Public Meeting Over Reynard Mills Plans
Short consultation period demands urgent action
Local campaigners have issued a call to action to oppose the latest application to redevelop the Reynard Mills Trading Estate on Windmill Road, on the Ealing/Brentford border.
A Public Meeting will take place at St Faith’s Church, Windmill Road, Brentford, on Monday, 28 November 2011 at 7.30pm, when residents will hear about the proposed development - which could see 1,000 more people living in the area.
Earlier this year, the Windmill Road Action Group successfully spearheaded a campaign to oppose a planning application to redevelop Reynard Mills Trading Estate into high-density housing.
An unprecedented number of objections were submitted to London Borough of Hounslow’s Planning Department. As a result, the Council asked the developer to withdraw the planning application on the basis that it represented ‘significant over-development on the site’. There was a clear expectation that any new plans should be much reduced to reflect the needs, resources and infrastructure within the local community.
The developers, LP Brentford, have submitted a new planning application for Reynard Mills that is little changed from the original. The Windmill Road Action Group believes that this new application must be opposed in the same volume, for the following reasons:
• No pre-application consultation with residents
• Only a token reduction in the number of flats and houses from 315 to 275
• The number of three bedroom family houses and flats is still far too few
• The tallest buildings are still seven and six storeys high and will be built on raised ground
• The height and design of the central tower blocks will massively dominate and overlook the surrounding low rise housing and are completely out of character for the area
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• There is no buffer low-rise housing along the western edge of the site, so the tallest tower blocks will dominate the low-rise housing in Manor Vale and Our Lady and St John’s Primary School
• The number of on-site parking spaces is still far too few to meet the needs of the new residents - the developer is still relying on overflow parking in the surrounding residential side streets
• More congestion on Windmill Road causing increased rat-running in our residential side streets
• 1,000 new residents with no increase in local school places and competing with existing residents for GP and dentist appointments
• Loss of employment uses on the Reynard Mills site
• Sets a precedent for further over-development and high rise buildings in the area
Antoinette McGovern from the Windmill Road Action Group has urged local residents not to be complacent about this latest planning application.
“The developers have cynically timed this to coincide with the lead up to Christmas, when most people’s attention is diverted elsewhere. While we appreciate how busy it is at this time of year, we urge local residents to pull together and respond once more to the threat of over-development to our community. We recognise the need for housing in London but believe that any new development must be sustainable and in keeping with the local area and that developers must listen to local residents. The changes in this latest planning application do not go far enough to achieve this.”
With a Public Consultation period of 21 days, time is of the essence to submit fresh objections to this planning application. As this is a new application, previous objections will not count. To find out more, please come to the Public Meeting at St Faith’s Church on Monday, 28 November at 7.30pm and email windmillroadaction@gmail.com.
23rd November 2011
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