Hello all
Apologies for the unusual post. Not sure if any of you used to use the garden centre, Patio Gardens, at The Lodge, 100 Tooting Bec Road.
It closed down last year due to owner illness, and was bought by a property developer who wants to build in the gardens of The Lodge and split the site.
The Grade II listed Lodge on Tooting Bec Road has been the site of a nursery / garden centre for over 200 years - it was built for this purpose and has never been used for any other purpose - sometimes with the Head Gardener living in The Lodge itself.
The planning application is now in to split the Lodge into 3 separate plots for sale, with the development of two 3-bedroom houses in the grounds of The Lodge.
This would mean that The Lodge loses its gardens forever, and its history and heritage as a garden centre / nursery is also lost forever, as there would be no way it could be turned back into a full site once the houses are built and sold to different owners.
We're left with big faceless chains like B&Q for our garden inspiration when we lose independent sites like this.
The planning application is available to view at Wandsworth Council's website, application numbers 2011/0649 and 2011/0674).
You may want to take a look, and if you want to object, you could do so by email to planningapplications@wandsworth.gov.uk.
My objections are on the following grounds (there could be other grounds, and clearly everyone has to make up their own mind and may be completely fine with the scheme).
Objection 1: Lack of consultation and engagement by the owner During the consultation meetings that took place last November (where no plans / ideas were presented by the owner) there was a commitment to continue public consultation as plans were drawn up and ideas were considered before any planning application was made. However, the planning application was submitted without any further consultation.
Objection 2: Lack of transparency on the views of the public to interested residents / locals During the same consultation meetings, there was a commitment made to share the findings of the consultation meetings by email and publicly, including all of the ideas that were made by local people. This never happened.
Objection 3: Potential misrepresentation of the views of the public and the Conservation Expert
There was an official report written by the conservation expert engaged by the owners to document the findings of the public consultation, which was not included in the planning application. Questionnaires completed by the attendees of the 2 consultations meetings, and a letter from The Georgian Group, have also not been included in the Planning Application. Instead, the owner has written their own 'findings' which do not seem to accurately reflect the views of the public (I was at the meetings), nor do they include any of the suggestions given by local residents into viable uses of the site which enhance its heritage and its setting.
Objection 4: No grounds for approving this application to change the site with irreversible consequences - as no viable alternatives have been considered (viable being the English Heritage definition, which preserves The Lodge and its grounds assets, settings, heritage and history, not one that gives the maximum profit)
I believe that this planning application contravenes:
- English Heritage's Planning Policy Statement 5
- The Wandsworth Conservation and Design Group Principles
- Wandsworth Council's Unitary Development Plan
The Policy Statement outlines the fact that an irreversible change to a site’s assets (and therefore the grounds of The Lodge and its heritage as a nursery / garden centre) should only be considered after every other avenue to secure the viable future of the asset has been exhausted. ‘Viable’ as defined by English Heritage is not necessarily the most profitable one, but one that has a long term conservation of the asset, its history, and its setting. All of the guidelines and principles suggest the following should be explored, specifically:
• Long term public / community benefits to the scheme
• Enhancement of the heritage asset and setting
• It secures the optimum viable use of a heritage asset in support of its long term conservation.
• It makes a positive contribution to economic vitality and sustainable communities
• It better reveals the significance of a heritage asset and therefore enhances our enjoyment of it and the sense of place.
As there has been no apparent investigation into the possibility of the above, aside from commercially viable options (which is not English Heritage’s definition of ‘viable’) there is no justification for approving this planning application in my opinion.
The Planning Policy also states the following should be considered: Alterations to realise the optimum viable use of an asset : Commercial return on investment for an owner is no grounds for approving planning applications Condition of the asset and deliberate neglect and damage : You may know that since the owner bought the site, they have half demolished one of the outbuildings without consent, they admit that the The Lodge has been left in poor condition, and The Lodge itself has been vandalised.
Marketing to demonstrate redundancy : The site has been for sale at a price higher than that paid by the owner. English Heritage state the following regarding the asking price: “A price that does not fairly reflect the market value of the heritage asset will deter enquiries. To adequately test the market the price may need to be low or even zero. Condition of the site and deliberate neglect. The condition of the site needs to be reflected in the asking price. Deterioration from deliberate neglect of the asset in the hope of obtaining consent has to be ignored (HE7.6)”
The proposal v Wandsworth Conservation and Design Group:
The application goes against the guidelines set out by this Group, which advises that new works to listed buildings should:
• “Be reversible or removable at a future date without permanent harm” - it is difficult to remove 2 houses that have been sold to separate owners from the Lodge, therefore the application has irreversible consequences
• “Enhance the listed building and not detract from it” - taking The Lodge's gardens away does not enhance the building
The proposal contravenes the Wandsworth Unitary Development Plan Which states:
• “Development involving alteration, extension or change of use of a listed building will not be permitted unless it would preserve the building, its setting and any features of special architectural or historic interest. Other development will not be permitted if it would harm the setting of a listed building.”
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