A South London council has opposed plans to build 55 flats and 762 student bedrooms in tower blocks up to 22 storeys tall. The proposed scheme for Nine Elms will be decided by the Planning Inspectorate, but hit a stumbling block on Tuesday (January 14) as Wandsworth Council mounted its objection to it.
The plans from developer Watkin Jones Group would see the former Booker Cash & Carry on Battersea Park Road bulldozed for three tower blocks. The scheme proposes a 12-storey block with 55 affordable homes, including 27 homes to be offered at social rent, plus two buildings up to 17 and 22 storeys tall containing student accommodation. There would be commercial units and community spaces on the ground floors of the buildings.
The site already has planning permission, granted in 2019, for 307 homes in five blocks between five and 18 storeys tall, but they have not been built. Watkin Jones Group submitted new plans for the site in 2022 and lodged an appeal in December as the council had not yet decided on them, which means a Planning Inspector will make the final decision.
Another CGI of the proposed scheme
(Image: Howells/Watkin Jones Group)
The authority’s Planning Committee decided it would have rejected the application on Tuesday (January 14), had it been making the final decision, but it will now be considered by the Planning Inspectorate. The committee’s move defied council officers’ recommendation to support the scheme, as the officers had felt the affordable housing and economic opportunities it would provide weighed heavily in its favour.
Five councillors opposed the scheme, against four councillors who voted in its favour, over concerns about the increased height of the proposed bocks and the switch to mainly offering student accommodation. Conservative councillor Mark Justin said: “The scheme really isn’t in keeping with the area. We need to build a residential area in Nine Elms where people put down roots and where more amenities can be – we need doctor’s and dentist surgeries, we need supermarkets, but what we’re going to get is a load of transient living.”
Labour councillor Finna Ayres added: “I could happily live with three blocks with one of them having 300 students and the two others having housing… the scale of this I think is almost unimaginable.”
The development would have four accessible car parking spaces and one car club space. It would also have 678 long-stay cycle parking spaces and 50 short-stay cycle spaces. A total of 73 new trees would be planted on the site.
Application documents said: “With Battersea evolving at a high and fast rate, it has become an attractive destination for people to not only live in but also visit and work in, and the scheme presents the perfect opportunity to bring together people from all over.”
The Planning Inspectorate will now make a final decision on the application in due course.
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