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Controversial plans to bulldoze three south London gasholders for apartment blocks up to 16 storeys tall have been approved.
The plans from gas firm SGN and developer Berkeley Homes will see three gasholders on protected land in Motspur Park demolished for five blocks with 586 homes – including 175 affordable – with the buildings ranging from eight to 16 storeys tall.
The scheme drew fierce opposition from local politicians and residents, particularly over the site’s designation as Metropolitan Open Land (MOL) – meaning it should be protected from “inappropriate development”.
Jules Pipe, London’s Deputy Mayor for Planning, approved the scheme on Tuesday after ruling it “would not result in substantial harm to the openness of the MOL”.
Following a hearing at City Hall, Mr Pipe said tackling London’s housing crisis was dependent on approving “well-designed developments with affordable housing”.
A CGI of the new homesBerkeley Homes (West London) LtdThe Greater London Authority (GLA) took over the decision after Kingston Council rejected the application in March, over concerns its mass, height and scale would harm the openness of the MOL and that it was out of character for the area.
A letter from London Mayor Sadiq Khan said he had called in the application as it could make a “significant and positive contribution” towards London’s housing targets, particularly as the number of homes built in Kingston between 2020 and 2025 was “significantly under target”.
The letter said the council had confirmed in 2023 it could not demonstrate a five-year housing supply as required by policy, which meant it had been “accumulating a shortfall in housing completions” against targets outlined in the London Plan.
Campaigners had said they were concerned the planning balance would be unfairly tilted in favour of the developer as Kingston could not demonstrate a five-year housing supply, despite not being suitable for the site.
Representatives from Kingston and Merton councils, as the site crosses the boroughs, objected to the application at today’s hearing, as they said it would result in substantial harm to the openness of MOL.
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They joined objecting residents in arguing the height and scale of the development was too great, while expressing concerns local roads, public transport and other infrastructure would not be able to cope with such an influx of people.
The application received 1,190 objections and 52 letters of support across Kingston and Merton’s websites. A total of 569 objections and four letters of support were sent to the GLA ahead of the hearing.
The current site in Motspur ParkBerkeley Homes (West London) LtdKingston Lib Dem councillor Callum Morrissey said the scheme would “introduce permanent built mass, enclosure and unacceptable visual bulk into a protected open setting, in effect placing a wall of development against the openness of the extensive MOL”.
He said the scheme would overdevelop a “physically isolated” site with poor access to public transport, while it would be “utterly out of place” in the low-rise neighbourhood.
Kingston’s emerging Local Plan identifies the site as suitable for up to 440 new homes.
A statement from Merton Lib Dem councillor Mariam Hakim, read to the hearing, said the nearby Sir Joseph Hood Memorial Playing Fields and homes would be “dominated and overlooked” by the towers.
She said: “This will not only have an adverse impact on MOL and destroy the open views, but also have a detrimental impact on the low-rise suburban village-like character and appeal of the West Barnes village area.”
Councillor Hakim said many residents had “expressed a desire to leave the area” if the development went ahead.
Mike Freter, who lives close to the site, said the scheme would replace clear views allowed by the existing gasholders with “a dense wall of development”.
The Greater London authority has approved the plansBerkeley Homes (West London) LtdHe said: “This scheme replaces openness with enclosure, transparency with mass and established low-rise character... in so doing, it conflicts with key London Plan policies.”
Rebecca Hogan, who lives in Merton, added the site was “completely unsuitable for a development of this scale”.
She said: “Motspur Park simply does not have the urban town centre infrastructure that this urban town centre development requires.”
Defending the scheme, Rob Packham, Land Director at Berkeley Homes, said it would replace “redundant industrial infrastructure with new homes, new connections, new publicly accessible spaces and, importantly, affordable housing”.
He said the location was “highly sustainable”, while the application would deliver a biodiversity net gain of 25 per cent on site – including more than 100 new trees.
Mr Packham said: “At a time when Kingston can only demonstrate a one-and-a-half years’ housing land supply and thousands of households remain on the housing register, opportunities of this scale are becoming increasingly rare.
“Today, you have an opportunity to decide whether these gasholders remain redundant for another generation or whether they can become a new neighbourhood that will offer so much to so many.”
Mr Pipe told the hearing he agreed with GLA officers that the scheme followed relevant development plans when read as a whole.
He said the five blocks up to 52 metres in height would still be shorter than the tallest gasholder at 59 metres, and that while they were “skeleton, the site does not benefit from uninterrupted openness”.
Mr Pipe said: “I acknowledge that there is some harm to the openness with this proposal and the buildings would be visible, but I do not consider that the development dominates.”
He said the plans included suitable measures to tackle impacts on transport and biodiversity.
Mr Pipe added: “We must ensure that we take the opportunities available to us to build more housing, and affordable housing in particular, which includes optimising the delivery of new homes on accessible sites on previously-developed land, where key transport infrastructure is already in place – such as this site.”
Objectors had told the hearing they were not opposed to development in principle, but wanted a revised scheme that better suited the area.
The three gasholders were built in 1924, 1932 and 1954 and were used to store gas for distribution until they were replaced by modern methods of gas storage. They have stood redundant since 2007 and were decommissioned by Ofgem in 2012.
The demolition of the gasholders is set to begin later this year.