Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Hampden Lodge - New Planning Application


It seems the Conservative Administration at Havering Council are determined to continue with selling off the former care home, Hampden Lodge, in Clockhouse Lane, Collier Row and filling it with dozens of flats up to four stories high.

Following a massive outcry last summer - when Bellway Homes submitted an application for 58 flats and associated parking - they withdrew the planning application as it was set to be refused. Since then, Havering’s Cabinet has reconfirmed its desire to sell of the land, by reducing the cost. Although the amount was contained in a confidential report, the Romford Recorder reported it as approx a £1/2 million reduction.

The new application is for 48 flats and associated parking, a reduction of just 10 flats from the original plan; they will still be three and four stories high. However, gone are the 6 x studio flats and 4 of the 1x bedroom flats, they have now been replaced with 5 x three bed and 5 x four bed flats.

The Residents Associations objections still remain the same as last time, with over development of the site, traffic implications in Clockhouse Lane, out of keeping with surrounding properties, in particular the 3 and 4 story height and over looking into houses in Highfield Road and Clockhouse Lane.

Havering Park Councillor Andrew Mann said “This application is nothing short of a slightly scaled down version of the last application, with only a small reduction of the amount of flats being crammed onto the site, it would seem that Bellway homes and Havering Council have not listened to the many hundreds of residents that objected to the previous scheme”.

Havering Park Team Member, Denis Stevens said “Over 1000 people signed a petition last summer against the plans for the site, all of which, it would seem have been ignored, as the Tory Council have continued to push this application along. Once again by doing a deal that only sees the Council receive the money once planning permission is granted”.

Cllr Mann has called this application into committee, so that if and when it comes before Councillors it can be discussed in full. If you would like to object to the plans, please write to the Head of Regulatory Services at Havering Town Hall, setting out your objections. Please copy in Cllr Mann into your objections.

You can also e-mail your objection to planning@havering.gov.uk Please quote the planning application number when you write, it is P0453.09.

Patrick keyes
London Borough of Havering
Mercury House
Mercury gardens
Romford
RM1 3SL

Please click here to see our previous stories on this issue.

No comments: