New Attempt Being Made To Redevelop Pissarro Site

Revised plan submitted to demolish former restaurant and build flats

A CGI of the new design for the Pissarro's site

A new design is being submitted for the controversial plan to knock down the site of the former Pissarro’s restaurant and replace it with flats.

An plan was rejected earlier this year by the Hounslow Council planning committee, whose decision was supported on appeal, but the revised plan has reduced the height of one of the blocks and the number of flats in the scheme to deal with concerns about the impact on neighbouring properties and density.

The new application is for the demolition of existing building and the erection of three block building of a maximum height of three storeys. This will contain seven flats, five two-bedroom and two three-bedroom plus associated access, amenity space, landscaping, refuse storage and car and cycle parking.

The first application was declined because of the scale of the design, the loss of outlook and increased enclosure for neighbouring residents, lack of communal amenity space and failure to comply with Local Plan policies. An appeal was made in March 2018 against the decision and decided on 24 July. Although the inspector did not support all the original grounds for refusal, the appeal was dismissed due to the effect of the proposed development on the living conditions of surrounding occupiers, with particular regard to outlook.

Following the unsuccessful appeal the developer, Fruition Properties, entered into pre-application discussions with Hounslow Council planners. Initially revised plans were rejected by the Council so the developer reduced the number of flats in the development by one and lowered the rear block by a storey as well as reconfiguring part of the roof.

An earlier proposal for the site put forward in 2016 had envisaged 11 flats at the location. The developers say that the current plan has 24 habitable rooms giving a density of 96 habitable rooms per acre less than the density in the Corney Reach Estate.

Current view of the site

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.

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.

October 29, 2018