Homebase, Manor Road public hearing

Prior to a final decision on this planning application the Mayor will consider any relevant changes to policy, guidance and any other new material considerations which are relevant to the application and which have arisen since the date of the Representation Hearing. It is not the intention to conduct a further public Representation Hearing. A further updating report has been prepared by GLA officers for the Mayor's consideration. The update report and annexes can be viewed within the links below.

Please note that this was a re-notification following the previous notification on this application which took place in November/December 2021. It came to the Mayor’s attention that some hard copy letters may have been returned to the sender by Royal Mail. We undertook this further round of consultation to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to let the Mayor know their views on the proposal.

On 14 February 2019, planning application (reference 19/0510/FUL) (‘the Application’) was submitted to the London Borough of Richmond by Avanton Richmond Developments Ltd (‘the Applicant’). On 29 July 2019, the Mayor of London issued a direction under Article 7 of the Town and Country Planning (Mayor of London) Order 2008 that the Mayor will act as the Local Planning Authority (City Hall, Kamal Chunchie Way, London, E16 1ZE) for the purposes of determining the Application. Subsequent to that direction, the Applicant submitted revisions to the Application to the Mayor on 22 November 2019 which were consulted upon in December 2019 and January 2020. Following that consultation, on 31 July 2020 the applicant made further revisions to the application, which were consulted on in August 2020. A Representation Hearing was then held on 1 October 2020 where the Mayor considered the application and resolved to grant planning permission subject to the completion of a S106 agreement.

On 17 November 2021 the applicant submitted further revisions to the Application. These revisions include the following:

• Minor realignment of the application red line boundary to reflect the site ownership as shown on the revised application drawings. This results in a small decrease in the overall site area (768.7sqm) and the relocation of the proposed car club spaces and refuse holding area.
• Amendments to the affordable housing tenure split to provide an increase in London Affordable Rent (LAR) units within the affordable housing offer for the Application following the adoption of the London Plan 2021. This results in 18 additional LAR units (43 habitable rooms) with a corresponding decrease in intermediate affordable housing (London Living Rent). A revised Area and Accommodation schedule has been provided.
• The submission of a Revised Application Form, CIL form, Certificates, Design and Access Architectural Addendum, Landscaping Addendum, Construction Environmental Management Plan, Planning Statement, Digital Connectivity Note and Revised Waste Management Strategy Addendum to reflect the changes to the application site boundary and the requirements of the London Plan 2021.
• An updated Transport Assessment and Travel Plan to reflect changes to the local bus network since the Mayor considered the Application at the Representation Hearing on 1 October 2020 and changes to the application site boundary.

The description of the proposed development remains as follows:

“Demolition of existing buildings and structures and comprehensive phased residential-led redevelopment to provide 453 residential units (of which 173 units will be affordable), flexible retail, community and office uses, provision of car and cycle parking, landscaping, public and private open spaces and all other necessary enabling works.”

On 16 July 2019 Richmond advised the Mayor that it was minded to refuse permission for the redevelopment proposals for Homebase, Manor Road.

On 29 July 2019, having considered a report on the case, the Mayor notified Richmond that he would act as the local planning authority for the purposes of determining the planning applications (under article 7 of the Mayor of London Order and the powers conferred by Section 2A of the 1990 Town and Country Planning Act).

The local authority for this case is 19/0510/FUL. The GLA reference is 4795.

The Mayor's initial stage 1 and 2 reports and decision letters can be downloaded here

A Representation Hearing was held online on 1 October 2020 at 1.30pm. Following the hearing, the Mayor decided to grant permission for the application subject to the final conclusion of a s106 legal agreement and final decision notice. You can download the report and hearing documents below:

Subsequent to the Mayor’s direction, the Applicant submitted revisions to the application on 22 November 2019 which were consulted upon in December 2019 and January 2020. Following that consultation, on 31 July 2020 the applicant made further revisions to the application, with amendments to plans and planning documents. The proposed amendments are set out in further detail within the applicants Planning Statement Addendum July 2020 but in brief summary include:

• Increase of residential units from 385 as originally submitted to 453 through increase in heights to some buildings and optimisation of layouts;
• Increase in height of building A (core A) by 1 storey, increase in building B by 2 storeys, increase in building C (core A) by 3 storeys and increase in building C (Cores B and C) by 1 storey.
• Decrease in height of building A (core D) and D (core B) by 1 storey;
• Reduction in floor to floor heights from 3.3m to 3.15m
• Removal of Building E which was part of the revisions made on 22 November 2019.
• Increased provision of affordable housing from 35% (134 units) to 40% (173 units) (with grant funding) by habitable room and amendments to tenure split from 30/70% affordable rent / intermediate to 52/48%.
• Reduction of basement and relocation of cycle parking and bin storage to ground floor of each Block.
• Increase in cycle parking to meet draft London Plan standards.
• Design amendments to maximise residential quality including additional cores, dual aspect units along Manor Road, less north facing units, increased overlooking distances and improvements to residential amenity spaces.
• Rearrangement of commercial floorspace including extending Block D commercial frontage towards North Sheen Station and removal of retail pavilion in central courtyard.
• Alteration to building elevations and detailed design.
• Public realm amendments including redesign of the central courtyard; revisions to the play space strategy; introduction of a half ball-court; and reconfiguration of car parking.
• Amendments to the site-wide Energy Strategy to comply with the London Plan Energy Hierarchy.

The amended application will now be described as follows:

“Demolition of existing buildings and structures and comprehensive phased residential-led redevelopment to provide 453 residential units (of which 173 units will be affordable), flexible retail, community and office uses, provision of car and cycle parking, landscaping, public and private open spaces and all other necessary enabling works.”

Copies of these documents are available to view on the London Datastore

A public consultation was held between the 25 November to 16 December 2021. As above, it came to the Mayor’s attention that some hard copy letters may have been returned to the sender by Royal Mail during this consultation. If you have already submitted comments to the GLA electronically by email or online you do not need to submit another comment to us unless you wish to raise any additional points.