Fight To Retain Pissarro's Site For Community Use Faces Major Hurdle

Council planners in favour of development 'trying to put a quart into a pint pot'

CGI of new building which is in the centre of the picture

The issue will come before the Planning Committee on Thursday (January 11th 2018) but unless locals can convince councillors of their case, it is likely the vote will be in favour of development, as recommended by Hounslow's Planning officer.

A spokesperson said; "We really hope that councillors will recognise that having eight expensive properties on this site does not make up for the loss of an amenity to the community. We intend to continue this fight."

The developer plans to build seven two bedroom flats and one three bedroom flat with eight parking spaces at the prime riverside location. The building will be three storeys high on the side closest to the river on the site which has been vacant since 2014.

The developer says the footprint of the new design is considerably smaller than the scheme which was refused permission last year. They are promising to echo the formal Georgian architecture found along the Thames with its clearly defined, formal frontages.

A total of 152 neighbouring residents objected to the application on various grounds including that it was too dense, too high, would mean a loss of amenity and that it was possible that a restaurant there could be a success.

The application is being made on behalf of Corney Reach Way Ltd which is a company owned by Fruition Properties. They say that the new plans have taken into consideration the reasons an earlier proposal by Gort Investments was refused. Fruition acquired the property from Gort of £3.5mn after the previous owner's plan was turned down.

One opponent of the scheme said, "Local residents are tired of developers proposing plans that are blatantly impractical - this is a very small site, with no road frontage, access by a very narrow, angular unadopted road and no onstreet parking available on the private Estate. Whilst they have been messing about trying to put a quart into a pint pot some sort of cafe/bar/deli could have been installed."

However, council planners have rejected their objections and recommend that the development be approved by the Planning Committee on grounds including that while residents might value a restaurant, there was nothing in planning policy to resist its loss, and that prior approval had already been given to demolish the building. A residential development in the location would be strongly supported by planning policy.

CGI of the rear of the building

The restaurant closed in 2013 and a previous application to redevelop the restaurant into residential units was turned down in 2014. The RNLI also lost the flat it rented on the premises, and there were a number of failed attempts to encourage restaurateurs to take on the site.

Current view of the site

Pissarro, which was named in honour of the 'Father of French Impressionism', Camille Pissarro (who painted many local scenes in the 1890s), opened in the late 1990s when it was owned by local investors. The restaurant had a chequered history, and at one stage suffered a serious fire. When it closed management said there was not enough business in that area to make it a commercially viable.

January 5, 2018