Chiswick Flat Residents Angry About Roof Extension Plans


Claim developer is using pandemic as chance to 'slip through unnoticed'


Churchdale Court, Chiswick

Residents of a block of flats in Chiswick have launched a petition against a plan to convert their roofspace into more housing. They claim that the developers are being opportunistic in putting in the application during the coronavirus outbreak.

Stoll Construction are proposing to add four residential units on top of the existing building at Churchdale Court on Havard Road.

The site which is located within the Wellesley Road Conservation Area contains two, three storey rectangular shaped blocks. One block fronts onto Grosvenor Road and the other onto Harvard Road. The two blocks are brick built with red clay tile hung front bays.

There have been a series of attempts to add more flats to Churchdale Court dating back to 2013. These were either refused or withdrawn.

Pre-application meetings with the council about the latest plan had been held back in 2018 with the last response from borough planners in June 2019. They said that in principle there was no objection to additional housing on the roofspace subject to a number of conditions such as preserving the front gables of the building and the style and number of dormer windows used. It was also stipulated that a uniform solution would be needed which respects the strong horizontal emphasis of the buildings. The latest application claims that all these requirements have been met.

The petition against the plan states, “Stoll Construction have, yet again, applied for planning permission to put another floor on our homes at Churchdale Court, Harvard Road W4 4EE They are using the cover of a Global pandemic to try and slip through unnoticed. This building is Locally Listed building by Hounslow Council and in a Conservation Area. The work proposed directly contravenes both of these local aspects, Previous Planning appeals have eventually been refused for many reasons, Conservation and aesthetics amongst them but also the considerable disruption to the current residents.”

27 people had signed the petition at the time of writing.

It is understood that housing minister Robert Jenrick has placed pressure on local authorities to keep processing planning applications during the current crisis. This presents some difficulty as it may be challenging to satisfy some of the statutory requirements relating to consulting residents about plans that affect them. For instance Hounslow Council place the statutory notices relating to planning applications in printed newspapers but these are not circulating in the area around the development as the law requires. We have asked Hounslow Council what their policy will be on this matter during the current circumstances but have not received a reply.

We were unable to contact Stoll Construction for comment.

Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More

This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism.

Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets.

We’ve always done that and won’t be changing, in fact we’d like to do more.

However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do.

We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area.

A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site.

One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute.

If you do support us in this way we’d be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor.

For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you’d like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site.

 

April 19, 2020