Chiswick Skyscraper not dead
Mystery developer Clifton Cape to proceed with appeal
A report on this site that the 28 storey tower block has proven to be inaccurate. Clifton Cape is intended to continue with the appeal against the refusal of planning permission for this development.
A
member of the West Chiswick and Gunnersbury Society (WCGS) had been informed
by a planning officer at Hounslow that the appeal against the refusal
was to be dropped. In fact Clifton Cape are appealing the three old planning
applications at the same time as the two new ones, although they were
unable to get them all heard together on Feb 24th, which is what they
intended.
The appeal on the larger tower block application is likely to be heard
in May or June around the time of the London Assembly elections on June
10th. The current Mayor of London apparently supports both proposals.
The original proposals included knocking down the John Bull, which has
since been declared a building of local townscape character and the whole
site for both plans is now in a Conservation Area, which the Planning
Inspector will have to consider.
A spokesman for the WCGS said, "we are disappointed that the decision at this important site is not going to be made by elected councillors, and it seems that the developers are attempting to bypass the democratic process."
The separate
application for two new tower blocks in Chiswick Business Park may not
be scheduled to go to the Sustainable Development Committee yet because
Section 106 payments have not yet been agreed.
These are payments made by the developer as a condition of being granted
planning permission. Originally the developers of Chiswick Business Park
were to fund a £14 million trust which was to pay for the development
of a tube interchange station to cope with the 10,000 workers who will
ultimately be commuting to the park every day. In the event London Underground
vetoed the plan as they were against introducing an extra stop on the
Piccadilly line in Chiswick.
January 22, 2004