精东影视

Terry Farrell鈥檚 proposals for a 29-storey mixed-use tower at the southern end of Battersea Bridge have been resoundingly refused by Wandsworth council鈥檚 planning committee.

Councillors unanimously rejected developer Rockwell鈥檚 controversial 110-home Glassmill scheme at a committee meeting yesterday evening following a discussion lasting just over an hour in which no councillor voiced support for the plans.

The decision follows an onslaught of local opposition to the application, which has received more than 2,000 objections from members of the public while two separate petitions launched by campaigners to scrap the scheme amassed a total of nearly 6,000 signatures.

First submitted in early 2024, the scheme has been widely criticised for being too tall for the mostly low and mid-rise area next to Battersea Park despite lead architect Farrells shortening the building by five storeys on two occasions from the original 39-storey proposal.

The final version of the building, which would also contain 7,000sq ft of office space and a 2,000sq ft riverside restaurant, is 10 storeys shorter and contains 60 fewer homes than the original submission, although its level of affordable housing had been increased from 25% to 50%. 

The amendments failed to persuade Wandsowrth鈥檚 planning officers, who recommended the application for refusal ahead of yesterday鈥檚 committee meeting due to its 鈥渆xcessive and dominant鈥� height and the harm it would cause to the character of the surrounding area.

Officers also noted the plans would breach both Wandsworth鈥檚 2023 local plan and the London plan.

Councillor Caroline de La Soujeole said voting in favour of the application would 鈥渕ake a total mockery鈥� of the council鈥檚 policies, adding the scheme was 鈥渜uite simply the wrong building for the wrong site鈥�.

Councillor Ravi Govindia described the application as 鈥済rossly unacceptable鈥�, suggesting Rockwell had sought to increase the height of the scheme to recoup its investment in the site.

鈥淭he applicant, having paid an enormous sum of money for the site, is then recovering that investment by jacking up the building and I think it鈥檚 right that the applicant should get the message that it is not for us and the local community to bear the negative side of their bad economic decisions,鈥� he said.

In a letter read out to the meeting, councillors Jamie Colclough and Jessica Lee said: 鈥淏eyond simply turning down this proposal, our residents think it鈥檚 important to send a lot and clear message to developers that schemes like this that ignore local character and put profit ahead of improvement to the local area and people鈥檚 wellbeing just aren鈥檛 welcome here in Battersea.鈥�

The plans have also been opposed by a roll call of local and heritage groups including Historic England, which described the proposed tower as a 鈥渧isually intrusive and incongruous addition to the townscape with wide reaching harmful impacts on the historic environment鈥�.

Other groups which have submitted objections include the Environment Agency, Wandsworth council鈥檚 conservation and heritage advisory committee, the Battersea Society, the Chelsea Society, the Wandsworth Society and the Putney Society.

Wandsworth council鈥檚 own leader, Simon Hogg, has also made clear his own opposition in a series of social media posts including a post on X last June in which he said 鈥渁 structure of this magnitude on this site would inflict more harm than good on the local area and its residents鈥�.

The council had been due to make a decision on the scheme last month before the application was pulled from the March committee鈥檚 agenda.

A petition against the plans started by local campaigner Rob McGibbon has reportedly been signed by celebrities including Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton, Felicity Kendal and Anthea Turner.