Picturehouse Cinema For Chiswick Gets Go-Ahead

The revised planning application was voted through at Planning Committee

The planning application to build a Picturehouse cinema in the centre of Chiswick was given the go-ahead at last night's meeting (Thursday December 1st) of Hounslow Council's Planning Committee.

Local residents attended the meeting and spoke of their concerns regarding parking in nearby streets, but the application was carried by a majority of councillors on the committee.

Kim Gottlieb of Lochstil Ltd, the company which put forward the planning application for the cinema (as freeholders of the site), told chiswickw4.com; "We're obviously delighted and very grateful for all the efforts of the Council which helped get us over the line. Obviously there is still a distance to go in terms of producing design details and satisfying planning conditions etc, but everyone is pushing forwards.

"Many thanks are due to many residents for their support."

While local people in Chiswick are broadly supportive of a cinema, there have been concerns raised in the past two years about parking and the potential for noise from the bar closing hours.

At present, local streets have resident's parking in force from Mondays-Saturdays from 9am-7pm. There is a suggestion from Hounslow Council that this be extended to seven days a week. However, some residents in surrounding streets such as Merton, Cleveland, Ennismore and Upham Park Road want the CPZ hours extended to 9pm to deter cinema goers parking in their streets if they are attending later screenings.

Picturehouse was originally granted permission in January 2014 and had hoped, after conversion of the former Ballet Rambert premises, that it would be open in early 2015.

However, the matter became delayed until agreement was finally reached with the freeholder of the adjacent property, and a revised planning application was submitted last summer which included provision for three flats "to make better use of the site".

It is expected work would start quickly and there are hopes that films could start showing by Christmas 2017. You can look at details of the plans.

The cinema complex is to remain the same size as the original application with five screens, seating over 420 people, a bar/cafe, including a roof terrace, with the new addition of the flats.

Picturehouse was not the applicant on the planning application; it has been submitted by the freeholder of the site, Lochstill Ltd headed by Kim Gottlieb, (the man behind the 'Chiswick Curve' project).

However Picturehouse will be responsible for construction and will operate the cinema.

December 2, 2016