Permission granted for Teddington Studios redevelopment

At a planning committee meeting last night, Richmond Council granted permission for the plans which will see Teddington Studios demolished to make way for 219 luxury residential units. Councillors voted 5 to 4 so it wasn’t quite a unanimous decision as the development was hotly debated for pros and cons.

The plans were described by councillors as ‘exceptional circumstances’, meaning the plan for such a large development of luxury flats in such density goes against LBRUT and London planning policies. The ‘exceptional’ in this case is weighing up the development up against £8 million that the plans would give LBRUT to use for affordable housing elsewhere in the borough. Other councillors have pointed out that this clause is often used by developers but should be in the context of an already identified site (this is not yet), also the design of the blocks wasn’t to their liking. Funding for affordable housing generally isn’t an issue in the borough, but finding the land for it is.

Other positive aspects considered are the opening up of access to a new public river walkway and the planned media centre at Richmond College that Haymarket will also fund. The adverse effect the development would have on primary education in the area was played down in the face of the other benefits to education within the borough in general.

No approaches had been made for a new tenant to move into historic studios that would have kept them open so this was a case of deciding the best use for the site vs it being empty. Recognition of the history of the studios is included as a condition – a walkway including the existing Blue Plaques will form part of the development. The catalyst for this development Pinewood announcing their intention to leave Teddington in 2011 and when their tenancy finishes at the end of this year. it will see the end of the studios association with the area that has lasted 100 years.

The Environment Agency originally objected to the plans but reversed their viewpoint due to flood mitigation and evacuation plans. Haymarket at a meeting earlier this year stated that the river would be used as much as possible to transport material to and from the site during work – reducing the impact on nearby roads. 258 parking spaces (mostly underground) will help reduce any parking overspill into surrounding roads.

Planning Update

Haymarket are holding an additional public consultation for the Riverside redevelopment of their site (currently Teddington Studios, Haymarket and other offices). This is taking place on 22nd and 23rd October from 3pm until 9pm.

Following feedback from the initial proposals, plans have changed to reduce the number of homes from 250 to 215 and the height of buildings scaled back. Other changes include increased parking and more public space near the river front. The Riverside website has also been updated with the newer proposals.

Residents are welcome to attend the exhibition for more information, discuss the plans and give feedback on the updated scheme before plans are officially submitted to Richmond Council later this year. You can also add your feedback to the proposals via teddington-riverside@gka.co.uk.

Artists impression of the proposed Blue Plaque walk along the river front.

In addition to recent highways including the refreshing of pavements, LBRUT’s plan to improve the borough’s roads and pavements will continue with The High Street being resurfaced overnight from 4th to the 13th of November 2013 8pm-5am, with no drilling work after 11pm.

Due to the road surface being replaced, diversions will be in place and delays may occur. Temporary parking restrictions may come into place on certain stretches of the road too.
[Update 08/11/2013] The High Street work has been delayed by equipment breakdowns during the first 2 days, this will now re-commence on Sunday/Monday night after (no work is scheduled for Friday/Saturday night) and completion of this stretch is due by Wednesday morning (5am). The overnight road-resurfacing work and associated closures and diversions will take place on Broad Street (between Church Road and Stanley Road, including The Causeway) 1st-11th December from 8pm-5am with drilling again kept to a minimum after 11pm.

Richmond Council have put up notices across the borough to signify areas that they wish to be redeveloped in the future as part of the Site Allocation Plan – one such site is the BT Exchange building on Teddington High Street.

The proposal (page 53) is to demolish this building and rebuild as retail/commercial on ground floor, with residential above, including affordable housing. This plan could only happen though if the site is released by BT and there are no indications that they will do this.

It is believed that the council may have similar plans for the similarly unattractive HSBC building should it become available. Key employment sites, where adopted policies for employment will be applied, have also been proposed in including in Teddington the NPL campus, Waldegrave Road cluster and Teddington Business Park. Feedback [see here] for the Site Allocations Plan is welcome up to the 12th of November.