The weight of opposition
When two and a half thousand people sign petitions against...
When one hundred opponents swarm in the Market Square... When five hundred letters reject... When twenty groups oppose... When twelve oppose at a Council meeting on a rainy night... When sixty minutes of opposing reasons are spoken... ...yet our Council is ready to say yes? |
Kingston Councillors - wake up! You can not say yes to this.
Read these 512 rejection letters...
201 letters of objection - original proposal:
Poor quality of building's design and materials.
Scale/ height is excessive and impacts on setting of preserved Listed Buildings, surrounding conservation areas and on view from Kingston Bridge and sunlight to Fairfield Park, town centre, Market Place and on the skyline of this historic market town. Tall buildings would set unfortunate precedent for Ashdown Road car park site. Some support for proposed low rise buildings. Kingston Riverside development which was won on appeal should not be used as justification for this development. Solid wall proposed with lack of gaps in development in Wheatfield Way. Rather than providing a gateway, the tall buildings will provide a visual and physical barrier to the town. Detrimental psychological impact of tall buildings, which are not of a human scale and detrimentally impact on community and would result in increased crime and fear of crime.
Out of keeping with Eden Quarter and Kingston Futures. The applicants claim that the proposal for a 21 storey tower is justified by this brief, whereas the brief says 9+. The Kingston Town Centre Area Action Plan calls for a multistorey car park rather than residential parking.
No phone masts or similar shall be allowed to be added to the tower/development.
Images taken with wide angle lenses and sometimes just away from location that would have shown greatest visual impact. Images should be rendered instead of wireline to give truer estimate of impact. The applicant's images are misleading, showing in some instances the sun shining from the north. The impacts stated on the images taken from Fairfield and Market Place (neutral) should be major or devastating. Detrimental impact from Richmond Park and Hampton Court Palace. Concern at accuracy of photomontages. Insufficient consideration of impact on townscape merit houses opposite. The impact on views/skyline would be significant when viewed from open spaces, river, Home Park and Bushy Park.
Public space is of insufficient quality and does not compare favourably to existing spaces within Kingston Town Centre. Lack of permanent seating/ feature lighting within Post Office square and uninspiring paving. Concern at planting beds along Brook Street. Raised beds will become a maintenance issue. Lack of public pedestrian through routes and public open or green B4 space and lack of joined up pedestrian routes/ space. Concern at potential for increased crime. Cycle route will lead to Wheatfield Way being a further barrier between the Fairfield, Library, Museum, Leisure Centre, Monday Market and the rest of the town centre. Not clear how the development will incorporate the mini-Holland cycle route. Lack of trees along Wheatfield Way. New crossings in Ashdown Road and Wheatfield Way and the Fairfield should be provided.
Impact on light, overbearing, impact on privacy, light pollution, increased wind to Eden Street and Brook Street, glare, aviation, telecoms interference, flooding/ drainage/ sewage/ electrical power systems and waste disposal, schools, doctor's surgeries, dentists, hospitals, utilities, playgrounds, public toilets, police.
Section 106 agreement should provide for required facilities. Concern that the planning obligations received will not compensate the community or Council for the increased impacts. Lack of larger family housing and light into proposed residential units. Insufficient affordable housing. Residential should not be buy to let.
Loss of existing parking facilities will add to traffic congestion and result in a loss for shopping in the town centre. Lack of car parking/ excessive parking. Motorists should be incentivised to use public transport. Impact of proposal on traffic in area, transport, parking and congestion. Lack of cycle parking security. Servicing/deliveries on busy roads.
Residential use should not be proposed in this location. Support for demolition of Frances House. Insufficient retail and business use for this town centre site, which should include low rent retail, offices, studios, theatre or a children's library should be provided instead of shops, drinking establishments or clubs. Arrangements should be made to ensure that the community space is affordable to community groups and available for a variety of community groups, including arts, crafts and dance particularly if Eden Walk is redeveloped and Fusion Arts are displaced. Must ensure that bars instead of restaurants are not created. Vacant shops in town centres therefore this retail space is not required.
Insufficient sustainability standards.
Noise, pollution and dust from construction.
311 letters of objection - revised proposal:
Changes not significant; Objection to height of tower which is higher than Lever House and Kingston College; Existing tall buildings should not be used as justification for tall buildings on this site; A landmark building is not required and if it does a landmark building need not be tall; Concern regarding quality of design; Design review panel did not support proposal; Insufficient changes to make this acceptable; Concern that visual representations are inaccurate; Amendments do not overcome concerns in this regard, exceeding the height in the Eden Quarter Development Brief (images within this document indicate 13 storeys for the tower); Declaration of this area as an "Opportunity Area" is being used to partially justify this development. Tall Building Supplementary Planning Document should be finalised prior to allowing this development. Excessive density out of keeping with surrounding density of Fairfield/ Knights Park, impact on historic buildings, amenities of adjacent properties, noise reflecting from proposed buildings and impact on traffic increased pressure on services/ facilities; Inadequate car club spaces; Concern that units won't provide housing for local people or sufficient affordable housing; Lack of play space/ sports facilities provision; Some support for the principle of development, including additional housing, bringing back into use the listed buildings, shops, cafes and restaurants; Any residential units should be sold to British people not used as investments; Residential development should not be provided in the town centre; Tall development to the south of the post office square will block sunlight to this space and this space will be retained by the developer; Proposal will not humanise Wheatfield Way. Lack of access to tallest building; Lack of public art; Concern regarding impact on street scene of Fairfield and Queen Anne's statue in the Market Place and light to Brook St; Lack of visual link between listed buildings; Lack of compliance with Eden Quarter Development Brief/ policy; Impact on traffic, parking,air quality, schools, archaeology, policing, light, privacy; Adds little commercial floorspace; Poor sustainability level; Over 5 years build and therefore site construction traffic is unacceptable. Insufficient car club spaces and free car club membership funding; 1 response would prefer to lose the existing heritage buildings on site if height of proposals could be constrained to 8 storeys.
- extract from Kingston Town Planning Sub-Committee Meeting 14 May 2015 Report & Appendix B: Late Material
and Development Control Committee 2 June 2015 agenda reports as well as 23 June DCC agenda reports