An application for a big new house where a smaller one was lost in the serious fire on Garrick's Ait on Easter Sunday 2003 was removed from Elmbridge's June 7 planning agenda at the very last minute and rescheduled for June 28.

The proposal has dismayed people in Hampton who would see it in the historic landscape from the Middlesex Bank.

Several sets of drawings submitted to Elmbridge Council over the past year - the planning authority for the island, on the Surrey side of the river - show an application with measurements too large to fit the site.

There have also been objection letters missing from the responses file - a critical omission because in Elmbridge rights to speak at planning committee rely on the numbers of letters received. A minimum of ten is required before local people can appear at committee.

There are also unresolved concerns about passage of flood waters and the accuracy of comparisons between the previous structure and that proposed in the application.

Several islanders, concerned about access following the fire, pointed out the errors and discrepancies to the planning department in Elmbridge and these were eventually admitted by the architect for the proposal. The application was due to be considered at Elmbridge's North Area Planning Committee on Monday June 7, with a requirement for revised accurate drawings. It was delayed until the committee of June 28, with a similar recommendation.

Richmond Council has objected to the application, as have individuals and local organisations on the Hampton side, including the Hampton Society, the Hampton Riverside Trust and the Friends of Garrick's Temple, as well as local councillor, Jean Matthews. Some of the correspondence has not been filed, despite the objectors having received confirmation of receipt from Elmbridge Council.

Islanders are also calling on Elmbridge to follow planning guidance in the Thames Landscape Strategy (TLS), which was developed to protect cross-river views and recognises the importance of "inter-visibility" between banks and midstream up and down the Thames. The application site cannot be seen from the Elmbridge side, even though Elmbridge is the planning authority deciding it. It will impact only on Hampton and its historic setting of Garrick's Lawn, Temple and Villa.

According to islanders who carefully scrutinised the application, the new building proposed on no. 7, would be as third as high again as the previous one and almost double the footprint. The plot also lies right on one of the vistas identified in the TLS, running between St Paul's Church spire in Molesey and Hampton's St Mary's Church.

The river landscape viewed from historic Hampton features the mid-stream island, once part of David Garrick's estate. It was a green prospect until the terrible fire, when several buildings were lost and, following the blaze, 15 trees on a neighbouring plot were felled without notice or permission. Many would like to see restoration of the green at the heart of the island with replanting.

Elmbridge planners have stated, however, that the TLS does not apply to "replacement" dwellings, even though it was invoked in a comparable proposal on Thames Ditton Island.

The fear of local people is that if Elmbridge allows over-development of the plot, other similar applications will swiftly follow, resulting in an urbanised landscape instead of the "the picturesque shanties and bungalows on Garrick's Ait", "the unexpected note of busy domesticity" and the "variety of jetties and boats clustered at the foot of individual and manicured small gardens", described in the TLS.

With over-large buildings replacing earlier ones, there will be no opportunity and no space to restore mature trees to the island or to" create a shrub layer through natural regeneration or planting" as advised in the TLS.

Commented one: "All we want is to see an appropriate application that respects the scale and character of Garrick's Ait and sets the right standard for other houses that will be built on the empty plots we now have on the island. This is called good, careful planning and we expect it of Elmbridge."

The deferred application will possibly be heard on the 28 June at Elmbridge North Area planning committee.

See the letters

Monday, June 7, 2004

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