednesday (27 September). He concluded that any benefits of the scheme were outweighed by the harm to a designated heritage asset as well as the detrimental impact on the character and appearance of this whole wooded riverside stretch of the Grove Park Conservation Area.
Furthermore, he noted that national and local flood policy requires all new development to be directed away from the areas of highest flood risk and that the developer had failed to demonstrate that there are no safer sites anywhere else in Hounslow where the 4 new houses could be built.
Debbie McMullen of the NoGardenGrab campaign said, “At the hearings we were impressed by the Planning Inspector’s grasp of the issues. He allowed local residents to present their concerns and to provide local and historical information that neither the developer nor the council knew.”
Although residents were pleased that the Inspector has recognised the importance of preserving the green character and appearance of the Conservation Area and rejected the inappropriate siting of new homes in the high risk flood zone, many were concerned with his view that the harm to ecology and biodiversity would have been acceptable.
Developer's visualisation of the houses. Picture: Pilbrow and Partners
Mukti Jain Campion, one of the residents leading the campaign said, “ The impact on the current habitats which harbour owls, bats, nesting water birds and other wildlife would be hugely damaging and irreversible. All planning decisions really need to take ecology and flooding much more seriously.” -
The Planning Inspector made a partial award of costs to the residents’ campaign group citing saying that the council’s action had resulted in unnecessary expense for residents.
The future of the house and garden now remains unclear. Val Bott, a local historian, who lives nearby said, “No.17 has been vacant for over 2 years and fallen into serious disrepair. Neighbours have had to deal with intruders. It is sad to see an important heritage asset neglected in this way and the Council unable to intervene. We hope the developers will now focus on renovating the main house.”
The full decision can be found on the Planning Inspectorate website under appeal reference 3302124.
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October 1, 2023