FORTHCOMING EVENTS
We are again invited to Rosemary Williamson’s garden at 138 Thames Side, TW18 2JA, just upstream from Penton Hook Lock, for the Society’s summer tea party on Sunday 14 July from 3 – 5 pm. This is a lovely venue and we are very grateful to our kind hostess. All members and friends are welcome, as are donations of cake. You are encouraged to come along the towpath by foot or cycle as there is only limited parking at the river end of Penton Hook Road. The event is free to members; non-member price £5 includes family membership for the year.
The AGM will be online, and combined with the committee meeting at 7.30 p.m. on Monday 8 July by Zoom. All members are welcome, as they are at any committee meeting – email info@stainestownsociety.co.uk for the link.
DEBENHAMS
You will remember that the first application by Future High Street Living Ltd for two tower blocks was strongly opposed by residents and planners alike. It was refused by the Planning Committee and refused again on appeal, and the Conservation Area boundary was enlarged to include the Debenhams site.
It seems that the developers have accepted this decision, and are putting forward new plans retaining almost all of the existing building. They now accept that the shape of the building allows it to be converted to flats, with a narrow courtyard down the middle, which they had previously denied. But of course there must be a large number of flats to make the scheme financially viable, and so the plan will include an extra storey on top, set back a little from the edge, and a 15 storey tower at the southern end next to the Community Centre. This tower may be less bad than the previous ones, but is still unwelcome, and we will oppose it as overdevelopment of this very significant site.
This is planned as a build-to-rent development. All the flats will be rented and there will be various communal facilities including concierge, lounge, gym, and cinema. There will be no car parking, except four accessible spaces. The displaced parking will cause widespread nuisance.
The planning application will probably appear on SBC website in June or July. You can see the current proposals on www.consult-stainesdebs.com, and a consultation on some exterior colour schemes. The ground floor High Street frontage has been left vacant for two shops, but we would rather see it used for a community purpose.
BLUE PLAQUES
Historic England is running a new blue plaque scheme on behalf of the Department of Culture Media & Sport. Blue plaques are erected to commemorate famous people and buildings associated with them, and the public may send in nominations until mid-July. For more information see https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/blue-plaque-scheme.
LOCAL PLAN
It is almost a year since the Examination in Public of the proposed new Local Plan was halted. Little significant progress has been made, despite letters from housing ministers calling for an end to delays. The Council has voted to drop the Staines Development Framework, which is a pity as it has some good proposals, and to remove almost all Green Belt sites, and the Environment Agency is calling for removal of some Staines riverside sites because of flood risk. Many residents would welcome a decision that the Riverside car park in particular should not be built on. In the end the decisions will be made by the Inspector, when at last the Examination resumes, and then confirmed by the Secretary of State.
BRIDGE STREET CAR PARK
In 2020 SBC signed a development agreement with the Arora hotel group giving them an option to develop the car park site with a large hotel and some flats, subject of course to planning permission. Time went by, the agreement was altered to reduce the size of the scheme, and the timescale was lengthened, but no planning application was ever made. We speculate that the hotel was intended to take advantage of expansion at Heathrow, but the expansion has not happened. The third runway plan was abandoned. Heathrow seem to be trying to revive it, but increasing awareness of the climate crisis makes this improbable.
The previous deadline has now passed, but SBC is negotiating with Arora again to develop the site, now known as Waterfront and including Hanover House and the former Sea Cadets building, as a hotel with 250 beds and 29 aparthotel suites, in three buildings of 6 storeys or less, subject to planning permission.
The Environment Agency states that half the Bridge Street car park site is in Flood Zone 3, high risk, and should not be built on. We await the results of a hydrology study being done by Royal Holloway College, which may clarify the risks. The Town Society has always opposed plans for high-rise development on this site, at the entrance to the town
OTHER NEWS
We are concerned about the noise and disturbance caused by delivery drivers congregating at the western end of the High Street, but the police say they cannot act as no law is being broken.
Recently there have been two applications to build houses and flats in Moor Lane, on Green Belt land, in noisy locations very near the bypass. They seem unlikely to succeed.
There is a new application for 9 flats on the site of the ex-service club in Thames Street. We have objected that this blocky flat-roofed building with grey metal cladding would be out of place in a riverside residential setting.
The Dept for Levelling up, Housing and Communities has appointed an inspector to review the Council’s financial position in view of the high level of debt. As the existing review says the commercial property portfolio is well-positioned and provides significant income to support council services, we may hope that the new review will be equally reassuring.
MEMBERSHIP
Your 2024 subscription of £3 per person or £5 per household is due, please pay by sending a cheque made out to Staines Town Society to the treasurer, or set up a standing order, or pay at our summer tea party on 14 July. Many thanks to those who have already paid.
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