New Plan to Develop Neglected Stretch of Chiswick High Road

Proposal may call into question rumoured Sainsbury's scheme

396-398 Chiswick High Road. Picture: Google Streetview

A plan to develop a neglected stretch of the High Road looks set to be revealed at the next Chiswick Area Forum meeting raising some hopes that a regeneration of the area is finally going to begin. When the planning application is submitted it should reveal more about the state of play with other developments in the area.

An item has been placed on the agenda for the meeting on 14 November at the Town Hall for a developer to present the outcome of their pre-planning application discussions with Hounslow Council about a proposal to redevelop 396-398 Chiswick High Road. The site currently houses Carpet Right and Daniel's Stores but the general area has been described by residents as a ‘wasteland’ with many of the nearby units vacant. Valentina's, the Italian restaurant and deli recently closed with the owners blaming, in part, the failure of Lend Lease’s project to redevelop Empire House and the surrounding area to proceed. We asked the Council to give more details about the agenda item but they did not respond.

396-398 Chiswick High Road is owned by a company called Yelloway which is based in the Isle of Man. Yelloway also owns a property in Brixton at which there is currently a planning application to develop a five storey hotel by a Miraj Investments a company with a base in Colliers Wood which was incorporated in October 2014.

A proposed development at this spot will raise questions about exactly what is happening with Lend Lease’s development which is a few doors down. They received permission to proceed with the repurposing of the blue glazed tower on the High Road and a number of properties on Essex Place. Despite successfully contesting a judicial review, the company has not proceeded with the development even though they had started to market the flats at the main tower overlooking the High Road. The so-called Opus Collection was set to provide 137 new flats across three buildings: Empire House, Essex Place and Acton Lane. We have asked Lend Lease on a number of occasions what the status of the project is but they have not responded.

In March of this year the Council’s investment arm was at the MPIM property conference in Cannes and published a notice to delegates highlighting the 1.77 hectare acre site of the Sainsbury’s store and car park as an ‘ideal opportunity’ for a mixed use development. This site is immediately to the north of the Lend Lease project and the new proposed development. The Council’s initiative appears to have been done with the blessing of Sainsbury’s who have recently acquired the freehold of their main Chiswick site. When we asked the supermarket giant about their plans for Chiswick they told us that any development of the site would not impact on the store. A paragraph in last December's interim trading statement from Sainsbury's had confirmed their interest in "future potential for a mixed use development" in Chiswick which had been an "emerging policy requirement of Hounslow Council." For the scheme to be mentioned in a document submitted to the Stock Exchange suggests strongly that the scale of the project is significant. The site runs from the back of the Empire House development to the railway line and includes both the supermarket site and car park - the latter is subject to a covenant with Hounslow Council but only in relation to charges for parking. It is understood that Sainsbury's do not believe that the covenant would prevent them developing the site.

A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said, “Our Chiswick store is incredibly popular and we have no plans to close or relocate. We own the freehold to our site and are looking at a number of redevelopment options, but it is too early to speculate.”

Some local observers feel that the stalling of the Lend Lease project is related to Sainsbury’s plans for their site. If they could incorporate the Empire House scheme footprint they could move the storefront onto Chiswick High Road in line with plans that were drawn up in 2012 and discovered by ChiswickW4.com. Sainsbury’s objected to the Empire House development along with local residents’ groups. They said that the Lend Lease scheme would have a "detrimental impact" on the operation of its store and claimed that there were "clear conflicts arising from a residential development being in close proximity to an operational foodstore." There have since been unsubstantiated reports that the two companies had been in exploratory talks to see if there was a way forward towards a comprehensive development of the site.

View from over Turnham Green looking across at development on site of Sainsbury's car park (from Tate Hindle's 2012 plan)

One local resident who has been closely observing the progress of development in this area told us, “What is happening at 396-398 Chiswick High Road could be good news or could be bad news. It is unlikely that anyone would proceed with a major project at the site if the Empire House scheme was permanently stalled. The reports that come out with the planning application will reveal a lot more about what is actually going on. However, if Sainsbury’s did have plans to open directly on the High Road these two units would very likely have been part of it and it could be that the submission of a planning application is more of a negotiating tactic to up the price Sainsbury’s need to pay. If this is the case any improvement of the area may still be a long way off.”

The protracted failure to develop the area has left it in limbo and resulted in many shop units being kept vacant. This has led to a significant decline in trading in the area and led to some residents to call for a compulsory purchase order on unused properties in the area both on this section of the High Road and the one by the stalled cinema project. We contacted the Council to ask if this was feasible but they did not respond.

Chiswick High Road showing a new Sainsbury's stretching from Essex Place toward Acton Lane

Whatever the case, there is likely to be a significant amount of new information coming out in the coming weeks and months about the future plans for a significant part of Chiswick. The Sainsbury’s scheme, if it goes ahead, would be the biggest in W4 since the redevelopment of Chiswick Bus Works into Chiswick Business Park. Having kept residents in the dark for so long, the companies who will have a major say in the reshaping the area will finally have to start telling us what they are planning.

November 12, 2017