An appeal against refusal of permission for the 275 homes on a former industrial site at Windmill Road, Brentford, West London, has been rejected with the support of the Communities Secretary Eric Pickles because of the harm it would bring to the character and appearance of the area, despite it being noted that this was ‘not a case involving any Listed Building or conservation area settings.’
The outline planning application for the demolition of the existing buildings on the site and the new housing had been refused by Hounslow Council. Following a hearing last November the inspector recommended the scheme should be dismissed.
The Department for Communities and Local Government decision letter agreed with the inspector’s conclusion that the reuse of the site was acceptable in principle in policy terms.
However, Communities Secretary Eric Pickles also agreed with the inspector that the proposals represented an overdevelopment of the site. The letter concluded that the density, scale and form of the development proposed would be harmful to the character and appearance of the area and would not achieve the high quality required by policy.
The decision letter criticised the scheme for ‘the abruptness of the intrusion of higher buildings into an area of low-rise housing’.
It also said the scheme would increase demand for parking on nearby roads and the additional traffic would be harmful to the safety and convenience of road users.
It said that ‘when taken together, these factors point to overdevelopment of the site’.
It said that ‘when taken together, these factors point to overdevelopment of the site’.
The Inspector writes:
… the proposals would not represent a transition or a continuation of the existing transition between the higher buildings along the Great West Road and the almost entirely 2/3 storey development surrounding the appeal site on the other three sides, but would extend higher-rise development into contrasting low-rise residential areas, imposing upon rather than respecting the characters of those areas as required….’
Download the decision letter and inspector’s report at: LINK
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