Land at 53 Old Deer Park Gardens
Ref: 19/0404
This application for a house has been revived and comments again sought. There were numerous objections, partly on the grounds that this land should have been part of the Old Deer Park and had been left out by mistake and that part of the wall, which would be lost, should be listed.
The application has been under assessment for a number of years now and has now been updated. Neighbourhood Consultation was launched on February 14, three years after the original application was received (and after neighbourhood consultation was carried out).
We have now resubmitted our original April 2019 objection. It appears that the reason for the delay has been mainly due to Paul Velluet’s unsuccessful attempt to get the part of the old wall that would be destroyed listed; and his unsuccessful attempt to get the site, which at one time was part of Kew Gardens, redesignated as part of the Royal Botanic Gardens / Old Deer Park Historic Park.
Our objection last month stated: “The Kew Society wishes to reiterate its previous objection, dated 19 April 2019 (FS114778556), to this application – namely: On 4 March 2019, The Kew Society posted the following Observation (Reference: FS34839018) on this application: : “Reinforcing our comments posted in January 2018 in relation to the previous application 17/4263/FUL, The Kew Society expects London Borough of Richmond to implement conditions for an effective scheme of tree screening around the proposed development, and that the style and character of predominantly family houses in this road be maintained in the future. Consent should be clearly restricted to a single residential unit whose use cannot be intensified e.g. by subdivision”. We have discussed this application further with our colleagues in The Richmond Society, who are opposed to the development, and we strongly agree with the objection already submitted by The Richmond Society (Ref: FS111307521): ‘This is a matter of policy and the setting of unwelcome precedent. If permission were granted, it would concede the principle of development on land which clearly forms an integral part of the historic park but anomalously has been omitted hitherto from designation as part of the Grade 1 registered Royal Botanic Gardens – Old Deer Park Historic Park, from designation as part of the Old Deer Park Conservation Area and from designation as Metropolitan Open Land’. The Kew Society therefore registers its objection to this application.”
